ISP automatic forums » Knology → Knoxville - Lag / ping / DOCSIS 3.0

Hi guys,

I moved to west Knoxville in February. My apartments are contracted with Knology, so they're the only cable company I can get here. I opted for "the edge" which is supposed to be 8mb down. I asked the tech when they'd be getting DOCSIS 3.0 to Knoxville, and he said "Around quarter 3 this year". I'm fairly sure they've pushed it back since then since it's already August and none of them know when it's coming here.

Back on topic though, my down speed has been reduced to 2-3mb over the past couple months. My ping spikes so high that it sometimes drops a packet every 20-30 seconds. I called Knology to have it fixed and they pinged my modem with my PC disconnected and the ping spike still occurred, so it's nothing spyware related. I've had techs out here 3 times to try to fix it, replacing the modem once and mostly just standing around while the modem resets. One tech was actually honest with me and said he wouldn't waste my time trying to fix it because the laggy and spiky pings are because they're seriously overcrowded on their infrastructure.

So here's my problem: I'm in an apartment complex that only lets me have Knology as cable internet. Knology is overcrowded, laggy and just overall bad here.

I can either
1) Wait until DOCSIS 3 comes to Knoxville
or 2) Get 6mb DSL from AT&T.

Questions and TL;DR:
Anyone know if there's a fix to spiky pings? It happens all the time at irregular intervals every day all day.
Does anyone know how long I'd have to wait for docsis 3?
How's DSL these days? I had it about 7 years ago and it was fairly horrible compared to cable at the time.

Thanks for any response,

Bob

it's pretty much a case where you have to share the bandwidth with all the other apartments. The tech is right, it's crowded. it also sounds like there a p2p user in your apartment complex using a lot of bandwidth.

I'm waiting for D3 as well. At&T is a joke in my neighborhood.

YES it's not just me that has problems in west Knoxville (:

Ok so like my Download speeds have been around 2.33 Mbps down and 0.73 Mbps up. Now I am on the edge so I should see speed around 7-8 respectably and well my upload has always sucked so no reason to bitch now lol. I Just noticed it today so I am not sure but I think it maybe a node in my area as this has been on and off in my area for like 6 months. Now here is the interesting part I live in a area with almost no Knology users as Comcast also has lines here. So I don't believe my node is congested but there is no way to really be clear on that as it could run into another area. My signals on my modem are Upstream Power 44.0 dBmV
SNR 35.0 dB
Downstream Power -8.0 dBmV

I have a pretty good feeling that there may be a problem in the Knoxville area as a black fiber connection running out of bandwidth not really going to happen as knology does not really have a monopoly in Knoxville.... I mean hell just look at there prices vs comcast THEY SUCK. So to skip to the point I think there is some head end problems.

You may want to ask if they are able to change any settings in QOS as they may be able to set you on a higher priority level. I have a tech coming out today so just maybe I can get this shit fixed

Update:
I sent a tweet to Knology's twitter asking them to comment so Maybe they can help us out (:

Oh and Knology if you read this and post back Thank you!

Sounds like another case of knology over selling the product and not keeping up with capacity. We just went through our second round of over selling in the pcb system. Ever time it happens you have to complain until your blue in the face about it. Even then it will take them months to fix the issue as it did here. It usually requires them to load balance the nodes or install another cmts.

I hope that with DOCSIS 3.0 comes the end of over selling the system once ever year. D3 should have far better QOS and load balancing technologies. Only time will tell on that matter though.

YEP what big said.

Ok so After doing a great amount of searching using nmap here is some of the equipment knology is using in Knoxville. The list will be the first thing I hit to the last.
1.ARRIS C3 Cable Modem Termination System
»www.arrisi.com/product_c ··· sp?id=85
2.IBM DS4800
»www.nasi.com/IBM_DS4800.php

Going to do some more searching but yeah here it is.

@techmantrey is this ds4800 inside Knology's network?

Yeah it is, I felt some what stupid when I saw it because I was like wtf is that lol. I think it maybe where the the mac address are held to be able to access there network or maybe some sort of QOS but to tell you the truth I am just guessing on that as asking a knology customer support agent always just leads to sending out a tech. But hey I did find some really cool info after once again spending way to much time. I believe I found the Hub for west Knoxville (75.76.40.62 hub He downstream 13) Ping the hub and lets see the ping time. I have done over 150 tests within a 9 hour period and even when the networks almost stops that hub is fine, but if you ping the west point server (24.214.63.161) during those times you are almost 100% going to get 25% packet loss on every test. So it could be two things, 1) There head end has major problems. 2) There is a problem during the path, such as failed equipment.

1)I found out another thing knology uses it can be found here »www.enterasys.com/compan ··· l-ds.pdf
Don't know the exact one but hey it a XSR Firewall

2) »www.juniper.net/us/en/lo ··· 6-en.pdf it is the J2320 or the EX4200 (24.96.153.25)

I'm trying to think why knology needs an IBM ds4800 storage array on the public network. Assuming it's maxed out it will handle on the order of 90TB's SATA storage. Got to be some serious data logging going on. IBM stopped selling it on December 11, 2009.

UPDATE!!!
I had a tech come out and man he was great!
Now I am waiting to see after they saw my proof what they are going to do, but hey if they don't then I have some really really juicy stuff for you guys to see and I mean juicy (:

The service supervisor said it should be fixed by the end of the week..... so only time will tell

Any info on who you spoke to? I just moved into a West Knoxville apartment complex that's Knology only, got the 8Mb service, and am only getting 2Mb. This is really painful compared to the 25Mb I was used to with Comcast back in Nashville. The TV quality is poor and there are fewer HD channels than I'm used to as well. I honestly wouldn't have moved into this complex if I had known up front that Knology was this bad.

You guys should all listen to this.
Knology, Inc. at Morgan Keegan Technology Conference
»phx.corporate-ir.net/pho ··· l-irhome

Talking about how they don't hide behind the "up to" policy. Saying things like when we say 12 Megabits we mean 12 Megabits. Also saying that with other providers you can only get that speed at 3am on a sunday morning.

Also talked about how good there customer service is with status updates on there crackberry's every 2 hours.

Sounds like to me the heads of the company don't eat there own dog food.

I am contacting him again tomorrow. He said it should be fixed by the end of the week so I would say it's just about the end of the week. If the ball gets dropped I will release all the findings I have along with all the contacts so maybe if we all bitch and have proof they can't bs anymore. Just for the record I am in no way treating knology just saying that I will provide the info needed to get the issue fixed. Wanted to make that clear (: will update all of you guys aka my knology friends when I get new info.

I will be contacting him if this issue fails to get resolved lol

They're coming out to visit tomorrow. Not sure what they'll do, but they're coming out. I'm afraid if it is congestion I'll just get brushed off. They claim they don't have a lot complaints from my area.

Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and I have some weird wiring problem that only causes issues during peak hours!

Same problem here in West Knox.
A tech came by to my place and said the-so-called-new-upgrade should've been done already (June or July) but it has not been done. He didn't tell me the reason.
During the peak time the DL speed gets horribly Low 0.48Mbps!! The phone guy wouldn't acknowledge the low speed and tries to persuade me to send a tech for an absolutely useless visit doing nothing but messing up with my computer setting. The latest tech acknowledged that this cable Co. has been had this slow speed problem for quite a while in Knox area.

I hope they fix this problem soon. Sometimes I even have problem accessing simple email with slower speed than dial-up stuff.. I may sign up AOL dial up for the temporary fix.

GEEZ.

I found out the truth for once!

Ok so they know about the issue and they have known about the issue for some time now. It would cost a crap ton to fix the problem so they are going to wait in-till Docsis 3.0 comes. It maybe be January or February before we see it. I just wish they did not make me jump through hoops and act like I was crazy before I found the truth. I mean they even lied to me.... I hate them but I never want to go back to Comcast.

If you have knology in Knoxville call them up and get them to fix your bill. This maybe the only way we can get them to learn and not lie to customers.

Hey tech,

Thanks for doing so much work for all of us poor suffering people here!

What exactly do you mean by "fix your bill"? Is there something in the contract I can complain about when my speed sucks? I suppose they should be charging me about half price since I'm getting half service.

I talked with a guy on the phone today and asked about docsis3 and he said it would be "soon" and that they were working maintenance in the Knoxville area that may be related.

Well by bill fixed I mean them giving you a credit for not getting what you pay for. I got 6 Months of free edge 2 months ago and like 2 weeks ago one free month of service. Take in to fact I have a 30 page document of proof so results may very lol. If you pay for the edge and don't get even close then they will fix the bill, you will need to bitch as they hate doing the right thing for some reason but it works. The Docsis date I got came from a higher source then anyone in the call center.... they have been saying soon for a good amount of time now lol

They said "soon" to me too 3 months ago.
...
I May need the "fixed bill" too.

The reason they think they can get away with stuff like this is because they have many places where you can only have Knology. So they see it as a chance to fuck the customer and really there is nothing we can do about it. I am about to go door to door and get the truth out about knology. They think they can just lie to every customer in Knoxville (and yes it is really everyone) Hell no it stops here. They should not even be able to sell internet if they know for a fact it does not work half the damn time anyways, I say we all get in a conference call and talk to Knology, Maybe then they would stop screwing us.

Horrible speed tonight. But it is weird. When I check it from knology speedtest, I get this great number!! yes, this is Great!! for me.

Last Result:
Download Speed: 5724 kbps (715.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 365 kbps (45.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 44 ms
Thursday, August 26, 2010 8:23:51 PM

from speedtest.knology.net

But if I do it at speedtest.net, then the speed test stops after getting the ping of 140ms. And I can't access any other website.

When I call the customer service, they insist to use speedtest.knology.net. But I don't see that 700KB/sec speed!!!

There is comcast box in the apartment complex by the way. I may need to go back to DSL. *sigh*

So my speeds have sucked (bad) despite having the 8Mbps service. I called them about two weeks ago, they sent a tech out who didn't find anything wrong. I called to follow up, was told it was an equipment problem on their end and that it would be fixed "soon."

Tonight, I'm getting 0.7 Mbps so I figure I'll call again. Of course, no record of any of my previous conversations with them and I'm starting from scratch. The guy on the line wants to send another tech out to investigate this mysterious "it's slow during peak hours" problem. So I sit and wait and hope for the best.

Barring some miracle I'm never moving into a knology complex again... I'm certainly telling everyone I know here in Knoxville to avoid them like the plague. They sold me a product they can't deliver and don't seem to be particularly worried about it. Everyone I talk to is nice and seems to want to help, but nothing is actually getting done.

Anyone else having better luck? Anyone try getting comcast or DSL or anything in a west knox. apartment with a knology contract?

I'm right there with you guys. I'm in a complex out west that is exclusive with Knology. There isn't even the option for DSL; Knology provides home phone.

It is very disappointing at how horrible the service is here. I hate Comcast, but I've never had this bad of service for this long with tech's doing nothing but shrugging their shoulders. And I never thought I'd see HD compressed to look worse than Comcast.

I'd certainly switch to DSL if I had the option.

WOW it's getting really bad tonight

Knology is a joke. They have only been allowed to operate by the grace of Knox City Council because they made wild promises about how quickly they would roll out cable. They are literally years behind.

I had them for several months because it was the only cable available in my apartment. They were complete losers from the start. Comcast has never taken more than 48 hours to install, AT&T not more than a week. The absolute soonest Knology could squeeze me in was 2 weeks and would not even put me on the waiting list until I forked over $100 for a deposit in person (ya no credit card or anything unlike everyone else). Then they lied about my modem. My salesman told me the cable modem I had would work but of course when they came out to install I had to get their proprietary modem for a fee ($7/month). When I told them I have used many cable/dsl providers and none were as slow as them to install they tried to convince me it was a good thing. "We have our own techs unlike Comcast who subcontract out." So what? At least it doesn't take Comcast freaking weeks!

Their cable tv quality sucked and their 6 Mb/s internet only reached that speed a few times. The average was around 1.2 Mb/s over the several months I had them! For a whole summer it was around .27 Mb/s! No joke (I checked the speed three times a day). It reminded me of the dial up days. I complained every single month. I was told one of two things:
Tech 1: "What? Really. That doesn't sound right. Our speeds are usually what we advertise. I have never even heard speeds that slow."
or
Tech 2: "Tell me about it. Speeds are very slow right now but we are updating are systems and we should have full speed in the next month."

The told me Docsis 3.0 was coming as of Spring 2009. Every month it was "next month it will be here".

I finally cut the cable and went with AT&T DSL which actually worked surpisingly well. Finally, I went Uverse when that was available. I like it a lot although I will probably try Comcast Docsis 3.0 when it comes since my apartments have finally opened up more (after all the complaints about Knology).

I am looking forwarded to the next time a Knology salesman comes by and I get to rip him a new one.

Speed here is still miserable, nothing is being done about it.

I do think we should all complain to the management at our respective buildings when we're stuck with knology. They're the only ones who can apply any pressure. I'm moving out as soon as my lease is up unless the service gets better.

Good idea. Hopefully we're all in the same apartment complex an we all complain around the same time :P

It's not like this is a one-ISP area. Comcast offers awesome speeds to everywhere around here -- it's our apartment that's the limiting factor.