Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? in Road Runner http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r20148605 en Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:41:45 EDT Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:41:45 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20276752 anon : Before the switch, the following items were connected directly to the router:

PC
PC
MAC
XBox360

Now the switch is the only thing connected to the router. All of the above items were disconnected from the router and are now connected to the switch.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20276752 Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:10:02 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20276614 MacLeech :
said by Darth Meatloaf :

The only change I made was to add a Linksys EG008W Gigabit Switch. Basically, the switch is now the only thing connected to the router. All of my computers and other devices are now connected to the switch.

Somehow after that I am getting no more reboots.

Can anyone offer any explanation as to why?
How were things setup BEFORE the Gigabit Switch was installed?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20276614 Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:49:30 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20276528 anon : Going back to the random modem reboot thing that was talked about on the last page...

I have a Linksys WRT54G connected to an AMBIT U10C018 modem. Until recently, I have had issues with random reboots - about once a day unless I wasplaying games. If playing games, about once an hour.

The problem stopped due to a recent change in my network setup, but I can't find an explanation for WHY...

The only change I made was to add a Linksys EG008W Gigabit Switch. Basically, the switch is now the only thing connected to the router. All of my computers and other devices are now connected to the switch.

Somehow after that I am getting no more reboots.

Can anyone offer any explanation as to why?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20276528 Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:34:23 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20274124 Dampier : I went through a bad period with what I could only assume to be throttling with Giganews and TW here in western NY back when the first admissions about traffic shaping were coming out of TW. Essentially downloads would begin quickly and then just as quickly slow down to a crawl.

I got around this by basically creating as many connections with Giganews as my account level would allow, and this got things at least close to normal speeds. I noticed as the brouhaha got loud, the throttling seemed to be either eased back or stopped, at least in my area. Now I can max out my connection during what is peak time for me - late afternoons. I am rarely on much during the early evening hours.

My occasional unresponsive connection seemed to correspond with doing a lot of high traffic (multiple downloads, torrents, etc.) But for me, I suspected my Linksys router to be the culprit because I could not reach it using the remote access menu. If I unplugged the router and plugged it back in again, I could restore service once renewing an IP address.

Seasonal signal problems can also present themselves, especially during spring when moisture seems to get into all sorts of equipment. I've had to have a drop replaced (and some rewiring done upstairs) because of signal levels which deteriorated during wet weather. Often, a connection on the pole itself can be the problem when freeze-thaw cycles coupled with moisture ingress can do in connectors. Signal ingress from other transmitters in high signal areas can really create issues. Often these will also be apparent on your cable television signal (for me worst noticeable with on demand programming taking forever to load or timing out with errors plus program guide updates not occurring regularly) as well.

If you are on good terms with a nearby neighbor, using them to help test theories about localized traffic shaping might be useful. I suspect most CSRs wouldn't be able to tell you the status of your account even if you did ask.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20274124 Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:42:58 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20271487 Dingleberry : Sorry I wasn't more precise... the cable companies have monopolies for cable service.

But, there is DSL in MKE, running over copper provided by ATT/SBC/Ameritech... yeah, that's a nother LOVELY monopoly, fighting to keep everybody else off their copper.

There's no FIOS/fibre (hmmm waiting on ATT/SBC/Ameritech... so that'll never happen).

Dish? Why even bring up that high-latency crap.

WISP? Again, why bring up that high-latency crap.

Dial... ain't even gonna finish that.

TWC doesn't have to suck; it just seems like they choose to... maximizing profits by minimizing overhead, 'cause they're a monopoly that can get away with it...

Regarding "Are we sure that this issue was ON the TW Network?"

Hmmm, if they're telling people the problem occurs on entire netblocks, netblocks owned by Road Runner, then it seems safe to assume the problem is a Road Runner problem.

Also, why is this company so bloody hesitant to EVER admit a problem is theirs? You're even being defensive now after people have told TWC techs admitted it was a TWC problem?

We're pissed about crap service and crap tech support help, and you're still hoping to blame it on someone else rather than consider it's a TWC problem?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20271487 Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:53:45 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20267788 hobgoblin : "Oh, but wait, the cable companies typically have monopolies wherever they are, so they have absolutely no motivation to fix problems... never mind..."

So No DSL, No Fios, No Dish, No Dial UP, No WISP......What a great monopoly! There is no monopoly...But of course you like to talk that up.

Are we sure that this issue was ON the TW Network?

Hob
--
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20267788 Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:30:30 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20267727 Dingleberry : Hmmm.... harder than configuring your Linksys? No doubt... but that's why they get paid... If TWC can't maintain the service, they shouldn't sell the service...

Ignorance is not an excuse. The embedded OS's in networking gear have substantial logging facilities, and TWC owns all the gear on the network; if the friggin cable company can't recognize a lot of people are having the same problem, then there's a problem with the NOC at the cable company. Particular subnets having issues? One might think that would point to particular hardware having issues...

Nothing personal, but your's is a piss-poor excuse. Any network admin with half a brain (or any integrity) should be able to recognize and solve problems of exactly this type... If not, they should either receive better training or fired.

Oh, but wait, the cable companies typically have monopolies wherever they are, so they have absolutely no motivation to fix problems... never mind...]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20267727 Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:20:21 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20256863 Andypro : mm hmm.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20256863 Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:22:16 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20254351 hobgoblin :
said by Andypro See Profile :

That is pretty messed up. I wonder how on earth they are having this specific issue on only certain ranges of IPs. Doesn't give me a lot of faith in whoever manages this stuff locally, haha.
Clearly you don't do this for a living!

Its a little different than configuring your Linksys.

:)

Hob
--
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20254351 Sun, 30 Mar 2008 19:15:47 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20254236 Andypro : That is pretty messed up. I wonder how on earth they are having this specific issue on only certain ranges of IPs. Doesn't give me a lot of faith in whoever manages this stuff locally, haha.

I hope this fixes it for the others, too.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20254236 Sun, 30 Mar 2008 18:54:42 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20254077 MacLeech :
said by RR Victim 54693 :

If you're not using a router, the only way you can force IP change is swapping your modem.

The problem still exists, but at least there's a workaround now...
Changing from Ethernet to USB would do it as well, as would changing the MAC of your Ethernet card.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20254077 Sun, 30 Mar 2008 18:21:04 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20253956 anon : It is indeed another issue, and it appears that they finally know enough to get it fixed.

Apparently the problem is linked to the pool of IP addresses you're on. I had an IP of 75.86.xx.xx, and couldn't upload to save my life. I just talked to one of the guys at tech support and the end result of that was that I set up a different MAC address in my router instead of using the MAC of the router itself.

With the new MAC, I got a new IP.

With the new IP, I got normal upload speeds.

Once we got that, he also admitted that there were two other IP ranges that also had the problem:

72.131.xx.xx
72.228.xx.xx
75.86.xx.xx -what mine was

If you have any of the above IP ranges, use MAC cloning in your router to force an IP change and you can probably fix your problem.

If you're not using a router, the only way you can force IP change is swapping your modem.

The problem still exists, but at least there's a workaround now...]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20253956 Sun, 30 Mar 2008 17:58:49 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20250383 hobgoblin : "Thoughts of trying to ask the media to investigate this phenomenon seems a likely next choice. Maybe camera and television exposure will bring some truth to light,and substance to many beliefs that some form of throttling IS GOING ON."

Oh for gods sake....No one is throttling email attachments.

Its clearly another issue.

Hob
--
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20250383 Sat, 29 Mar 2008 23:05:55 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20250333 anon : For the past month, I have watched my uploading speed dwindle to a point where if I try using AOL mail, I lose connectivity to AOL and it automatically reboots to the Welcome Screen. I have Earthlink mail also and every one of my uploads get dropped. I can send text mail, but attachments NEVER MAKE THEIR DESTINATION. I tried using basic webmail for Earthlink, Yahoo, AOL, and GMAIL, all with identical results.

I had Time Warner to the house with two "techs" who replaced everything from the pole to the single splitter and still the same. Pinging various cities using SpeakEasy to measure up and down speeds gave perfect results. Yet when submitting larger files of around 6MB for upload, ALL MAIL delivery systems FAIL!

I do, or have done a lot of file transfers for extended periods of time and over time the upload speeds have dropped to .81Kb from around 50 to 89Kb. My download speeds are continuously variable, from 65Kb to 775kb.

I spoke to Time Warner at their Mid West Tech Support "Hub" and the rep told me there was a "massive email failure" throughout the city. He spoke of a "couple of complaints" from customers regarding the same thing. As we spoke the term increased to a few. When I pushed him, he said "massive". He said to wait as a "Major Team of Technicians" were trying to solve the problem and to try again in 24 hours. He spoke of identical complaints going back over a month.

Earthlink was no help at all. LIVE chat produced script readers with canned answers. This and Earthlink leases Time Warner's cable yet they too were "acting ignorant" or actually didn't have any idea as to what was/is going on.

Thoughts of trying to ask the media to investigate this phenomenon seems a likely next choice. Maybe camera and television exposure will bring some truth to light,and substance to many beliefs that some form of throttling IS GOING ON.

As I press begin to press the "Post Now" button, I wonder if this post will even make it to the forum. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20250333 Sat, 29 Mar 2008 22:55:27 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20248589 funchords : What you're describing isn't your ISP (directly). It's probably your modem.

Post some signal levels and logs -- particularly as its dipping "slowly to 10"]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20248589 Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:44:38 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20247718 anon : I'm pretty vexed in Albany, NY with "turbo" premium. My usenet speeds used to hum at 14 Mbps, and over the past week, I get slowdowns. It always starts at 13.9 or so, and then dips slowly to 10, then 8, and occasionally zero. There are "burps", where I lose internet but maintain LAN; reading here I'm guessing now that the modem is resetting.

I changed my modem, router, and wireless adapter since I was blaming the equipment, but the problem persists. I'm encrypting my usenet traffic, which helped thwart shaping previously, but now... New sheriff in town?

My speakeasy speed test is 1 Mbps, while I'm on usenet, jumps to 4, right after I close newsbin, and then I gain another 1Mbps a minute until I'm back up to 14. Whenever I boot cold in the morning, I'm always at 14...

FIOS where are you?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20247718 Sat, 29 Mar 2008 13:54:09 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20245036 MacLeech :
said by Andypro See Profile :

Well, I should have listened to MacLeech :) The tech came out today and said he'd been replacing old Motorola modems throughout the city because they just don't work well with the Turbo tier here. I have some other brand which I can't remember right now, and I've been slamming it ever since I got it with downloading and it hasn't hiccuped once. Yay!

If you have an SB4x00 and are having problems, definitely insist on a new modem. My speeds are better now, too.
Good to hear your modem reset issue was fixed.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20245036 Fri, 28 Mar 2008 22:38:30 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20245028 Andypro : Well, I should have listened to MacLeech :) The tech came out today and said he'd been replacing old Motorola modems throughout the city because they just don't work well with the Turbo tier here. I have some other brand which I can't remember right now, and I've been slamming it ever since I got it with downloading and it hasn't hiccuped once. Yay!

If you have an SB4x00 and are having problems, definitely insist on a new modem. My speeds are better now, too.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20245028 Fri, 28 Mar 2008 22:37:07 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20233645 Andypro : I could go out and buy a 51xx modem if I thought that would solve the problem. Since I'm having the identical problem across two different modems, though, I don't think I'll bother. I have a sneaking suspicion that it has to do with the node and all the snow that's had several months to find cracks in the cables to seep into and cause problems. If the tech doesn't know what the issue is (and he probably won't,) then I'll insist that a new cable is laid and connectors resealed.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20233645 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:20:25 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20230672 anon : I have been noticing slowdowns as well as of late. I pay for the 15/1 service and my speed tests barely peak at 5. I was using firefox for web browsing sites such as MySpace and Facebook would just not load. I tried using IE and same dilemma for the most part. I have reset my modem and all of that. I play COD4 online on PS3 though and I have no perfomance issues whatsoever. I have tried calling, but never had enough patience to wait on hold for 10 hours. *I also used to be a tech/installer for TWC and trust me when I say they don't know what's going on, they just come to wire the house or switch equipment.* it takes about 30 seconds just to preview this post.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20230672 Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:23:40 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20230656 MacLeech : That 4200 is still close to 5 years old... Try a 51xx series.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20230656 Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:20:52 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20230644 Andypro : Actually this *is* the new modem. I had an old SB4100 and I figured it was a modem problem as well, but unfortunately, it's not. I traded my old one in for this one a few days ago.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20230644 Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:18:51 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20230490 MacLeech : SB4200s have had issues with random crashing depending on the data flow through them.

See this:
»Poll !!!!!! Who has a SB4200 modem ???

Maybe you just need a new modem.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20230490 Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:51:10 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20230440 Andypro : I've got a tech coming out between 3-5pm on Friday. I'm gathering data points so I can make a pretty graph for him. I want to make sure I have something to show him and he doesn't think I'm just another clueless intrawebz user.

Plugged straight into my SB4200 modem with my laptop after a fresh reboot, I tested a 1GB file download 3 times so far and the modem crashed/rebooted in (mm:ss): 04:53, 02:52, and 19:45. I think I'll try the increasingly-large pings that another poster suggested and see what sort of data that gives me as well.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20230440 Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:43:54 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20223159 Dingleberry : Hi,
I'm jumping back in with a suggestion that I don't think I've yet posted in this thread, but think I may have posted in another...

One other thing people may try when they're having problems is to vary the size of the icmp/ping pkts... I was having a VERY odd problem last fall that TWC would not acknowledge even existed, but I was able to show that something outside of my house was indeed wrong when I started twiddling with the ping sizes...

I wrote a little script that would some number of times (if you're bored, do something like 100 pings) ping an address with packets of increasing size (increasing by 50 bytes) up to 1500; this gave data that showed a correlation between packet size and probability of failure when pinging the default router supplied by dhcp server. I could ping the modem's interface all day with no problems. When I tried pinging the default route, the probability of failure increased with packet size. The probability of failure stayed the same trying to ping the default route, anything on TWC's network, or anything else on the internet.

My problem turned out to be that someone had supposedly attached some bad equipment to the node I was on; but it would occur sporadically? ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20223159 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:34:31 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20220294 Andypro : I'll go ahead and hop on this thread too.

I live in Milwaukee and am having largely the same issue. My modem doesn't reboot randomly, but it does reboot during moderate downloading. It's anywhere between 1 to 20 minutes, but when I download a file the modem will reboot every time. If I don't download anything large then it stays up just fine. Some youtube videos can even cause the reboot. Not good.

I'm going to get a tech out here and I'll let you know if he gives me any insight into the problem. I'd like to propose that there has been so much snow this year that there could be moisture problems with the cable outside at any of the connection points. I also notice that the box I'm plugged into, which is in my neighbor's back yard, looks to have been tampered with as the cable is sort of strewn about and the plastic cover is just sitting on top without being snapped in.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20220294 Mon, 24 Mar 2008 23:23:47 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20183063 anon : I think I might have solved my problem in regard to lag. I spent literally my entire Monday night testing all of my hardware just to double check and found that my LAN interface on my pfsense box seems to be kicking the bucket. What was suppose to be a simple swap and reloading of rules turned into a complete rebuild. Everything is back up and running and I am getting advertised speeds and low latency again. Torrents are an unknown as I haven't tried that yet.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20183063 Tue, 18 Mar 2008 02:12:57 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20181232 anon : I have been having huge problems as well. I have turbo and the past two weeks have seen time outs just generally surfing the web. I ping the new DNS servers and I am running 150ms+ which is pretty slow. Some ping requests time out. Even google is seeing 200+ sometimes. When I try a independant DNS server they get even higher. Looks like I have a long, hatefilled, frustrating phone call with tech support ahead of me.

BTW...my TF2 has been lagging real bad too...even though on the server my ping is supposedly 50 or so.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20181232 Mon, 17 Mar 2008 19:54:01 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20180268 funchords : No, you came across fine. I just wanted to reassure you, but the 99% line I used came across incorrectly.

I do agree with you that the unusual -- like a news "Consumer Reporter" -- might be the next step. Other phones to ring --

1. President/CEO
2. Member of the Board of Directors
3. Consumerist
4. BBB

You're a blogger, so you don't mind a little attention. Get attention to your issue by buying a week or two on a billboard and use that space to complain, get the billboard covered on the local news (for free), and do some AM radio interviews. In all cases, get the word out that you'll be tracking progress on your blog. It's a guerrilla-marketing way to get someone from TWC to pay attention.

When do you get that press, then write in to news@dslreports.com, post vidoes of the stories on video sites, etc. etc..

Basically, become not just a squeaky wheel, but a royal (but righteous) PITA.
--
Robb Topolski -= funchords.com =- Hillsboro, Oregon
"We don't throttle any traffic," -Charlie Douglas, Comcast spokesman, on this report.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20180268 Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:44:05 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20161126 MacLeech : Please post the signal levels, when the connection is good and when it's bad.

Also if you can, try PingPlotter and run a trace to a known good site like 209.244.0.3

That PingPlotter program will show packetloss over time at each hop in a trace route. It logs the results and can run for hours, days, weeks, or forever.

With concrete info like signal levels and packetloss graphed out specifically showing an issue and where things start to fail, it gets very difficult for the techs and local management to ignore it if they get it.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20161126 Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:21:13 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20161077 anon : funchords: I wasn't trying to be defensive about it; sorry if it came across that way. I do understand what you're saying, and I agree with it.

I'm left wondering what productive steps I can take to get them to UNfail me now. I don't know anyone at TW-Milwaukee and all attempts thus far to contact "the right people" (as provided to me by CS reps both in the local offices and over the phone) have always ended in no response at all.

So I'm all for sticking to my guns until it's resolved, but I'm totally unable to get any traction with them. All I get is ignored; the only thing they're fairly quick about is sending automated letters threatening me with nonpayment when I try to withhold money. Go figure, right?

I suspect contacting a local television station's "consumer done wrong" person might be all I've got left at this point...short of just riding it out, cutting my losses, and praying the situation doesn't exist at our new address once we've moved. I don't necessarily want that kind of attention--for either party--but desperate times...

-alex
»alexfalkenberg.com]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20161077 Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:12:41 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20151036 funchords : Even before your reply, you very well established that customer service problem you are having. My message to you was mainly to point out that 99% of the causes of restarting modems fall on the TWC side.

The 4-5 things I mentioned weren't to put the onus on you at all. Instead, it was more of a Hail-Mary shot that maybe, just maybe here's a not-so-obvious item that both you and TWC overlooked.

You might want to lookup Mona Shaw for help with TWC. She's the Comcast Hammer Lady. It sounds like you need her more than we do.

In short: I don't think your technical problem at that address will get fixed until someone at TWC steps up and assumes ownership of it -- someone who is willing to keep your account at the top of their "to do" list and who sticks to it trying make some progress toward finding and fixing the problem every day. The bigger the company, the more difficult those people are to find.

The lack of any changes inside your house help to rule out, but do not completely rule out problems that are exacerbated by heat or season (my signals used to go through the roof whenever it hit 100F, yet for a few weeks I could only get techs to my house on cooler days -- and they, naturally, couldn't see the problem). Likewise, heaters and cooling fans tend to run on a seasonal basis. These things -- if they're happening at all -- are difficult to detect.

That's part of the frustration -- you've got to be willing to keep sticking this back on TWC even though you can't ever by 100% sure it's not something on your end. But that's one of the reasons you pay half-a-C-note for Cable Internet. It's an advanced technology and they're supposed to have the knowledge and the tools to find and fix these problems.

So far, they have failed you miserably.
--
Robb Topolski -= funchords.com =- Hillsboro, Oregon
"We don't throttle any traffic," -Charlie Douglas, Comcast spokesman, on this report.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20151036 Wed, 12 Mar 2008 07:19:56 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20150774 anon : I appreciate the feedback, wherever you might post it.

AC: I've actually run a cord from the next-door neighbor's place since I've seen it mentioned that it could be that (but honestly, TW themselves have blamed sunspots, overpowered ham radio, CB radio from semi traffic nearby, every network and phone and cable-using device ever made...and on and on, no lie). Anyway, it made no difference.

The cable modem is currently connected just inside my foundation where the line enters the house (albeit currently with a splitter (also replaced by them) so we can watch TV). The problem still occurs with just the CM connected, sans splitter, btw. Literally every cable and connector from the cable modem's current location 3 feet from my basement wall, all the way back to the pole behind our house, has been replaced by TW since this started. None of that has fixed anything.

As for interference, wouldn't that be an ongoing problem anyway? We've been in a pretty steady weather pattern lately, so no real changes as far as furnace use or anything else. Heat is a gas furnace on opposite side of the house from the coax and cat6 runs. As for cables running near anything electrical, they're where they've always been for the last three years we've lived here (with the exception of a recent move of the CM to the basement to test the house-wiring-of-some-sort-is-mucking-things-up theory), so the lack of any changes inside our house would seem to rule out it being a problem inside our house, imo...right? We've not added any new electronics or phones or anything of the sort since this started again.

I'm really at a loss about how to even explain this to anyone at TW, when we can even GET anyone to talk to us about it. NO one I've talked to seems to really 'get' that it could be a problem anywhere but inside my house. The last tech they sent out did the smallest/fastest local speedtest possible, which runs quite quickly...and that passed, so he called everything OK. Before he left, I hopped online right after that, and it's same-as-it-ever-was. He shrugged, said he didn't know, and to let them know if it continued!

I've lost all patience for service calls involving my home interior at this point, because they've all proven to be complete wastes of time. I've literally tried everything I know to try/test, eliminating other equipment, etc.

So clearly there's something wacky _somewhere_, but it seems like a ghost in their machine "out there" and I would love to be able to direct them to some specific part or location or something--anything--to get them to take a look. It seems like they're monkeying around with something, and it's wreaking havoc on us here.

What does it take to get TW to take this seriously, and do some good testing? I'd think they could bring their own cable modem, sit out at the pole 100 feet behind my house, try to download something--anything--and watch the CM reboot... Keep tracing it backwards from our pole, until it goes away. With only one guy (me) noticing and complaining, though, they apparently don't feel particularly pressured to take the time and spend the money investigating this. Meanwhile, I'm out $55/month for Roadrunner service I might as well not even have for as much as I can rely on it.

As for CM levels, they are always within the limits I've seem mentioned around online. Nothing weird there. Very rarely I'll see some "No FEC lock" errors in the log, but for the most part, nothing weird in the logs or admin UI at all except for the constant spontaneous rebooting I see listed.

The most frustrating part of this whole thing seems like it's being blown off and not taken seriously by TW. Literally zero response to long letters, long explanations to techs, etc. Promises of CM monitoring with eventual callbacks...none of which ever happen, etc. But they're always right on top of the bill! *sigh*

We're moving 50 miles or so north eventually (month or two from now), but not out of the TW-Milw. service area... so if it's a bad line or connection in a neighborhood junction box or something, maybe the problem won't follow us and we'll eventually be fine. Who knows. The lack of comparable options is quite frustrating. I'll still worry for our current neighbors and the next family that lives in this house.

Thanks again.

-alex
»alexfalkenberg.com]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20150774 Wed, 12 Mar 2008 03:34:34 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20148776 MacLeech :
said by funchords See Profile :

What is CPD?
CPD = common path distortion. It's caused when forward signals are "reflected" back onto the return path. It's more common on the coax distribution system where the forward signals are high (20 dBmV or higher) and the return attenuation is low.

It causes the return noise floor to jump up quite a bit (some times more than 20 dB). It kills the upstream SNR and causes "codeword" errors on the upstream. It usually affects every modem on the upstream CMTS port, but can be VERY intermittent and difficult to track down because it often disappears for hours or days due to being disturbed during the troubleshooting process.

If CPD is strong enough, it'll knock modems offline, if it's not it could just slow things down and cause "hiccups" occasionally because of the upstream errors.

It has a lot of possible causes: corrosion of distribution equipment, loose connectors, bad termination, faulty amplifiers, kinked cable, customer wiring issues, etc.... I've seen alot of it first hand.

This may interest you:
»cable.doit.wisc.edu/cpd/cpd2.v2.html

[edit]Posted better link.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20148776 Tue, 11 Mar 2008 19:59:29 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20148733 funchords : What is CPD?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20148733 Tue, 11 Mar 2008 19:51:26 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20148716 funchords :
said by mooosenix See Profile :

Mine is not rebooting.

The modem "config" page is still accessable, and all the lights are still on with the activity light happily blinking away.... ...no new logs on the modem config page
Agreed, your modem is not rebooting.

said by mooosenix See Profile :

Sometimes the connection will restore itself after ~30 seconds or so by itself without a reboot.
The next time this happens, do not manually restart the modem. Instead, check your system logs or router's logs for a message indicating some kind of a DHCP event. (Restarting the modem would force such an event, which is why I'd like you to avoid it.)

said by mooosenix See Profile :

Just for kicks, I'll probably have my modem swapped out in hope that's the problem, but I doubt it.
Despite the lack of log entries, the modem is still in play as a possible cause for your issue. I would think that if a modem was requiring a signal, that too would be logged. Swapping it would be a quick way to rule in or rule out a major player in making a successful connection.

My gut tells me it's your computer or your router, and not your modem and not ISP throttling.
--
Robb Topolski -= funchords.com =- Hillsboro, Oregon
"We don't throttle any traffic," -Charlie Douglas, Comcast spokesman, on this report.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20148716 Tue, 11 Mar 2008 19:49:51 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20148687 MacLeech :
said by mooosenix See Profile :

The modem "config" page is still accessable, and all the lights are still on with the activity light happily blinking away. However, any outbound traffic will fail to reach its destination.
How are the modem signal levels during all of this?
Are they stable or does the SNR or Tx level fluctuate more than 1-2 dB?
Is there packet loss during this time?
Can you ping your gateway IP during these times?
Can you ping 192.168.100.1 during these times?
Can you ping 127.0.0.1 during these times?
.
It sounds like a return signal issue from the symptoms listed so far, possibly caused by noise, CPD, transient hum modulation, or return signal reflections... none of which phone support or the techs field techs assigned to service calls can see very well, if at all. Maintenance/line techs can see some or all of it depending on the training and/or tools they have access to. The return issues can cause intermittent upstream interruptions without causing the modem to reset.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20148687 Tue, 11 Mar 2008 19:45:04 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20148605 funchords :
said by MacLeech See Profile :

The cable company can ALWAYS reboot your modem remotely, either through SNMP command to the modem, CMTS command, or physically turning off the signal to/from the modems forcing a reboot to reaquire the signal.
Right. But only the last one is sure to work, and the last one affects everyone on that frequency -- so it wouldn't be a good way to perform throttling.

If challenged, I couldn't tell you which modems respond to an SNMP command to restart or if there are different "deepnesses" of restart. And I don't know if you can reboot a modem from the CMTS outside of SNMP or interrupting the signal to a whole group. However, none of that applies to this guy's problem.

Good metaphor about the TV & kids. :) I found that Nyquil worked wonders. :p

PS: to answer your next question -- both.
--
Robb Topolski -= funchords.com =- Hillsboro, Oregon
"We don't throttle any traffic," -Charlie Douglas, Comcast spokesman, on this report.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20148605 Tue, 11 Mar 2008 19:34:29 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20148562 mooosenix :
said by funchords See Profile :

said by alexfalkenberg :

I'm tired of the BS of my cable modem constantly rebooting...
I responded on his blog with the following...

Alex,

Your modem is rebooting. That nearly eliminates purposeful ISP throttling as a cause as many DOCSIS modems cannot be rebooted from the headend. This is why most ISPs tell you to reboot your router when a network upgrade happens so that it can phone home and download and apply its new config file.

Mine is not rebooting.

The modem "config" page is still accessable, and all the lights are still on with the activity light happily blinking away. However, any outbound traffic will fail to
reach its destination.

In addition, there are no new logs on the modem config page after this happens. If the modem would have rebooted, it would have some logs about the startup process, right?

Sometimes the connection will restore itself after ~30 seconds or so by itself without a reboot. However, most of the time I have to manually restart the modem.

Just for kicks, I'll probably have my modem swapped out in hope that's the problem, but I doubt it.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20148562 Tue, 11 Mar 2008 19:28:23 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20148369 MacLeech :
said by funchords See Profile :

Your modem is rebooting. That nearly eliminates purposeful ISP throttling as a cause as many DOCSIS modems cannot be rebooted from the headend. This is why most ISPs tell you to reboot your router when a network upgrade happens so that it can phone home and download and apply its new config file.
The cable company can ALWAYS reboot your modem remotely, either through SNMP command to the modem, CMTS command, or physically turning off the signal to/from the modems forcing a reboot to reaquire the signal.

Why the ISP doesn't use it is often because they want to roll out an upgrade slowly over the course of days or weeks. Usually to ease into the change so resources aren't suddenly slammed with demand from one thing or another (i.e. hundreds or thousands of modems all trying to aquire IPs or use 3 extra mbit of bandwidth each or customers calling when something fails).

ISPs don't use modem resets to purposely throttle connections though, it's not exactly resource friendly. It'd be akin to controlling your kids TV watching by flipping the TV on and off while they're watching it, what's the point when there are much easier and less disruptive ways.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20148369 Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:57:49 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20148269 funchords :
said by alexfalkenberg :

I'm tired of the BS of my cable modem constantly rebooting...
I responded on his blog with the following...

Alex,

Your modem is rebooting. That nearly eliminates purposeful ISP throttling as a cause as many DOCSIS modems cannot be rebooted from the headend. This is why most ISPs tell you to reboot your router when a network upgrade happens so that it can phone home and download and apply its new config file.

Now -- I'm the guy holding Comcast's feet to the fire for throttling. So if I thought it was TWC + throttling, I'd certainly tell you.

It still is TWC who owns everything from your rented modem up to the node at the CMTS. If the cablemodem loses contact with the headend, a "watchdog" function in the modem will cause it to reboot in hopes to reestablish communications. There are several reasons that can happen -- 99% of those reasons are TWC issues. The modem normally won't reboot if it loses connectivity with your router or computer -- so if the modem is rebooting, it's because of an issue on the DOCSIS side.

That said, there are some "you" things you can check -- is the AC supply a clean one? Have you added any cables or splitters that might weaken the signal? Do your cables run near any electrically "noisy" sources that might dampen the modem's link to the headend -- such as an electric baseboard heater?

Thanks for letting me visit your blog. I might be back to your blog from time to time, but I read DSLReports every day or two. If there is anything I can do to help, please contact me on DSLReports.

--Robb (aka funchords)
--
Robb Topolski -= funchords.com =- Hillsboro, Oregon
"We don't throttle any traffic," -Charlie Douglas, Comcast spokesman, on this report.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20148269 Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:37:42 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20148009 Xizer : All I have to say is: It sucks to be you guys.

I am experiencing zero of these problems, and I get turbo service for $40 a month. I almost always get my full connection speed off of Time Warner's Usenet service.

During online games I don't experience any problems and my ping is always less than 50. Yeah, that includes Team Fortress 2.

I can also download and upload hundreds of gigabytes every month without getting "flagged."

Maybe it's your cable modem? They gave me a garbage SB4200 when I signed up for service. I quickly replaced that with an SB5120.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20148009 Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:47:44 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20147622 mooosenix : Connection just cut out twice playing TF2 and listening to a shoutcast stream.

This has gotta stop....]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20147622 Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:36:23 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20145937 georgeu : Have you thought about moving to the business class side of the house? I used to have turbo but when they came out with the home business product I moved to it, you get a business SLA and 24/7 business tech support. I live in Racine and pay around $63 a month for 2megs up and 15 down, works like a champ. . .

I still have digital phone running on the residential modem, but got a new one for the business class (SB5100). Everything seems to work well. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20145937 Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:43:27 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20144672 anon : I'd really appreciate it if any Milwaukee-area TW/RR users (or any other TW/RR users elsewhere, if you're having the same problems) would read about my issues with them here, in a lot greater detail:

»alexfalkenberg.com

and drop a comment; I'd like to collect as many data points as I can.

I'm tired of the BS of my cable modem constantly rebooting. I've been paying for their "premium" service for a long time, and getting no real use out of it. I snag a couple of TV shows here and there via BT, but that's really it. Linux ISOs here and there, too, and some audio/video streaming, some remote-desktop stuff, and moving pictures around online. Nothing I'd personally call excessive; the connection's supposed to be used, isn't it?

Happens with wget/http. Happens with bittorrent. Happens with ftp/scp. Consistently, any sustained download trips my stuff up so badly that I'm forced to reset -everything-. Multiple times an hour. Sometimes _dozens_ of times an hour (sometimes every 1-2 minutes).

If all I'm doing is uploading, that often seems fine, but I still get random disconnects when there's nothing in particular going on.

I can't rely on my Vonage line to make/take phone calls. I can't reliably get downloadable Tivo content or guide data. I can't count on getting Windows updates, Linux updates, OSX updates... I can't do any remote-support work. Can't listen to podcasts or watch vidcasts. I'm sometimes be forced to relogin to ssh sessions dozens of times in a day. Online gaming? Forget about it!

You name it, connection-wise, and it usually sucks.

It's been going on a long time. Everyone I've talked to (including 2nd and 3rd tier) denies there's any flagging or throttling, and they've really gone out of their way in the past to blame everything but themselves for the problems...if/when I can get anyone at Time-Warner Milwaukee to reply at all in the first place. (I can't.)

I have gotten tired of explaining the problem over and over and over again to first-level CS people. Techs to the house...are a joke. I've done plenty of pointless tests, logging, cablemodem swaps, spent time on the phone, written letters, and.... nothing. I've had a bright orange cable line across my lawn for more than a YEAR now when they spent hours here replacing everything all the way out to the pole (with no improvement).

The problem seemed to start in Dec 2006 (yes, 2006) when we got voluntarily bumped up to 8MBps "Turbo" service for an extra five bucks/month.

The problem seemed to go away last year finally around the time we got bumped up to 15MBps speeds.

The problem seems to have returned about 3-4 weeks ago now, and I've not identified any causes/changes. I know we're also lucky to see 10MBps down for a few minutes at a time, if that, when the connection IS working and the cable modem's not constantly rebooting.

Bottom line: the problem is not in my house, period.

If they're messing with my connection, or if I'm somehow abusing their mysterious (and apparently ridiculous) limits, then just TELL me. I'm an adult. Give me the chance to drop the service and end a relationship they've apparently ALREADY decided isn't working out for THEM, instead of, well, plainly and deliberately _stealing_ from me, taking money for service I'm paying for and not getting.

Messing with my connection is effectively ending our business relationship. And then continuing to pocket my money is somehow OK? No!

They've cost me a TON of money in wasted time alone...and it's gotta stop.

Thanks for reading along and any assistance.

-agf]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20144672 Tue, 11 Mar 2008 04:04:09 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20142719 mooosenix :
said by ggoldfingerd :

Anyway, Im just glad I have a new modem. My friend had an old Motorola cable modem and that thing would disconnect every 5 minutes when downloading over RR. My girlfriend also had the same modem and it would do the same thing. They are controlling the connections. They need to list this in the contact, because I pay for 15/1, I expect this connection speed unless they state otherwise.
said by chad17 :

I'm in West Allis and I'm finding that when I bittorrent, I have to cap my downloads at 200k if I let it run overnight, or I wake up and have to reset my modem.
Strangely enough, I've been seeing this issue as of the last couple of months. I also swapped out my router and it appears to be the modem, or something else.

I'm seeing it with heavy downloading of "normal" things (SCP and HTTP).

Seriously, what's the point of Turbo if you can't use it without your entire connection locking up?

Blah.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20142719 Mon, 10 Mar 2008 19:54:38 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20137276 rocksolidit : ok...I changed the firmware in my router from DD-WRT to Tomato..I'll see what happens.

(I registered...I post earlier as chad17)]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20137276 Sun, 09 Mar 2008 19:52:50 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20136023 MacLeech :
said by chad17 :

I'm in West Allis and I'm finding that when I bittorrent, I have to cap my downloads at 200k if I let it run overnight, or I wake up and have to reset my modem.
More then likely that's the modem locking up or maybe your router.... throttling is done elsewhere and won't cause your modem to need a reboot.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20136023 Sun, 09 Mar 2008 15:14:06 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20135875 anon : I'm in West Allis and I'm finding that when I bittorrent, I have to cap my downloads at 200k if I let it run overnight, or I wake up and have to reset my modem.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20135875 Sun, 09 Mar 2008 14:39:03 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20130765 anon : My connection seems to be throttled as well. I live in the Milwaukee area and just had my internet installed 1 week ago. My speeds tests last week showed 14000/1000, but now I am getting 5000/1000. I have been doing some heavy downloading with torrents. Mostly Linux files. At first with utorrent, I was getting speeds around 1.5mbps, now I max out around 100-200kbps. This has been happening for a few days now. I will retest my connection tomorrow, but speedtest.net shows my connection is down to 1/3 of what it was. Im not to worried about torrents, but I expect my speed test to be close to 15/1.

Anyway, Im just glad I have a new modem. My friend had an old Motorola cable modem and that thing would disconnect every 5 minutes when downloading over RR. My girlfriend also had the same modem and it would do the same thing. They are controlling the connections. They need to list this in the contact, because I pay for 15/1, I expect this connection speed unless they state otherwise.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20130765 Sat, 08 Mar 2008 12:21:41 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20103665 funchords :
said by MacLeech See Profile :

Imagine that cold medication commercial showing the rhino with the sheet thrown on top.... that's the affect of encrypting torrent traffic.
Good visual! But these DPI boxes aren't as heuristic as human beings are -- so the sheet might fool them -- perhaps not at all, perhaps for a little while, or perhaps completely.

The thing with DPI and pattern matching, is that the patterns have to match or they not match. It is only as good as its signature file.

True case in point:

The DPI device installed in Comcast-land has a couple of quirks. Encryption definitely helps as the handshake pattern Comcast looks for has an extra exchange -- it's enough to keep Comcast from killing the connection during the handshake and the users make it into BitTorrent's file-transfer mode. Eventually, Sandvine acts exactly as you described and detects it despite the encryption, but you do get about 30+ seconds of useful data upload before Sandvine catches on. That's 30 seconds you only get if you use encryption.
--
Robb Topolski -= funchords.com =- Hillsboro, Oregon
"We don't throttle any traffic," -Charlie Douglas, Comcast spokesman, on this report.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20103665 Mon, 03 Mar 2008 22:47:07 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20101592 MacLeech :
said by tattoohead See Profile :

What about encryption? There's gotta be someway around it.
Sure you can use encryption, but torrents have a definite signature when using network resources that can't be hidden.

There are very few protocols that make a "swarm" of connections in such a way and encryption doesn't hide that...

Imagine that cold medication commercial showing the rhino with the sheet thrown on top.... that's the affect of encrypting torrent traffic.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20101592 Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:15:25 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20101263 tattoohead : What about encryption? There's gotta be someway around it.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20101263 Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:17:24 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20100877 MacLeech :
said by tattoohead See Profile :

What if you use different ports? I doubt they would throttle a gaming port, for instance.
They don't throttle based on ports. It's based on packet "signatures".]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20100877 Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:12:32 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20100781 tattoohead : What if you use different ports? I doubt they would throttle a gaming port, for instance.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20100781 Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:55:20 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20077086 sup191 :
said by MacLeech See Profile :

try 209.244.0.3 and 209.244.0.4
Better than the ones that OpenDNS lists, but still slower than the ones I have been using.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20077086 Thu, 28 Feb 2008 11:14:15 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20073458 MacLeech :
said by sup191 See Profile :

said by idigg :

I've been having similar issues with RR in Milwaukee (Biz class @ 8MB/1MB. I've just been using OpenDNS as it seems to be a better option at this point.
Ok, I just changed my DNS servers to the two from OpenDNS. My ping rates went from ~60ms (my old DNS servers listed above) to ~115ms (with OpenDNS). I think I'll be sticking with my old DNS servers. :)
try 209.244.0.3 and 209.244.0.4]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20073458 Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:01:37 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20073227 sup191 :
said by idigg :

I've been having similar issues with RR in Milwaukee (Biz class @ 8MB/1MB. I've just been using OpenDNS as it seems to be a better option at this point.
Ok, I just changed my DNS servers to the two from OpenDNS. My ping rates went from ~60ms (my old DNS servers listed above) to ~115ms (with OpenDNS). I think I'll be sticking with my old DNS servers. :)]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20073227 Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:32:57 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20072960 sup191 :
said by Dingleberry See Profile :

Just out of curiosity... what DNS servers are you being offered by dhcp?
I don't use DHCP. I use 169.207.1.3 and 209.153.128.4 for my DNS servers. I've been using them for over eight years. I honestly don't remember where I even got them from. :)

I'm going to try OpenDNS either tonight or tomorrow and see what differences that makes in everyday use. I've heard nothing but good things about them. Will this solve TW's traffic shaping, no, but it can't possibly hurt.

Hopefully the recent news of the FCC looking into Comcast's traffic shaping will lead to something. If they get slapped for doing it, other ISP's hopefully will.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20072960 Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:44:20 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20072409 anon : I've been having similar issues with RR in Milwaukee (Biz class @ 8MB/1MB. I've just been using OpenDNS as it seems to be a better option at this point.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20072409 Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:02:09 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20071682 Dingleberry : Just out of curiosity... what DNS servers are you being offered by dhcp?

I ask as I've recently started being offered 65.24.0.168 and 65.24.0.169. I don't know what's up with them, but they often can't resolve from valid domains (several .edu, and others I don't recall offhand), and are perhaps a lot slower in resolving than the servers I used to be offered. These new machines appear to be in ohiordc.rr.com. And the old machines offered were 24.94.163.32 and 24.94.163.33 which are in rdc-kc.rr.com.

I've wondered if this is related to rr's hijacking mistyped uri's/url's... but perhaps I'm just paranoid.

At any rate, I've since started appending the kc dns servers to resolv.conf and internety things seem to work a lot better.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20071682 Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:56:21 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20070057 epickles : It most certainly is traffic shaping. Actually, I believe it is more along the lines of user prioritization, or site prioritization. I have DSL ready to be reinstalled... It is slower, but on the other hand it may actually be faster.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20070057 Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:02:03 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20067747 sup191 : I have also noticed a couple other slowdowns over the past couple hours. Videos streamed from YouTube are no longer buffering anywhere near as quick as they used to. Now the video plays with the buffered part only just past the point of where I'm watching. Also, I download from Usenet at times through Easynews.com. I can usually hold a 12-14Mb connection while downloading. Tonight, my speed started at 1.5Mb/sec and slowly worked it's way down to 150k/sec.

Why can't Time Warner admit to traffic shaping?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20067747 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:29:50 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20066970 sup191 :
said by epickles See Profile :

After you upload via VPN tunnel to usenet, please let me know how that works out.
After setting up a VPN tunnel, my uploads were smooth and without any dropped packets. Granted, I was testing using a free VPN service (well, $3 for 3 days or 100 MB's), so my speeds were set low by the VPN server, but I had no problem holding a constant speed without any dropped packets. The VPN was using PPP instead of the usual TCP protocol, but it still proves to me that Time Warner is interfering with uploads from me. DC++ also worked a lot better through the VPN. I tried uploading a 10 meg file to a FTP site and I got my usual max speed - 125k/sec. So, FTP is not effected. I even tried torrenting a 4 gig Linux ISO, just to see if that was effected, figuring that would be the MAIN thing they would want to limit. I did get a bit of packet loss, but the speeds ended up being exactly what I got before my other issues happened. I'm not sure why the torrent worked so smoothly. I'm guessing the large number of seeds/peers outdid the amount of packet loss I was getting.

I don't know what it all means so far, but I still feel Time Warner has something to do with this. The last things I plan to try out in the next couple days is to try my cable modem at a friends house and see if the same problems happen, and finally, swap the modem at a Time Warner store. After that, I've exhausted everything I can possibly do on my end.

Dammit Verizon! Where is FiOS in my area?!? :)]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20066970 Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:25:47 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20061702 epickles : After you upload via VPN tunnel to usenet, please let me know how that works out.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20061702 Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:43:29 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20061514 Anonymous_ : my works fine my bounce between 100KBytes/s to 135KByte/s
torrentz

terayon modem :p]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20061514 Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:12:57 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20061383 sup191 : My download speeds are not effected by this throttling anywhere. Only my uploads are effected. I called TW customer service today and they said everything is fine on their end and that I wasn't being throttled due to excessive bandwidth usage. They said my account is in good status.

A few minutes ago, I sent a 10 meg file to a ftp site I set up at work. I got the full 120k/sec speed I used to get everywhere. I then tried uploading the same file to alt.binaries.test and was bouncing between 0-10k/sec. Sure Time Warner, you're not messing with my bandwidth...

I am going to try uploading to usenet through a VPN tunnel. If it works smoothly, that should pretty well prove that TW is responsible for my issues. If they are, odds are they have my account flagged for this throttling. I'm going to drop roadrunner and have my girlfriend sign up as a new customer. That should shed the throttling (hopefully) unless they are doing this to the entire node or area.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20061383 Mon, 25 Feb 2008 20:51:24 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20058246 epickles : As far as I know, there is no time limit that they put you back. I was downloading from Rapidshare today, and had the same issue. It's funny how I can download from Microsoft, download.com, and some of the others, but when it comes to strictly Newsgroups, Rapidshare, and other "questionable" stuff, it is heavily limited. Now, if at different times of the day it were higher than others, I would believe the whole bandwidth saturation thing... but this is consistent.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20058246 Mon, 25 Feb 2008 11:47:26 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20058052 sup191 :
said by epickles See Profile :

For what it's worth, I was NOT using TWC's news servers, I was using Giganews.
I use Easynews servers, not TW's. Uploads are still crap to both of them however.

So, once they "tag" you as excessive, do they ever put you back to normal status after a certain amount of time?

For kicks and giggles, I chatted last night with a live support person on help.rr.com. I knew nothing would come out of it, but tried it anyways. After the rep on the other end said that there were no network issues and she could ping my modem fine, I asked her why I was having my uploads throttled. After a minute or so, she comes back with "Sir, I assure you that Time Warner is not throttling your uploads". When I pressed for what else it could be, she referred me to an 888 number that helps with bandwidth problems. I plan on calling the number when I get home today from work. I also plan on testing tunneling to see if I have the same problems. If I don't, then it pretty much prooves that Time Warner is screwing with my connection.

I'll keep this thread updated on what's going on.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20058052 Mon, 25 Feb 2008 11:12:25 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20057296 epickles :
said by sup191 See Profile :

said by jarschmi See Profile :

I don't have the really fast RR package, but I have a suspicion that RR's news server does, in fact, throttle, after periods of heavy use (UL or DL).
I could understand if it was just Usenet causing this issue, but it is effecting DC++ which I use quite a bit with a small group of friends. I don't know what Time-Warner considers "excessive use of bandwidth", but I know in the past couple months I haven't come near "hogging" more than my share. For the most part, we use DC++ as a place to chat as most of us are located all around the world.

If throttling IS what's happening, it would have been nice to get some sort of warning before the throttling happened, but I know I'm hoping for way too much from one of the major cable companies. I'll just cross my fingers it's a network problem and it works itself out over the next couple days. If not, I'll call them and complain. I'm not too hopeful about the outcome though...
For what it's worth, I was NOT using TWC's news servers, I was using Giganews.

Secondly, I was under the same impression. According to TWC's techs, "excessive" usage(ie. what starts to raise their eyebrows) is any more downloading than 18-20 gigs/month. Mine was at 23-25, I was told that average household is 10-12 gig/mo. They also look at utilization, and anything more than about a 25% constant utilization (ie. connection maxed out for more than 25% of the time) sparks an "excessive" warning with their abuse dept. They don't, however, cut you off (not sure if they even legally can). In my estimation, they do, however, make it run like crap to discourage your use.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20057296 Mon, 25 Feb 2008 08:13:30 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20056176 sup191 :
said by jarschmi See Profile :

I don't have the really fast RR package, but I have a suspicion that RR's news server does, in fact, throttle, after periods of heavy use (UL or DL).
I could understand if it was just Usenet causing this issue, but it is effecting DC++ which I use quite a bit with a small group of friends. I don't know what Time-Warner considers "excessive use of bandwidth", but I know in the past couple months I haven't come near "hogging" more than my share. For the most part, we use DC++ as a place to chat as most of us are located all around the world.

If throttling IS what's happening, it would have been nice to get some sort of warning before the throttling happened, but I know I'm hoping for way too much from one of the major cable companies. I'll just cross my fingers it's a network problem and it works itself out over the next couple days. If not, I'll call them and complain. I'm not too hopeful about the outcome though...]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20056176 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 23:06:43 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20056132 jarschmi : I don't have the really fast RR package, but I have a suspicion that RR's news server does, in fact, throttle, after periods of heavy use (UL or DL).

However, the news server subscription and access provided by RR far outweigh this factor. Many providers heavily sensor the newsgroup content and do not provide free access.

Overall, I don't have a problem with it, as the service dampers are infrequent and I only DL and UL a few hours at a time here and there (a few times a week).]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20056132 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 22:57:22 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20055615 sup191 : Well, I ran Wireshark to check for RST packets and I didn't see any. I also ran about 4-5 speed tests and they all max out my upload stream. This has to be happening on Time-Warner's end. At this point, I'm planning on calling customer service, but I really doubt they'll either know about or admit to throttling my upload stream. Has anybody else ever had this type of problem and had it successfully solved?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20055615 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 21:02:35 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20053846 epickles : How very interesting. I am in the Cincinnati area, and have experienced the exact same situation. I've had 5 different guys come out, and all of them say everything is fine with my line, even though they see what is going on.

My upload bounces around tremendously, and they have seen that. They ended up putting a different cable modem on (twice) and it still has not helped. It is tied to the account.

I also pay for the upgraded 15/1 package.

I've given up at this point, because they can't find anything. It's my understand from the techs that have come out that there is a private group (abuse dept) that monitors heavy usage customers and can make modifications to their service without anybody else knowing. TWC considers heavy bandwidth usage (albeit using what you pay for) an abuse issue and automatically assumes that you are doing something illegal (ie. P2P, Torrents, Usenet, etc), and frown upon that. They can't, however, prove it... so they make it run horribly to discourage the use.

My symptoms started to occur about 1 month after I started using Usenet pretty heavily (and thus maxing my connection) and have not subsided even though I've stopped. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20053846 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 14:18:13 EDT Re: [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20053747 Xizer : I am experiencing none of these issues.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20053747 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 13:57:28 EDT [TWC] Throttling in Milwaukee? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20053273 sup191 : I have the upgraded RR package. (15/1) For the past six months, my uploads and downloads have easily maxed out or have come close to maxing out those speeds. Over the past few days, my DC++ and Usenet uploads have dropped from the normal ~120k/sec to ~10-50k/sec. There are many periods where the speeds bounce between zero and 50k/sec - alternating back and forth. My download speeds are fine. Speedtest.net shows my up/down speeds being at their maxed limits. I plan on calling TW to see if there is a network problem in my area tomorrow after I get home from work if the problem persists. It'd be weird for them to only throttle my up stream and not the down, but since it's bothering me, I thought I'd post about it here first to see if others are noticing the same type issues in the Milwaukee area.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20053273 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 12:17:28 EDT