New Contributor
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6 Messages
Questions about speeds:
So, I have a GameStream compatible PC setup with an Nvidia Shield. I am currently on the Premier plan, which is 10mbps upload, and 50mbps download at best.
I have not once gotten even 5mbps up. That is something I have complained to Cox about many times. I have even had them send a tech out more than 6 times. Every single time I was not billed, because every single time, they fixed some structure on our box or out on the box in the street. I personally paid for my gateway, so when one of the techs just came in and decided to reset my box without asking or telling me, I was more than upset. I have the Netgear CG4500BD gateway, and have had every model under it spec-wise. I have my gateway in "modem" mode, disabling the need for NAT on the gateway end, so I can use my own router to port-forward.
In order to make GameStream work (also the only reason I am paying $60 a month for Premier) you have to have at least 5Mbps up at all times. This isn't an unreasonable request. Second, every time I ask a tech why my speeds are low, he uses Ookla-based products (a Cox Communications-hosted, local, Phoenix-based server). Speedtest.net uses a very biased method of testing, and every Ookla product uses servers local to your region hosted by none other than the ISP you are testing on. That is how the tech support guys are able to retrieve results from the servers during a troubleshooting call.
At this point, even that should be enough to get Cox to give me some sort of promise of a consistent speed. Nope. Another thing about Ookla products, is Cox and other ISPs have the "download-booster" or proprietary-named variety product, which upon a few minutes of pinging or using any server improves speeds for a limited amount of time. After a certain time-out, the "booster" is no longer in use for each server. So, with Speedtest, on top of the biased speed ratings, they are still boosting speeds for the tests. You can test for hours, then maybe you'll get a slightly more accurate reading, but even still they are designed to give biased readouts.
Now, I know that usually no more than 2 weeks into my month of service, without fail, I reach my "data cap." Cox says they do not throttle, but that is a nice way of saying it is based on usage. Cable modems are designated by MAC address for provisioning, so therefore, also having my gateway in "modem-only" mode, I noticed when they send re-provisioning commands, sometimes my internet goes down, because the gateway doesn't register well, and ends up showing "denied" under "Network Access" under status. This ONLY happens the day after the "You are over your cap" emails are sent.
I am not paying for 50mbps down, I could have 15 or 20 for all I care, but the minimum of 5mbps is something that isn't too overzealous that Cox just cannot muster to promise.
***, my Verizon data speeds blow my home connection out of the water anytime I'm on LTE. Blow out of the water as in getting speeds I have NEVER received during my year of Cox service.
What do I have to do to get consistent speeds? I can provide evidence of what I am saying, I have speed tested my network way too many times, I can provide details if need be. I need to know what I can do to TRULY get even 5mbps consistently.
Please let me know what I can do.
And as for network setup otherwise, I have an OpenWRT router with throttling speeds for all clients on the network excluding the PC I am talking about. The speed tests are also run from this PC. I have disabled these throttles for the sake of testing if it increased speeds, and same low speeds.
As for connection, all clients, excluding this PC are run wirelessly. My PC is connected to the router via Gigabit Ethernet. The router is connected to the gateway via Gigabit Ethernet, and the router port forwards all ports I need directly through gateway (which acts like a internet-connected passthrough to my router). If I could get a DOCSIS 3.0 PCI NIC I would pay good money for it, but I'm positive that it doesn't exist.
Anyways, hopefully somebody has an answer for me.
ChrisL
Former Moderator
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7.1K Messages
11 years ago
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fefifochizzle
New Contributor
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6 Messages
11 years ago
How do you expect me to trust your help when you didn't read past the first paragraph? Make and model: Netgear CG4500BD
I have extensively tested this, again a fact that I stated in the OP. I have done both with Gateway connected directly via CAT-5 and through my router. Both yield equally as disappointing results. I have not gotten my speed as quoted since my first day of having Cox. I upgraded to the Premier in the hopes that the higher rate would mean provisioning accordingly . Again, as stated, my quoted "up to" 10Mbps has never been achieved since started with Cox, or after the upgrade to Premier. The most I have gotten is about 5700kbps (a little over 5Mbps) upload, and less than 20Mbps down. It has not reached anything above at any point.
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Allan
Moderator
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2.3K Messages
11 years ago
Hello jarjarfinks,
If the service to the home location is suspect, then we will need some additional information from you. Please send us an email with your full address to cox.help@cox.com so we can research this ongoing issue further for you.
Thanks,
Allan - Cox Support Forums Moderator
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ColleenD
Moderator
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1.7K Messages
11 years ago
jarjar,
Thank you for your email. I've checked over your modem's connection to the network and was not able to find any apparent issues. All of your previous test results from the Cox Speed Test are well within range for the dates you tested. We'd only be able to troubleshoot a physical connection directly to the modem via ethernet, which is why Chris inquired about testing with the router bypassed.
Please sign in at http://bit.ly/CoxSpeedTest and run a test hard wired to the modem so I can check your results.
Thanks!
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Health_Edge
Valued Contributor III
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4.2K Messages
11 years ago
OP has a gateway. He can't bypass it. He said he put it in bridge mode, but only said he disabled NAT, so there could be other things conflicting. I suggest trading in the gateway for a stand alone modem and router. Anyone that is technical enough to bridge a gateway by themselves is probably technical enough to not need to use one.
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fefifochizzle
New Contributor
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6 Messages
11 years ago
ColleenD, the post by Health Edge is correct. I have it in modem only mode, because so far, I have yet to discover a DOCSIS 3.0 modem that is only a modem. Unless you can provide that, I will keep it in "modem only" mode. You have to do some HTML snippet code modification for some of your gateways to get into "modem only" mode as you seem to want to force your users into using your gateway. I don't approve of this. So, as such, I put it into said mode. For the record, you still clearly didn't read the info about OOKLA being the most biased speed test site in existence.
You are not only using an OOKLA service, but it defaults to a Phoenix server, again, what I said in OP.
Regardless, I have already tested many times, using OOKLA's Speedtest.net, Speed.io (a German-based DSL speed test site that is known as significantly more reliable in terms of results), and done some tests of my own from another IP using a TCP server. Trust me when I say this is something I have done. I have done it with the gateway in OEM-preset settings, "modem only" mode, with router on both of those and without on both. You are not really providing me with anything that will help thus far.
Here is the speed test site you provided, notice the OOKLA logo? That's because, again, Cox hosted Phoenix-based servers are doing the test.
Tell me something helpful please
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fefifochizzle
New Contributor
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6 Messages
11 years ago
Also, as a side-note, I have traded in four gateways. Each having the same problem, each having me spend more on the next step up, I am not buying another gateway, have you provision it in the Cox store, then bring it home, and after two weeks get less than DSL speed. So, work with me. This isn't something you can't do, it's something you prefer not to do. An ISP promising a speed is seldom heard. Do you wanna know why? Same reason Net Neutrality is a debate: Money. Please give me even half the speed I am paying $70 a month for. Please, it's not a lot to ask.
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Health_Edge
Valued Contributor III
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4.2K Messages
11 years ago
Whaaa? Where have you looked? You can buy one just about anywhere; Bestbuy, Walmart, Newegg, Amazon, etc. See here for a list of all compatible modems. Just ignore everything under "Cox Preferred Devices" and anything that says "WiFi modem" next to it. The modem generally regarded as the best right now is the white Motorola SB6141, or a SB6183 if you can find one. Since they aren't retail yet, they are few and far between. But the SB6141 you can get just about anywhere.
As for Ookla, yes, the servers are run on Cox network, and for a very good reason. Cox can only troubleshoot performance problems on their network, so their speed test only wants to test throughput issues on their network. If the servers are off Cox's network, then thats adding variables. I find it a wise practice to run several tests from several sites and servers and cross reference. Speedtest.net, pingtest.net, Visualware Speedtest, and Speakeasy are all alternate testings sites. You can also find more testing tools on DSLReports.com.
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fefifochizzle
New Contributor
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6 Messages
11 years ago
Well, I suppose I should specify, I really want a PCI Internal card. A modem doesn't do me any better than a Cox provided gateway. Same basic hardware, minus a few miniscule limitations. Apologies for the misunderstanding.
As for speeds, I have done multiple speed tests, multiple times, to accomodate for "speed boosting" for traffic from the same IP. Speedtest and OOKLA sites are the only ones that give me even half my speed as a result, all others give me like 15-20Mbps down, and 1-3Mbps up if I'm lucky, the most i've gotten is not even 5Mbps, its about 4.5. So yes, have done it.
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Health_Edge
Valued Contributor III
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4.2K Messages
11 years ago
I disagree 100%. And seeing as you been having problems with every Cox gateway, I think the proof is in the pudding. If your using a separate router, you should be using a modem, not a gateway. Thats just good general practice. Disabling the NAT still leaves firewall issues, DHCP issues, and just complicates the network in general. Not to mention Cox can update your firmware at any time and default your gateway to factory. The horror stories I have heard. But if you don't believe me, just look around on google. Gateways are baaaaaaaaad. Not to say a modem will fix the issue guaranteed, but it will certainly help isolate and likely resolve the issue.
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smtips
New Contributor II
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329 Messages
11 years ago
"Speedtest.net uses a very biased method of testing, and every Ookla product uses servers local to your region hosted by none other than the ISP you are testing on. That is how the tech support guys are able to retrieve results from the servers during a troubleshooting call."
So why not just select a different city at speedtest.net? I consider the Cox website speed test to be a guideline. It is off and it's too fast for any "real" testing. I usually use San Diego if I'm testing here in Phoenix, I do agree that something IN Phoenix may not produce accurate results. I did in fact work with Ookla to have an inaccurate speed test from some ISP named Scatuii in Peridot eliminated from their test map.
"I have yet to discover a DOCSIS 3.0 modem that is only a modem." I can rattle off several here, but I will leave you to your own research on that.
After reading your post, I can tell you right now Cox isn't going to deal with your separate router being hooked up. If they test to the modem only and you do too, and your speed is good, they've done their job of delivering the speeds to your modem. Anything beyond that you're kind of on your own, the very first thing they will tell you to do is disable the router (unless it's a unit provided by them). A few years ago I had similar speed issues and drops, it was confounding me, and I replaced the router even though I went above and beyond trying to find any problem and never did. Replacing the router 100% solved the problem that time. If you continue to have really low speeds with your modem only hooked up then sounds like a service call.
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