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potato6
join:2012-12-13

potato6

Member

Over a year and no resolution in 36460

I've been using Mediacom Internet service for about 6 years. Last June (2012) I started getting frequent modem reboots and had a lot of problems with latency and packet loss. Over the next few months I had numerous tech visits, replaced the line from the pole to the house, and I'm on my 5th modem since June 2012 - 3 of my own (2 brand new), and 2 of Mediacom's rentals. Pretty safe to say the problem was never the modem(s).

Earlier this year (2013) it seemed like they finally had the problem solved. This was short-lived, unfortunately, and after 6 weeks of "OK" service (fewer problems), the bigger problems started back up again.

The modem reboots after "T4 timeouts", I constantly have packet loss, and speeds are all over the place. The problems get worse late in the afternoon and evenings.

My local tech ops supervisor really is a nice guy. I've spoken with him over the phone several times. He's even been out to the house to "assure" us that the problem is being worked on. But this has been going on way too long. It's ridiculous. At this point I have no doubt the problems will not be resolved. I don't think my "local team" is capable. There is no competition in my area yet, so dropping Mediacom isn't an option as long as I live in this little town ... I am not willing to take a loss on this house in this poor economy.

I don't understand why "experts" from another area haven't been called in to fix the issues. I know its not just my location (though I am sure I complain more than anyone else). My business runs entirely over the internet. Almost all of our entertainment comes from the internet (Netflix, gaming, etc). My personal and business phone lines operate over the internet.

Its embarrassing talking to a client and getting cut off because Mediacom service took a dump for a few minutes. I've recently started forwarding all of my calls to my cell again because of this ... this means I am paying twice for all of my business calls (800 number).

Where I've lived in the past I have not had nearly as many problems. For cable internet service I have used Time Warner / BrightHouse and Comcast and for DSL I've used AT&T and GulfTel. I never had problems like this with any of these companies. All of these companies provided much better service for far less cost. For internet services, Mediacom charges a premium for sub-standard service.

For TV services my family uses DirecTV. To try to save a little money about a month ago we considered switching to Mediacom Cable TV service. They at least offer a 90 day money back guarantee, thank goodness. In less than one month we had to go through 5 HD boxes before we received 2 that worked, we had several outages including one extended outage that lasted an entire day, and boxes became "de-programmed" and required calls to support so they could remote reset them. Fortunately I kept DirecTV while we tried Mediacom Cable TV so switching back was painless.

I'm honestly not sure where I'm going with this post. Perhaps I just needed a public outlet to rant. I'm just so frustrated, disappointed, and tired of the level of service we get from this company. When I inquire about updates to my case, I am just told "TOS is looking into this. We'll update you on the forums when we hear more". There is never an "update".

One last thing, it is a bit of a slap in the face when I call support with Internet related problems and they try to sell me an internet phone package. Really?? The internet service barely works, I know the phone will barely work. I know first hand that it is risky to use for anything other than personal calls. God help you if you have an emergency and only have a Mediacom phone.

----------------------------------------------------
Ping Results
~20% packet loss
* online gaming? LOLPWND!
* streaming movies? L (buffering) O (buffering) L
* VoIP with client? Let's ... Hello? Hello? (T4 Timeout)
----------------------------------------------------

>ping -n 50 mediacomcable.com
Pinging mediacomcable.com [74.84.103.140] with 32 bytes of data:
Ping statistics for 74.84.103.140:
Packets: Sent = 50, Received = 39, Lost = 11 (22% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 63ms, Maximum = 196ms, Average = 97ms

>ping -n 50 google.com
Pinging google.com [74.125.137.101] with 32 bytes of data:
Ping statistics for 74.125.137.101:
Packets: Sent = 50, Received = 40, Lost = 10 (20% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 31ms, Maximum = 57ms, Average = 38ms

MediacomChad
Mediacom Social Media Relations Team
Premium Member
join:2010-01-20
Gulf Breeze, FL

MediacomChad

Premium Member

Thank you for coming here and letting us know about the issues you are having. I have looked over the escalation that the Moderators on the Support Forums has, and the they are set to followup with Area Management first thing in the morning. I will make sure they contact you with any update we have. We do understand your frustration with these on going issues, and will continue to do everything we can to get this issue resolved for you.
potato6
join:2012-12-13

potato6

Member

Thanks for the response, Chad. I do appreciate you and the guys over on your forums and I know its pretty much a thankless job. You guys don't have anything to do with the problems people experience yet you catch all the flak and hate.

In all honesty, I'm not holding my breath for any meaningful update tomorrow. As I said in my post above I am not convinced tech ops has a clue. Nice guys (the ones I've met), but unable to fix the problems in my area. A year in the hole pretty much sums it up.

MediacomChad
Mediacom Social Media Relations Team
Premium Member
join:2010-01-20
Gulf Breeze, FL

MediacomChad

Premium Member

I spoke to the area manager today and they let me know that we have a soft ETR of the end of the week, but it is dependent on a few things. I will continue to work with the area manager to make sure this gets worked.
potato6
join:2012-12-13

potato6

Member

Thank you for the update.

MediacomChad
Mediacom Social Media Relations Team
Premium Member
join:2010-01-20
Gulf Breeze, FL

MediacomChad

Premium Member

No problem, we will continue to followup with you here and on the Mediacom forums.
MediacomUser
join:2013-07-23

MediacomUser

Member

I am experience the exact problems with my connection. The first six months, all was perfect. Now, the last 7-8 weeks have been nothing but spotty connections followed up by visits by techs that announce "the connection is fine now so we can't fix anything". My modem logs show the same errors as mentioned above. Extremely frustrating! Meanwhile, Mediacom was happy to schedule a tech to visit for 3 weeks later. Are you serious?!

MediacomChad - please PM me if possible. Thanks

MediacomChad
Mediacom Social Media Relations Team
Premium Member
join:2010-01-20
Gulf Breeze, FL

MediacomChad

Premium Member

Sent!
potato6
join:2012-12-13

potato6

Member

There was a guy working out on the pole in front of my house the other day. When he finished I started running some tests. He came to the house to ask how things were. I let him know that there were still upstream problems and still have packet loss.

I hope they are still working on this.

MediacomChad
Mediacom Social Media Relations Team
Premium Member
join:2010-01-20
Gulf Breeze, FL

MediacomChad

Premium Member

I will check back and see what we can find out on this.
potato6
join:2012-12-13

potato6

Member

I know you are still looking into this but I wanted to share these images ...

This is what I often get when trying to run a speed test at speedtest.net



When I am able to complete the upload test it looks like this



This is from testmy.net


Download speed is fine. Upload speed is terrible. I still have bad packet loss. ~4% during the day and ~15%-20% in the late afternoon into late night.

The good news is that I haven't had a random modem restart since maintenance was on the pole the other day.

I currently have a -3db splitter in the junction box even though there is only a modem hooked up (cable from pole to splitter, splitter only has one line coming out going to modem).

I tried removing the splitter (pole to modem) but the modem won't get sync at all without it.

beachintech
There's sand in my tool bag
Premium Member
join:2008-01-06

beachintech

Premium Member

Go to »192.168.100.1 in your browser and post the upstream signal, downstream signal, and any SNR values that show.

MediacomChad
Mediacom Social Media Relations Team
Premium Member
join:2010-01-20
Gulf Breeze, FL

MediacomChad to potato6

Premium Member

to potato6
Did anyone reach out to you after the Maintenance was completed?
potato6
join:2012-12-13

1 edit

potato6

Member

The guy that was working on the pole a few days ago came by after he finished to ask how things were. I tested and told him there was still packet loss and upstream was still bad (see a couple of posts above). Is it supposed to be complete?

Downstream SNR: 33 / 34 /33
Downstream Power: 1 / 3 / 2

Upstream Power: 41

-----
EDIT: Wanted to post these results

>ping -n 50 mediacomcable.com
Pinging mediacomcable.com [74.84.103.140] with 32 bytes of data:
Ping statistics for 74.84.103.140:
Packets: Sent = 50, Received = 48, Lost = 2 (4% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 63ms, Maximum = 197ms, Average = 81ms

>ping -n 50 google.com
Ping statistics for 74.125.140.113:
Packets: Sent = 50, Received = 48, Lost = 2 (4% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 30ms, Maximum = 217ms, Average = 49ms





MediacomChad
Mediacom Social Media Relations Team
Premium Member
join:2010-01-20
Gulf Breeze, FL

MediacomChad

Premium Member

I will get with Area Management tomorrow and see what the next course of action will be. As soon as I have an update, I will let you know.
potato6
join:2012-12-13

potato6

Member

>ping -n 50 google.com
Pinging google.com [74.125.137.102] with 32 bytes of data:
Ping statistics for 74.125.137.102:
Packets: Sent = 50, Received = 41, Lost = 9 (18% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 31ms, Maximum = 52ms, Average = 39ms

>ping -n 50 mediacomcable.com
Pinging mediacomcable.com [74.84.103.140] with 32 bytes of data:
Ping statistics for 74.84.103.140:
Packets: Sent = 50, Received = 38, Lost = 12 (24% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 64ms, Maximum = 258ms, Average = 85ms





MediacomChad
Mediacom Social Media Relations Team
Premium Member
join:2010-01-20
Gulf Breeze, FL

MediacomChad

Premium Member

Thank You for the info. Unfortunately no update as of yet.
potato6
join:2012-12-13

potato6

Member

Downstream SNR: 33 / 34 /33
Downstream Power: -2 / 0 / -2
Upstream Power: 42

>ping -n 50 google.com
Pinging google.com [74.125.134.102] with 32 bytes of data:
Ping statistics for 74.125.134.102:
Packets: Sent = 50, Received = 46, Lost = 4 (8% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 30ms, Maximum = 49ms, Average = 33ms




potato6

potato6

Member

Downstream SNR: 33 / 34 /33
Downstream Power: -1 / 0 / -3
Upstream Power: 42

>ping -n 50 mediacomcable.com
Pinging mediacomcable.com [74.84.103.140] with 32 bytes of data:
Ping statistics for 74.84.103.140:
Packets: Sent = 50, Received = 46, Lost = 4 (8% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 61ms, Maximum = 123ms, Average = 72ms




potato6

potato6

Member

Unable to upload client data today (again). No matter which server I try to upload it to (Atlanta, Dallas, or DC) it is so slow, eventually stalls and times out. This means I will have to sit in a motel parking lot with my laptop again and 'steal' the motel's WiFi (yup, I've been doing this lately to get work done).
potato6

potato6

Member

This Morning (just before 8am)
------------
Downstream SNR: 34 / 34 / 34
Downstream Power: 0 / 1 / 0
Upstream Power: 42

>ping -n 50 google.com
Pinging google.com [74.125.140.139] with 32 bytes of data:
Ping statistics for 74.125.140.139:
Packets: Sent = 50, Received = 44, Lost = 6 (12% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 31ms, Maximum = 294ms, Average = 89ms









-------------
This Evening (just before 11pm)
-------------
Downstream SNR: 33 / 34 /34
Downstream Power: 0 / 1 / 1
Upstream Power: 41

>ping -n 50 google.com
Pinging google.com [74.125.140.100] with 32 bytes of data:
Ping statistics for 74.125.140.100:
Packets: Sent = 50, Received = 45, Lost = 5 (10% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 31ms, Maximum = 202ms, Average = 82ms





MediacomChad
Mediacom Social Media Relations Team
Premium Member
join:2010-01-20
Gulf Breeze, FL

MediacomChad

Premium Member

Unfortunately I haven't gotten any update as of yet. I will look into this tomorrow and see what kind of progress has been made. I will either let you know here or the Moderators will followup with you there.
potato6
join:2012-12-13

potato6

Member

Thank you, Chad.

FWIW I just tried a direct connection to the modem on one of my machines and the results are the same - high packet loss/slow upload. So, its not the router. Figured I'd do that as I'm sure I'll get asked to soon.

MediacomChad
Mediacom Social Media Relations Team
Premium Member
join:2010-01-20
Gulf Breeze, FL

MediacomChad

Premium Member

You are welcome.

beachintech
There's sand in my tool bag
Premium Member
join:2008-01-06

beachintech to potato6

Premium Member

to potato6
Your SNR values stink, and your signal moves a good bit. I wouldn't be surprised if they have a bad device out in the plant or you have some bad wiring in your home.

Do you have the ability to connect a laptop and the modem to the drop coming in directly from mediacom to compare signal levels at the drop?
potato6
join:2012-12-13

potato6

Member

said by beachintech:

Your SNR values stink, and your signal moves a good bit. I wouldn't be surprised if they have a bad device out in the plant or you have some bad wiring in your home.

Do you have the ability to connect a laptop and the modem to the drop coming in directly from mediacom to compare signal levels at the drop?

New cable from pole to junction, into -3db splitter, to new line running to modem about 30 feet away. Only the modem line is connected to the splitter (no other lines on the splitter) - the modem won't get sync without the -3db splitter in place. Everything here has been replaced from the street all the way into the house to the modem within the last 12 months. I'm on my 5th modem since June 2012 (2 Mediacom rentals, one of my old modems from when I had Time Warner in another city, and 2 brand new modems - 6120 and 6121). The problem is not here.

MediaCon
@mchsi.com

MediaCon

Anon

Wow potato, i feel for you man. Over a year of this type of service isn't commonplace, you just happen to be the ''freak'' of the year.
Hang in there lil' while longer, am pretty sure Chat will get this resolved.
potato6
join:2012-12-13

potato6

Member

I know they're still out there working on it, but I just got my first series of pings without any loss. Jitter is still a bit high (16ms, 20ms, 17ms) but it is WAY better than it has been lately. Whatever they are doing they are on the right track.

Watching the upload speed is a little weird. I watch in real time on a nic tap that updates 4x per second and the upstream bounces all over the place from .05 to 3.5 Mb/s .. but, the average in 3 tests was around 1.2 Mb/s. This is a good sign.

Download starts in the 30's then after the burst it levels out to around 17.1 and stays there. Downstream seems pretty stable.

Getting giddy. Maybe tomorrow I can stay home and work. Sipping shakes all day while stealing slow wifi at mcdonalds can't be healthy. I'll run more tests after Mediacom tells me work is complete.

Ping statistics for 174.34.146.162:
Packets: Sent = 50, Received = 50, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 29ms, Maximum = 45ms, Average = 36ms

Ping statistics for 74.125.140.138:
Packets: Sent = 50, Received = 50, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 30ms, Maximum = 50ms, Average = 38ms

Ping statistics for 74.54.54.178:
Packets: Sent = 50, Received = 50, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 48ms, Maximum = 65ms, Average = 55ms

MediacomChad
Mediacom Social Media Relations Team
Premium Member
join:2010-01-20
Gulf Breeze, FL

MediacomChad

Premium Member

Thank you for the update. Those are looking better and I myself am happy, but we do want to keep monitoring and working on this until it is completely resolved.
potato6
join:2012-12-13

potato6

Member

Oh well. It was fun while it lasted. Back to packet loss and upload tests not being able to complete.