US Cable Support > Cox HSI > Cox speed upgrade degraded my service

reply to xymox1

Re: Cox speed upgrade degraded my service

reply to xymox1
Which bring us to here...

This shows the issues. It also shows the general trend im concerned about in rising latency. It shows a clear degradation in the quality of my service.

The latency swings, at peak internet usage times, show a loading/overloading of something. I would love to hear from Cox that they are aware of the issue and are working to correct it. That would be awesome.

This is 60 days in width.

reply to xymox1
I guess I'll just schedule a tech to come out something (eventually, not in a real hurry.) I was using a DPC3000 before I swapped to the SB6141 because the old modem only had a 100mbps wan interface and 4x4 bonding. After the modem swap I am bonding on more channels, but they are all in range. Off-hand I think my power levels on all 8 downstream channels is between -5 & -7 and my SNR is around 36 and TX at 42.

reply to xymox1
Hmmm... Thats looks pretty perfect...

Give multiping a while. Let it run for a few days..

If you have swings like i show above, then yea, maybe you are also seeing the issue im describing..

reply to xymox1
This appears to effect everyone on all tiers of service.

So even if you dont have higher speeds your lantency and jitter most likely went up, EVEN THO you did not get any added benifit of higher speeds as lower tiers of service are capped,

That would suck even worse. At least I got higher speeds, so some benefit from the change.

reply to xymox1
Whoa....

I had not looked at short windows in a while..

Multiping averages out when you look at larger time frames.

Looking at short time frames now makes it clear why my gaming friends are upset. 50ms latency to the gateway. LOTS of jitter. Even some real live packet loss.

This is a whole lot worse then I thought..

30 min window width.



I have now started 0.2s ping intervals to examine this issue more closely.. I want to look at short term latency and jitter..

reply to xymox1
OMFG...

Wow the problem is WAY WORSE then i thought..

Here is a before upgrade and after upgrade 30 min multiping with 1 sec ping interval..

The difference is 3 to 5 TIMES worse.

Randomly, second by second, latency is varying from 8ms to 50+ms.. This is a LOT to be happening just to the gateway. For a FPS gamer this is bad news. Clearly for gaming the cox "upgrade" was 100% a downgrade.

So what exactly are you pinging? ur modem?

reply to xymox1
No the Cox gateway...

See previous posts...

Use tracert to determine what your gateway is. Or look at your modem WAN status and it will have the gateway..

Its the first step outward past your router and modem.

Well there is also the CMTS. I have pinged the CMTS in the past, but the Gateway makes more sense..

reply to xymox1
I suppose I should go over my setup...

DPC3010 modem
6X3 bonding
firmware dpc3010-v302r12901-110516a-COX.bin
Levels
RX
Channel 1: 4.3 dBmV 39.9 dB
Channel 2: 4.0 dBmV 39.6 dB
Channel 3: 3.8 dBmV 39.0 dB
Channel 4: 4.2 dBmV 38.8 dB
Channel 5: 4.5 dBmV 38.6 dB
Channel 6: 3.8 dBmV 37.5 dB
TX
Channel 1: 38.5 dBmV
Channel 2: 38.5 dBmV
Channel 3: 38.5 dBmV

I have a direct, new, coax run to the cox pedestal. I dont have cable TV and no splitters. The wire goes from the cox box directly into my modem.

I am currently using a Ubiquity Edge Router Lite
»www.ubnt.com/edgemax#EdgeMAXhardware
but have also used a high performance PC running dual NIC's and Vyatta as a high performance router. »www.vyatta.com/product/vyatta-ne···os/specs

I am wired with shielded cat 6E

The computer doing the pinging has a high performance NIC and is running a ASUS Rampage 3 extreme MB, Intel i7 X990 @ 3.5Ghz, high performance ram and other things like a RAID 0 set of SSD's.

The computer running multiping does nothing else. It does not even have a monitor. I use remote desktop to access it.

When i first noticed this issue, I changed modem, changed routers and used a different computer and the same latency swings were still present.

Well I just pinged mine for like 10-15 minutes, avg was 8ms but did have a high of 17ms.

Do you know if your area got upgraded to the highest tier being 100Mb/s + recently ?

Your ping sounds fairly normal, the trick is to monitor over a few days and see what you get..

Plus this could be many things for various people. I am very aware of my connection quality and have good charts over years so I know what my connection looks like performance wise. Keep in mind you could just be seeing normal issues for your area. Im focusing on the "upgrade" and its effects.

I have had 100/20 speeds since start of november.

reply to xymox1
Interesting... It would be interesting to see your charts and see if you also see this latency swing daily.

However im sure each region will have different loading of gear, so maybe some areas are better/worse then others..

reply to xymox1
I'd point out that the TX (Upstream) power is lower than normal on your modem. Yours is 38.5 and it should be 40+. Mine are at 41-43db.

From FAQ:
DOCSIS 3.0 modems:

Upstream (Transmit): 40-52 dBmV. A value within the range +40 to +52 dBmV is within spec with the low to mid 40's the most common. If the cable modem is going offline, and the upstream signal strength is at or above +52dBmV, then a poor upstream path is probably the problem.

Just thought I'd point that out. Techs will have to tell you if it is acceptable or not, but going by the FAQ I would conclude it's not.

--
~~Chris~~

Need a pro computer tech? See my profile for my website - I offer remote support services!

chrisf8657,

The low TX power is because i have nothing between me and pedestal. If I put a 2 way splitter, as most people would have, that puts me in range.

A low TX power simply indicates that I have a good connection to the CMTS and a low power is what is required to happily talk to the CMTS.. There is a handshake between the CMTS and the modem where the best TX power is determined. The CMTS listens to the singal from the modem and watches lots of things including what level my signal is at the CMTS. The CMTS handshake adjusts the level of the cable modem so that it falls inline with where the CMTS needs it to be. In my case the CMTS could hear my modem loud and clear and so set the level lower in order to not be any louder then others..

Generally the lower your TX level is the better your upstream connection is to the CMTS. Generally. Flap ( changes in level ) and things like BER and a host of other things all effect things of course. Butr generally the lower the TX level is the better.

This has not changed in 2 years, so this cant be a issue in my discussion of this change tho. As i mentioned before my levels did not change at all.

reply to xymox1
This has a lot of highly technical info on how a CMTS works and how it interacts with a cable modem.. »www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk86/tk···ome.html

reply to xymox1
Just thought I'd point it out.
I don't claim to be a tech of cable modem systems per-se, just go by what I read. Computers and networking are my forte.
--
~~Chris~~

Need a pro computer tech? See my profile for my website - I offer remote support services!

Yes cable modems are very analog devices. Just so happens I have a degree in electronics and analog is my fav.. Plus over the years actually learning cable modem systems has become important and good to know..

For you this would not be hard to learn. However it is Cisco annoying. I dont think Cisco can make something easy to use. I think thats just simply impossible for them..

reply to xymox1
Hello Cox...

I am hoping your going to tell me that what i am seeing is temp. Some roll out issue maybe, Or something..

I would hate to think that as you are rolling out these upgrades in city after city that no one really considered latency and jitter and only looked at speed. Gaming is a big deal now and gamers account for a reasonable percentage of internet use today. Making changes that degrades gaming performance is really a bad thing to do.

Ive been VERY happy with my service over the years. In fact I could not be happier. Not only the performance, but the speed of technology roll outs and your customer service has been great. I have *ZERO* complaints and nothing but praise. However, this issue has changed all that...

I would like a response. I can also of course provide my MAC if you want to specifically look at my connection.