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Tolmos
join:2011-08-08
Jacksonville, AL

4 edits

Tolmos

Member

Massive Packet Loss EVERY Night For 5+ Weeks

*** ORIGINAL POST UPDATED REGULARLY WITH NEW INFORMATION. INFO FOUND AT BOTTOM OF POST***

Starting about 5 or 6 weeks ago I have had nightly packet loss issues. By nightly- I mean every night without fail at some point between the hours of 7pm and 8am the next morning. Some nights are better than others... it comes in spurts and will only happen for a small portion of the nights. Other nights, like to tonight, it is a constant 3-20% packet loss.

This is basically what my internet looks like most nights (and how it looks currently - an excerpt from my latest round of pings against google)


Reply from 74.125.73.104: bytes=32 time=64ms TTL=51
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 74.125.73.104: bytes=32 time=62ms TTL=51
Reply from 74.125.73.104: bytes=32 time=62ms TTL=51
Reply from 74.125.73.104: bytes=32 time=62ms TTL=51
Reply from 74.125.73.104: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=51
Reply from 74.125.73.104: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=51
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 74.125.73.104: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=51
Reply from 74.125.73.104: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=51
Reply from 74.125.73.104: bytes=32 time=79ms TTL=51
Reply from 74.125.73.104: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=51
Reply from 74.125.73.104: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=51
Reply from 74.125.73.104: bytes=32 time=65ms TTL=51
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 74.125.73.104: bytes=32 time=74ms TTL=51
Request timed out.
Reply from 74.125.73.104: bytes=32 time=62ms TTL=51
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 74.125.73.104: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=51
Reply from 74.125.73.104: bytes=32 time=75ms TTL=51

Ping statistics for 74.125.73.104:
Packets: Sent = 140, Received = 109, Lost = 31 (22% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 61ms, Maximum = 87ms, Average = 64ms


Obviously, this makes internet gaming or anything else completely impossible. I have spoken with their solution center no less than 10 times over these past 6 weeks. Each time I get a different technician who (to their defense) do try their best to get to the bottom of it. The answer is the same for MOST of them: "It is affecting everyone on your card. We have reported this to engineering and they will fix it as soon as possible". They've been saying this since early July.

When I took that ping test I was not going through a splitter and I was not going through a router. It went computer -> modem -> wall.

My signal levels don't look too bad, at least from what I see, which is also very strange:


Downstream
Freq/Power: 525.000 MHz 4 dBmV
Signal to Noise Ratio: 35 dB
Modulation: QAM256
Upstream
Freq/Power: 28.000 MHz 39 dBmV
Channel Type: Mixed (TDMA and ATDMA)
Symbol Rate: 2560 kSym/sec
Modulation: QAM64


I cannot express how frustrating this ordeal has been. I used to be an avid MMO player- that is basically impossible now. By the time I get home from work it will be about time for this to start up, and then it is disconnect city. Cableone has sent a technician here, but since he A) came during the day, which is when I have 0% packet loss and B) it was affecting everyone on my card, not just me... there was really not much he could do for me.

Considering it is affecting everyone in my area, most of the things I've done have been moot points... still, I'll list em below:
I have removed the splitter
I have removed the router
I have had a technician come to my home (tho during the day so he didn't get to see the packet loss himself)
I have swapped out modems
I've power cycled probably more times than is healthy

etc etc.

Unfortunately, I am contract with Cableone until October, which means I cannot switch to a reliable service provider until then. In the meantime, I've been trying to research any possibilities that it might be. Something that I could bring up to the solution center people to try to help nudge them in the right direction. So here I am. Can ANYONE think what might cause this?

It affects everyone in my area. It starts EVERY night at some point no earlier than 7pm and no later than 8am. Beyond that I register 0% packet loss throughout the day. It comes in spurts. It'll be horrible for 30 minutes, good for 20. Then back to horrible again. I reiterate- it hasn't missed a night.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

*************************************************

UPDATE: It's been a day since I posted. Internet has been worse today than it was any other day. It actually stayed packet-loss tastic all day long. I finally got ahold of a solution center representative who found the problem: he told me the quality of service on my card has been HORRIBLE, particularly the last 4 days. He said that the local office is responsible for the quality of service they provide, and that I must call the local office and get them to fix this. So, tomorrow morning I will call. In the meantime, I get to enjoy another night of 15-20% packet loss.

*************************************************

UPDATE: Day 2 since I posted. Internet is clear as can be today (during the day time). Spoke with the local office and they said they already had people out this morning working on my node due to dropped modems. This is surprising, since prior to this they never really got involved. I wonder if a cableone one person reads this forum? =D

I'll find out tonight whether the problem still exists, since it is a night problem only.

*************************************************

UPDATE: Day 4 since I posted. I tried to post for day 3, but my internet was too unstable all day yesterday to post. The problem has cleared up for now (tho will likely start back up later tonight). It persisted ALL day yesterday and last night. Internet was simply unusable. I spoke with the local office who basically told me they cannot help me, as they are not trained in internet but in video. They will send a technician out to look at my lines, though. Except... the solution center told me yesterday that no one at my location, either myself or a technician, could do anything. The problem HAD to be resolved at the local office. So I called solution center again, hoping to get someone who could confirm that before the local office closed today (friday), but since the problem isn't occurring now, they can't help me. Call back when it starts.

Thus my endless circle of never getting this fix. During the day, most days, it is fine. So if the local office looks at the line or if a technician comes to help, their hands are tied and they can do nothing for me. At night, when the local office has closed and gone to bed (10pm+), it starts. Solution center sees the problem, wants to help but can do nothing. They will "tell the engineering department", who will send people to fix it. Or they tell me that they can do nothing at the solution center and only the local office can fix it- so call them and let them know! And then a new days starts, where I repeat this cycle.

I'm a college student. I have to do voice and video over the net for my classes, I have to take tests online. I'm a gamer. I play games online when I am not working on class stuff. Neither of these are an option any longer thanks to the internet being completely unreliable.

If there is ANYONE who can think of something I could do in this situation... please post and help me out. I've spoken with the solution center over 15 times in the past 5 weeks (going on 6? Or maybe even 7). I've spoken with the local office 4 or 5 times since all this started. I've already had a technician come out here and tell me there's nothing he can do for me. Another is coming monday, which means I have to take off work when he gets here and rush home, only to be told again there is nothing he can do. This is all very frustrating. Any advice would be great.

jasonkradiog
@cellularsouth.com

jasonkradiog

Anon

Hey,

I've been noticing an increased amount of times I have to reset the modem/router lately and things just generally seem slow in Cableone's northern Mississippi division. Not just at night tho. But not all the time. Usually just at any random hour. I used to be able to experience 680 B/s constant with USENET downloads. Now usually 350, with occasional bursts in the 400-500's.

When I called, they noticed packet loss from their end and offered to send a technician but he never came. Then I went on vacation and came back and the problem still exists. Guess I'll have to call again.
Tolmos
join:2011-08-08
Jacksonville, AL

1 edit

Tolmos

Member

It appears to have gotten worse. It is now continuing all day as well. My internet is completely unusable.

*Edit: it has cleared up some. 5% or so packet loss. It spikes every few hours, but otherwise it is usable right now. 5% packet loss, at this point, I'll accept.
Tolmos

Tolmos

Member

Original post updated with new information.

Any advice would be great.

areoh
join:2001-11-10
Kansas City, MO

areoh to Tolmos

Member

to Tolmos
Wish I had more info/advice apart from using PingPlotter to help gather graphical evidence for reporting: www.pingplotter.com

Have you spoken to the IP Manager at your local office? I would ask to do so in hopes to expedite the issue.
Tolmos
join:2011-08-08
Jacksonville, AL

Tolmos

Member

Click for full size
IGN Early Evening
Click for full size
IGN Later in the night
Click for full size
Google Early Evening
Click for full size
Google late at night
Aha! I appreciate the information. I used pingplotter and will upload them here as well as send them to cableone. Any advice would still be great- its been a few days since my last update/post and it is still going full steam. It has murdered my internet usage.

I spoke with another solution center rep earlier this evening. He reiterated that EVERYONE on my card is being affected by this problem, not just me, and he (like the previous 10-15 solution center reps I've spoken to before him) reported it to his engineering department, equally as sure that it would be fixed. Here's hoping?

Pashune
Caps stifle innovation
Premium Member
join:2006-04-14
Gautier, MS

Pashune

Premium Member

It probably will get fixed, only after they've had enough of you guys calling it in

I say this because it's exactly what I had to do after CableOne kept prematurely throttling my connection to half speed, even if I didn't download anything at all that day. After testing a friend's connection in my subdivision, he had the same problem, being throttled.

I had to call in several times, keeping record of the speed test results until one of them was convinced they had to fix it. A couple of nights later my connection was running smoothly again, then a quality specialist called me and asked me if things were working okay.

Next time you call in, see if you can obtain an upstream SNR; you generally want to stay above 29 for this number (It's not upstream power) Your modem can't see it because it's based on the average upstream SNR of all the modems connected to the CMTS. If it's too low, packet loss and speed issues will be a problem.

A low upstream SNR points to noise leakage, bad balancing in the plant, or like the reps are telling you, a bad card (Not 100% sure on this).
Tolmos
join:2011-08-08
Jacksonville, AL

Tolmos

Member

The problem is still persisting. For the most part I've had pretty helpful solution center techs who at least wanted to see the problem get fixed, but the last one was rather rude- said that 5-10% loss was expected on their lines and that I was just making up the fact that I've continued to have these problems for 5 weeks (despite 5 weeks worth of call center notes from techs stating they have seen and reported the problem to their engineering department and that it affects the whole card).

I can't wait to move away from Cableone's service area.

areoh
join:2001-11-10
Kansas City, MO

areoh

Member

I'd still ask to speak to the local IP manager. Explain things to him/her and see what happens...
Tolmos
join:2011-08-08
Jacksonville, AL

Tolmos

Member

So, I've been watching it like a hawk since my last post, and I think they FINALLY fixed it. Last Friday the internet was borderline unusable. I went out of town that day and got back Sunday and it was up. Best I can tell, there has been no major outage since.

Ping statistics for 74.125.73.103:
Packets: Sent = 321865, Received = 321668, Lost = 197 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 60ms, Maximum = 1313ms, Average = 63ms


THAT is the sort of connection I like to see. Here's hoping it stays strong! Thank you fixing that, Cableone!