US Cable Support → Comcast HSI > [Connectivity]Periodic connection issues Chicago/Lincolnwood

[Connectivity]Periodic connection issues Chicago/Lincolnwood

It's driving me up the wall how my connection can run so smooth and then at times run real crappy. Right now is one of those times.

Tracing route to a1526.dscg.akamai.net [198.47.108.99]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
 
  1     2 ms     1 ms     1 ms  MY-WIRELESS [192.168.1.1]
  2     *     1583 ms    36 ms  c-71-239-72-1.hsd1.il.comcast.net [71.239.72.1]
  3    10 ms    11 ms    10 ms  te-2-5-ur02.chicago201.il.chicago.comcast.net [68.86.115.25]
  4     *       23 ms     *     te-0-6-0-3-ar01.area4.il.chicago.comcast.net [68.87.210.65]
  5     *     1566 ms     *     he-3-6-0-0-cr01.350ecermak.il.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.95.9]
  6     *       12 ms    11 ms  be-12-pe03.350ecermak.il.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.84.190]
  7    42 ms    42 ms    41 ms  as4436.350ecermak.il.ibone.comcast.net [173.167.57.126]
  8    44 ms    40 ms    42 ms  as35994.ae15.ar1.ord1.us.nlayer.net [69.31.105.150]
  9     *       38 ms    41 ms  198.47.108.99
 
Trace complete.
 
 

Re: Periodic connection issues Chicago/Lincolnwood

Your signal levels are fine. You'll want to directly connect to the modem via ethernet and see if your issues persists. What are the lights on the modem doing when you are having problems?

FWIW The other day when having the same connection issues I switched lines going to my modem. The other drop I have going to my house has more splitter's in-line. My Upstream power level increases roughly 5.0dBmV up in to the 50.0dBmV range and the issue was still present.

Re: [Connectivity]Periodic connection issues Chicago/Lincolnwood

Might just be an area thing. I can't break 7Mbps down and getting 0.17Mbps upload today. I'm in Chicago and don't know what the heck is going on either.

My signals are fine and three days ago I was getting 28Mbps down and 6 Mbps up on the performance tier. Haven't changed anything from two days ago. It just went to crap by itself.

Definately want to check your signals connect directly to the modem wired.

I always start sounding like a broken record for my trouble shooting advice ... but your singals looks great, so I'd check on your Upstream SNR. That value can only be read by the Comcast folks. It looks like you're getting a ton of packet loss, yet your modem singal are fine. Are you seeing a large amount of T3 or T4 errors on the modem logs?

Would 71.239.72.1 be your local Comcast gateway? If so, next time you're seeing issues, ping that address for packet loss. If you're seeing dropped packets I think it narrows down the issue to somewhere in your home or nearby. Also call into Comcast when the packets are dropping and ask for your UPSTREAM noise. It should be 30 or higher. A lower value could be indicating some sort RF interference/egress in the area that has to be tracked down.

Again, may not be any of the above, but will atleast help narrow things down

I wonder if they can actually view the upstream SNR for all upstream channels. All I've ever heard is whether it's GREEN or not. I hope it isn't just checking one channel.

It's 2am and I rebooted my modem. I see it have an incomplete cycle. It would make it past Upstream but never go online and just blinking. Then it dropped back down to DownStream syncing, then tried once again to completely come online. I called support and they gone through their scripted speeches and restarted my modem from their end. I asked him to read me the Upstream SNR and he said its 23.2dB. That sounds a bit low to me. Tomorrow I'm going to try calling again and see if I can get someone from the U.S to read my signals once again.

Yup. I live in Chicago too and I came back home to see wall of

No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Cable Modem Reboot due to T4 timeout ;
Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Unicast Maintenance opportunities received - T4 time out;
SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;

Weird.

I have a line tech coming tomorrow. I was on the phone with a real nice "Account executive" is what they're calling support these days. She told me my Upload SNR was ranging from 28dB up to 38db. She put in the notes to replace my modem and finally replace the 2nd drop that was chewed by squirrels and was never replaced, just left as a decoy. It has the least amount of splitters. While on the phone I got upgraded to Blast but only half of it seems to be working..

Interesting how I have a technician scheduled to come soon and I checked the traffic to see it moving a lot better and the CMTS not responding to pings now.

This can't be the solution...

Found out my WiFi router was stopping me from getting Blast speeds. Never ending issues..

Connected on one of the 4-port Ethernet connections on the WiFi router.

Downstream Channels 
        Power Level: Signal to Noise Ratio:
Channel 1: -2.3 dBmV  39.9 dB
Channel 2: -1.9 dBmV  39.9 dB
Channel 3: -2.2 dBmV  39.7 dB
Channel 4: -1.9 dBmV  39.8 dB
Channel 5: -1.3 dBmV  39.9 dB
Channel 6: -1.3 dBmV  40.0 dB
Channel 7: -2.1 dBmV  39.8 dB
Channel 8: -2.6 dBmV  39.9 dB
 
Upstream Channels:  
         Power Level:
Channel 1:46.8 dBmV
Channel 2:48.0 dBmV
Channel 3:45.5 dBmV
Channel 4: 0.0 dBmV
 

Ok.. My signals been fixed. Comcast better figure out what the hell is going on because its not on my end..

Pinging a1526.dscg.akamai.net [184.51.155.74] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 184.51.155.74: bytes=32 time=18ms TTL=58
Request timed out.
Reply from 184.51.155.74: bytes=32 time=9ms TTL=58
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 184.51.155.74: bytes=32 time=1887ms TTL=58
Reply from 184.51.155.74: bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=58
Reply from 184.51.155.74: bytes=32 time=3433ms TTL=58
Request timed out.
Reply from 184.51.155.74: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=58
Reply from 184.51.155.74: bytes=32 time=2644ms TTL=58
Reply from 184.51.155.74: bytes=32 time=15ms TTL=58
Reply from 184.51.155.74: bytes=32 time=1801ms TTL=58
Reply from 184.51.155.74: bytes=32 time=20ms TTL=58
Reply from 184.51.155.74: bytes=32 time=11ms TTL=58
Request timed out.
Reply from 184.51.155.74: bytes=32 time=399ms TTL=58
Reply from 184.51.155.74: bytes=32 time=981ms TTL=58
Reply from 184.51.155.74: bytes=32 time=14ms TTL=58
Reply from 184.51.155.74: bytes=32 time=462ms TTL=58
Reply from 184.51.155.74: bytes=32 time=128ms TTL=58
Reply from 184.51.155.74: bytes=32 time=15ms TTL=58
Reply from 184.51.155.74: bytes=32 time=560ms TTL=58
Reply from 184.51.155.74: bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=58
Reply from 184.51.155.74: bytes=32 time=11ms TTL=58
 
Ping statistics for 184.51.155.74:
    Packets: Sent = 26, Received = 20, Lost = 6 (23% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 9ms, Maximum = 3433ms, Average = 622ms
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Ping statistics for 184.51.155.74:
    Packets: Sent = 802, Received = 711, Lost = 91 (11% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 9ms, Maximum = 3952ms, Average = 156ms
 

Currently looking at U-Verse deals. (finger) @ Comcast

total crap.

You need to find out if your upstream SNR has improved. You can have a good signal strength-wise, but there could still be alot of noise coming from somewhere.

The tech saw major loss from the line going to my modem. When he replaced the splitter and eliminated the unused line my SNR went up to 43 to 48dBmV. The support lady on the phone who I talked to last night said my signals are all in the green and offered to send another tech to my house. Afterwards from around 9pm to 10pm during the thunderstorm my connection was solid. It seems to be worse around dinnertime when everyone is home from work and school. I have a feeling the CMTS/plant has some load issues again. Last time, 6 years ago I dealt with load issues of high pings and I waited for 8 months with multiple unsuccessful tech visits only to get it fixed by splitting the node. My patience ran out since the latest technician hasn't fixed my issue. 1 strike and you're out this time. Last night I signed up for U-Verse internet. For $54.95 for 1st year and $66 after I have speeds @ 24/3 so I can buy the wireless gateway for $100 that's mine to keep with no $6 monthly lease fee's. After a month or so I'll upgrade to their Power tier @ 45/6. At this point I'll take latency over speed any day. What good is it driving a race car that stops at every stop sign and traffic light.

I forgot to mention the U-Verse VRAD is just 1 block away down the alley. Well within the 3000 feet range. I have a feeling it was installed because the old AT&T DSL wasn't available due to being too far away from the main station. I think I was out of range by a mile or so.

OK so a SNR of 38 sounds like what it was.
Something I just noticed. Before my daughter came home my connection was smooth. Since she's been home and opened up Netflix on her ipad my connection gone in the dumper and PingPlotter gives me the usual. Even connected hard lined Ethernet gives me the same noise. Don't make sense.