Forum Discussion

Photosbyjcr's avatar
Photosbyjcr
New Contributor II
7 years ago

Cox throttling Twitch

So I have been having lot's of issues streaming on twitch. I was ultimate internet user for about 3 years. I have been having issues streaming on twitch. I have had numerous techs come out and my signal levels are fine. I upgraded to gigablast thinking something might change and I'm still have the issues even after upgrading services and having more then 4 techs come to my house. 

It clearly looks like cox is throttling upload to twitch. I'm able to stream for about 3 to 7 min without issues then my bitrate up just drops. I reboot my modem and the issue goes away for a few mins.  Download speeds are good no other connectivity issues. Modem has been swapped 3 times and I'm hard wired and have tried several different devices.  


It also looks like there's been several post regarding cox throttling and twitch on reddit and other sites.  So what's the deal ? Why is it a issue for people with Cox internet to use twitch for gaming upload.  I have to lower my bit rate to 2300 my friend has a different ISP and he has slower speeds then me and is able to do 5000 upload. 

Someone at Cox needs to look into this and fix this.  It's not a issue on my end it's clearly something cox has going on. I even had a tech say it's possible we are throttling twitch I can't say if we are.   He even saw the sudden upload spike drop and didn't have a answer and said that it wasn't a official cox test so he couldn't do anything about it but noticed the issue and said he wished he could fix it. 

This is unacceptable 

Lawsuit
Throttling
twitch
twitch.tv
  • RayDoucetJr's avatar
    RayDoucetJr
    New Contributor II
    9 months ago

    I started trying to twitch stream sometimes mid 2021. Went through the constant tech visits, updated equipment, upgraded equipment, updated package to the largest available 1gb down and 35mb up. Every time I called, "techs are doing work in your area on the network setting up upgrades that we're going to roll out at the end of the year". Continued to hear this line of complete BS until May 2022, when I had emergency surgery and was out of commission for 3 months. Father Passed away later in 2022, and mother passed away in 2023, so the annoyance of trying to stream was as far from my mind as it could be. I recently started trying to stream again, and there has been no upgrades to this network, it still craps itself every time I try to stream. The first 2 weeks, I would stream between 60 and 75 minutes, and then boom, 0kbps throughput. Now, it begins immediately upon starting stream, and lasts between 75 and 90 minutes, then somewhat levels out and stops varying between 500kbps and 4500kbps, usually sitting around 4200kbps, but who's going to stick around through the first 75 minutes of absolute trash because of the network? I tried submitting a complaint to the better business bureau, and found out they've got hundreds of complaints. They've attempted to contact cox about these complaints and cox has never ever bothered to respond to them. My nephew recently submitted a complaint to the FCC as well, and I'm seriously considering doing the same. I'm sick and tired of paying for a connection that has specific speeds, and I understand speeds can not be guaranteed, however, I also understand that people get sick and tired of paying for something they're only getting a FRACTION of. If cox isn't throttling twitch streamers, then their network is in serious need of better equipment, and/or better network engineers. One or the other, or both, are seriously failing the customers paying them for such failure. Maybe we should start paying them on the same percentage of our packages that we receive, I bet they'd fix it then!!

    • ColleenD's avatar
      ColleenD
      Moderator
      9 months ago

      RayDoucetJr 

       

      I'm really sorry to hear you have been having trouble streaming on Twitch. I know service issues can be frustrating and I'd like to help. We don't throttle so there is something else going on. Is Twitch the only thing affected or do you see trouble elsewhere too? 

      Our network provisioning and engineering practices are designed to enable customers to receive the speeds they are subscribed to. However, it is important to note that many factors beyond Cox’s control can affect the actual speeds customers receive to their devices. Wireless networking is there for convenience, not performance or speed. In order to maximize performance, we recommend connecting an ethernet cord, if you aren't already.

       

      The maximum speeds included in our internet packages reflect Cox’s network performance and total bandwidth/capacity provided to an individual home. Actual speeds experienced by specific devices within a home can vary depending upon many factors, including, for example, router and ethernet port capacity, device (laptop/computer/phone) capabilities, the number of devices in use within the home, wired or wi-fi connection, and overall network utilization. As a result, in order for an individual device to possibly receive the maximum subscribed speeds, that device must have exclusive use of the internet service within the home and all equipment between Cox’s network and the device must be capable of supporting the maximum speed. In addition, commercial speed tests may not reflect Cox’s maximum speeds, because they measure speeds inside the home to a point in the public Internet, which itself can be subject to delay and lag and is outside of Cox’s control. 

        ​

       

  • Photosbyjcr's avatar
    Photosbyjcr
    New Contributor II
    7 years ago

    Update- 

    I have made a complaint with the FCC. There's tons of supporting documents regarding Cox customers having issues. It would be nice if Cox to this issue seriously.  There's clearly something going on since SO MANY people are experiencing issues with game streaming. 

    • flitzanu's avatar
      flitzanu
      New Contributor II
      7 years ago

      i'd love to hear about what happens with the FCC.  i filed a complaint with them not long ago, and simply got a call from a high up cox csr wanting to explain why suddenly they want to charge twice now for bandwidth speed, and for data instead of just speed.