[Help] Modem randomly performs speed tests and disables internet

[n1rav]

Hi everyone,

has anyone experienced this issue with Valerie modem. For last two days, my modem has started performing random speed tests and every time this is done, the network activity is blocked. So my internet connection is disrupted for few seconds and then it starts working again. 

See attached for a screenshot that shows all speed tests performed (automatically) and blocked traffic column says "Yes".  

I have talked to 4-5 support reps already and they haven't been able to stop this issue. I have done reboot and hard reset many times but no change (the modem randomly does this speed test and blocks network activity). 

[VirginPlusAntgio]

Hi @n1rav

You're definitely right, Valerie doesn't normally act that way. 

Have you tried our new Virtual Repair Tool.

The Virtual repair tool will:

- Look for service outages in your area.

- Check the equipment outside your home

- Reboot all your hardware.

- Optimize the settings for your service.

Give these steps a try and let us know if it worked.

[Richardvoyageu]

Identical to another support forum post here:

https://forum.virginplus.ca/t5/Internet/Help-Modem-randomly-performs-speed-tests-and-disables-intern...

At about 11 AM this morning, my internet kept going up and down, many times within 1 or 2 minutes and just kept repeating so it is basically unusable. I got rid of my home router and connected directly to the Valerie modem, identical issue still happening so I knew it wasn't my router.

Did some troubleshooting, rebooted modem, reset modem, factory reset of modem, no change, still doing it. 

The tech support rolled a truck out for tomorrow but I kept digging into things and finally noticed the actual problem (why can't support do this instead of me?). The problem is that the stupid modem is doing repeated speedtests by itself with the "block all internet traffic" as selected, which is kicking off everything else trying to use the internet! A very weird problem to say the least. When I run the virtual repair tool it does say that it sees an issue with "Outage Check" but doesn't tell you what it is. This is now almost 12 hours of this so it's hard to believe it's an area thing or people would be really mad. 

I hope the technician can fix this tomorrow but so far the support for Virgin hasn't impressed me, they don't seem to be very technical on the phone, moreso customer service representatives. I also asked to be escalated to tier 2 but that wasn't possible for "intermittent issues". Pretty terrible honestly when you have to diagnose and find your own problem these days. 

[VirginPlusAntgio]

Hey there @Richardvoyageu, 

Welcome to the Community and thanks for your post. 

Thank you for all of the details provided, are you able to share the results of your tech visit?

[Richardvoyageu · Accepted solution]

Tech had never seen it before, verified levels on the fibre were -21 (max threshold of -23) so he spliced in my permanent fibre as i was on a temp one for the winter. Didn't seem to fix the problem so we replaced the modem and seemed to fix the issue. Even after multiple factory resets it wasn't performing properly and was still doing the stupid speedtests. Very strange issue for sure but it's been ok since last week. 

[n1rav]

The tech replaced my modem with a new one and I haven’t had this issue since then.  I decided that I will never perform a speedtest using the Valerie modem page. 

[Wumpus3000]

I have had the same thing for a week: sometimes it's OK for 1-2 hours, but more often (and especially in the daytime) it goes out every 10-20 minutes. Sometimes its only out for a short time (30-45 seconds) and the connection isn't lost or it has buffered enough data to not be a problem, but other times it happens back to back, and you lose what you're doing. If you use cloud office apps and storage and meetings, it's disastrous. On the Valerie display at the front bottom, it shows performing a speed test ("Vroom") a few times, then it says Speed Test Failure and switches to yellow. From the logs, you can see that this happens around the clock. However, after a few minutes, it resets the yellow error back to white.

Apparently this was happening frequently later in 2021 and earlier 2022, but was thought to be resolved through firmware updates to the Valerie router, but some units out there can still experience it. The secret: NEVER test the speedtest through the modem - use your client (PC OS, phone, tablet, smart speaker) instead. As soon as you try a speed test with your modem, it triggers it to periodically keep testing (and disconnectiong all LAN traffic while it does so) forever, and the only cure is a modem swap.