Topic '[OK] Another day, another Cox outage' in forum 'Cox HSI' - dslreports.com

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 16:19:03 EDT

bchandler02 posted : I seem to finally have gotten this fixed. After an executive escalation and daily phone calls for the last few weeks they seem to have cleared everything up. This week has been stable. Root causes appeared to be multiple noise entry points that were addressed as well as some firmware upgrades.

My only hope now is that the stability lasts. I have local contact numbers of key players if needed, but hopefully they are not needed.

Cox also forked up 2 months of credit for the hassles. Assuming the stability lasts, I'm happy. Now I just need the new Ultimate speeds!

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 20:13:03 EDT

bchandler02 posted : I do not have Netgeat Genie (or any other router manufacturer software) on my PC. Like to keep them as clean as possible.

Got a call back from Cox today. They said the CMTS for this area is scheduled to be upgraded on Thursday and they hope/think that will solve my problems. They seem to agree that this is a problem on their end, not mine.

I guess I'll hold tight until Friday and see what happens.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 15:07:18 EDT

Blank posted : Netgear Genie can have problems with the DNS causing you to lose internet without the modem going offline.

I've seen it first hand more then once. If you have this program on any of your PCs I strongly suggest removing it.

Its worth a try.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 13:31:23 EDT

anon posted : Well they switched me out modems again. It seemed better but honestly each day is different. One day can be fine then the next im dropping connection every 5 minutes although now my modem doesn't reset is the only difference. I'm on hold with them as I type this... but like I said all and all I suppose its gotten better. I do not understand this one bit.... why some days would be better than others that is.

The 2 "techs" they sent out were just subsidized from a local company and did not do much besides switch me out modems and take a look at my setup in the backyard.

Hopefully whoever they send next takes more "interest" in actually fixing the problem because I don't believe i've gained too much ground besides the modem not resetting and instead just randomly dropping connection. Will check back with future updates.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 13:59:40 EDT

bchandler02 posted : Not sure what is going on, but the problems continue. The local supervisor I was dealing with has not called me back either.

Therefore, I have followed up with another email to the Cox executive leadership team that got me some results a few months back. I've asked them to either fix this once and for all, or tell me that my expectation of a stable service is not one they can meet and I'll move to AT&T.

I really hate having to do these executive escalations, but when all else fails you do what you gotta do. As a consumer, I refuse to shut up and deal with crappy service. If I paid my bill with the same level of consistency that they provide service, I'm sure there would be a major problem.

I'm going to order a DSL modem and have it on hand in case I need to make the move later this week to AT&T.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 22:38:17 EDT

bchandler02 posted : Thanks. Your problem sounds IDENTICAL to mine - sometimes full modem reboot, other times solid lights but no connection. Also tried 2 modems here, all wiring is <6 months old, no splitters, etc. Signals are good and speeds/performance is good 24x7.. it's either on or off. No packet loss or anything like that.

GL to you as well, interested in hearing the outcome.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 13:56:14 EDT

anon posted : I'm having the exact same problems in the Tulsa area. I feel your pain although my has not been ongoing for as long as yours. I have someone coming out to look at it tomorrow. My has been going on for roughly 3 days at the moment. At first I tried online support and was told "the techs are aware of the issue and are working to fix this as soon as possible with no eta on the fix". Next day I awoke to the same problems and called tech support this time and she was unaware of any similar problems... so odd that the online tech support gave a complete different answer the nite before.

Anyways I'm experiencing zero packet loss and when it is actually up everything is great but this random up and down every 10minutes is unbelievably annoying. Sometimes it is a random drop off connection with all modem lights still on but most times the modem just completely resets randomly. I've tried 2 different modems as well so here's hoping the house call will actually make a difference. (i've tried every other little fix you can imagine in house)

I do not understand how the cox tech poster on here was so eager to help you then after 3 months of your problem no word from him after the initial complaint. I'm beyond frustrated and can only imagine how i'd feel if the problem had been ongoing as long as yours.

I will post stats if the problems persists through tomorrow after the visit.

I'll let you know how it goes and GL to you.

/rage off

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 08:33:01 EDT

bchandler02 posted : Well Cox continues to suck here. Now the problem has shifted from no connection with all lights to full modem resets.

Any of the Cox guys have any insight to what's going on here and why it is so difficult to get this fixed once and for all?

AT&T sucks here, 3/512 speeds max, but I need reliability. I cannot do my job on an intermittent connection.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 12:19:33 EDT

bchandler02 posted : bump... any update?

Problems continue, this is beyond stupid. If Cox can't manage to do a simple thing like keeping modems online, they have no business being the government supported monopoly in this city.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 13:58:37 EDT

bchandler02 posted : Cox internal guys - do you have any insight to the problems in OKC? 2 disconnects in the last hour, at this point I can't even do my job which is a major concern.

I can't believe that if I am having the problem, others here are, and cox employees are that this is going on for weeks.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 07:55:55 EDT

bchandler02 posted : They seemed to think it was a CMTS software issue and Cisco is engaged to provide updated software.

I've dealt with Cisco before.... not holding my breath on this one. I've been having the problem off and on for a few months now, but much more frequently in the last 3-4 weeks. If it was as widespread as we think, I'd expect it to be fixed already.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 03:28:12 EDT

VentShop posted : Yeah, probably a piece of equipment going bad at the co or from their drop in the area to the net. As long as a lot of people are having the issues it will get handled quickly. It's a lot worse when its one or two people dealing with an issue, that makes it a much lower priority.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 22:38:19 EDT

bchandler02 posted : I have no packet loss. The supervisor I talked to lived in MWC and I am in Moore, so it isn't an area specific problem. He was having the problem at his house as well.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 15:55:26 EDT

VentShop posted : I have begun having the issues north of OKC in Guthrie as well. I am routing through 10.2.192.1 and having packet drops as well as having issues where the digital cable loses signal. Probably their equipment in the local area.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:02:06 EDT

bchandler02 posted : I just talked to one of the manager here as the problem continues. Some days are good and some are not. Today is one of the bad days, I've lost connection 6 times in the last 3 hours.

He mentioned that he was having the exact same problem at his house and he lives on the other side of town, so it isn't a line problem or anything specific to my house or area. Right now they are suspecting it is a CMTS issue and awaiting updates from Cisco. He said this isn't a confirmed fix, but it is what they are thinking right now.

I hope the updates come soon and fix the problem, but unfortunately I know what dealing with Cisco can be like.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 23:35:50 EDT

VentShop posted : I don't know what part of OKC you are in but a couple years back I was located off of NW expressway and rockwell area. Anyway I was having problems much the same as yours. Modem would go offline randomly and for different lengths of time. Ended up being other people having some issues but I was the first to call so i got the run around for a month or two. Finally other people started calling in and when some line techs came out and started to monitor the line actively they found that noise was coming from an amp about a block away. That amp was repaired and the problem was solved. Took 3 months to fix the problem though.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 09:07:45 EDT

bchandler02 posted : I agree that it's a little odd, but it seems that most Dlink routers do this for some reason. I've never bothered to figure out why.

FWIW, I never heard back yesterday, so I don't know the status of anything. However, yesterday afternoon, I did see 2 line trucks running up and down the street.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 08:47:33 EDT

CoxTech1 posted : That's a little strange in itself. If you're running ping plotter from your PC the default gateway which would be your router should show up just like any other hop along the path.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 08:36:13 EDT

bchandler02 posted : I'm using a 192 range. It has never shown up on any pingplotter or tracert.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 19:41:10 EDT

DrDrew posted : There aren't any default home router gateway IPs in the PingPlotter post, which is rather strange...

Are the LAN IPs in the default 192.168.x.x range or is it something different like 10.0.1.x range?

If your home router is using the 10.0.1.x range it may cause some odd issues since Cox probably uses that address space for modem management IPs. Most home routers I've seen don't block private IP address space traffic across the WAN port by default.

If you are using normal default 192.168.x.x home router LAN addressing, it's odd it doesn't show in the PingPlotter graph.
--
Two is one, one is none. If it's important, back it up... Somethimes 99.999% availability isn't even good enough.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 19:32:58 EDT

bchandler02 posted : Not with the Cisco I can't.

In the Moto, I would have a T3 rarely (1x/week?) but that's it, nothing else.

No, it was including the router.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:45:03 EDT

DrDrew posted :

said by bchandler02:

That was this tech's thought as well - it is only bonding 1 upstream in this area and it may be losing/searching on the upstream side.

That sort of activity would show in the modem logs. Can you post a screenshot of them?

BTW, you PingPlotter graph doesn't show your router inline. Is that PingPlotter graph with the PC directly connected to modem?
--
Two is one, one is none. If it's important, back it up... Somethimes 99.999% availability isn't even good enough.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:00:38 EDT

lilstone87 posted :

said by bchandler02:

Yep, when they redid everything late last year they had a multimeter out reading all kinds of levels making sure everything was in check, and it was.

But did they do it for a period of time? as from what you have said, it's not a constant issue, but happens often.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:56:07 EDT

bchandler02 posted : Yep, when they redid everything late last year they had a multimeter out reading all kinds of levels making sure everything was in check, and it was.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:50:54 EDT

lilstone87 posted :

said by bchandler02:

That was this tech's thought as well - it is only bonding 1 upstream in this area and it may be losing/searching on the upstream side. However, he said his meter couldn't check upstream and that's why they had to call others.

They (and CT1 here) have told me that I am the only one in the area being impacted, all my neighbors stay online. But, they can't find anything wrong here, and it has all been replaced anyway.

Do you know if they have tested the lines at your house, to see if there is anything pushing noise/voltage threw them? Because a home noise/voltage issue could easily cause a problem.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:47:44 EDT

bchandler02 posted : That was this tech's thought as well - it is only bonding 1 upstream in this area and it may be losing/searching on the upstream side. However, he said his meter couldn't check upstream and that's why they had to call others.

They (and CT1 here) have told me that I am the only one in the area being impacted, all my neighbors stay online. But, they can't find anything wrong here, and it has all been replaced anyway.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:37:19 EDT

lilstone87 posted :

said by bchandler02:

Yes, they all go to 100% loss. I cannot ping the modem interface during the drops either.

In the last 20 minutes, I lost the online light (and connection) for about 30 seconds, followed about 10 minutes later by a full modem reboot.

Well that sounds like a upstream noise issue in your area. As I am sure if there was a noise issue home side causing this problem, one of the tech's that has been to your place would of found the problem. Still it's the job of your local cox guy's to find the source of the issue, and they should be able to lookup modem's around you, to see if/how many others are being affected by this problem. Because if it's a home side issue, people around you modem's would be unaffected by this problem.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:31:03 EDT

bchandler02 posted : Yes, they all go to 100% loss. I cannot ping the modem interface during the drops either.

In the last 20 minutes, I lost the online light (and connection) for about 30 seconds, followed about 10 minutes later by a full modem reboot.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:07:46 EDT

lilstone87 posted : With pingplotter, does all hops go red when the dropouts happen? the image above show's hop 3.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:03:08 EDT

bchandler02 posted : And I know it's been covered already, but here are my signals. They are the same with either modem, they wanted me to leave the Cisco on for now for the logs since he saw it happen with this modem. (Long term, I'll likely go back to the Moto)

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:00:15 EDT

bchandler02 posted : Yes, I've been using pingplotter. During "normal" operations everything looks perfect, great times, consistent, etc. Then, I go to 100% packet loss during the outage, and then right back to normal.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:11:23 EDT

lilstone87 posted : Sound's to me it could be a noise related issue within the node, and it's causing the modem to lose sync, but not to the point the modem reboot's. Have you tried running traceroute's for a long period of time? to see what it shows when the internet is working, and not working?

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:03:08 EDT

bchandler02 posted : Yes, happens with or without.

There is a silver lining to today's problems. Not 2 minutes after the tech walked out, it did it again, this time on the Cisco modem. I ran outside and caught him and he came in and saw it first hand. He was on his tablet and said the modem did not show as online despite him staring at 4 solid lights. After a few phone calls, he said the people that need to look into it are out to lunch and he'd get back to me this afternoon.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 13:11:48 EDT

DrDrew posted : So you have a router connected to the modem?

Does the problem happen without the router connected to the modem, just a single PC?

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 13:04:01 EDT

bchandler02 posted : Tech just left, no problems found (surprise?).

We swapped back to my old 3010 to see if it makes any difference.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 09:16:05 EDT

bchandler02 posted : I just called in as it happened again (2x in 30 minutes).

At first, the tech could not see the modem. I rebooted and he was able to see and said he saw the problem as the modem switching frequencies. He wasn't sure why - signal or line problem most likely - but has someone coming out in 2 hours, so at least hopefully they'll catch it during the act for once.

What would cause it to switch, and if I am bonding 4 channels, shouldn't it be able to maintain connection better via multiple channels?

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 09:08:37 EDT

CoxTech1 posted : Yes, the modem must always be rebooted when connecting a different device to refresh the CPE bridging table. Our ability to connect to the modem remotely will not be affected.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 09:06:46 EDT

bchandler02 posted : Also, no, I cannot ping it. I can continue to ping my router, but not my modem during the problem.

It's as if the modem goes offline (but lights don't reflect this). However, I found it very interesting that the agent could communicate with the modem to reset it yesterday.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 09:05:12 EDT

bchandler02 posted : Well that test doesn't work. The modem will not give a new IP address without a reboot.

Apparently I'm going to have another day of hell fighting this thing today.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 08:20:14 EDT

bchandler02 posted : I am using a desktop that is hardwired and a laptop in a docking station that is hardwired. Both run through my UPS as does the networking gear.

When they were out in November, they did have a multimeter out looking for any electrical noise on the coax and didn't find any.

Interesting theory you have - next time it happens, I'll grab one of my other laptops and check it.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 18:39:54 EDT

DrDrew posted : Are you using a laptop or desktop connected to the modem? Is either plugged into a wall electric outlet for power? If it's a laptop can you run it off battery for a while? I'm wondering if it's an electrical grounding/noise issue, mainly due to the description of the very short coax run between the PC and the demarc. A standalone laptop, not connected to ANYTHING but the modem can help rule this out.

Can you ping the modem 192.168.100.1 when you drop connection?
--
Two is one, one is none. If it's important, back it up... Somethimes 99.999% availability isn't even good enough.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 17:06:06 EDT

bchandler02 posted : Well we're back to complete shit service again. 3 times in the past 2.5 hours I've lost connectivity for 10+ minutes each time, yet nothing changes on the modem.

The most recent time I called tech support. She reset the modem remotely and it came back on shortly after rebooting. This tells me that the modem is maintaining connectivity into the Cox system, but is not routing any traffic.

What explains this?

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 03:25:58 EDT

linicx posted : Bad things happen suddenly and convincingly. It makes no diff if the cable is one day old or 600 years old. Have a drop put in and keep it for a week to test it. If it not the cable, the next place for them to look is in the pedestal. It is not rocket science. It is a company that does not want to spend money or your problem even though they are causing it. It is all about the bottom line, the Bored (a pun) and the stockholders. It is about not giving you one I bit of help, or one bit of bandwidth that might solve the problem.

said by bchandler02:

It's also odd that this went from none to a huge problem in 24 hours. To me, that points to component failure somewhere.

I am testing a theory right now.

--
Mac: No windows, No Gates, Apple inside

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 16:31:44 EDT

linicx posted : I should have added that varmints like moles and squirrels love to chew! You may have one, but, as the engineer pointed out, there may be a pinprick in the cable sheath -- and that's enough to cause a problem. I can attest to the hell one broken wire can cause too. As he said, "There are so many things that can go wrong, and the intermittent problem is almost impossible to find. "
One has to be very patient and very determined to find it. Running you in circles and claiming it is in your house, and therefore your problem is not how to pin the tale on the donkey. Persistence usually prevails. It the drop doesn't help, it may take a year to find IT. Maybe the problem is the pedestal again.

Your next steps would be to call an old electrician .. the guy that has seen all the goofy things that go wrong in a house when it all "looks" perfect to do a whole house wiring inspection. And the phone guy to do a inside phone wiring test and inspection. I had a phone jack that looked wonderful -- until one day I moved a phone line and it fell out of the jack. Go figure. Jack broke. :D

said by linicx:

Engineer says the only way to test it is for Cox to install in a temporary drop from pedestal to your house.

--
Mac: No windows, No Gates, Apple inside

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 16:30:14 EDT

bchandler02 posted : Yes, it was in a PVC conduit. When they were here they did check for voltages and such on the line and everything was perfect.

It's also odd that this went from none to a huge problem in 24 hours. To me, that points to component failure somewhere.

I am testing a theory right now.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 16:19:33 EDT

MarkRH posted : Maybe some critter chewed up the cable. When they buried the line, did they just plop the cable in the ground or encase it in PVC pipe or anything? Perhaps the recent changes in weather conditions wore something out with the heat/cold cycles.

One weird thing happened at my folks house in Edmond.. they were having all kinds of weird phone problems.. turns out it was being caused by a faulty doorbell ringer power module sending out RF interference. Have no idea if something like this would affect cable systems with the shielded cables.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 15:56:09 EDT

linicx posted : Engineer says the only way to test it is for Cox to install in a temporary drop from pedestal to your house.
--
Mac: No windows, No Gates, Apple inside

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 15:52:41 EDT

bchandler02 posted : Ok, is there a way to test it? The cable is literally 6 weeks old and I watched him bury it to make sure there were no splices, etc.

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 15:49:33 EDT

linicx posted : I'm talking to my systems engineer right now. I read him the conversation between you and Cox tech. This is what he says:

"The drop to your house is most likely defective - perhaps happening in the last 24-hours when you first noticed it. The modem looses connectivity to the Headend when your outage occurs. Why this happens is a million dollar question. It is most likely a cable problem between the house and the pedestal."
--
Mac: No windows, No Gates, Apple inside

Re: [OK] Another day, another Cox outage

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 14:45:59 EDT

CoxTech1 posted : I think we need to go where the evidence leads us which at this point appears to be your residence again. These types of issues are particularly frustrating due to their intermittent nature.