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cmcaguilera's avatar
cmcaguilera
New Contributor
5 years ago

Crazy Lag and Packet Loss

Hoping to get more help here than I did with Cox customer support. I have had this ISP for about 2 months now and my connection has been horrible. Things load fine on wifi for the most part but anytime I am hardwired into my router, I have horrible packet loss. This makes gaming a huge pain in the **** and I have tried almost everything I can think of to fix it but nothing changes.

Now, Xbox live and the games I play like to report that I am getting maybe about 1% packet loss but the gameplay is much much worse than just 1%. Even when I hardwire my computer into the router and run a ping test, it shows about 15-20% packet loss. Does anyone have any suggestions that I should try? Here is a list of things I have already tried:

  • Used Cox provided modem/router: terrible packet loss on ethernet and wifi (mostly ethernet)

  • Modem is for sure plugged into the coax port very securely

  • Changed ethernet ports: issue still persists

  • Set up Xbox live port forwarding: issue still persists

  • Setup QoS: issue still persists

  • Tried entirely new ethernet cables: issue still persists

  • Tried gaming on wifi: issue still persists (and I am not a heathen)

  • Factory reset modem/router: issue still persists

  • Switched the provided router/modem combo into bridge mode so it only acts like a modem

  • I am now using my TP-Link AC1750 router: still terrible packet loss on wifi and ethernet (mostly ethernet)

  • Set up QoS rules for bandwidth: issue still persists

  • Setup port forwarding: issue still persists

  • Reset xbox: issue still persists

  • Manually set IP and DNS: issue still persists

I have also ran a bunch of traceroute tests as well as ping tests to show where it appears to be slowing down and losing the packets. You can see all of these tests in the folder linked here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1i59D5DTk2O7UvL0WBrqJYVITDr305hvT?usp=sharing

All the slowdowns and packet losses appear to happen outside of my network. It looks like it hits slowdowns when it is out in Cox's servers bouncing around.

Is there anything that I can do to fix this? It looks like there is an issue with resolution of domains. My traceroutes to 8.8.8.8 show an unusual amount of dropped packets and lag at certain servers. PLEASE HELP!!

Lag spikes
packet loss
ping
slow
tracert
  • matt6815's avatar
    matt6815
    New Contributor II
    5 years ago

    There is nothing you can do man.... I live in Orange County and have had 10-15% packet loss since Covid . Everyone I know who has cox has the same issue. The problem is they have a monopoly so you can’t switch cause they bribe the local government to keep it that way. I’ve had numerous techs out and they alll say the same thing that the node is over saturated because to many people are at home now using the internet and not at work. Cox was too cheap to replace the nodes back in the day now they are being flooded and they don’t wanna spend the money to fix the issue. You are pretty much screwed unless you switch providers. I tried everything ....

  • Dave9's avatar
    Dave9
    Contributor III
    5 years ago

    Post your modem logs and signals. That's always the first step when troubleshooting a cable internet issue.