T3 and T4 Timeouts from an ex-field technician
Starting in September of 2013, I noticed my connection becoming intermittent at best. Voice conferencing and gaming would literally go from 23 ms to over 10k ms and then obviously I would disconnect from the server. About a week after this first started happening, it started to randomly disconnect while I was simply browsing the internet. I found the modem was cycling itself. At the time I had an extremely old but trusty Motorola Surfboard SB5100. Despite having this modem throughout the DOCSIS 3.0 updates, and despite it having worked fine through it all hither to the point in time, I figured it may be the modem (after a 12 year run, I wasn't complaining...) I accessed the modem diagnostic page at 192.168.100.1 and saw that in the logs there were massive amounts of T3 timeouts. Being an ex-field technician for Cox, I knew this could have gone one of two ways. It was either the modem or it was something in the node (most likely an amplifier in the trunk line) that was to blame. I called Cox for the heck of it just to see if they could see anything on their end, and as usual, no. Everything on their end was fine, but again, having been a field tech for 5 years, I know that phone based customer service is very limited, they're not at the house, they don't have a meter and they're sure as heck not taking level readings. Ok, fair enough. I purchased a Motorola Surfboard SB6141 to replace the 5100 and finally upgrade to DOCSIS 3.0. I called them, had the modem provisioned, went to the diagnostics page, was "wowed" by 8 downstream and 4 upstream channels, wondering why I had not upgraded the modem sooner, but alas, not 2 hours after provisioning, there was a T3 timeout. Now I know it's not the modem, time to get on the phone and make things happen. I called, they said they would send a tech out. The tech (CONTRACTOR) came out and I explained the whole situation to him. I showed him the modem diagnostics, I explained what I knew about everything, and he agreed with me. He did NOT check levels, he did NOT check the tap at the pole (I have a 340 foot drop from the pole to the house, it's RG-11. A new install was done less than a year ago, including the drop and inside lines, and I told him this, so he probably "assumed" things were good up there...). He scheduled a 5C, which is the "internal" code name for "get a maintenance (plant) technician out to the pole to see what's up". I got a call from my old lead technician about a week later. He told me that the maintenance tech found water in the drop and cut it back to where the "stinger" (copper in the connector) wasn't black from water damage, and that another tech would be out in the next day or two in order to run a new drop. Two days later ANOTHER CONTRACTOR comes to the house to run the new drop. I saw his spool of RG-11 and I knew he didn't have enough left to get from the pole to the house. He removed the drop at the sub pole, and due to not wanting to bother him, I came back inside. 20 minutes later I went back out and he was gone. He never replaced the drop. He probably figured he didn't have enough cable to do it after removing the drop at the sub pole, rehung it, and left. This pissed me off. In the meantime I contacted my old lead and asked him what the deal was, explaining that not only were these T3's still happening, but they were getting worse, and they were leading into T4's. He scheduled for the drop to be re-run AGAIN the next week and made sure it would be an in house guy arriving, NOT a contractor. Sure enough, another lead technician and a field tech came to the house and ran a new drop. They didn't have enough RG-11 so they ran half RG-11, then installed a ground block at the sub pole and ran RG-6 the rest of the way. He said he would be back (this was a month ago and it still hasn't happened) to replace the RG-6 half of the drop with RG-11. He gave me his cell number to contact directly if this kept going on. It kept going on. The T3's were getting worse. I asked him on the phone to set up a 5C, he said he would but this was a week and a half after he replaced the drop and hadn't been out to finish the RG-11, so my faith in relying on him was null. I therefore called customer service. I explained that, despite having JUST bought a new modem, FIOS was a phone call away if this wasn't resolved. Per usual, they went RIGHT back to square one and wanted to send out a tech. I told them to stop reading the script from their screen and focus on their keyboard in order to LISTEN AND UNDERSTAND exactly what I had JUST explained to them. For over a month I was implying that this was a plant issue, no one wanted to listen. The phone techs didn't want to listen, the lead techs did not want to listen, the lead techs kept coming back with 50 other excuses as to what could be causing it. I questioned them as to why they would do this when they knew I used to be a tech and I wasn't an idiot. The final call was made to customer service. Again, they said they had to send a tech out, despite two months of this **, in order to get a 5C scheduled. Ok, last time I am playing this game. The tech came out and I caught him on my way home from work. He was an in house guy and I caught him as he was at the pole taking levels. He told me that every port from the tap was bonkers, he replaced the tap and the levels were STILL bonkers, and that he did not understand how two lead techs and four field techs didn't realize this was a plant issue from day one. I concurred. He took down every piece of information I gave him about the new drop, the new modem, signal levels at the modem, etc, etc, and made a detailed log for the maintenance techs who came out. He also told me that there are only SIX HOUSES ON MY NODE, LITERALLY. This means that the trunk line feeding my house only feeds a total of 6 houses. Do you know how easy that is for plant (maintenance) to troubleshoot? There is one amplifier that is literally humping my tap, if here's an inch of trunk line from the amplifier into the tap then it's a lot. I suspected that amplifier from the get go, but even if it wasn't, there would only be at most ONE MORE amplifier in that node, so yeah, one amp checked out good, guess which one's bad? Real easy stuff here people, real easy. So, the tech scheduled the 5C (the second one that had to happen in this whole fiasco), and the maintenance tech came out. I don't know if it was the same or a different one, but this time around (after TWO MONTHS OF THIS **) the problem was resolved. It has been two weeks and I have not seen a single T3 or T4 in my log. I see where it lost connection due to the maintenance guy doing what he had to do and of course the service gets interrupted during this, but honestly, after the modem cycle, there is not ONE added entry to the log, nothing; whereas every other "visit" would result in a T3 less than 10 minutes later. These T3 (and later T4's due to the issue getting progressively worse) were happening every ten to twenty minutes on some days, other days every hour or so. I use VOIP for telephone. Imagine not having 911 access for the whole day because your ISP can't get it's act together. I held out having FIOS reinstalled (it was installed here when it first came out) because I honestly can't stand those hacks. Having said that, had that last tech not been so thorough, had the second maintenance tech not done his job and resolved the issue, Verizon was seriously the next phone call. I didn't go into a whole lot of detail about levels and diagnostics here because I did enough of that with customer service and all the techs that visited. I wanted to make a point here to Cox. Not all customers are complete idiots. Not all customers have zero clue about how information travels from their house to the MTC. Maybe instead of treating everyone equally as morons, you should start treating them all equally as intelligent folk. Imagine how many folks out there were never field techs, imagine how many would have switched back to Verizon within the first week, let alone sticking it out for two months. I was a field tech, I have working knowledge of the system, I was treated like a complete idiot, how do you think that makes me feel? It actually makes me feel pretty damned good right about now knowing I was right the whole damned time about the issue being a plant related occurrence, but I can tell you right now when these people tell you over the phone and face to face that you're "wrong", and that they need to go through steps that, again as an ex-tech, you KNOW they don't need to go through, all the while the internet that we pay for monthly and (in some cases) our phone service (through another provider in my instance) has fallen to complete useless garbage, labeling it as "infuriating" somehow undermines the true nature of it. I know that not every single problem faced is one of a plant issue, this is obvious. Red flags should be raised, however, after every single other step has been taken and fails, instead of attempting to loop the same damned process all over again; that is simply ridiculous. What is also ridiculous is the fact that contractors are being sent in place of in house technicians and basically this leads to repeat trouble calls. This is something that is completely unacceptable, especially when one has to take time out of their day (or out of work) every time a call has to be rescheduled. I know not every contractor is a bad contractor, but out of the entire bunch, I can name 3 that I would have work at my house, that's about it. To make it relative to the in house technicians, I can list about 20 off the top of my head that I would let work at my house from start to finish with a cable job any day of the year. I hope this type of issue, or at least the steps to the resolution of this type of problem does not happen again. I will definitely be more prone to calling Verizon early on if an issue is not resolved in a suitable amount of time, not TWO MONTHS AFTER.46KViews4likes2Comments
Game Lag
I am experiencing a lot of game lag when online. Every once in a while I have a few online games that are outstanding but only for a short while on days that don't come too often. I have everything hard wired for my Xbox 360 and I'm running an AC router for the speed. The router doesn't seem to be the problem since I have the same issue when wired directly to my modem. I have Cox premier internet residential service. When playing online it seems as if the info passing through the pipe hits the Cox server and takes a short time to be processed and passed on to me. I upgraded my service plan to the premier but haven't noticed any substantialimprovement in my gaming. When connected directly to my modem my speeds average over 100 down and over 30 up. Good speed but it makes no difference with the game lag. Without the lag I can dominate when playing online but for most days and for now there's too much lag to do much good. It's very frustrating to say the least. Any ideas would be appreciated.17KViews0likes10Comments
Splitters for other device for splitting main line to modems and TV
We’re replacing the coaxial cable run from our Condo’s utility/ equipment room where Coax Cable connects to our attic. The main line coax run from the utility/ equipment into the attic is 100 to 125 feet. Please let me know what splitter or devices I should use to connect the main coax line in my attic (Belden 7195a RG6 coax main line) to: (1) Cox Phone Modem, (2) Cox Internet Modem, and (3) Single TV downstairs. Also, does a 2-way or 3-way splitter create less signal loss: Option (1) 2-way splitter unbalanced to the main line (with one side to the TV downstairs and one side to a second 2-way splitter going to the Modems) or Option (2) 3-way splitter (with low loss side connected to longer coax run to TV and the other two sides going to the modems) or Option (3) Suggestion for a better option(s) For small fee, the contractor will my Belden 7195a RG6 along with their RG11 CommScope 4818803 F11TSEF (830BMU). Cox recommended I have a dual line going to my attic in case of damage and my research shows the Belden 7195a is a good solid core tri-shield cable. Also, what Brand splitter(s) do you recommend and do you recommend an inline coax surge protector? I’ve been considering the Extreme Broadband BDS102H and BDS103H. Thanks!9.1KViews0likes2Comments
Service Appointment Charge of $60
Hi, I recently moved to San Diego, and without much of a choice, installed Cox in our apartment. The signal was terrible, dying every couple hours, and many times turning the modem on and off didn't change anything. I decided to hire the next level of Internet speed, hoping to be considered a consumer 'a little higher' in the food chain, and guess what? It didn't change. I called COX to ask them to fix it, after all, I hired a working internet service. They said someone was coming, and indeed, a technician came, said the signal was low, and put up a device to improve the dB (not a neat job, I had to rearrange the cables properly). A few days went by, and the problems continued. I started to learn to live with the fact that I needed to reset the modem and router every couple hours, which is certainly not what I have experience in both Denver and Chicago with Comcast. Parallel to that, I signed a VPN service, that helped the connection incredibly, but I can't explain why. I just received the Dec 10 billhere (Due Dec 30)and realized we got charged for $60 for the Service Appointment. My question is: FOR WHAT REASON? It is certainly shameful for a company to charge an extra that is almost a couple months of service for basically trying to fix the exact service it is not delivering. (Besides that, we have been having problems about the automatic payment, but will try to set it up one more time.) I would certainly like for this service fee to be cancelled before the Due date. Thank you. - Arthur7.4KViews0likes3Comments
Intermittent Disconnects daily/ Router CG3000D
Hey everyone, For about two months now, I've been getting disconnects that last for 5~10 seconds, randomly throughout the day. I just checked my event log today and lots of errors that are common among these forums. My router is a Netgear CG3000D. My computer is the only desktop using a hardwire. I have a Antronix 2way 5-1000 splitter that i received last year from the Cox tech. I am very well versed in computers, but networking I haven't dipped into at all. I literally have no idea what is going on, but i'm sick of getting disconnects multiple times throughout the day. Any help would be amazing. Thank you, Cody V6.2KViews0likes7Comments
Internet Connection Dropping Multiple Times per Day
Issue: Modem loses connection to the internet. Details: For the last two weeks, I have been losing connection to the internet almost daily. This occurs at random times. It has happened three times in one day, and has skipped a day. Resetting the modem always fixes the issue temporarily. I am on a wired connection. I have tested (with a cable tester) and switch the Ethernet cables used. When plugged directly into the modem, this issue still persists, eliminating the router as the point of failure. This also affects multiple computers and devices in the house. Troubleshooting thus far: First technician came out on Monday, February 3 rd . After testing the connection inside and outside the house, he determined that the issue was with the drop to the house. This was replaced. The technician also removed an amplifier and replaced the splitter that is in use. We only have one TV and a cable modem hooked up. Thus a two way splitter. When the issue continued to occur, Cox sent out a supervisor technician on Saturday, February 8th. He tested all of the wires and runs in the house, as well as the ones out in the yard. He determined that the issue was with something further upstream and escalated the issue to the network technicians. Today alone, the connection has dropped four times over a six hour period. Cox now believes that the issue lies with my cable modem. Someone will be coming out tomorrow to test the out the connection with a different modem. Below I’ve included the logs from the modem. Does anything in the logs offer any insight into what the problem may be? Given how many support calls I’ve made and how many technicians have already been involved, I’d like to get some additional eyes on this issue. Please let me know if there are any questions you may have about the troubleshooting that has been done thus far. Time Priority Code Message Feb 10 2014 14:54:55 6-Notice I401.0 TLV-11 - unrecognized OID;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:50:0a:ce;CMTS-MAC=50:57:a8:88:f9:9d;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0; Feb 10 2014 14:54:55 5-Warning Z00.0 MIMO Event MIMO: Stored MIMO=-1 post cfg file MIMO=-1;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:50:0a:ce;CMTS-MAC=50:57:a8:88:f9:9d;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0; Jan 01 1970 00:00:14 6-Notice N/A Cable Modem Reboot due to power reset ;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:50:0a:ce;CMTS-MAC=50:57:a8:88:f9:9d;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0; Feb 10 2014 14:43:37 6-Notice I401.0 TLV-11 - unrecognized OID;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:50:0a:ce;CMTS-MAC=50:57:a8:88:f9:9d;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0; Feb 10 2014 14:43:37 5-Warning Z00.0 MIMO Event MIMO: Stored MIMO=-1 post cfg file MIMO=-1;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:50:0a:ce;CMTS-MAC=50:57:a8:88:f9:9d;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0; Jan 01 1970 00:00:14 6-Notice N/A Cable Modem Reboot due to power reset ;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:50:0a:ce;CMTS-MAC=00:00:00:00:00:00;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0; Feb 10 2014 14:09:16 6-Notice I401.0 TLV-11 - unrecognized OID;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:50:0a:ce;CMTS-MAC=50:57:a8:88:f9:9d;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0; Feb 10 2014 14:09:16 5-Warning Z00.0 MIMO Event MIMO: Stored MIMO=-1 post cfg file MIMO=-1;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:50:0a:ce;CMTS-MAC=50:57:a8:88:f9:9d;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0; Jan 01 1970 00:00:14 6-Notice N/A Cable Modem Reboot due to power reset ;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:50:0a:ce;CMTS-MAC=00:00:00:00:00:00;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0; Feb 10 2014 11:44:12 6-Notice I401.0 TLV-11 - unrecognized OID;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:50:0a:ce;CMTS-MAC=50:57:a8:88:f9:9d;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0; Feb 10 2014 11:44:12 5-Warning Z00.0 MIMO Event MIMO: Stored MIMO=-1 post cfg file MIMO=-1;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:50:0a:ce;CMTS-MAC=50:57:a8:88:f9:9d;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0; Jan 01 1970 00:00:14 6-Notice N/A Cable Modem Reboot due to power reset ;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:50:0a:ce;CMTS-MAC=00:00:00:00:00:00;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0; Feb 08 2014 14:49:04 3-Critical T05.0 SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:50:0a:ce;CMTS-MAC=50:57:a8:88:f9:9d;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0; Feb 08 2014 14:48:46 6-Notice I401.0 TLV-11 - unrecognized OID;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:50:0a:ce;CMTS-MAC=50:57:a8:88:f9:9d;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0; Feb 08 2014 14:48:46 5-Warning Z00.0 MIMO Event MIMO: Stored MIMO=-1 post cfg file MIMO=-1;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:50:0a:ce;CMTS-MAC=50:57:a8:88:f9:9d;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0; Jan 01 1970 00:00:14 6-Notice N/A Cable Modem Reboot due to T4 timeout ;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:50:0a:ce;CMTS-MAC=00:00:00:00:00:00;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0; Feb 08 2014 14:38:55 3-Critical R04.0 Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Unicast Maintenance opportunities received - T4 time out;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:50:0a:ce;CMTS-MAC=50:57:a8:88:f9:9d;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0; Feb 08 2014 14:37:26 5-Warning T202.0 Lost MDD Timeout;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:50:0a:ce;CMTS-MAC=50:57:a8:88:f9:9d;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0; Feb 08 2014 14:37:03 3-Critical T05.0 SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:50:0a:ce;CMTS-MAC=50:57:a8:88:f9:9d;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0; Feb 08 2014 11:51:31 6-Notice I401.0 TLV-11 - unrecognized OID;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:50:0a:ce;CMTS-MAC=50:57:a8:88:f9:9d;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;5.9KViews0likes6Comments
Chronic Random Disconnection
I've been a Cox internet customer for about two months now and, thus far, it has not been a happy experience. Since the first week of service, I've experienced random disconnects at all hours, anywhere between 2-6+ times a day. It doesn't matter how many people are using the connection or what time of day it is, the Netgear gateway I bought from Cox loses the connection and resets, seemingly at random. At first I thought I had a bad gateway but, no, it's normal behavior for this unit to restart itself to reset the lost connection. When it does happen, it seems to happen in clusters. The connection will be good for hours, then go down three times in ten minutes. I did have a Cox tech come out, and he said he replaced a bad splitter outside the apartment and removed a bit of old latex paint from inside the connection in the apartment. I did notice that my SNR dropped below 50, and the connection was rock solid for two hours after he left, when the modem reset itself again. That was a couple of weeks ago and I can, usually, surf the web without interruption, but hardly an Amazon movie or online game goes by without a modem reset. Here's the event log from my gateway which, for some reason, doesn't seem to record the many, many restarts I've experienced. But there are a few; the critical T-4 and T-3 time outs are representative. Wed Mar 19 19:23:58 2014 Notice (6) TLV-11 - unrecognized OID;CM-MAC= Tue Mar 18 17:56:24 2014 Critical (3) Dynamic NV full - recovery invoked Tue Mar 18 17:25:38 2014 Critical (3) Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Unicast Maintenance opportunities received - T4 time out;CM-MAC=xx.xx.xx.xx.xx.xx;CMTS-MAC=xx.xx.xx.xx.xx.xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0; Time Not Established Warning (5) DHCP WARNING - Non-critical field invalid in response ;CM-MAC=xx.xx.xx.xx.xx.xx;CMTS-MAC=xx.xx.xx.xx.xx.xx;CM-QOS=1.0;CM-VER=3.0; Time Not Established Notice (6) Honoring MDD; IP provisioning mode = IPv4 Time Not Established Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=xx.xx.xx.xx.xx.xx;CMTS-MAC=xx.xx.xx.xx.xx.xx;CM-QOS=1.0;CM-VER=3.0; Time Not Established Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=xx.xx.xx.xx.xx.xx;CMTS-MAC=xx.xx.xx.xx.xx.xx;CM-QOS=1.0;CM-VER=3.0; I left CenturyLink because their DSL was slow and expensive. They were, however, reliable.Solved4.8KViews0likes6Comments
ARRIS / Motorola SurfBoard SB6141
I am going to have cox service set up in the near future and would like to purchase this modem, but I have seen connectivity issues associated with this modem on other providers. I was wondering if there have been any issues on Cox in the Oklahoma City area when using this modem ? I will be using the "Cox Internet Premier", no tv or phone services. Thanks in advance for the assistance.Solved4.4KViews0likes1CommentCable Modem Inability to Bond 4 Upstream Channels?
I have been battling an intermittent internet speed problem for the past month or so. I've had 3 visits from Cox technicians so far. As incremental changes are made by the Cox technicians and myself, the speeds are getting faster and more consistent (according to a 5-minute periodic test I've been running from TestMy.net). However, I am still stuck with the apparent inability to bond 4 upstream channels on my Cisco DPQ3212C cable modem. Below are my statistics (including my MAC address so you can identify me). Can you please tell me if there is anything that I can do from my end in order to get a better upstream connection? Thanks. Model: Cisco DPQ3212 Vendor: Cisco Hardware Revision: 1.0 Serial Number: 273127183 MAC Address: 68:ee:96:a1:3b:4b Bootloader Revision: 2.3.0_R1 Current Software Revision: d3200-P15-5-v302r125573-20131008a-COX Firmware Name: d3200-P15-5-v302r125573-20131008a-COX.bin Firmware Build Time: Oct 21 10:08:39 2013 Cable Modem Status: Operational Cable Modem State DOCSIS Downstream Scanning: Completed DOCSIS Ranging: Completed DOCSIS DHCP: Completed DOCSIS TFTP: Completed DOCSIS Data Reg Complete: Completed DOCSIS Privacy: Enabled Downstream Channels Power Level: Signal to Noise Ratio: Channel 1 : 5.7 dBmV 36.8 dB Channel 2 : 5.8 dBmV 36.8 dB Channel 3 : 6.1 dBmV 36.2 dB Channel 4 : 6.1 dBmV 36.4 dB Channel 5 : 7.3 dBmV 36.0 dB Channel 6 : 8.8 dBmV 36.9 dB Channel 7 : 8.9 dBmV 36.2 dB Channel 8 : 8.7 dBmV 35.9 dB Upstream Channels Power Level: Channel 1 : 47.5 dBmV Channel 2 : 46.7 dBmV Channel 3 : 49.7 dBmV Channel 4 : 0.0 dBmV4KViews0likes7Comments
Intermittent Disconnects daily/ Router CG3000D
Hey everyone, For about two months now, I've been getting disconnects that last for 5~10 seconds, randomly throughout the day. I just checked my event log today and lots of errors that are common among these forums. My router is a Netgear CG3000D. My computer is the only desktop using a hardwire. I have a Antronix 2way 5-1000 splitter that i received last year from the Cox tech. I am very well versed in computers, but networking I haven't dipped into at all. I literally have no idea what is going on, but i'm sick of getting disconnects multiple times throughout the day. Any help would be amazing. Thank you, Cody V
