Charter Spectrum → [HSI] 100 Ultra? Nope Nope Nope!

For the last 4 months my speeds during peak hours have been abysmal! In the early morning hours I get 100-105Mbps. Starting in the afternoon,(when schools let out?) it starts to creep down and by dinnertime until 11PM or so it gets downright slow(10-30Mbps and worse). Traceroutes and pings are all good. 4 truck rolls have given zero help and 2 more trucks with "quality assurance" have also done nothing to resolve this. SNR(37dB) and power levels(-4/-5dBmV) are good and steady.Uploads are rock solid. They have checked every line and connection from my PC's to the router,modem,tap and to the telephone pole at the road. It happens wireless and hardwired across multiple PC's and so far nothing has been done to resolve it. One tech actually said it must be mice who come in from the cold and nest on the wires and then leave in the morning! Seriously? Another told me that my account will be terminated if I continue to call and they cant fix the issues! Seriously? Charter reps have promised to be in touch to resolve this and never a call back. Whats a person got to do to get something like this resolved? Seems it has to be an overloaded node,right? Any ideas? Any Charter techs from Connecticut reading here who might have a clue?

Sounds like massive congestion at peak hours. Do you have any cable boxes ? and have you had an appointment during these peak hours ? So the techs can actually run live eqas and check levels at the slow times. ?

A couple cable boxes. And despite me telling them endlessly the problems are at their worst in the evening,the latest a tech has showed up is 530 and never seemed to run any tests that showed anything wrong.

What modem are you using?

Wondering if your area is still at 4 DOCSIS downstream carriers. If so, evening usage might be putting the existing carriers at/beyond capacity.

When you say a couple is it more than four ?

How many splitters are being used ?

I work for Charter in the Dallas area i can tell you real quick if your just getting the run around by techs.

Motorola SB6121
3 cable boxes,used one at a time.

What would the number of cable boxes have to do with it?

If your signals are good, it sounds like an overloaded node.

The number of boxes matter depening on the type of splitter used.

Usually if you have two boxes your on a two way splitter you loose 3.5DBs on each outlet, Then if your modem is in the same room as your cable box there is normally another two way so then you loose another 3.5DB to the modem so thats a total of 7DB lost. It may not sound like a lot but it can make all the diffrence.

Here is another synaro.

Say if the thread OP had four boxes, a four way splitter is used usually on a four way its 7DB lost per out let, So if you loose 7DB and then you have the modem in the room with the box and theres a two way you loose another 3.5DB so thats over 10GB lost, Once agian thats quite a bit.

Okay so you have three boxes, Does your modem have a dedicated line or is it split off at the cable box with a two way ?

The appropriate question would be how many splitters between the drop and the modem. Many times the installer will split/tap the incoming drop directly to the modem and then have another leg that is later split to all of the TVs.

Additionally, if his signals are good at the modem, then the number of splitters isn't his issue, since that's where you'd see the evidence of that.

You do indeed have a point, But if a tech has cascaded splitters it could affect the rx/tx of the modem and that could explain is slow speeds, but that goes back to what you said,

"The appropriate question would be how many splitters between the drop and the modem."

1 splitter for a cable box and modem,checked and replaced by quality assurance but made no difference. That line goes straight to an amp and to the pole. Techs say they have ruled out the amp as the problem also.

Keep in mind,the slow speeds are just during peak hours. Middle of the night and early mornings my speeds are awesome.

Curious, Did they install the amp from the primary install or after a trouble call?

The amp has been there for 3 years or so. Not sure why I need it as the line to my primary TV/Modem is is on a port specified for the modem and the TV signal is clear and without problems. Doesnt explain the time of the slowdowns eiher

Could be because the Motorola SB6121 is only a x4 channel bonding modem, I think? not 100% sure but im pretty sure.

Your area may have 8 channel bonding availability, I would be talking to charter about looking into that, If 8 Channel bonding is available in your area you need to be on a modem that supports 8 channel bonding

Without having to go to the local office,which isnt that local,who would know if 8 channel has arrived here and if an 8 channel modem is available to me if I do head to the office?

And shouldnt one of the 6 techs who have been here known this might be a problem?

If you have the 100mbit plan, you have a modem capable of channel bonding. DOCSIS 3 is a requirement for 100Mbit cable internet.

Correct but the Motorola SB6121 is capable of only four channels i think, So during peak hours thats what is causing the issues of slow speeds, if he has 8 channel bonding in his area he should be on a 8 channel bonding modem which in end would result in better speeds during peak hours.

ive always had issues with the Moto SB6121, i prefer the cisco dpc3008 my self when i do installs

Previous modem was the UBEE,also 4 channel and also slow.

Just got off the phone with a very helpful phone tech who after reviewing my status and talking to his superiors has escalated the ticket and Im supposed to see a supervisor here at 3 on Monday. Unfortunately he had no way of knowing if we were in an 8 channel area and if that may be a cause of the problem. Also said I cannot use a self owned modem and the local office has no Sunday hours to run out and get one so it looks like Ill have to wait until Mondays tech visit. After 4 months whats a couple more days,right? Frustrating at best but I do love Charter when its working well,which is usually most of the time.....except when it isnt!

Been through that not to long ago. Its congestion. Once they fixed it and enabled 8 channel bonding. No problem since.

Not customer service reps....a young fellow who called himself a "Lead Tech" told me those things standing in my house and in my driveway. And while I have thought of calling,my primary focus is getting this ongoing problem fixed first. So far I am attributing his words to frustration as hes been here 2 or 3 times now for the same problem and nobody above him has done anything to fix this.Im assuming the supervisor they are sending tomorrow will be his boss and if its who I think it is hes the one sitting on his hands. Ill rethink calling once Im back running and up to speed.

Ok,heres where I am now. Supervisor didnt show up as promised but a tech did. He ran through everything again(4th or 5th time) from the modem to the tap,replaced a connector or 3 ran some diagnostics and replaced the Motorola modem with a DPC3010 Cisco which supports 8 channel bonding. He verified they switched from 4-8 channels a couple months ago also.Ran a speed test in the 60Mbps range,well under the 100 I pay for and left.I asked him whats next and he shrugged and said he didnt have a clue. Modem diag page shows only 4 active channels down and 1 channel up. Obviously the problem isnt fixed so anyone have any suggestions to get this rectified?

My first thought, based on your initial description, is the your node is over loaded. Almost every time you have normal speeds on non-peak times, and slowness during peak hours, it's congestion.

Having said that, there are now two issues: 1) you have to keep calling/reporting the issue until you get Charter to confirm/admit the problem, and 2) wait until they resolve it.

I say wait because they aren't quick to resolve this type of issue. They have to identify the problem, then the network gets investigated (monitoring/measuring traffic), then the Engineering team gets involved to design the upgrde, then an upgrade plan gets created, hardware gets purchased, etc. etc.

I went through the exact same thing as you are going through for almost a year. My download speeds around 5 PM to 1 AM approached less than 1 Mbps on my 30 Mbps package. Streaming of Netflix or Hulu was impossible. I had six tech visits to my house and a total of two modem swaps. Every time Charter said everything was fine on my end. Charter wouldn't admit the node issue until I filed a BBB complaint. Then everything changed and they contacted me from a corporate headquarters number. The woman on the phone was very apologetic about the speed issues. She even granted me partial credit for three months to my account. They sent a line tech out who finally admitted to me the node was congested and within 2 months they installed a new upgraded node along with 8 channel bonding support. Since that point in time me speeds are back to normal at peak hours. My advice is file the complaint and then you will see a response from Charter. They don't like to see a BBB complaint taint their image. Best of luck to you.

So they made a promise to have a supervisor show and he didn't and the problem is still not resolved and the tech has NO answer to your reasonable question....

CALL CORPORATE.....THE REAL CHARTER CORPORATE in Stamford, CT.

(203) 905-7801

(do not call the St. Louis, MO offices as the execs are no longer there.)

Make sure you call the DIRECT phone number to their Stamford, CT offices....

Be polite, but firm and to the point, tell them that you want the problem solved in a timely manner or you will be forced to file a complaint with the FCC and BBB.

Charter Communications is governed in each area it serves by a local government franchise administrator. Their contact information should be on your monthly statement. File a written, formal complaint with that office. Briefly describe your problem and Charter's attempts to fix the problem. Include dates and names to document actions taken to-date. Request a follow-up from the franchise administrator. Continue communicating with the franchise administrator, and make an in-person visit to that office. Get some face-time with the person that may have some clout with Charter concerning your problem. Attempt to find other Charter subscribers in your area that may also be having problems like yours. Urge them to also contact the franchise administrator.

As much as I didnt want to do that,I finally did. I spoke to a very nice person who after reviewing my file and looking at data local to my node said he would call local dispatch and see what he could find out. He called back after an hour or so and acknowledged there was indeed a problem with capacity/congestion and that a supervisor and line tech would be out first thing tomorrow. Also,8channel bonding will be active here in about 2 weeks and that should also help considerably.

Also,BIG Thanks to a couple folks who offered helpful suggestions via IM. I like to think I know how cable works having been around this forum both as Mod and member for many years now,but there are always people who can teach me things!