particleman's profile

New Contributor III

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12 Messages

Tuesday, January 26th, 2021

Closed

Packet loss, latency on gigablast in Scottsdale, AZ for the last few months

I've been battling issues similar to multiple other recent posts on the forums [1, 2, 3, 4].Since this problem has started, I've replaced the cabling in my house, gotten a new modem and a new router, but the problem has persisted.

As of today, I've had four different techs come to my house.
Techs 1 and 2 both replaced the connections from my house to my tap.
Tech 3 did that too, but also said he added a "boost filter" because of "low transmits" to my modem.
Tech 4 replaced connections as well, and then said he "lowered the signal" because it was "too high" at the modem (sounds like he removed the boost filter from tech #3 lol).

Today I noticed there is one especially bad host in the tracerts to both a sample Rocket League server and to Google, and several other hosts giving packet loss. Sunday and Monday had very bad packet loss all day, while it cleared late Monday night (9pm-1am). Today there was supposedly an outage in my area, but my Internet access was fine, and in fact had very little packet loss. Lo and behold, as the "outage" was clearing up, the packet loss came back.

Attached are several samples from yesterday and today. I chose a smattering of times from yesterday's samples to show that the problem was definitely exacerbated during peak times, but that there is still packet loss in the tracert on Cox's end even outside of peak, which persists even after today's supposed outage was fixed.

In addition to this, the last phone tech I spoke to via the Cox Cares (what a BS name) actually remarked that Arizona was the highest reporter of these issues in their personal experience. To me, that's pretty telling. Obviously it's anecdotal, but with my data and the rest of the data from others it seems to me Cox has some serious infrastructure issues that they are actively choosing to avoid dealing with. Lucky for them they have a monopoly here, huh?


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1irw5zdTEkkEb5818-UJJBkbLkP6DHzFM/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pkmfPBba58rBVsLE1dvU53BGUTjvKtNN/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gHbb7vwUXIT2FXpFvoeNbbpUsogvPwT7/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RmCGIvrtx1Sc1Q7w0yU7b6gbJP_ggy3G/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TmK8voj4KXR4li6N7XahocB4uA6HC5m1/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bLOWFfg9vnDwZ6PAbCz1G_406JJmSeXe/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LhWZxlJoREkhb7Fji6HAZ0X6EIC6J55d/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19YF_sdIIG8sAyVAQorc_fYIj0X6cjlHO/view?usp=sharing


[1] Gaming and warzone/CoD in general packet burst - Internet - Internet Forum - Cox Support Forums

[2] Noisy node issues - Speed drops until reset - Internet - Internet Forum - Cox Support Forums

[3] Terrible packet loss and jitter. - Internet - Internet Forum - Cox Support Forums

[4] Another packet loss and ping spike issue - Internet - Internet Forum - Cox Support Forums

New Contributor III

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12 Messages

5 years ago

Just took a quick sample from my latest Rocket League logs for a server from the west coast:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-NMfPxBlck3ojUE9KdaWpx3krXlI3rBe/view?usp=sharing

That 68.1.0.191 IP sure seems bad, let's see who owns it via WHOIS IP Lookup Tool | UltraTools...

Source: whois.arin.net
IP Address: 68.1.0.191
Name: NETBLK-AT-INT-68-1-0-0
Handle: NET-68-1-0-0-1
Registration Date: 4/7/14
Range: 68.1.0.0-68.1.31.255
Customer: Cox Communications Inc.
Customer Handle: C04977143
Address: 1400 Lake Hearn Dr
City: ATlanta
State/Province: GA
Postal Code: 30319
Country: United States

Surprise! It was Cox the entire time!

New Contributor III

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12 Messages

5 years ago

I should note that this causes problems for me beyond just gaming. I've seen huge drops in quality from streams [1], and I often drop in and out of voice meetings for work (and working from home means that's a problem)

[1] drive.google.com/.../view

New Contributor III

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12 Messages

5 years ago

One last update since it's happening right now: stream quality on Twitch with "auto" quality, i.e. the setting that downgrades the picture if your Internet isn't handling the traffic for higher qualities
 https://drive.google.com/file/d/15f2FELVzqs1V6YzD2ti0iYjugW2NudDY/view?usp=sharing

New Contributor II

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8 Messages

5 years ago

I have been experiencing this same exact issue over the last several months in Mesa, AZ. I have had 5 techs come out and they did various things but still the issue persists.

All the traceroutes I run are garbage and show incredibly high spikes on local cox nodes. Problem also tends to get worse around 5pm AZ time.

It is impacting work for me and my wife and there does not seem to be any solution in sight. Gaming is nearly impossible with the high packet loss all day long. I don't know what else to do at this point. 

New Contributor III

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12 Messages

The entire reason I went to the forums is to hopefully get more eyes on the problem. I'm convinced at this point that it's systemic, and it's clear that Arizona is a market that's simply won for Cox. There are "competitors" as long as you want to go through middlemen or deal with DSL (in 2021?), so the competition is a joke. 

I'm probably going to start asking around the neighborhood to see if people have noticed the same thing. I assume they have, but don't realize what's causing it. My plan from there is to organize folks into asking Cox to finally fix their infrastructure here, and if that doesn't work, going through the FCC for an informal complaint, and if even THAT doesn't work, probably contacting the EFF to help file a formal complaint

New Contributor III

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12 Messages

5 years ago

Update since I noticed a ton of packet loss during my latest game of Rocket League tonight around 845pm. The overall issues started earlier, around 815, but really spiked just now.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1le6wom285a8v4y6hUM5cVp4dAflpdv7u/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WcfRKabdOwHEPcGC_8L2JTbS2S6OW-o7/view?usp=sharing

New Contributor III

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12 Messages

OK, last update for tonight just to showcase that this isn't restricted to just peak hours
Here's my Google trace for 3 hours from about 9pm to a little after midnight
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HHUTjNLeM103Laz6pAz1ct4G4-SdBN3j/view?usp=sharing

Here's a trace I ran to a specific Rocket League server in California for the same time period
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UmgWwrOkTy5iEcysAhetius0-RtWh0Vy/view?usp=sharing

New Contributor II

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4 Messages

5 years ago

I'm in what seems like the same boat (at Scottsdale/101.)

Could be worse.  I had support asking me whether I was on 2.4ghz or 5ghz after clearly stating, twice, that my computer was plugged directly into the cable modem for testing.  =)

I haven't had many issues in the last few years, if any really, but over the last week I noticed that there was sufficient packet loss that the monitoring/auto-reboot functions of my Ubiquiti network were triggering cable modem reboots to try and fix itself.  I initially chalked it up to Ubiquiti's latest gizmo being a bit buggy, but it still triggered on the 20th, 21st, 22nd, and multiple times on the 25th.  Simple video streaming of Youtube TV became a buffer nightmare, remote access to my home network got sluggish, and I noticed packet loss on continuous pings to google.com and 8.8.8.8.  (Losing about 4-8% now.)

There have been zero changes to anything between the cable modem and the outside world (barring anything out at the street, who knows) and it's just been a gradual downward slope into oblivion.  Today, I can still hammer out almost 700mbit down, but upstream is 2.41mbit.  That's a kinda massive problem.

Just for giggles, I even did a full reset on the SB8200 (little reset button + paperclip) and let it do it's thing.  Still managed to bring downstream online at docsis 3.1 (blue light) but upstream remains 3.0 (green light.)  I honestly have no idea if thats always been that color scheme, or if upstream should also run blue/3.1 (maybe not since it's only supposed to be 35mbit anyway?)  Regardless, the service is pretty much unusable at this point.

After dealing with the *** in chat who couldn't figure out that hardlining via ethernet used neither of the common wifi bands, and trying to sell me on 'advanced support' for $10/mo, I did speak with a support rep on the phone (is it bad that I still have 623-594-1000 memorized from back in the Cox@Home days?) and they actually did show an outage/issue in my area.  The Cox app and ensuing sms alerts just before that corroborated the story.  Unfortunately that has since cleared and things continue to degrade.

I also took a look at the modem's status page and while I deal with networks and IT for a living, the channels and signal levels it reports might as well be Greek to me.  Nothing pops out as an obvious issue, other than the lo screen showing something about some 'dynamic range window violation' repeating a few times.  (Lots to see about that on google, but nothing useful so far.)

In any case, packet loss begins immediately after leaving my network, so the issue would appear to be between the cable modem and the upstream connection at Cox.  No luck getting past the script-reading support types to actually take action on any of this though.

New Contributor II

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8 Messages

I also had support asking me to unplug my router after telling them I was hardwired into the modem. Like come on man. 

What are our options at this point? Every single skype work call/meeting I have cuts in and out every 5 seconds. Jitter, ploss, and ping spikes are terrible throughout the day and can provide ample proof to back up all of these claims.

Is cox going to actually fix their infrastructure or are we just out of luck? Only other option I have in this area (Gilbert and the 60) is Century Link DSL. I have seen 50+ cox trucks in my neighborhood over the last month so I am assuming my neighbors are experiencing issues as well.

New Contributor III

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12 Messages

The best option I can see is to organize a campaign around informal FCC complaints. There are a lot of customers out here not getting what they're paying for, and I think plenty of us are fed up. 

My post here was to hopefully get some eyes at Cox to look at the case, so I'll be a little more patient in that regard, because just like Thoreau I'm totally over trying to get the folks on the phones reading scripts to get to the root of things. The last time I tried it they wanted to send another tech out so I just hung up.

New Contributor II

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4 Messages

I'd be surprised if this is anything more than my local area, but en route to a work site to swap out a Palo Alto 820 (so please for the love of god, Cox, don't try to treat me like a novice when it comes to networking?) I got a text message from cox stating:

"The outage is now clear.  Are you still having issues?  Please try unplugging the power of the device and plugging it back in.  Need help?  Text AGENT to chat"

So, I went back into my controller and told the monitoring bits to go back to cycling power to the modem if connectivity loss is detected.  Proceeded to do some work, and during that time, no alerts about it being triggered...  cautious YAY!


Took til now for me to get a spare moment to dig in further, but I just VPNed back to home and the first thing I noticed is that Ping Plotter (glad you posted those screenshots as I had almost forgotten about that very awesome piece of software due to lack of use in recent years!) was showing half the latency to google as prior.  The time graph was also showing WAY less red.  It's still not perfect, but definitely a vast improvement and probably about what I'd say is acceptable for residential service.

Loaded up ye olde speedtest.net, and hello dolly, 9ms ping, 926.43 down, 30.32 up.  still a little lacking on the upstream, but that's getting back up to the 35 target.  I'd not be surprised if my area (and any others affected by the same issue that caused my problems) weren't all busily pushing traffic to play catch up now that the freeway is open again, so that could just be a little mid day congestion at work there.  

Edit:  subsequent speed tests are 859/34 and 902/35, so i think things are actually back to normal... *fingers crossed*

New Contributor III

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12 Messages

I did a restart for my modem and router but same ol same olhttps://drive.google.com/file/d/1W6SMEG4MN2w4XJ1V-Azc5S2jkyscR0Na/view?usp=sharing

Former Moderator

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231 Messages

5 years ago

Particleman,

We would like to look into your issue to see what is causing this problem for you. Would you send us an email to cox.help@cox.com in reference to this forum post so we can check your account about this as well?

Mark M.
Cox Support Forums Moderator

New Contributor III

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12 Messages

Done

New Contributor II

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4 Messages

New Contributor II

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7 Messages

5 years ago

It's not just AZ its in So Cal as well. I've sent a couple of emails to cox.help with detailed trace routes with other info and game logs but have not got a reply. Just a bunch of lip service on the forums.

Former Moderator

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1.9K Messages

@Budrose

I've checked the modem signal levels and not showing any packet loss or latency. I've also pinged a few modems on the node and not showing any issues. For testing purposes, are you able to bypass the router and hardwire directly to the modem to see if you getting the same results?

Jonathan J
Cox Moderator

New Contributor III

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12 Messages

5 years ago

Response from the cox.help e-mail: 

"At this time, our techs are currently aware of a noise issue that is causing packet loss in your general area. Our techs are working on resolving this issue as quickly as possible"

I asked for more info but all I really got was 

" This is a recent issue that was reported. I show we made some changes on the outside to help fix this issue. The escalation is currently still open and there are no updates showing at this time."

and

"For plant-related issues, we do have to get a tech out to verify the service from the home to our plant. They usually escalate the issue over to the plant group. We do have a group that monitors the plant as well and may open a ticket if they do see an issue going on in the area. Sometimes if the issue is intermittent, it may be hard to find as well."

I'm not sure what they mean when they refer to a "plant", but I'm guessing it's referring to a node or a set of nodes

Contributor III

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251 Messages

The "plant" is basically everything that is owned by Cox and not on your property. Nodes, amplifiers, fiber converters, CCAP, etc.

New Contributor II

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8 Messages

This is basically what they had told me the last few times I have emailed them.

jonathanj Can anything actually be done about this or do I just have to wait until they fix whatever infrastructure/node is causing the problem?

I have to tether internet from my phone hotspot at the end of work days because it gets so bad. Feels pointless to pay for a service that isn't working correctly for months. 

Former Moderator

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144 Messages

Hello,

I am sorry to hear you are experiencing issues with your internet. This appears as if you may need someone to investigate your account personally. We would be able to assist you with this. Please reach us on Twitter at @CoxHelp, visit us on Facebook, or email us at cox.help@cox.com. Provide us the name on the account with the complete service address with a link to this thread so we can get started.
 
Sharon
Cox Support Forum Moderator

New Contributor II

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8 Messages

This is what I got yesterday:

"I apologize for any inconvenience caused. It looks like the issue impacting your services has been referred to our engineering team to have the node split. Tentatively it looks like this process will take a few months to complete however no further information is available. If we can be of assistance with anything else in the meanwhile please let us know."

They also offered me like a 70 dollar credit for this happening for the past 4 months. 

What am I supposed to do now? Months to fix a known issue is insane

New Contributor III

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12 Messages

Agreed. I didn't even get that specific an answer so maybe you're the luckier one here :P

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