Time Warner Cable - Legacy → [TWC] [Rochester, NY] Slow night-time speeds + Modem Questions

Over the past few months I've noticed that between ~8pm and 12) my download speeds wont be sustianable. They can never get a steady sustained downspeed. It varies between 300kb/s and 800kb/s but it never stays that way. Usually the point where it becomes unstable is around 600kb/s, so I limit my downloads all down to to 400-450kb/s giving myself enough room for HTTP browsing, youtube, etc. (BTW - Unstable meaning, if I max my download out it will bounce between 400kb/s and 700kb/s and never maintain a steady rate of speed)

I'm going to assume this is because my neighborhoods node has been saturated/congested because of all TV viewers, everyone is watching their favorite late evening television. I don't remember when this started but it started probably 8-10 months ago or so to my best guess. This is when they finally got the new DOCSIS 3.0 into our neighborhood. Not sure if that's a coincidence or not.

Of course, calling about this slow downs, they give you the usual run around "We cannot guarantee these speeds, we can only guarantee up to those speeds" mumbo-jumpo. Also, if they ever were to send a tech out, it would be 1am in the afternoon and speeds would perfectly fine because everyone is busy with work.

I saw on another thread: »[TWC] Slow speeds near Saratoga, NY?

This person is experience the exact same slow downs I've been having and I believe its the same issue. Latency isn't an issue, upload isn't an issue, but I get about 50% of my total download bandwidth if I'm lucky.

Oversold bandwidth to neighborhoods is this done on purpose by Road Runner? I haven't read anything about this or seen this in any of their policies. I wish they would at least tell us "During peak hours, download speeds may drop to keep from congestion" etc etc.

Now onward to my second question. I currently have 10/1 (standard) internet package (which is currently 15/1 because of the boost). Since RR is now starting to charge 2.50(or w/e the cost is) per month to rent their piece of shit modem, I was able to pick up a SB5101 for free from a friend who no longer required it, its only a DOCSIS 2.0 modem. Would this is any way improve the nighttime slow downs or do you think that's a roadrunner ISP level controlled situation? I planned on upgrading to 3/5 sometime in the future, i know the SB5101 is technically capable of 38mbit downstream and would barely manage to handle those speeds, but I know no one is going to recommend me keep it are they? I just am going to have to had to spend 120$ for a SB6141.

Main question for the second part is do you think my own modem will increase quality of service compared to TWC/RR's peice of shit modems?

Edit: Just thought of an important question. If im getting rid of the rented out roadrunner modems (we have the triple package deal), how am I going to hook up the phone lines to the cable modem? That seems like a huge lacking gap of an issue, maybe road runner figuring 95% of customers don't know a way around it and will just pay more blood money to the monopolistic Timewarner.

I am not sure where you are downloading from but often at peak times the servers you may be accessing are also busy which affects their speed.

"I'm going to assume this is because my neighborhoods node has been saturated/congested because of all TV viewers, everyone is watching their favorite late evening television"

TV viewing has absolutely nothing to do with Internet speeds.

"Oversold bandwidth to neighborhoods is this done on purpose by Road Runner? I haven't read anything about this or seen this in any of their policies. I wish they would at least tell us "During peak hours, download speeds may drop to keep from congestion" etc etc."

The Internet is a shared resource both at the last mile piece and at the backbone, as more people use it it can indeed slow down.

"Would this is any way improve the nighttime slow downs or do you think that's a roadrunner ISP level controlled situation?"

While I dont believe its a "controlled" situation the 5101 probably would do nothing for your speed. What do you have now?

" I planned on upgrading to 3/5 sometime in the future, i know the SB5101 is technically capable of 38mbit downstream and would barely manage to handle those speeds, but I know no one is going to recommend me keep it are they?"

You would not be able to use a 5101 for the 30/5 package period, that requires a D3 modem.

"Main question for the second part is do you think my own modem will increase quality of service compared to TWC/RR's peice of shit modems?"

Main answer NO.

"If im getting rid of the rented out roadrunner modems (we have the triple package deal), how am I going to hook up the phone lines to the cable modem? That seems like a huge lacking gap of an issue, maybe road runner figuring 95% of customers don't know a way around it and will just pay more blood money to the monopolistic Timewarner."

You would split the cable and use both. Been discussed here many times and lots are doing it.

Hob

Any download from another server slows down from ~8pm to 11/12 at night.I shall do some testing tonight and show pings, etc. I think roadrunner slows down peak time speeds on purpose.

" I think roadrunner slows down peak time speeds on purpose."

Not only do I think you are wrong...I know you are wrong.

Hob

Well it's after 8PM, I'm in the Rochester division and my speeds are absolutely fantastic, like they always are.

Ugh, Its either a fluke or its been fixed. For weeks/mnths now, I have not been able to get stable connection from ~8pm to 12. I download all my tv and would have to limit to around 400-500bkb/s just to be able to browse the internet like its not 56k. I would wait till after midnight to download my shows (and no its not the source). I also checked the total router input/output of my router and it always matches the slow/unstable speeds. I will update this thread again if it happens again.

Edit: I also just had an idea why its not slow tonight, its Saturday, everyone is out and no one is using the internet or streaming. I will do updates tomorrow night and Monday which are sure to be a bigger slow down.(Big TV Nights)

I am in the Rochester region and I haven't noticed any problems with download speeds. Although, I do watch the line monitoring for RR_NY_Upstate, located in the left column, and I have noticed that for the last two weeks, the ping time increases about 20 ms every evening. It isn't anything that I have noticed during my use, though.

You're not alone with your bandwidth trouble coming out of Time Warner in the Rochester area. I see my issues during the day. The service will slow to about 400k like you said, at random. Sometimes its good, sometimes its downright awful. I see latency and packet loss, in addition to slow speeds. I did a search today to see if anyone else was having an issue. Everyone I have talked to about Time Warner in the area didn't say anything good about the service. I have had an open ticket with them since the fifth and they haven't fixed their network in Rochester. You could do things like a trace route or pingplotter when you are having issues, then relay this information to tech support, who will only tell you that someone will call you back within an hour, and they never do anyways. I see a group of wny.northeast.rr.com servers as being the issue.

"I have had an open ticket with them since the fifth and they haven't fixed their network in Rochester."

Do you have a ticket number?

Hob

No, I dont. Weird thing, ever since i posted this thread its been fine, until the last few nights. Right now it's not stable at all and ping are high on almost everything. I do speed tests and they range from 8-11mbit when I should get 15mbit with 150+ pings

Join the site and send me something that will allow me to find your account.

Thanks

Hob

I have an ticket number. It's been open since the fifth of December. This is an frequent intermittent issue.

Whats the ticket number?

Hob

I sent the ticket # to you via the website IM.

Yup, had two more sustained drops today to 400kbps. My 10/1 Time Warner Cable connection in Rochester was out performed by my 1.5mbps T1. The connection was so bad today I had to switch off the cable connection so people could continue with their work.

The odd thing is when I enable the cable connection again, it takes all of its rightful bandwidth back. This kind of goes along the lines of what another TWC customer said that his connection is fine after he power cycles his router.

@hobgoblin - Was already on the site, I started this thread. Anyway, what do you need me to send you? Its happening right now, when I do speed tests it very flaky around 3-5mbps, then near the end it goes up to 10-11(and seems shaky there) before the rest is done. Pings are high, average of 150. This is with speedtest.net (Several sites, including rackwire in the city).

The roadrunner speed test itself peaks at around 8mbps, averages 4-5mbps, but pings are fast (obviously).

@icon860 - That works sometimes, but usually doesn't for me. I don't even bother trying anymore.

Edit - Cant even use the customer speed test properly, always get this error »i.imgur.com/5EW22.png (Ive tried on different browsers and computers)

Here is a speedtest test

And another from TWC in Syracuse (Ping is better, but speed is just as bad)

I will agree with you at the time of your test I was only getting between 2 and 4 mbps on average with a peak of only 7mbps, and a low end of 1mbps.

The only time I saw an issue was at rdc-24-93-8-145.wny.northeast.rr.com which had only a few random hits above 130ms, and one hit above 700ms.

When did your internet usually return back to normal speed? Its not exact, but i find its back to normal around midnight(maybe a little earlier, sometimes later)

I don't notice when it returns to normal. Last Saturday morning I was able to download an 8gb file in about 3.5 hours, and it ran at full speed.

Last night, I was able to download 50% more per hour between 12 -1, when compared to the hours between 10 - 11, and 11 - 12.

Yeah its slows from ~8pm to 11/12 at night. Im no tech expert but that is "high use time", got all new shows on tv and people bittorrenting the shows as well. Could be a cause of it, maybe our section is just overloaded

Edit: Its 11:30 and speeds are back to 100% normal now.

Super bad tonight, webpages are even sluggish.

Here in Brighton/12 Corners area I notice almost no difference between speeds in the daytime and evening. It is pretty lock on 30/5Mbps for me, as long as I use the Syracuse speed test site. The TWC test for Rochester actually reports slower speed results for me, and Speedtest.net speed tests are extremely variable depending on the speedtest test server I select.

Things are not so rosy at a relative's place in Spencerport, where her service maxes out at around 3.5/1Mbps. Interestingly, the download is the service suffering major speed degradation -- upstream speeds are solid.

In my experience this is one of two things:

1) Oversaturated node.
2) A technical fault, sometimes with TWC's equipment, other times with the physical infrastructure nearby.

Early evening slowdowns seem most likely to be oversaturation, especially if they are consistent when they start and end. Technical faults are usually causing issues all the time or during certain weather events.

I also expect oversaturation when a call to technical support only brings out vague explanations surrounding the fact they see nothing wrong with your cable modem connection. They don't seem willing to admit when they have oversold their network in a particular area and are reluctant to schedule a service call. If they do, usually there is no speed problem when the tech arrives during business hours. They may even replace the drop, work on the pole, or replace fittings, but the problems immediately return once evening arrives.

One would think D3 service might correct some of this.

That has been my thoughts all along Dampier. Ive done the whole Tech will come out, everything looks fine, lets replace your connectors and modem, everything looks okay. I cant do anything more. This same scenario happened when I was at my old apartment. I had turbo then (15/1) and I could max it anytime, then a new neighbor moved in upstairs, not a week later, I coudn't maintain a stable connection more than 5-6mbit, usually during evening hours as well. Techs only came out during the day, when It wasnt being affected. They obviously hooked both apartments to one connection or to an already oversaturated connection. I was glad to leave those apartments because of that, but now its happening again and its very annoying when trying to play a game at that time. Wonder if I would get priority if I bought 30/5, since i never hear about people with 30/5 connections having saturation issues.

Edit: They know damn well when they oversell/oversaturate a market area, but wont admit to it until everyone is complaining or slowdowns are more than just during evenings.

I notice the slowness (I call it the big slow down) during the daytime and I am a business customer. My slowness happens at random intervals throughout the day. Like right now, my 10/1 is performing about the same as any of my T1's. I couldn't begin to imagine how any streaming media (video, voice, etc) could even function properly on this network.

I have an automated file transfer in the late evening, and on christams eve the large file transfer finished a full hour earlier than any other night since my records began.

Having a poor internet connection in Rochester is costing me more money than just a monthly internet bill. My only other option in the area is a Frontier 7m/768k line.

Wow.... its getting earlier now apparently. Not even 4pm and cant keep a stable connection over ~4-5mbps

Must be a node or headend issue. It's not systemwide.

I was having issues Friday afternoon as well. It was random and sporadic. It seemed great until about 1pm, then it got awful. A normal file transfer that takes about an hour, wasn't finished 4.5 hours into the transfer.

I could pull good test speeds from the Rochester server, but I didn't get the same results when I tested from the Albany or New England test sites. I did these tests multiple times, and got a hodge podge set of mixed results. Sometimes it was good from NE or Albany, but awful from Rochester. I noticed packet loss on the upload side from Rochester and my normal 3000ms of latency on the download side from the rdc-24-93-8-145.wny.northeast.rr.com.

I called tech support, who knew nothing about my ticket I submitted with the North American support team. So, they gave me an international support ticket number and told me that someone was going to call me within an hour, I still haven't heard back from them.

The outsourced support person from overseas told me that my issue must have been with my own equipment.

It's pretty obvious that it is not.

Its obvious there is an issue in certian areas, especially during peak hours (sometimes even during the day). hobgoblin said he was going to look into it, but i haven't heard back from him since around Christmas. Its really frustrating when Im trying to stream a video and Its nothing but buffering. I have to pause it for quite a while to let it load just so I can watch maybe 5-10 minutes before I have to buffer again.

I have seen an performance increase over time. Yesterday was really good for bandwidth almost throughout the day. I haven't seen any speeds at the low end of 400kbps for a week or two now.

I have friends who will only watch movies and shows over the internet and don't have television service. Service issues like the one we have had wouldn't have been good for them.

Matt,

Where in Rochester do you live? Which modem do you have?