US Cable Support > RCN > [Connectivity] Ongoing problems in the Lehigh Valley

reply to LPZ

Re: [Connectivity] Ongoing problems in the Lehigh Valley

Usually when the tuner goes, it will stop working after it gets really heated up.

So it may have worked for a few hours just fine since it wasn't fully warmed up, but then once you started doing xfers and it was really working hard, then it started cutting out again.

Now, it may be an RCN issue, but if they don't find anything wrong, I think you'll get socked a $50 charge for truck roll fee, a new modem costs less than that.

-Derek-
--
CHECK YOUR FSLC TAXES!!!

While RCN was re-provisioning my resurrected modem (the one they insisted was dead several years ago, and which would not come online then) the representative mentioned that he saw a lot of packet loss, and he said that that issue is usually coming from outside the house.

As I said, I have no idea what the situation is right now. I have two modems, a "dead" SB5120 that is currently working just fine, and an SB5101 which now won't come online (actually the "receive" light comes on solid green, but the "send" light flashes). I'd be willing to think the 5101 is dead, but that's what RCN told me about the 5120.

I wish there were some easy way to determine if a modem is operational, without having to rely on RCN in any way. I really don't want to buy another modem, and it's hard to believe that they die so easily.

reply to Coyotered

reply to LPZ
I am having the same problem. I am in Delaware County PA. I have a SB5101 and no router. The internet connection just stops working at random intervals during the day. (I can post a log if it would be helpful, I just didn't want to clog up the board if its not needed.) Is there anything I can look for in the logs, or a test I can run that will verify if the modem is failing or not.

Thanks in advance for your help.

I have an old Linksys cable modem, not sure of the model, maybe the BEFCMU10, and a linksys router. My internet drops as others have stated. I unplug the cable modem and plug it back in and the internet magically works again. I don't touch the router.

So it isn't a motorola issue, since I have the same issues as everyone else.
I was thinking of upgrading to the SB5101 just because my linksys is so old.

reply to LPZ
I am in the exact same boat. I've spent some cash over the past few weeks trying to remedy this but to no avail.

When I called Tech Support, they told me everything is fine on their end so it must be my router. They told me to hook the cable modem up directly to my PC. Since it is intermittent, I'm not sure what taking the router out of this will show considering I just put in a brand new router last week.

It is very frustrating. I did a few speedtests tonight and I'm hitting between 9.8 and 10.4 MB/s on a Mach10 service, so when the service is up, it is doing well. However, with the service so variable, I can't deal with it, my kids are constantly screaming about getting kicked from games and am looking to switch unless I can get this fixed. I read on the board that FIOS is coming to the Valley. If they hit Bethlehem Township I will switch without looking back.

The average is a drop every three hours but today it seems like it dropped about 5 times since 11am.

Here is the output from pa.speedtest.rcn.net

Forward Modulation qam256(4)
Forward Power Level -7.1 dBmV
Foward Signal to Noise 35.6 dB
Downstream Ratelimit 11000000
Upstream Ratelimit 800000
Modem TX Power 41.7 dBmV

Things I've tried:

Lowered Router MTU to 1380 (helps a bit but doesn't seem to eliminate the drops)

Replace router (Had an older Linksys G router and replaced it with a DLINK N router)

Purchased a new cable modem after I was told that it was my router (a week after I replaced it). I had an old Toshiba PCX2500 and I replaced it with a Zoom I purchased at Staples)

Replaced the CAT5 cable between router and cable modem

Replaced the Coax to the Cable Modem.

Any advice? It's not the cable modem, it's not the router, its not the inhouse cabling, it happens on wireless and direct connected clients, it happens on game systems and PC. In my opinion, it is something outside of my house but I don't know how to convince RCN it's not my router.

reply to LPZ
I'm seeing the same thing lately. I just got upgraded to include VoIP telephone service. It uses a newer modem that has the VoIP built in. I see every few days, where I loose internet. I also have a Linksys WRT54G wireless router. Of couse the Indian help center will right away say it's your router. And to prove it they want you to remove it and all will work fine. But as others have stated, if you go through the power down/up sequence, all will start to work again. I just this morning updated the firmware on the router. So I'm thinking it has something to do with that. But most likely not. In the Lehigh Valley, where the crush will be happening very soon, it might have something to do with this.

Your problem may be a result of the crush coming... we had some issues with various cable stations, and some "flaky" internet in the weeks leading up to it.

I spoke to a friend of mine who lives about 10 blocks away. He said not only does he lose internet but he also losses phone. I'm assuming that there is no way I'm going to get this fixed since it appears to be a systemic problem in our area and all of the answers from Tech Support are "everything is fine".

reply to LPZ
I'm seeing this as well... hmmm.
My modem (Moto SB5101 that I own) speedtest:
------------------------------------------------------------
Your Modem Mac xxxxxxxxxxxx Your IP xx.xx.xx.xx

Forward Frequency 735000000 Return Frequency 24816000
Forward Modulation qam256(4) Modem TX Power 30.7 dBmV
Foward Signal to Noise 36.1 dB Downstream Ratelimit 5300000
Forward Power Level 6.1 dBmV Upstream Ratelimit 400000

File size transferred : 3.02 MB (3167484 bytes)
Total time taken : 5.04 seconds (5039 milliseconds)
Throughput : 628.0 KB/sec [Kilobyte-per-second]
= 0.63 MB/sec [Megabyte-per-second]
= 5024.0 Kbps [Kilobit-per-second]
= 5.02 Mbps [Megabit-per-second]

I don't think it's me....

A thread that's been going on for a while and I know I tend not to actively post around here as often as people would prefer (or as much as I would like to just busy busy busy) we do read them. We need mac address's in the posts so that we can look at things on the back side. The only mac address I've noticed was posted originally which doesn't appear to be tied to an account anymore.
--
Bryan Laird
Director Product and Technology

reply to LPZ
If I can throw my two cents in... I strongly suggest that those who are reporting intermittent drops monitor their transmit (upstream) power levels. I've had a lot more experience with intermittent connections than I'd like, and have found that the upstream power is the sure-fire indication of a physical connection problem. In my case it was the miserable old connectors on the rigid 1/2" underground coax. They'd open the center conductor intermittently. TV would still work and the downstream carrier for the CM would still work because they were a high enough frequency to couple capacitively across the open (oxidized) connection. The upstream however, running at the relatively low frequency of 24MHz could not couple across so the modem kept cranking up the transmit power until it ran out of range. Then everything would drop. Internet and phone, but not TV. Anything that depends on that upstream carrier. And then, magically, as the temperature changed or the wind blew, it would reconnect and everything would come back online for a while.

I finally twisted their arm to make a service call and replace both of the connectors. The new ones are Amphenol brand of a different design than the old ones. So far they've been bulletproof.

reply to LPZ
I will post my MAC as soon as I get home.

I did another tear down of the setup yesterday morning and went at least 12 hours without a drop. Saturday, I put out a sheet of paper and had the kids write down every time there was a disconnect from the Internet. It was pretty close to hourly from 7am to 9pm (!!!). It was not synchronized to the hour but it was 14 disconnects over 14 hours. When I woke up Sunday morning, I was on for about 1 hour when I was kicked off the internet, which is why I ripped everything apart.

The one thing I did notice was that the forward power level, which I reported at -7.1 dBmV had improved(?) to -6.1 dBmV since the reconnection of all of the wires in my setup yesterday morning. Both readings are in spec, per pa.speedtest.rcn.net, but, as I said, I didn't have a single drop at all after making that change.

In the mean time, is there anyway to easily monitor my connection? Today, since no one is home, I'm missing out on prime data collection. I searched around for an app that would monitor and log the connection and I couldn't find anything. I also looked at my router logs and my pc system logs to see if the drops were creating any "evidence" but I didn't find anything that sync'd up with my hand written time log.

Thanks.

Here are my latest stats:

Your Modem Mac 00:1f:c6:98:1c:4d
Modem TX Power 39.2 dBmV
Foward Signal to Noise 35.6 dB
Forward Power Level -6.4 dBmV

So since I first posted, here are the changes

Modem TX Power -2.5 dBmV
Forward Signal to Noise 0 dB
Forward Power Level 0.7 dBmV

So far so good. No drops in last few hours according to the kids.

reply to LPZ
...and my latest stats...
Your Modem Mac 00:15:2f:bf:7e:8e Your IP 207.172.xxx.xxx
Forward Frequency 735000000 Return Frequency 24816000
Forward Modulation qam256(4) Modem TX Power 34.7 dBmV
Foward Signal to Noise 36 dB Downstream Ratelimit 5300000
Forward Power Level 3.4 dBmV Upstream Ratelimit 400000

------------------------------------------------------------
File size transferred : 3.02 MB (3167484 bytes)
Total time taken : 5.03 seconds (5033 milliseconds)
Throughput : 629.0 KB/sec [Kilobyte-per-second]
= 0.63 MB/sec [Megabyte-per-second]
= 5032.0 Kbps [Kilobit-per-second]
= 5.03 Mbps [Megabit-per-second]

------------------------------------------------------------
File size transferred : 3.02 MB (3167484 bytes)
Total time taken : 77.14 seconds (77144 milliseconds)
Throughput : 41.0 KB/sec [Kilobyte-per-second]
= 0.04 MB/sec [Megabyte-per-second]
= 328.0 Kbps [Kilobit-per-second]
= 0.33 Mbps [Megabit-per-second]

My original post:
Your Modem Mac xxxxxxxxxxxx Your IP xx.xx.xx.xx

Forward Frequency 735000000 Return Frequency 24816000
Forward Modulation qam256(4) Modem TX Power 30.7 dBmV
Foward Signal to Noise 36.1 dB Downstream Ratelimit 5300000
Forward Power Level 6.1 dBmV Upstream Ratelimit 400000

File size transferred : 3.02 MB (3167484 bytes)
Total time taken : 5.04 seconds (5039 milliseconds)
Throughput : 628.0 KB/sec [Kilobyte-per-second]
= 0.63 MB/sec [Megabyte-per-second]
= 5024.0 Kbps [Kilobit-per-second]
= 5.02 Mbps [Megabit-per-second]

Mod Note: IP address removed for privacy / this is a public board

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