US Cable Support > Road Runner > Four months of high latency and slow speeds in Columbus,Ohio

Four months of high latency and slow speeds in Columbus,Ohio

I went 9 months with a similar problem. Endless tech trips to my house didn't fix the problem. I was the only one complaining.

Finally I found a VP to write too who scheduled a bucket truck to visit my house. Then, one warm day, with 4 bucket trucks in my yard, one of them thinks to check the node utilization and found it to be over subscribed by about 75%. After they fixed that (and eventually moved to a new hub) everything has been peachy keen.

If the normal techs aren't finding anything, ask that they look at the hub and see what's going on there. Keep after them, see if you can find a VP to talk to - that seems to really get things rolling.

reply to warmer20
Please post a trace route from a time period where you have excessive latency. The traces you have posted do not indicate any problem.

Where are you in Columbus? I'm in Clintonville.

Thanks,

I am near the university.

The tracerts in the above pictures are normal because they are the last tracert of the test. The pictures are meant to display the erratic and irregular ping during peak hours through the graphs.

Tracerts from peak hours:

Tracing route to www.l.google.com [74.125.113.106]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 7 ms 5 ms 7 ms 10.88.0.1
2 9 ms 9 ms 8 ms gig3-10.grvwoh1-swt401.columbus.rr.com [24.95.86.217]
3 62 ms 55 ms 55 ms tge2-1.clmboh1-rtr2.columbus.rr.com [65.25.129.159]
4 55 ms 52 ms 51 ms tge1-0-2.ar01.clmkohpe.mwrtn.rr.com [65.25.137.197]
5 54 ms 52 ms 51 ms ae1.tr00.clmkohpe.mwrtn.rr.com [65.189.140.128]
6 61 ms 59 ms 67 ms ae-4-0.cr0.chi30.tbone.rr.com [66.109.6.68]
7 68 ms 71 ms 63 ms 107.14.17.147
8 * ms 130 ms 127 ms 74.125.48.109
9 63 ms 80 ms 61 ms 209.85.254.130
10 183 ms 127 ms 175 ms 72.14.239.90
11 95 ms 86 ms 103 ms 209.85.249.238
12 79 ms 95 ms 74 ms 64.233.174.117
13 103 ms 95 ms * 216.239.47.250
14 116 ms 97 ms 103 ms vw-in-f106.1e100.net [74.125.113.106]

Tracing route to www.l.google.com [74.125.115.99]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 56 ms 13 ms 11 ms 10.88.0.1
2 17 ms 24 ms 8 ms gig3-10.grvwoh1-swt401.columbus.rr.com [24.95.86
.217]
3 75 ms 59 ms 55 ms tge2-1.clmboh1-rtr2.columbus.rr.com [65.25.129.159]
4 * ms 61 ms 60 ms tge3-0-2.ar01.clmkohpe.mwrtn.rr.com [65.189.141.85]
5 46 ms 43 ms 48 ms ae1.tr00.clmkohpe.mwrtn.rr.com [65.189.140.128]
6 67 ms 58 ms 63 ms ae-4-0.cr0.chi30.tbone.rr.com [66.109.6.68]
7 60 ms 57 ms 79 ms 107.14.17.147
8 149 ms 150 ms 155 ms 74.125.48.109
9 67 ms 72 ms 71 ms 209.85.254.130
10 90 ms 90 ms 87 ms 72.14.239.90
11 116 ms 88 ms 84 ms 209.85.249.238
12 96 ms 85 ms 89 ms 64.233.174.87
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 83 ms 100 ms 84 ms vx-in-f99.1e100.net [74.125.115.99]

tracert www.osu.edu

Tracing route to whprdosuedu.it.ohio-state.edu [140.254.112.210]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 440 ms 326 ms 258 ms 10.88.0.1
2 199 ms 163 ms 143 ms gig3-10.grvwoh1-swt401.columbus.rr.com [24.95.86.217]
3 280 ms 292 ms 253 ms tge2-1.clmboh1-rtr2.columbus.rr.com [65.25.129.159]
4 290 ms 270 ms 341 ms tge1-0-2.ar01.clmkohpe.mwrtn.rr.com [65.25.137.197]
5 194 ms 197 ms 228 ms ae1.tr00.clmkohpe.mwrtn.rr.com [65.189.140.128]
6 259 ms 273 ms 211 ms ae-9-0.cr0.chi30.tbone.rr.com [107.14.19.16]
7 283 ms 298 ms 270 ms ae-1-0.pr0.chi10.tbone.rr.com [66.109.6.155]
8 323 ms 378 ms 368 ms 137.164.130.181
9 433 ms 402 ms 373 ms 64.57.21.190
10 352 ms 437 ms 353 ms clmbn-r9-xe-4-0-0s100.core.oar.net [199.218.39.22]
11 353 ms 441 ms 399 ms clmbs-r9-xe-2-0-0s100.core.oar.net [199.218.38.30]
12 350 ms 349 ms 330 ms clmbk-r9-xe-2-0-0s100.core.oar.net [199.218.38.45]
13 360 ms 357 ms 319 ms kc3-teng1-4s330.ohio-dmz.net [199.18.169.2]
14 319 ms * ms 312 ms kc1-teng8-4.net.ohio-state.edu [164.107.2.194]
15 271 ms 293 ms 228 ms kc6-teng8-4.net.ohio-state.edu [164.107.2.17]
16 273 ms 310 ms 305 ms kc-dc1.net.ohio-state.edu [164.107.11.2]

tracert www.osu.edu

Tracing route to whprdosuedu.it.ohio-state.edu [140.254.112.210]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 44 ms 52 ms 36 ms 10.88.0.1
2 14 ms 6 ms 8 ms network-024-095-086-221.columbus.rr.com [24.95.86.221]
3 25 ms 27 ms * tge2-1.clmboh1-rtr2.columbus.rr.com [65.25.129.159]
4 38 ms 48 ms 39 ms tge3-0-2.ar01.clmkohpe.mwrtn.rr.com [65.189.141.85]
5 97 ms 84 ms 80 ms ae1.tr00.clmkohpe.mwrtn.rr.com [65.189.140.128]
6 91 ms 85 ms 78 ms ae-9-0.cr0.chi30.tbone.rr.com [107.14.19.16]
7 22 ms 26 ms 33 ms ae-1-0.pr0.chi10.tbone.rr.com [66.109.6.155]
8 286 ms 98 ms 83 ms 137.164.130.181
9 75 ms 77 ms 84 ms 64.57.21.190
10 92 ms 86 ms 91 ms clmbn-r9-xe-4-0-0s100.core.oar.net [199.218.39.22]
11 113 ms 105 ms 85 ms clmbs-r9-xe-2-0-0s100.core.oar.net [199.218.38.30]
12 43 ms 45 ms 47 ms clmbk-r9-xe-2-0-0s100.core.oar.net [199.218.38.45]
13 1241 ms 709 ms 488 ms kc3-teng1-4s330.ohio-dmz.net [199.18.169.2]
14 39 ms 34 ms 36 ms kc1-teng8-4.net.ohio-state.edu [164.107.2.194]
15 35 ms 33 ms 35 ms kc6-teng8-4.net.ohio-state.edu [164.107.2.17]
16 32 ms 50 ms 37 ms kc-dc1.net.ohio-state.edu [164.107.11.2]

The first trace to OSU shows severe traffic issues on either the downstream or upstream path assigned to your modem. In other words, it is very local to you as opposed to being further down the path. The only fix is for TWC to add more capacity by adding another downstream or upstream channel to the CMTS serving you. Good luck with that. It would be easier to move.

Please. posters, let's not hear about oversold nodes, splitting nodes, etc. Fiber nodes are analog components, this is a digital capacity problem.

Please be certain that it wasn't caused by another application running on the machine you used to test. I doubt that to be the case, but you need to rule it out.

reply to warmer20
I had another technician visit my apartment today. I was told by tier 3 that the technician would test the bandwidth in my area. The technician said he's unable to do this. He gave me a new modem and said my connection is fine.

If the issue is local, is this a TWC issue? Can switching isps fix my connection or will I have these problems regardless of my isp?

EDIT: I have tested my connection on multiple PCs. I experience the same problems on each.

I had a problem like that my boy. About 300+ Tech calls about 10+ tech visits per week. It was my node so they say. " They fixed the node problem" been smooth since then.

Do you remember the specifics of your problem?

I have a senior tech visiting my apartment this Tuesday and I want him to check every possible cause of this latency.

Does anyone know if switching isps will fix my connection?

reply to warmer20
It quite possible since your near OSU and thus the facilities are not the....best maintained due to mostly students living near by and their transient nature. Combined with the fact that college students like to download alot of stuff....and well TWC fails to see this it would appear.

reply to warmer20
Yes, I assume it's a bandwidth issue.

What I don't understand is how I've had this issue several times since I've used RR internet and TWC won't acknowledge this as a repeat issue. They should be able to apply the same fixes as in the past, am I wrong?

No, changing to another ISP (on the TWC cable system) will not help.

I wonder if the utilization has changed. For example, if watching NetFlix uses more bandwidth than playing video games??

TWC has to first determine if the limitation is upstream or downstream bandwidth. If it is the latter, they can add more downstream channels taking away from TV. If it is upstream, there is an absolute limit because of the bandwidth available.

If they hit absolute limits in either of these areas, then they have to rewire the neighborhood and add another node. If there are fiber pairs available from the node to the neighborhood hub, then it is merely very expensive. If they have no fiber available it becomes astronomical.

Your prospects are not great, to be honest. The TWC system here is 750 Mhz, so it has about 115 downstream channels available for everything: Tc, Internet, Phone, and set-top box control. That's a little over 4 gBits.

reply to warmer20

Assuming that the slow speed is a result of congestion, it's a pretty good guess that it is caused by a downstream issue. Only TWC can say for sure.

reply to warmer20
Try power cycling your modem to see if it will pick up on another downstream channel, it worked sometimes for me.

I have left my modem disconnected for several hours throughout the duration of my latency problems and I haven't seen improvement.

I was able to view detailed information regarding my old modem, like downstream channel, but with the new modems provided by TWC I do not have access to these settings.

reply to warmer20
I had two techs visit my apartment tonight. They said they tightened a trap in the outside equipment. My connection is still awful.

I can't believe I'm going to have to move if I want the speed range I pay for; simply amazing.

That is probably your only solution.

You could try writing the regional president, sending the letter by certified mail, pointing out that TWC is misrepresenting the service they offer. It is one thing to have periodic overloads, but a lack of bandwidth that makes achieving what you paid for on a consistent and continuing basis is neither ethical nor contractually acceptable.

You have about as good odds as hitting the lottery, but why not try?

Edit: Is WOW available in your area? I believe they have a 30-day cancellation option. You could give them a try.

reply to warmer20
harald, in an above post you said that changing isps would not improve my connection. Were you wrong before? I was planning to try WOW or ATT before moving but your post made me reconsider.

reply to warmer20
If TWC were to fix my speeds, I see this happening again in the near future. In the past year I've had this problem for 6 months spread out over 3 incidents. There is nothing stopping TWC from letting the issue happen again in the future.

What information would I need to supply to the FCC to make a case?
How do I contact the local cable franchising authority?