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Ryan_Gall's avatar
Ryan_Gall
New Contributor
5 years ago

Consistent ~5% Packet Loss (Connecticut)

I'm a Cox customer living in CT. I have been experiencing packet loss for the past few weeks. It does not appear to be on my end. Below I'll post MTR results (I am pinging a Blizzard game server). 

I should mention that this is over a wired connection.

|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| WinMTR statistics |
| Host - % | Sent | Recv | Best | Avrg | Wrst | Last |
|------------------------------------------------|------|------|------|------|------|------|
| 192.168.1.1 - 0 | 611 | 611 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| 10.4.0.1 - 4 | 611 | 587 | 3 | 7 | 23 | 8 |
| 100.120.244.90 - 4 | 611 | 589 | 4 | 8 | 25 | 10 |
| 100.120.244.202 - 4 | 611 | 590 | 6 | 11 | 116 | 10 |
| nyrkbprj01-ae3.0.rd.ny.cox.net - 5 | 611 | 585 | 11 | 17 | 85 | 17 |
| 68.105.31.75 - 4 | 610 | 589 | 11 | 20 | 168 | 16 |
| ae1-br01-eqny8.as57976.net - 5 | 610 | 583 | 30 | 38 | 137 | 37 |
| et-0-0-2-br02-eqch2.as57976.net - 3 | 610 | 592 | 30 | 40 | 156 | 34 |
| be2-pe1-eqch2.as57976.net - 5 | 610 | 583 | 29 | 34 | 48 | 34 |
| chi-eqch2-ia-bons-02.as57976.net - 4 | 610 | 585 | 31 | 36 | 56 | 37 |
| 24.105.62.129 - 5 | 610 | 584 | 30 | 35 | 51 | 35 |

My router does not have any packet loss, but I immediately experience 4% packet loss here at the second hop (not exactly sure where this is). I just want to make sure that my router/modem are not causing any issues. It's possible that this second hop is perhaps in my apartment complex or somewhere nearby, but again, I don't know where all these hops are located.

Most of the evening, I experience this 3-5% packet loss, and it is noticeable, particularly over VoIP (Discord).Strangely enough, I had a ~4 hour window last night with no packet loss, but it came back late last night and is present as I type this post now.

I'm not a network engineer, so perhaps I missed something in the MTR above. Just looking for input so I can better understand the issue.

Thanks,

Ryan

12 Replies

  • OpenBSD's avatar
    OpenBSD
    Contributor II

    What Cox internet tier are you on? What modem are you using? Just curious.

    • Ryan_Gall's avatar
      Ryan_Gall
      New Contributor

      I have the Ultimate package (300 mbps download). My modem is an Arris Surfboard SB6183.

  • Hello Ryan. Your modem is reporting some noise on the line, multiple time out errors, and averaging about 5% packet loss at this time. Are there any splitters or signals amps on the cable line going to the modem? -Allan. Cox Support Forums Moderator.
    • Ryan_Gall's avatar
      Ryan_Gall
      New Contributor

      I have not installed any splitters or signal amps. However, I have not checked past the coax cable cover; perhaps there is a splitter or amp further in that I am not aware of.

      I should note that, at the time of writing this, I am experiencing zero packet loss. It's very random when it comes and goes. It can be in the early morning hours before work, or at prime time in the evening.

      • CrystalS's avatar
        CrystalS
        Former Moderator
        Ryan, typically splitters and amplifiers are located on the coaxial line outside of the wall outlet, not behind the outlet cover. Sometimes amplifiers are placed in a location where they are not easily accessible because they provide the power to all of the equipment. Splitters are little metal boxes that will have the coaxial cable going into it on one side and 2 or more connections for coaxial cables on the other side. Amplifiers are boxes with one power light on them and they connect with a coaxial cable on one end and an electrical cord plugged into an electrical outlet. These two devices can cause all kinds of signal issues if they begin to go bad or fail.

        Crystal
        Cox Support Forum Moderator
  • Ryan_Gall's avatar
    Ryan_Gall
    New Contributor

    So, I experienced no packet loss at all during the past weekend (11/30 and 12/1). It was even fine this morning around 6:30 A.M.

    However, as of 6:30 P.M. tonight (12/2), it is back to haunt me. I have not made any hardware or firmware changes to spur this on.

    While this has occurred on some mornings, it seems to really only be an issue at prime time (evenings). Perhaps there is some sort of localized congestion/traffic. Based on the previous discussion and presented information, it doesn't appear to be any of my equipment. We previously discussed that I do not have any splitters or amplifiers installed.

    Below is a fresh WinMTR (again over a hard-wired connection):

    |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
    | WinMTR statistics |
    | Host - % | Sent | Recv | Best | Avrg | Wrst | Last |
    |------------------------------------------------|------|------|------|------|------|------|
    | 192.168.1.1 - 0 | 561 | 561 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
    | 10.4.0.1 - 6 | 561 | 531 | 3 | 8 | 41 | 6 |
    | 100.120.244.90 - 5 | 561 | 538 | 5 | 9 | 47 | 10 |
    | 100.120.244.202 - 6 | 561 | 531 | 6 | 13 | 90 | 10 |
    | nyrkbprj01-ae3.0.rd.ny.cox.net - 5 | 560 | 534 | 12 | 17 | 115 | 21 |
    | 68.105.31.75 - 5 | 560 | 535 | 11 | 21 | 170 | 15 |
    | ae1-br01-eqny8.as57976.net - 5 | 560 | 535 | 30 | 39 | 158 | 38 |
    | et-0-0-2-br02-eqch2.as57976.net - 5 | 560 | 533 | 30 | 39 | 134 | 34 |
    | be2-pe1-eqch2.as57976.net - 5 | 560 | 532 | 29 | 35 | 60 | 33 |
    | chi-eqch2-ia-bons-02.as57976.net - 6 | 560 | 531 | 32 | 37 | 53 | 36 |
    | 24.105.62.129 - 6 | 560 | 531 | 31 | 36 | 51 | 35 |
    |________________________________________________|______|______|______|______|______|______|

    Similar to previous experiences, I am experiencing a consistent 3-6% packet loss, starting with the second hop (whatever that is).

    Edit: Could this be caused by the cold/stormy weather? Given that it has been somewhat cold the past few weeks, and snowy today, could a connection somewhere to the local node be messed up somehow?

  • Ryan_Gall's avatar
    Ryan_Gall
    New Contributor

    Also, here's another thing I don't understand. 

    Blizzard offers an internal network diagnostic tool (Looking Glass) that allows you to ping their servers. I consistently get similar results using their own MTR within this tool (see below):

    03/12/2019 00:00:04 UTC
    --------------------

    MTR:
    Start: Tue Dec 3 00:00:03 2019 Blizzard 1.|-- Blizzard 0.0% 10 0.3 0.5 0.2 1.3 0.0
    2.|-- 24.105.18.131 0.0% 10 0.5 0.6 0.5 0.8 0.0
    3.|-- 137.221.105.16 0.0% 10 0.8 0.9 0.8 1.1 0.0
    4.|-- 137.221.66.22 0.0% 10 1.0 6.9 1.0 58.1 18.0
    5.|-- 137.221.83.68 0.0% 10 5.7 13.8 5.7 86.0 25.4
    6.|-- 137.221.65.68 0.0% 10 5.7 10.7 5.7 31.7 10.2
    7.|-- 137.221.68.32 0.0% 10 5.9 15.7 5.8 50.1 16.5
    8.|-- langbbrj02-ae1.301.r2.la.cox.net 0.0% 10 5.4 6.0 5.4 11.3 1.7
    9.|-- provdsrj02-ae0.0.rd.ri.cox.net 0.0% 10 67.4 70.1 67.3 94.0 8.4
    10.|-- ??? 100.0 10 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

    Somehow, this doesn't seem to pick up any of the obvious packet loss I am experiencing. So I don't understand that is happening here.

  • Ryan_Gall's avatar
    Ryan_Gall
    New Contributor

    One last update. Checking the event log of my modem, this event happened at 6:47 P.M. tonight:

    Mon Dec 02 18:47:32 2019 Critical (3) Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=bc:2e:48:d8:67:e9;CMTS-MAC=00:27:90:ff:f4:e9;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;


    What could this mean?

    • KevinM2's avatar
      KevinM2
      Former Moderator
      Hi Ryan, A T3 timeout indicates a break from communication with the equipment, meaning, your modem stopped receiving the downstream signal for a brief moment. I was reviewing the MTR from 06:30 pm, and you mentioned this was on a hard-wired connection. Are you able to bypass the wireless router and run the ethernet cable directly to the modem? This will help us determine whether or not latency is taking place on our network. Fluctuations in latency on gaming servers, outside of the Cox network, is beyond the scope of our support. -Kevin M. Cox Support Forum Moderator