Internet Connectivity Issue

Jesus pardon my poor english, I meant to say "...I've been having trouble with my cable modem..."

Looks like a intermittent signal issue at DS frequency 837Mhz. Notice when you can only bond 3 channels the DS SNR on Channel ID 229 is only 32db. Thats your issue. Not sure what wiring issue or area issue is causing the problem, but that's likly the cause. How does the cable wire go from the poll to your modem?  

PS. You may want to edit one of the screenshots that has your address in the tab.  But since I had it, and took a look at your street, I wonder if it has anything to do with the temp drop they have in at SW 30 LN. They still doing construction down there or is that done? I notice all underground drops.

Pardon my naiveté, but is it common for a modem to only bond 3 channels like that?  I guess my question is, why would it be an intermittent signal from the one that is bonded (albeit with a poorer signal) and not the channel that is occasionally bonded or occasionally not bonded?

Also I'm not sure I totally understand your question.  My cable source is in a relatively new apartment building.  There is only one splitter (5-1000) which splits the supply into 4 cables (3 of which are being used).  Beyond that I don't have any other information about the apartment's cable wiring.

Oh hahahaha, don't worry that's not my address, or located anywhere near my home ;)  I noticed my wife was looking at a house online.  

I wouldn't say it's common, but why it happens is the important part. Each channel is like a lane on the highway, so sometimes if there isn't alot of traffic. they might close a lane.  But think of the highway like a walkie talkie, with each lane being a different frequency or channel on a Walkie talkie. They will close the lanes not needed sometimes, but usually, once bandwidth is required (like a new apartment building) channels are opened up to account for the added required need. If the channels are there, but you modem is having a hard time locking on to some of them some of the time, it means their is a signal problem happening on that particular frequency. It may be effecting other channels too. Its hard to tell without a "normal" base line to compare it too.

Bottom line, have your apartment building maintence guy (if you have one) look at any coaxial wiring he is responsible for. If he gives the green light then call Cox and have a technician come out. Even if the problem isn't happening, show him those screenshots and try to give him time frames of when they are from so he can match it up with data on his side and isolate the issue. If it isn't being caused by a signal issue in your apartment complex, its probably a issue in the area.

So here's the latest: Tech came out, and he basically said my tap line is clean, shows no issues.  He said there was some static in the house wiring, and though I told him I had the same modem issues when connected to the TAP directly, he insisted on fixing the inside wiring.  He thought that beyond that, I must have a bad modem.  I suspect this is BS.  Ironically he also wanted to charge me for the visit despite the fact that I pay for the service protection plan (go figure).  I tried to show him all of the modem logs and everything, but this guy didn't know anything about that.  I'm going to try a different modem, but I doubt this will help.  This sort of thing seems like it's going to eat up a bunch of my time, and convincing them that the problem is more complex (and likely on Cox's end) seems like a waste of my time.  If this is how Cox wants to conduct its business, that's fine with me, I'll go back to ATT DSL.  DSL was a bit slower, but far more reliable/consistent.  I realize that many people are somewhat naive/ignorant, and that this necessitates the "assume the problem is on the customer's end" approach.  That being said, I don't think that this justifies Cox being intransigent to possible issues with their network.

Checking a few nearby modems, I'm not seeing any anomalous signal readings or seeing them go into fallback mode in their logs. There's only 1 other DOCSIS 3 modem in your specific building, but it reports 1 lost sync in 54 days.
You could do with an update to the 1.0.6.12 firmware that's going to roll out to that model in your area in a few weeks, but I wouldn't change out the modem until seeing if the issue improves now that the wiring has been checked.

When you say it happens direct to the drop, could you explain? What are you connecting to and what did he test from? Maybe we have isolated the problem now. Also, if all he did was check your tap, there shouldn't be a charge, unless this isn't the first time. And if you have CSAP then your covered no matter what, outside install related issues. 

So before scheduling a tech to come out I tried to rule out any issues on my end.  My apartment has one main coax line located in a panel in the master bedroom closet.  This main line (whatever the proper name is for it) is connected via a 3-way , 5-1000 MHz splitter.  The tech checked the main line and found it to be free of ingress or signal issues.  He then checked the line (from the splitter) to ther modem/wall port.  He said that there was static/ingress going into my modem, but this would result in a signal/noise ratio well within the specifications of my SB6121.  Nevertheless he changed the splitter/line, told me if that doesn't help buy a new modem.  Since the tech's visit I haven't noticed Internet issues, modem critical logs, or bonding problems despite no obvious change in signal or SNR.  I caution that the connectivity issue is very random meaning that i can be fine all day or have problems several times within a single hour.  Still, I am optimistic.  I left my current SB6121 in place, and at the first sign of trouble I will swap it with a new SB6141.  I'm glad that the other DOCSIS 3 user in my building isn't apparently having trouble, that likely rules out any problem outside of my unit.  Thanks for everyone's help/suggestions and I will post what I find out.

With regard to the CSAP, the guy that came didn't end up charging me, but he said he should have because he thinks it's my modem (which I bought and installed).  The frustrating part is the level 2 person (via phone support) that sent the guy strongly recommended the service plan so I could avoid the 60 charge!!!  I understand why the policy is like that, but why would they recommend something that wouldn't help me?

" He then checked the line (from the splitter) to ther modem/wall port."

So the problem is the line that goes from the panel box to the room the modem is in? if so, why not get that repaired? Looks like that ingress is leaking over into the 837Mhz range. What he probably meant is it isn't enough to stop a D3 modem from getting online, but its well within the operating parameters  I can see the Technician saying he can't fix it if it's wall fished, but I don't see how he can say it's not a problem at all. Changing the modem is a "cross your fingers" kind of fix, and not one I suggest. I would focus on either repairing the line that goes from Master bedroom to where modem is, or investigate the possibility of moving the modem into the master bedroom. Or just hope what ever is causing the ingress to go away, but I doubt that will happen.

KipK

Can I update version online? Can you show me how to update to the 1.0.6.12 firmware more detail?

Thanks

Stephenle said:
Can I update version online? Can you show me how to update to the 1.0.6.12 firmware more detail?

You can check your firmware version at http://192.168.100.1 and for a Motorola modem it's under the "help" tab. It's updated automatically by the system.

Great. Glad to be of assistance.