Forum Discussion

motox's avatar
motox
New Contributor II
6 years ago

What is a normal amount of packet loss I should expect with COX internet?

I recently had cable internet installed to my home.  From the get go I have been experiencing packet loss.  I don't know what the most trusted test of this is but I've tried several including cmd ping and pigplotter.  The results usually range from 0-5% with spikes over 30%.  The dslreports.com smoke ping uses 3 servers to ping your ip.  After 12 hours of testing I'm currently getting 4% average loss from California, 5.5% average loss from Michigan, and 7% average loss from Kansas.  Voip is useless, online gaming is virtually unplayable, and the amount of page reloads I need to do while surfing the web seems a bit much.  My modem is a brand new Motorola mb8600 with normal looking signal levels. (per the cox employee that looked at them).  My first tech is coming out this afternoon and may very well solve the issue but at what point/packet loss percentage is Cox going to just say "deal with it"?  Is this the norm???

12 Replies

  • motox's avatar
    motox
    New Contributor II

    Not a good day for the internet yesterday:

    https://imgur.com/2NUgQm0

    The drop is when I drove across town and did a ping plotter from my parents modem.  Here is their results:

    https://imgur.com/d3NZJSH

    Drove back to my house and got this:

    https://imgur.com/QUmGhIR

    So it would appear that I am not the only one having issues.  She noticed she was having problems earlier in the week and called in.  Of course she gets the classic response of "it is your modem".  I can't be 100% sure who is affected because I don't have access to the data but it bothers me when people have the same issue but are being told different stories.  I understand that it can be costly to maintain a cable system but that is part of the service people are paying for correct?

    As of this morning:

    https://imgur.com/nmzbm6M

    Besides waiting for it to warm up and hoping it gets better, what techniques does COX employ to find and fix ingress?  Assuming that is the potential issue.  Does anyone know specifics?

    • EricaW's avatar
      EricaW
      Former Moderator
      Hi Motox,

      Ingress is usually determined by meter used on site by technicians that would visit the home. If you seek account-specific support, please email us at cox.help@cox.com with the link to this forum.


      Erica
      Cox Support Forums Moderator
      • motox's avatar
        motox
        New Contributor II

        If I'm seeing 8% packet loss at my modem, and my neighbor is seeing 8% packet loss at their modem, and my parents who live across town but are on the same cmts are seeing 8% packet loss all at the same time, then how is sending a technician to look at the brand new lines at my house helping anything?  

        I haven't received an update and as of this moment I have 12.2% packet loss.  I'm pretty sure if I went door to door so would the rest of the town.  Do we all need to complain at the same time for this to be fixed?  What if the house causing the problem doesn't complain because they don't even subscribe to COX anymore but the line is still connected because you have a no disconnect policy?  How does that ever get fixed?

  • According to the latest release from the FCC, Cox's typical levels of packet loss are ~0.1%.  This is a typical amount of packet loss for a cable provider:

    https://www.fcc.gov/reports-research/reports/measuring-broadband-america/measuring-fixed-broadband-report-2016

    However, they seem to have either serious hardware or software issues with their infrastructure.  In my area of Phoenix, during peak times I'm seeing anywhere from 8-30% packet loss - which renders my internet unusable.  This has been occurring for over six months and still continues.  I'm seeing the exact same issues as you.  

    I also have the exact same modem, and I've cycled through three different new models to rule out issues with my hardware.  Went through four routers as well, all brand new - same symptoms persisted through all hardware replacement.  Cox replaced my entire RG6 line from my modem to the nearest neighborhood node.  They refuse to do anything else and say that my experiencing 8-30% packet loss during peak times of utilization is what qualifies as "best effort service" to a residential account.  This is all while hard wired.  

    I would advise contacting the FCC and filing a complaint if this issue persists.  

  • motox's avatar
    motox
    New Contributor II

    My internet was fine all weekend but by yesterday afternoon it was back to having high packet loss.  Here is a ping plotter screen shot to the cmts from my home. Notice the times at the bottom right hand of the screen.

    https://imgur.com/ZjdPMhn

    I went two doors down the street from my house and took this from their modem (using the same laptop and the same Ethernet cable):

    https://imgur.com/a4ysAZb

    I then ran home and got my modem, came back,  and plugged it into the connection 2 doors down the street and got this:

    https://imgur.com/3H12tWi

    I then took my modem and went back to my house, plugged it in and got this:

    https://imgur.com/Uw3DlMS

    I mean, there is still the smallest possibility that my modem is having issues but I think I've shown that there seems to be a connection issue with the line running from the street, down my driveway along three telephone poles and then to my house (this line was literally just installed).  I mean the coax is only in my house for 5 ft and has only one connector.  I don't think that is the issue.  How do I get someone to come and check the lines up on the telephone poles?  The first tech that showed up put his ladder up on the line and checked the one end but didn't see anything wrong.  I suspect he might have wiggled something while he was up there because the connection greatly improved after the visit.  The packet loss is back though.  Do I need to have another tech visit to my home before someone checks the line on the telephone poles?  The problem is that the issue may go away or not even be evident if the line isn't checked for a long enough period or while it is not having issues.  I mean it was fine all weekend. Currently, my ping plotter averages (1 ping per second over 10 minutes)  anywhere from 1.5% to 7% and probably higher.

    • LatitiaS's avatar
      LatitiaS
      Moderator
      Hi motox,


      I am sorry to learn of your troubles. Could you run a trace router/ping using the command prompt and share the results?



      Latitia

      Cox Forums Support Moderator
      • motox's avatar
        motox
        New Contributor II

        Do you have a particular IP you would like to see? The cmts?

        As of this morning the packet loss is gone.  Yesterday started off bad but by the end of the day it was fine.  I've been in contact with the cox.help.cox.com but because all of their emails contain nondisclosures on the bottom I'm under the impressions I'm not allowed to share any of the information I've received from them.  Anyway, I have some old cmd pings and tracert showing the loss but I don't see how that will help at the moment.  Do you not trust ping plotter?  As of right now I am just going to wait until the issue comes back and then contact COX, get them to ping my IP, schedule a tech visit, and go from there. 

        Is there a type of line monitoring I can ask from COX when I'm having packet loss issues?  I mean if the tech doesn't see the loss because it isn't occurring when he is there then how do I get someone to look into this sooner?  I mean this is a day by day issue.  How can I do any better than showing a ping plotter to the cmts from different locations?

  • motox's avatar
    motox
    New Contributor II

    The second tech was here this past Friday.  He replaced the drop but said he was still getting packet loss at the tap.  It was my understanding that he would be submitting a line maintenance request.  How long does that usually take for a bucket truck to get sent out? 

  • motox's avatar
    motox
    New Contributor II

    The bucket truck showed up on Monday afternoon but it was before I got home from work so I didn't get a chance to talk to him.  I was still seeing 1-2% loss intermittently that afternoon.  Tuesday evening there was a few hours it was well over 4% and on Wednesday there were times when it was +20%.  It is always intermittent but can last from a few minutes to a few hours.  The last technician left me a card with his number so I called him back and he was surprised when I told him I was still seeing issues.  He said that they would be taking a look at the node and would keep me in the loop.  I emailed cox and they just want to send another technician.  The funny thing about it is when the technician was here the dsl line I was previously using (and currently am still using) went out.  After calling them, having a technician come out, and getting a new modem my dsl internet is better than ever.  Go figure. 

    Anyway, I've been researching what could be causing my issues and it sounds like if there is enough ingress on the line to cause me to have packet loss then everyone else on the node should be having the same issue.  Is that how it works?  Is everyone else having the same packet loss but not noticing or caring?  When I went and checked my neighbors line (in the photos above) they didn't seem to be having the same packet loss as me.  Was it just a coincidence or can ingress affect some more than others?  Does COX have some sort of ingress monitoring they do?

    It does seem to be correlated with the temperature.  It isn't exactly correlated but I notice on days it is colder that the issues seem worse.  It also seems to come in gradually and go out gradually starting with latency spikes that get worse and worse until it turns into packet loss that gets worse and worse.  Could it be the brand new hardline that was put in is having problems?  What is the likelihood of that? 

    • LisaH's avatar
      LisaH
      Moderator
      Hi Motox. I am sorry that you are still experiencing issues even after this has been escalated. We are contacting the parties involved and you will be contacted with an update. Thanks, Lisa - Cox Support Forums Moderator.
      • jameslance's avatar
        jameslance
        New Contributor II

        Hi LisaH,

        I tried to create a similar thread about my issues with packet loss and modem resets, but it has been marked as spam or abuse. I submitted an appeal, can you please take a look.

        Thanks