Severe packet loss (Upload) to amazon web services (Fortnite) - UPDATE 1/9

Yes, this is real, yes I just contacted Cox about it for the thousandth time. Packet loss to Amazon Web Services servers is just absolutely brutal for me in the Phoenix area. I forwarded your Reddit post to them and sent my own PingPlotter tracert of the packet loss, there had better be some serious steps taken by COX soon.

I've gotten in touch with an employee at Epic Games with access to fortnite servers and he was kind enough to run a traceroute to my IP address.

Same Problem. Cox fix this!

BUMP.

This problem also affects Battlefield 5, who also runs off AWS EC2. 3-5% packet loss ALL DAY, and as bad as 11% reported in game during peak traffic hours in the region.  My tethered 4G LTE phone plays the game better than Cox which is sad but true.

This is still an ongoing issue just FYI if keeping up with this thread. I have a thought to why this is happening, but I think I am close to finding proof to my idea.

I believe this is solely on C.O.X to fix.

So I have both a Mac and Windows computer I can run some tracert/traceroutes from to the servers and the reason C.O.X will push this issue off as not their problem is because they say once the data leaves their server it is not their problem any more, but the only data you can really provide from Windows is a simply tracert which will use ICMP data. If you run these tracert using ICMP data there is no data loss from you to the servers and this is what C.O.X gets sent by most people experiencing this issue and they will just dismiss it. If you have a Mac or a Linux machine though you can run a traceroute with the specified data type as UDP. If ran in succession with the amount of data being 60 packets per second and with UDP after running the command about 4x you will see in one of those a dropped packet or no response for the latency of how long the data took to send. These drops are happening BEFORE they reach the C.O.X server that is sending the data off to Amazons servers. This is after testing this just a little bit ago and want to run some more tests. If this is the case it will be on C.O.X to fix this issue. A couple of thoughts to why this is happening now and did not happen before June of 2018. Cox is has probably changed the way they treat UDP data possibly, only problem is no other online games ex. COD BOPS4 seem to have this packet loss issue unless they are, but you can not actually tell or you do not get that information from the network information section of COD BOPS4. It could be possible that the game itself is set to only send out so much information going up that the data is under the capped rate C.O.X is setting on their networks to have going out. If you notice when you connect to a VPN service and run the game through this your packets per second going up change to a much lower number and you receive no loss, just higher ping. Also if you notice streamers pushing over 100 packets per second going up to the Fortnite servers have no problem with packet loss, so I do not believe this is an issue on Amazon's servers.

In conclusion, back in June of 2018 C.O.X probably changed something to how UDP data is being handled when going out.

If that is not the case then I believe around that time Fortnite went from 30mhz to 60mhz on their servers and I m not sure if that means at what rate data is being sent out, but I believe it does and that would explain why this is when this all started to happen. I also think around that time is when we received the ability to see the network debugging statistics on Fortnite and it could have been happening before this, but I doubt it since the blank shotgun hits were not always happening.

Anyways that's the ideas I have came up with after looking from all the different forums from C.O.X and Fortnite. I will be running some more tests to see if I can nail it down to only Amazon servers receiving the packet loss on upload or if it is any other online games or sites. If its any site receiving packet loss like this and the results still show the drops happening before C.O.X server it is on them and I will be giving their techs all this information which if they try denying that then it is to the FCC to file claims.

If anyone else has a mac or linux machine they can run some tests with also, and come up with the same findings please call C.O.X tech support and lay into them to have the issue fixed and if they do not file FCC complaints.

It is time this is fixed.

Funny, I'm here for the exact same issue that I've been researching for over a month now and it's odd I stumble across the same reddit post that I commented in.

I had a Cox tech come out last week. He 'reset' everything in my house and when he was done he said he fixed my issue. He handed me a small metal device that he called a packet capture and said it was used to provision data for uplink. I bought it for about a day and a half since it seemed to fix my issue. Before he left I verified my uplink had 4 locked channels instead of 1 and I played a few games of Fortnite throughout the day with almost 0 packet loss. It was glorious! There was 1-2 instances where I saw packet loss go to 2% but only for a second or 2. Next day, internet went out, I cycled the modem and the packet loss was back with a vengeance. 

Pretty safe to say the tech gave me some nonsense and went about his day. If there were another ISP alternative in my area I'd have already switched but Cox is just short of a monopoly in my area and apparently that entitles them to sell a 'premium' service built on a sub-par infrastructure. 

I'd post my tracert output as well but it's nearly identical to what's already linked above. 

Hello, I have been having the same exact issue at my home for the past 2 months as well. Southeast Arizona area. It has been very frustrating and I do not want to switch to CenturyLink as they only offer 40Mbps. I had a tech come out earlier this week and he said my speeds and signal levels are fine. I hope this can get figured out very soon.

If anyone is still having trouble, please provide a current trace route in this thread and we will forward to our network operations team for further review. Thanks!

Brian
Cox Support Forum Moderator

Hello Cox,

I'm a fellow gigablast internet subscriber that is having the same exact issues as A LOT OF people in the southern California region. I'm in San Diego and I have amazing download speeds reaching that of 950+ consistently.

Speedtest results: www.speedtest.net/.../7867448045

Networking Equipment:

Tried 2 different Docsis 3.1's and both encountered same issue thus not LAN

Cat 7 cables

Multiple devices tested: Xbox X, 2,000$ PC (Both experience the same packet loss symptoms)

^The only reason I listed the above is to give you a sense that my equipment is top of the line equipment. The data loss isn't coming from the equipment nor the LAN

Now the huge problem which degrades the entire service is this constant packet loss while using upstream towards AWS servers. I have diagnosed this through using ping plotter and viewing packet loss in between hubs passing data. The intensive upstream applications that I have experienced packet loss with are twitch (while streaming) and Fortnite. The Fortnite lag is so unbearable. All throughout the day 24/7 there is a constant nonstop packet loss ranging from 1%-6% then sporadic jumps up to 32% or so. It literally makes the game impossible to play as gunfights within the game are losing frames and data causing me to be essentially at a disadvantage 24/7.

I understand sending out Techs is the first option and step to resolving this, however, by the looks of this issue it seems systematic. We as customers pay for our service to dependable and up to date as this is 2018. We want to play this game while it's popular and not 4 months from now when you deserve to believe this is a huge problem.There is in reality data loss on the upstream end of things causing Fortnite to be unplayable. The only game I play right now is Fortnite thus me having to be subjected and forced into packet loss by an incompetent ISP who either is over utilizing nodes or using incompetent hubs that incur data loss is petty in 2018.

I have had 3 techs and the most recent one(DEC7) said there was data loss and they would have maintenance crews out there and if by Sunday the packet loss is till there notify someone.

One condensed sentence that sums up the entire problem: When cox users go to utilize there upstream while connecting to services on AWS such as playing FORTNITE or streaming to TWITCH their incurring packet loss causing online gaming to be impossible or degraded services. 

I need this fixed please! I want to play fornite and knowing that every single gunfight is utterly affected by ISP issues makes it useless and a waste to play.

I HAVE COME TO THE END OF ROADS WITH COX AND THEIR SUPPORT...

It is a verifiable problem that many cox users experience data loss at 1% or more on their favorite and most popular game FORTNITE!

After speaking to the highest corporate level of escalation as in nothing can GO further than that....

THEY SAID THIS AND I ASKED IF I COULD QUOTE:

"WE DONT COVER ONLINE GAMES TO CLOUD BASED SERVICES"

UMM EXCUSE ME ONE OF THE ONLY REASONS PEOPLE GET INTERNET IS FOR ONLINE GAMING...IS THIS A JOKE?

THEY THEN INSTRUCTED ME TO REACH OUT TO AWS AS THEY AREN'T COGNITIVE ENOUGH TO HAVE THEIR BILLION DOLLAR CONNECTIONS DO IT FOR US!

SHE PRETTY MUCH TOLD ME THERE ISN'T ANYTHING THEY WANT TO DO AND THAT IM OUT TO FEND FOR MYSELF ON THE ISSUE.

This is after thousands of cox customers posts around the internet and many verifiable and documented instances of packet loss using default pathways to AWS applications. 

AN ISSUE THOUSANDS OF COX CUSTOMERS ARE EXPERIENCING ALL AROUND THE NATION ON THE MOST POPULAR GAME IN THE WORLD AT THE MOMENT!

AS OF 12/26/2018 MANY COX CUSTOMERS ARE EXPERIENCING ISSUES WITH AWS PLATFORM SERVICES AND COX ISN'T THE TYPE OF COMPANY TO FIX SOMETHING THEY HAVE A DEGREE APART OF.

ANOTHER TAKE AWAY IS THAT COX AS OF 2018 DOESN'T HAVE A SYSTEM TO TROUBLESHOOT PROBLEMS IN AN ACCORDINGLY FASHION AND DUMP MANY OF THEIR OWN NETWORK ISSUES ON TO CUSTOMERS WHO INDEED DONT HAVE THE RESOURCES TO TRULY GET TO THE BOTTOM OF IT. Its literally a real life scenario of finding a needle in the haystack which in return decreases performance in diagnostic measure and spawns an atmosphere of a company that can't even troubleshoot themselves.

SPEEDIFY AS of 12/26/2018 FIXED MY PACKET LOSS PROVING IN PHYSICAL REALITY THAT THE DEFAULT PATH SERVED TO ME DOES INCUR DATA LOSS.

Executive Summary of entire problem:

-4+ techs to apartment who all said onsite problems were resolved

-BLANKET OF PACKET LOSS @ 1% - 5% ON FORTNITE STILL PREVALENT

-Speedify fixed packet loss and proves default path incurs data loss or there is an apparent problem

-lots of posts around the web that also share the same symptoms on the most popular game at the moment

AS IT SHOULD....WHEN A NEW USER GETS COX THEY SHOULD HAVE NO PACKET LOSS TO ANY SERVICE....right now you're executive escalation team even reassured me that you don't want to give a helping hand and that this issue isn't to a degree related to your service when indeed you do have a play in this problem

The problem is the way you handle power users who are more educated then 90% of your employees. You act in a condescending way that paints a Utopian side for you that in all universes Cox won't be the one to blame when it actually hurts your stance even further. A company that wishes to not acknowledge and leave many customers unanswered is one that needs a different managing team altogether. Maybe your board should be voted upon and have people that do understand the need for online gaming.

A company that fails to acknowledge abnormalities and decides to ignore creates a resenting base of consumers who know they have true issues with the services they're served.

And the sad thing is this is over a free to play video game...they literally will keep you in a nonstop loop of diagnosing when in reality it is out of LAN's

Unfortunately as this issue isn't resolved and all I use my connection for is online gaming specifically using fornite I'm going to have to document all of the findings around the internet and create a video to solidify our stance as consumers being forced into default paths that incur data loss.

At this point I feel as if cox will get this fixed behind the scene and one day ill wake with no packet loss and all of these posts would be considered irrelevant right. Wrong as of 12/26/2018 I have been experiencing packet loss on fortnite for months now !

The fact is is that the cox executive level stated they CANNOT BE COUNTED ON TO PROVIDE A DEPENDABLE CONNECTION FREE OF PACKET LOSS TO FORNite...if you're a fortnite player and you hear this that's more than enough to turn you away! or sure the service will work for many but if your in those select few we could give a hoot about you because are revenues allow us that! If you're one of those few we can't do anything more and you go contact the server platform we serve millions of connections to as we don't want to be bother with this. Your pr is just not cognitive enough to understand this 2018...