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For about one year now, I've had an Arris SB8200 cablemodem and Cox 300Mbps Internet tier, and this has worked esssentially flawlessly in that time. I've had Cox Internet even longer with very few issues - until about two days ago.
I noticed decreased download speeds, and when I logged into my account, I was notified that an "issue" in my area was detected, and I assumed my speed issue would be resolved when the issue was solved. About two hours later, the issue was clear, but my Internet speeds were still decidedly abnormal. I then noticed that the middle-two lights on the front panel of the cablemodem indicated the *downstream* connection was DOCSIS 3.1 (bonded downstream), colored blue, but the *upstream* light was now *green*, indicating only DOCSIS 3.0. This is a change from the previous behavior in which both up and down lights were bonded (blue).
That was two days ago. The problem has persisted, across multiple reboots of my cablemodem, and reboots of the firewall appliance that receives the Ethernet out from the cablemodem. I contacted Cox and they said the signal looked clear, but they agreed that my struggle to reach 200Mbps (usually topping out around 170-190) is not consistent with the 300Mbps service tier. They went so far as to re-provision the modem, all to no avail.
I took a look at my cablemodem serivce page, and it shows that the upstream channels hover between 39.0 and 42 dBmV. I found that Arris states the required upstream signal must be between 45-55 dBmV.
A bit of Googling has revealed a bit of warfare normally has to be undertaken to get Cox to increase power to the upstream channels, which is precisely what the Arris tech support rep told me when I reached out to them for assistance (cablemodem is only one year old and under warranty). He flatly stated the ISP must increase channel strength. Excerpt of my upstream channel status listed below:
I traced the line all the way back to the Cox input, eliminating an intermediate cable in the attic, and directly attached the Cox coax to the cablemodem and powered it up - no difference - bonded down, unbonded up. This means the signal to the modem from Cox is too low. But if I know from research Arris says Cox has to increase power, but Cox will refuse, what on earth do I do? Go out and drop another $200 on a new/different cablemodem?
Any suggestions appreciated.
-sd
Yes hard reset changed nothing.
Arris would recommend the same specs to a Verizon customer as they would a Cox customers. Only a provider can verify the correct specs (Up Power) because its their network, hardware, firmware, etc. As a Cox customer with a different plan and equipment, I'd generally have different specs.
The outage may not have been in your area but instead farther upstream to effect your area. You've got basic connectivity now but it's just not efficient. I'd give Cox a couple days to finish whatever they may be troubleshooting.
If you didn't need a signal booster in your home before...you probably won't need a signal booster.
I've talked more with local Cox techs and after considerable discussion they've scheduled a truck roll after my work time on Monday. Our pedestal is in the neighbor's yard and I've let them know Cox may be doing measurements in their yard then.
I'm not crazy about a service call, but I also can't justify tossing out a random $200 on a new cable modem, especially if there really is a legit signal issue that would explain the sudden speed drop.
FWIW, all the cabling in the attic was done by Cox years ago, so no homebrew connections or jury-rigging.