Interesting, odd, and extremely annoying pattern specific internet slow down occurring at 6/7pm every day [San Diego]
PSA: I understand how to code in 4 different programming languages and understand networking at a high level. Cheesy to write this, but refrain from providing basic, simpleton-user information.
I for one would like to say I haven't had much issues with cox in the last 3 years. Now, ever since the insane lightning storm in San Diego on Oct. 4 my internet has been severely slowing to an unusable level oddly enough at 6pm every single day.
Mind you, I have top of the line equipment I spend hundreds on, all the way down to CAT8 cables.
Now, I did diagnosing of all the components of my network and saw that all pieces of equipment functioned. What it is is the service itself is oddly enough throttling to very slow speeds at 6pm. I say this as the tech support mentioned to me to replace the modem to test the connection, and I obliged.
Even before getting the modem, I knew my top of the line Motorola was not the problem because funnily enough the issue is stuck to an odd pattern. Today, I got the cox authorized PW7 which features a docsis 3.1 modem and router. Not going to lie, the speeds were amazing on it after I hooked it up and tested at 1pm[remember this time]. Sure enough, even with the new modem, the insane slow down occurred. Now, a tech has been specifically appointed to come at 7pm to catch this weird slow down.
Pattern: 10am- 6/7 pm the internet is as perfect as you can get. I have gigblast and get 5 ping 950 down and 37 up. Then, sure enough, as 6/7pm rolls around, the download is cut in half and the upload is decreased from 37 to literally .9 mbps. You can even tell during the day as the websites and other services load instantly and then after 6pm I can't even load a website or do anything.
TLDR: Subscriber's equipment is not at fault, even used cox's new modem to test, and a pattern specific slow down of the internet has been occurring at 6pm every single day since Oct. 4th. The level of degradation: download cut by 2/3s and the upload cut from 37 to literally .9 mbps. This all amounts to an unusable connection.
If the new cox modem was affected too, we can deduce the old modem was never the problem and the true issue is intermittent occurring at 6pm on.
I already have spoken to a supervisor of which has made sure to send a tech at 7pm, which should be a late enough time for the issue to be visible.
I am merely writing this to reach out to all and share what an interesting and funny problem this is. Also, I have a weeks worth of speedtests documenting the odd degradation pattern. I also would like to have the first tech visit a day ago waived as this is truly an external problem.
I find it laughable when the field techs use their devices before 6pm, of which is when perfect speeds do occur, and claim nothing to be the problem when you describe the complexity of the issue occurring past 6pm. One word: intermittent. I will upload an update on Wed. after the tech shows at 7pm to see what might be the issue.
Also, I might be reaching but this issue was only noticeable after the lightning storm in San Diego on Oct. 4th. A literal lightning bolt hit 10 ft from my apartment and rattled everything; I wonder if this has anything to do with this odd issue.
Also, for the last 3 years no slowdown has ever occurred, even during peak usage times of 7-11 pm.
I am happy to write that the issue in the original post has been solved. I will give a quick TLDR of the issue and solutions employed.
TLDR of Issue: After Oct. 4th '21 my speeds would decrease at over 95% past 6-7 pm everyday for 15 days straight, resulting in an almost unusable connection for those days. The connection would reset at around 10 am everyday, featuring perfect speeds up until the 6-7pm slowdown. Now, I want to mention on Oct. 4th there was one of the worst lightning storms ever in San Diego's history, with one lightning bolt hitting 10 feet away from my house. If this had anything to do with it, who knows.
TLDR of Solutions: There was two scheduled tech visits. The first one did not find anything wrong with my connection, which was to be assumed, as the visit occurred at 2 pm, before the 6-7pm slowdown. I called back that very night and spoke to a supervisor who then made sure to have the tech come out at 6:30 pm to catch the issue. Randy, a wonderful technician, did indeed come out at 6:20 pm and had a chance to see firsthand the insane speed slowdown. At this point, Randy inputted a ticket for a bucket truck to roll. The very next day, Paul, the bucket truck engineer, came to the door and notified me that he found the issue, but it is a nasty issue to fix. The issue at hand was related to ingress and intermittent noise. The next day after this you could see Paul fixing the issues around the complex. After culminating the fixes, Paul let me know the issues were fixed! Fingers crossed, I was eager to get a speedest in after 6pm. Lone behold, at 7 pm I was again experiencing the speed slow downs. At this point, I called in and was immediately notified that the node for the entire area was being worked on as well! Next, I got the text notification that the node work had been completed. I then tested again. This time I saw the download return to normal, but the upload was more than the last 15 days but extremely sporadic. At this moment, I thought to myself that maybe the issue would iron itself out in the next days. In about 5 days after this node work, the download and upload returned to normal speeds. These speeds are amazing at the moment! I then waited 3 days after this to see if they would hold. At this moment, they are looking beautiful after 6-7 pm with no slowdowns whatsoever. The issue as been resolved!
I want to thank the amazing in-house tech Randy, the amazing bucket truck operator Paul, all of the tech support specialists on the phone, and all of the online forum support specialists. At the end of the day, Cox has provided me with the speeds I pay for, for over 3 years. No slowdowns even throughout the height of Covid lockdowns and high-traffic periods! They worked with me diligently to employ this fix!
Thank you!
P.S. Here's an idea of my speeds right now! 6 ping 947 down 37 up INSANE SPEED
