Forum Discussion

QinSD's avatar
QinSD
New Contributor
10 years ago

Cox capacity issues San Diego

Does Cox employ any actual network engineers or just techs with testing equipment? I ask this because there seems to be some serious capacity issues in my area of San Diego that are not getting resolved. Months ago I complained several times about slow internet speeds. I have the 100mpbs service and during the afternoon and evening I am only getting 4-20mpbs. I have had techs come out at least 6 or 7 times and each time they test the physical cabling and box on the street and determine nothing is wrong. However, it's because they're testing at 12 noon instead of 10PM. I am a network engineer, so please spare me the troubleshooting steps of removing the router, etc, etc. Just to prove it's not my equipment, I always plug my computer right into the cable modem when troubleshooting on the phone or when the tech comes. The coax for the cable modem runs straight through the wall to outside. I have even replaced two modems at the advice of Cox even though I knew there was nothing wrong with the modems. I routinely run speed tests on cox's site and I know the customer service people can see this results. Simply putting these results into a graph would show speeds are SEVERELY reduced during peak hours. This means Cox needs to upgrade capacity. I am not expecting to max out 100mbps at all time, but 4-20mbps is unacceptable. I can barely watch youtube and Netflix at high quality when it's getting 4mbps. Not sure what to do anymore. Don't want to switch to U-Verse because their max speeds are only 50mbps. But I will take a consistent 50mpbs over a non-existent 100mpbs.
slow internet capacity tech support
  • Health_Edge's avatar
    Health_Edge
    Valued Contributor III
    10 years ago

    " I am a network engineer, so please spare me the troubleshooting steps of removing the router, etc, etc."

    I am also a network engineer. I work for a small provider that supports Avaya and SIP systems along with other convergence applications. Since when do engineers skip troubleshooting steps? Isn't it routine to document each steps taken for proper diagnosis? How else would you do a root cause? 

    1. What kind of modem do you have?

    2. What are it's signal levels? 

    3. Can you show some of the actual data from the speed tests?

    4. Any other data like pingplotter or wireshark?

  • QinSD's avatar
    QinSD
    New Contributor
    10 years ago

    We can skip the troubleshooting steps because we've literally done them 20 times by now.  The issue is not my computers, modems, cables, or anything like that in the house.   Like I said, I always disconnect everything and plug the modem directly into my computer. 

    1. I am on my second Moto SB6141 (8 downstream channels / 343mpbs max speed) .  I bought the first one to replace a perfectly fine Moto SB 6120 (4 downstream channels / 150mpbs max speed).  Then when the problem kept happening, they said the SB6141 must also be bad, so I should return it and get another one.  3 modems arent bad.  But I played along because their "techs" said the modems were bad.

    2. Signal levels are fine on the diagnostics page and the techs have verified this with their testing equipment everytime they come.

    3. Yes, it's on the Cox support page. When you run speed tests from the page, the CSRs can see the results and verify you are actually having an issue.  Case in point..

    4. Looking at wireshark, I dont see any excessive tcp resets or any other kind of errors like that.

  • tucansam's avatar
    tucansam
    New Contributor
    10 years ago

    Same traffic, network engineer past 20 years, peak times in Tucson/Vail leads to speeds such that I'd be better off with Centurylink, which is cheaper too.  Get your sh!t together Cox, seriously, this is getting old.  Must be nice to be the only game in town and put your customer needs, let's see, fourth of fifth behind money and shareholders and whatever else comes before us.

  • DerrickW's avatar
    DerrickW
    Valued Contributor
    10 years ago
    Hi tucansam,

    Have you had issues with your connection recently?  I would like to take a look at your modem information and see what may be causing you connection issues.  Are you wired to your cable modem or do you have a wireless router?