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SoCalRez's avatar
SoCalRez
New Contributor II
4 years ago

Jitter Latency Packet Loss - Node Saturated

I'm trying to escalate this; let's see if the forum visibility can help.

For the past few weeks I am experiencing on an off bouts of extreme jitter, latency, and packet loss experienced at the second hop (or first local node 10.4.60.1). I've confirmed with several neighbors that they are experiencing the same issues. This impacts the ability to work from home, which many of us are required to do right now, as video and voice software cannot accommodate such wild swings in latency nor packet loss. Performance will be great for a few hours, and then horrendous for a few hours, without any notable patterns.

I have had a tech out twice now. The first time they were here when things were working fine, but they set up a PingPlotter and checked back in a week. As expected, they witnessed the jitter and packet loss throughout the week and determined that the node is currently saturated and there's nothing they can do from their side. They stated that there was a note that this node was marked to be 'split' sometime this year!

A outtage was planned for yesterday for our entire neighborhood for a "Big Upgrade". Estimated downtime was 4 hours, actual was 13 hours. Service resumed and download speeds appear to have increased slightly, but after 12 hours of watching the network the SAME jitter, latency, and packet loss issues persist. Whatever this 'Big Upgrade' was, it did not resolve the current issues.

I have dozens of PingPlotter runs saved, but here are the most pertinent. Again, note that all issues begin at the second hop (cable modem to local node 10.4.60.1)

This morning, since the Big Upgrade: https://share.pingplotter.com/THbPEi1XDKU

Last night, LATE, after the upgrade: https://share.pingplotter.com/HsFkGfw6yGS

Here's an example of things looking GOOD, proof that the connection is capable of being perfect https://share.pingplotter.com/Gj7BCKzt4SF

And here it was just a few hours before that example, absolutely terrible: https://share.pingplotter.com/Nnfdc75vYKm

How does my cable modem connection look? Tech saw no issues:

So, the tech promised to come back again tomorrow after the 'big upgrade' hoping to see the problem resolved. He said that if it persists, there's not much he can do from his side since it appears to be a network issue at that point. Certainly this is not the type of internet service Cox is satisfied with???

Any recommendations on how I escalate this issue from here? In my experience "Tech Support" visits or calls are focused on solving issues from the street to your modem and completely separate from the actual infrastructure and maintenance of that infrastructure. Ideas?

Orange County, Mission Viejo Resident 92691

  • Dave9's avatar
    Dave9
    Contributor III
    4 years ago

    Check the modem logs for T3 timeout errors. Those are commonly associated with upstream packet loss and jitter, and often require a Cox maintenance tech to repair them. The house tech can open a ticket for a maintenance tech but there is no way to ask for or speak with a maintenance tech directly.

  • SoCalRez's avatar
    SoCalRez
    New Contributor II
    4 years ago

    Follow Up:

    I sent this same post as an email to CoxHelp email. They instructed me to check if the coax was screwed into my modem tightly. How helpful!

    HOWEVER, they must have lodged a ticket or this post must have generated some interest because after 3 weeks of jitter, packetloss, and intermittent latency the entire situation cleared up overnight and connection is now rock solid. Like impossibly rock solid.

    This is a great turn of events, but also incredibly frustrating. The issue was obviously on their side for weeks (possibly a configuration error?) and affected hundreds of customers using the local node, but my and other neighbors emails and complains were ignored or sent to the lowest level of tech support. Then I bring it to a public forum and the entire issue is instantly corrected. Don't vote with your wallet, vote with your... social media account?