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lopsider's avatar
lopsider
New Contributor

Continuing issues after multiple chats and home visits

Hello all,

I'm a few weeks into an ongoing issue with my Cox service.  Dealing with considerable packet loss on a regular basis:

As you can see in the graph, it can be considerable for days at a time, then even out for two or three days before returning.  When I'm having the issue, my neighbor two houses down (whose yard is where the tap is that feeds both of our homes) has the exact same troubles.  Haven't talked to the other two or three houses that are fed off of our tap as we're not sure who they are.

I have had 6 or 7 (or 8?) chats with tech support in the last few weeks, and three visits from technicians (actually contractors) to the house.  The first guy swapped the coax between my wall jack and the cable modem and bounced it, and it did initially run clean so he left after about five minutes thinking it was good.  Within half an hour, the loss was back.  A second tech a couple days later came out but couldn't check much, he had no meters to check signal level or anything.  When he left the problem was ongoing and he scheduled another visit.  The next day was my third tech, he checked the box on the side of the house and removed an old filter, said that was pretty definitely the issue but he also checked everything else and agreed that if removing the filter doesn't solve it, the problem is likely our tap (he also talked with my neighbor and understood it's multiple customers off the same tap having the same packet loss).  Unfortunately, it wasn't the filter and the issue continues.

At this point, another chat with support will just result in another contractor visit, and they aren't able to work on the taps.  What does it take to get Cox to dispatch actual techs who will likely find within minutes of arriving that there is a significant issue at the tap or or upstream of it?  Anyone have tips to get a long running issue into proper hands?

EDIT: I should note that on my very first chat with support, the agent said she could definitely see from readings on my modem that it was failing, so I replaced the modem with a brand new unit.  The issue wasn't my modem at all, obviously, yet the next chat I had the agent started down the same line, saying my modem was bad. When I told them it was less than 24 hours old they backed off and changed course.

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  • ChrisL's avatar
    ChrisL
    Former Moderator
    @lopsider

    Looking from this end I'm not seeing any packet loss between us and the modem. Looking at your graph I'm having trouble understanding where the loss is occurring. Can you duplicate this problem without the router attached? It might also be helpful to try getting some trace routes so we can see where the loss is originating from.

  • lopsider's avatar
    lopsider
    New Contributor

    Thanks Chris, I'll get you better info again next time it's acting up. It can go for days at a stretch with pretty reasonable performance, as it has since Sunday night, then flare up and be tough to use for days. Same experience my neighbor (on same tap) has. He works from home as an IT contractor so it really affects his VPN/RDP sessions. I'll try to visit with him and get him to note his trouble times as well so we can verify how well they line up.

    If you're asking if the issue occurs with a PC or laptop directly connected to the cable modem, no router or firewall in the mix, yes it does.  I've tried two laptops and my desktop, using different ethernet cables as well to eliminate a bad NIC or cable.