Forum Discussion

AZchips's avatar
AZchips
New Contributor III
5 years ago

AZ Chandler - constant packet loss

I have Cox Preferred 150 plan and use Arris Surfboard SB6180 modem. I am working from home recently and noticed my Skype meeting call has severe audio problems.   I use Speed test from DSLReports a...
StephanieS's avatar
StephanieS
Moderator
AZchips

Please send an email to: cox.help@cox.com and include a link to this Forums post along with your full address so we can take a look.

StephanieS
Cox Forums Support Moderator
AZchips's avatar
AZchips
New Contributor III
5 years ago

Hi,

The technician stopped by yesterday but was unable to resolve the issue.  He did a couple of things:
  1. replace the coax cable connector on the tube, my Cox cable box, and in the room.
  2. installed MOCA filter (with proper grounding) on the cable in the cable box
  3. measured the Tx/Rx signal quality at various spots 
    1. "tube" (yellow Cox cylinder in my front yard)   
    2. cable box outside of the house
    3. Coax output at the room where the cable modem is located
    4. coax cable into the cable modem
Basically he is saying the signal quality is already bad on Cox tube therefore there is not much he can do as the node is saturated.  My only hope is to wait for an optical fiber upgrade.
Today I measured the packet loss is ~10% with PacketPlotter (attached).
30min (target1) - a good correlation between Hop2 & Final 
24hr (target1)  - note pretty quiet at night from 12am-8am
24hr (Target2)  - all started from Hop2
The notice on the Cox tube outside my house was placed Sep 2019 indicating fiber optical upgrade.  It has been sitting there for 6mon.  
 
When can I expect the upgrade?  This makes WFH impossible as I need to dial into the Skype meetings a lot.
 
Thanks.
  • ChrisL's avatar
    ChrisL
    Former Moderator
    5 years ago
    When I check the modem from this end I'm unable to see any of the loss you're reporting. Can you try gathering more test data without the router attached?

    -Chris
    • AZchips's avatar
      AZchips
      New Contributor III
      5 years ago

      The modem has a setting that doesn't respond to ping.  If I open it up indefinitely, it will be exposed to the hacker.  

      Please PM me know a time window when you want to do this then I will open up for ping.

      Below are more PingPlotter data collections over the last 7days to 5 different destinations.  The problem is periodic and predictable.  Quiet at night (12am-8am); lots of packet loss during day time.  

      They all start from Hop2.

      https://imgur.com/K4HBHaB

      https://imgur.com/47xbr1ihttps://imgur.com/ExppJmp https://imgur.com/uNsPpJehttps://imgur.com/hFE7SKR

      A terrible bandwidth too.

      https://imgur.com/wqSSL7h

      • AZchips's avatar
        AZchips
        New Contributor III
        5 years ago

        Status tracking:

        1. 03/21/20: initial packet loss issue reported to Cox CSR.  Also started posting on Cox Internet forum with PingPlot tracegraph showing issue started from Hop2.
          1. during the week of 3/16~3/21, multiple service outages (unplanned) experienced.  
          2. Replaced Arris SB6180 (which is capable to handle my 150/10 plan) with Motorola MB8600 (Gigablast approved).  No improvement.  Still seeing significant packet loss. 
        2. 03/22/20: Cox Contractor on-site.  Measured Tx/Rx signal quality from tube (tap), Cox cable box, and coax outlet in my room where the cable modem is connected to.  The tech admitted that the signal is already weak at tube and there is not much he can do to fix it.  He added MOCA filter in the cable box and replaced the coax connector too; no improvement. 
        3. 03/23/20: emailed cox.help with 24hr PingPlotter trace showing ~10% packet loss.
        4. 03/24/20: received email response from Cox CSR
          "There is currently maintenance occurring in your area so we won't be able to do any testing right now."
        5. During the week of 03/22~03/28, experiencing service outages on a daily basis.
        6. 3/28/20: updated in both Cox CSR and Cox Internet forum with continued packet loss issue (7day PingPlotter trace attached).  
          1. KevinM2 responded 03/29 asking to reach out on Twitter, FB or cox.help @ Cox.net  (which I did already on cox.help email).  I went ahead and reached out to Twitter.  Twitter CSR apologized for the situation and offered credits for the inconvenience.  Again stated
            "There is currently maintenance occurring in your area so we won't be able to do any testing right now.".  When pressed for the schedule of node split, was given the typical answer 
            "As far as the upgrade does, there are multiple factors involved in the planning and scheduling of this type of work and we are unable to effect any change to the schedule."
        7. 03/28/20  FCC informal complaint filed with 7-day PingPlotter traced attached; clearly indicating Hop2 ISP node being the problem.
        8. 03/31/20  received a call from Cox Executive Office responding to FCC compliant.  During the call he agreed to node over-saturation issue (500+ people on the node while typically should only have 200~300).  Promised to get back to me on the infrastructure upgrade schedule.  Btw, it was not clear the infrastructure upgrade is a node split or fiber optical upgrade to the tube.