Cox Rhode Island - Very inconsistent speeds now

A fellow customer from RI. Welcome  I am from West Warwick, you?

I don't think its a peering issue because that would effect the whole state, and my performance is fine. Here are my results using server from Video 1(Boston MA-DSCI).

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3016149716 

My speeds are very consistent. Without speedboost I see about a 3-4MB transfer rate.  I noticed when you were doing the tests, they were taking a abnormal time to complete. It took longer for it to find the closest server and do the download test (seemed to hang). Try these two tests. 

Pingtest - Be sure to update your Java and allow the applet to access your computer or the Packet test will fail. FYI 

Visualware Speedtest - This will show forced Idle and other signs of congestion. Its also based on Java, so rules out PC issues with flash. 

Also, could you give more info on the Cogentco issue? Could you quote your source? I am tracking down a Youtube problem in RI and a couple other states, and that data may be related/helpful. Share?

East Providence/Barrington here. In my original tests I did use two different servers. But it generally hasn't mattered which server I've used. I keep getting inconsistent horribly bad upload numbers on all servers. It took forever for Speed test 2 to upload to youtube. But speed test 1 and 3 uploaded fine. That's how I first discovered a problem. I could tell by uploading  that something was wrong with speeds. I just did a Visual Speed test on the other site. Same horrible upload numbers. Results at the links below. I found out the Cogentco issue from this forum at the following link. I also did a search on Google and found many others. Mostly gamers whose games have become unplayable because of speed issues. http://forums.cox.com/forum_home/internet_forum/f/5/t/1093.aspx

1. My new speedtest results. http://tinyurl.com/nsklywr  

2. Cox Speed test results:  http://tinyurl.com/pt7gn7d

3. Ping tes resultst:  http://tinyurl.com/pbca38j

Once again erratic speeds. First test horrible. Next test great. Ping test looks fine. Lots of back and forth in my results. My internet connection is like a ping pong ball.

Looks like intermittent latency spikes. See how your Avg RTT 623ms? Not good. Do the test again and click on "Analyze these results". That should give you some more data on RTT.

The results from the pingtest don't seem to lineup though. Could be the problem wasn't occurring at the time of the test, or the problem isn't occuring on the route the pingtest takes. Also, when I tracert to your public IP (noted on the tests BTW) I don't see any packet loss or latency, so more evidence that it doesn't seem to be a network problem, but not conclusive.

1. What are you modem signal levels? You can find them at 192.168.100.1. See here for more info.

2. Windows Key +R > CMD > Tracert -n 100 cox.net. Just post the Ping statistics at the end of test.

 Modem signal levels http://tinyurl.com/matw6z3

 Ping stats: http://tinyurl.com/m4vxp33

Signal levels are bad. Signal to Noise Radio should be 35 atleast. Power level should be no more then 10 above or below 0 and your Upstream power level should be below 52. Could you describe how the cable wire gets from the pole to your modem?

Oops, I meant Ping -n 100 cox.net. Its a basic ping but the -n 100 makes it do it 100 times instead of 4, that way it will show any intermittent latency spikes. But seeing your signal levels, I think we know the problem.

Ok will do another ping test. For some reason I wasn't able to ping -n 100 cox.net. It didn't seem to understand the command. I'll try again. In the meantime here is a connection analysis.

http://oi43.tinypic.com/71tncg.jpg

I live in an apartment building. The cable outlet is in my living room. That outlet has a splitter which a 100 foot coax cable is connected and that cable goes directly into my modem. I don't have cable TV and I know that their is a filter on the trap to block TV signals. So the only thing that cable is used for is internet. I guess it's always possible that there could be a problem with the splitter or the cable. But wouldn't that mean consistently bad internet speeds? Mine aren't always bad. As you can see by the test results they are sometimes very good.

Are your signal levels always that bad? If they are, and your just not seeing the symptoms all the time, thats normal and caused by the redundancy built into the way the cable modems work. If your signal levels are changing, and you only notice the symptoms when they are bad (like the signal levels you showed) then its a matter of finding what is causing your signal levels to be bad. Either way I think your signal levels are are the core of your problem.

Why do you need a 100foot coaxial drop? If possible I would say get rid of that and try to keep it under 10feet. 

Why do you have a splitter if you don't have cable? Also what kind of splitter? Can you take a picture? Or post  the model number and frequency on it? Should be on the spitter itself.

How many apartments in the complex? Any other cable outlets in your apartment? Is there a maintenance or telcom closet on property? 

We used to have cable TV. One reason for the splitter. However the modem is on the other side of the apartment and the splitter was also needed to run that long cable extension to the modem. There is a cable outlet on the other side of the bedroom. It would seemingly make more sense to use that outlet since that is a lot closer to where the modem is located. But the furniture is configured in such a way that cables would still need to be run across the room to the modem. That's my problem and an easy fix.

 You've been a tremendous help and I believe that you may have helped me solve the problem. In the next day or so I plan on getting rid of that long cable, eliminating the splitter and moving my equipment next to the cable outlet. I'll let you know how that works out. This whole speed problem took me by surprise because everything worked to my satisfaction for two years. Not sure why it would suddenly pop up. But I'll make some changes and return if there is still a problem.

Thanks again for your assistance!

No problem.  Let me know if I can be of any help. I also live in a apartment complex, so I know what kind of complications there can be.