Forum Discussion

gjett1's avatar
gjett1
New Contributor III
7 years ago

Uncorrectables on ALL downstream channels. What could be the problem?

I live in Springfield, VA. I have a Netgear CM600 modem and have been receiving uncorrectables of hundreds of thousands and millions in a very limited uptime (< 24 hours). I am having this problem on...
cox coxsupport
crashing
downstream
errors
event log
gaming
internet
modem
modem issues
packet loss
  • Rob_H_'s avatar
    Rob_H_
    7 years ago

    gjett1 Actually, I think the best people to contact would be the AWS customer, which is the gaming company.  The trick will be to get the attention of upper management with specific details to support your case.  Otherwise, your complaint will likely be immediately filed in the "circular file" system. 

    Send a detailed letter via certified mail to a member or members (i.e. CEO, Senior VP).  It may help to select "restricted delivery" which means that either the addressee or an authorized agent for the addressee must sign.  That's an extra attention getter.  Otherwise, whoever normally gets the mail at the company will sign for it.  You don't need to pay extra for a return receipt unless you want to.

    If that fails, then file an online complaint with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) against the gaming company and reference your certified letter(s).

    How does that sound to you?

  • Rob_H_'s avatar
    Rob_H_
    7 years ago

    gjett1 Oh, I see now.  The Motorola SB6121 was only a 4x4 modem, while the Netgear CM600 is a 24x8 modem and the Arris SB6190 is a 32x8 modem.  In your case, you appear to have gone from 4 downstream channels to 16 downstream channels.  Your connection doesn't appear to be handling the new total of 16 downstream channels very well. 

    I think you are correct when you stated that the issue now points at Cox side (facilities, cabling) after having tried 2 newer modems, both running 16 downstream channels, with the same result.  As an aside, I wonder if your SNRs are rather misleading because of the high downstream power levels.

    All the best in getting Cox to resolve it quickly during the next visit.

Rob_H_'s avatar
Rob_H_
Contributor II

For an uptime of only approx. 90 minutes, that's a fair amount of correctables and correctables on the downstream channels.  Not sure if you were "gaming" during that 90-minute window that would exacerbate the rate of codeword error accumulations.  The downstream power levels are a bit higher than what I'm accustomed to seeing.  It sounds like your older modem could handle the hotter downstream signal levels above 7 dBmV.

BTW, with regard to your upstream packet loss that started it all, is the gaming server you're connected to located at Amazon Web Services (AWS)?

gjett1's avatar
gjett1
New Contributor III
7 years ago

The game specifically is Fortnite. EpicGames definitely uses AWS for their servers.

Edit: With regard to the gaming during this period. I do believe I tried a few matches to see if the packet loss issue was remedied (of course, it wasn't).

Double Edit: I cannot believe I am just finding out about this upload packet loss problem between Cox and AWS

How have they not acknowledged that yet?

  • Rob_H_'s avatar
    Rob_H_
    Contributor II
    7 years ago

    gjett1In regards to gaming on the AWS servers, in a nutshell, we were able to isolate the problem to the AWS 54.239 (and possibly 52.239) network.  We found that by pinging with a packet size somewhere between 128 bytes and 256 bytes and higher, the packet loss began at the AWS 54.239 (and possibly 52.239) network when the source IP address originated from the Cox network.  When the same test was run using a T-Mobile hotspot, there was no packet loss observed.  The same lack of packet loss was reported by someone else using a VPN over their Cox connection.  This suggests to me that there is a Quality of Service (QoS) issue with the handling of the larger packets by the 54.239 (and possibly 52.239) networks at AWS when the source IP originated on Cox.  When the user connects using a T-Mobile hotspot or even a VPN over their Cox connection, the AWS 54.239 (and possibly 52.239) network sees a source IP address other than Cox and there is no packet loss observed.   The gaming companies are paying AWS to host their gaming applications and therefore AWS should promptly respond to and address demonstrated concerns presented by those companies.  This type of issue would be addressed by a Tier 3 type group or higher at AWS.

    • chimchim1959's avatar
      chimchim1959
      New Contributor II
      7 years ago

      Welcome to the internet without net neutrality. 

    • gjett1's avatar
      gjett1
      New Contributor III
      7 years ago

      Problem being: this isn't the gaming companies problem. Epic Games has 10's of millions of customers with no problems. Is it not Cox's responsibility to ensure that their service is the best possible? (Especially since Fortnite is the largest game around right now)

      • Rob_H_'s avatar
        Rob_H_
        Contributor II
        7 years ago

        gjett1

        Cox isn't responsible for packet loss on the AWS 54.239 (and/or 52.239) networks.  To reiterate, based on the testing I outlined above, this appears to be a QoS issue within the AWS networks when the source IP address is from Cox.  Their 54.239 and 52.239 networks aren't the first AWS networks the packets reach once leaving the Cox network.  There is no packet loss observed between Cox and the first AWS network the packets reach. As an aside, it looks like Cox peers directly with AWS.