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Cox Essential Service: Poor speeds and "hot" downstream signal level
A friend who has Cox Essential Service is only seeing download speeds of about 1 Mbps and upload speeds of about 450Kbps with her Surfboard SB5101 modem. According to the web interface of the modem, the downstream signal level is about 7.6 dBmV with the upstream signal level at about 36 dBmV. My impression is that the lower upstream signal level from the modem is in response to the "hot" downstream signal level from Cox. However, according to Cox, they are seeing "normal" levels, the 5-year old modem is DOCSIS 2.0, the level of service is rated at "up to 3Mbps" and stressed that they would charge approximately $70 if they found trouble with the customer equipment.
Unimpressed with their response.
KipK
Former Moderator
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Signal levels don't really tell the whole story.
A modem should be able to operate at -10 to +10 downstream, with as close to 0 as possible being ideal, as long as the SNR is 35dB or above (which you haven't listed). An overly high downstream could have a very low SNR if it's being inflated by something like an amplifier.
Upstream for DOCSIS 2 should be between 35 and 52 (preferably with an SNR of >30 but you wouldn't see the US SNR).
If the numbers we see are what we consider normal, and we don't get any packet loss when we ping the modem's interface to our network side, then we would consider it most likely that the issue is within the customer's premises.
I apologize if your friend had a bad experience with tech support. However, it is correct to say that all of our speed ratings are "up to" X mbps, though you really should be able to reach the rated speed or better most or all of the time.
The technical support representative was also correct to say that if the problem is anywhere past the point where our signal enters the home, there can be a charge for a service call. Just like plumbing, telecommunications wiring inside the home is customer property. However, the representative may have neglected to mention that we do offer the Cox Service Protection Plan to cover repairs to inside wiring and service calls caused by problems with customer-owned equipment.
If they'd like, your friend can email us at CoxHelp@Cox.com and just let us know their service address and that it's in reference to this forum post and we can take a closer look.
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