Forum Discussion

SnpynAZ's avatar
SnpynAZ
New Contributor III
5 years ago

High saturation node, slow internet speeds, intermittent drops and nothing they can do?

I'm hoping to get some additional assistance for our internet woes.

We contacted Cox on April 15th because we experienced an outage with our internet service. This outage was longer than we had been experience for the last month or so so it was time to call. We were greeted with a recording indicating Cox was working on some upgrades in our area and that users might experience intermittent outages between midnight and 6am. We chalked it up to their maintenance window and let it go for the evening.

The next day we noticed we were experiencing slower than normal internet speeds, in our case, less than half of our potential 150Mbps download speed. We did some internal troubleshooting, resetting our router, re-provisioning our cable modem through the automated system, factory resetting our cable modem and eliminated the router altogether, going straight from computer to cable modem for testing. All tests are done using hardwire, either through a router or directly from the cable modem. WIFI was not used during any of this testing. A majority of the responses were the same, download speeds generally ranged between 70-90Mbps from early afternoon into late evenings. There were sporadic results that showed closer to "normal download levels around 110-130Mbps but those were not consistent; we saw many more of the abnormal download speed results than "normal" ones. An appointment was eventually made for a technician to come out and take a look at everything on the outside of the home on 4/20.

We received a call from a technician the morning of 4/18 about our service call. The technician indicated he was looking at the node we're attached to and said it was over 80% saturated and that slows speeds and drop outs were somewhat expected given the high level of saturation. The technician indicated he looked at everything and everything looked good, levels were good and there was really nothing he would be able to do about the situation and cancelled our service call for 4/20.

A number of days later, our connection appears to be getting worse, with speeds generally ranging in the 60-80Mbps range in the early afternoon through late evening. Again, we still have some results in the 100-120Mbps range but those are far fewer than the 60-80Mbps range. We're also experiencing more drop outs (loss of connection lasting 5-15 seconds) and increased frustration.

We understand download speeds are an "up to" but we're generally not getting anything close during the waking hours. Is there anything else we can do to address these issues in the short term? We have been forced, like many others, to work remote and our ability to provide support has been impacted with these connectivity related issues.

Here are some recent examples of speed tests using Cox's speed test portal:

PING: 11ms

JITTER: 5ms

DOWNLOAD: 65.8 Mbps

UPLOAD: 10.0 Mbps

 

PING: 20ms

JITTER: 96ms

DOWNLOAD: 66.8 Mbps

UPLOAD: 9.9 Mbps

 

PING: 11ms

JITTER: 2ms

DOWNLOAD: 62.3 Mbps

UPLOAD: 10.1 Mbps

 

PING: 10ms

JITTER: 4ms

DOWNLOAD: 73.2 Mbps

UPLOAD: 10.2 Mbps

  • SnpynAZ's avatar
    SnpynAZ
    New Contributor III

    Unfortunately still more of the same with the speed tests and still no response from Cox support via multiple email requests. No further responses here either. Good luck everyone out there... seems many of us are in the same proverbial support boat and it feels like it's sinking... 😞

    • CrystalS's avatar
      CrystalS
      Former Moderator
      Hello. We are currently doing overnight maintenance in your area to better your signal and your internet experience. We hope it will resolve the signal issue you were experiencing.

      Crystal
      Cox Support Forum Moderator
      • SnpynAZ's avatar
        SnpynAZ
        New Contributor III

        Thank you for the response Crystal. I'll admit I do not have much optimism this will resolve the issues but I appreciate at least some sort of response. Here are the more speed test numbers "pre" overnight maintenance...

        PING: 13ms

        JITTER: 9ms

        DOWNLOAD: 70.2 Mbps

        UPLOAD: 10.2 Mbps

         

        PING: 9ms

        JITTER: 5ms

        DOWNLOAD: 66.1 Mbps

        UPLOAD: 10.3 Mbps

         

        PING: 11ms

        JITTER: 5ms

        DOWNLOAD: 67.8 Mbps

        UPLOAD: 10.2 Mbps

         

        PING: 12ms

        JITTER: 4ms

        DOWNLOAD: 71.4 Mbps

        UPLOAD: 10.2 Mbps

  • SnpynAZ's avatar
    SnpynAZ
    New Contributor III

    May 12, 2020 Cox speed tests throughout the day.... more of the same. Still no response from email support requests.

    8-8:30 AM

    PING: 12ms

    JITTER: 2ms

    DOWNLOAD: 142.4 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 10.3 Mbps

     

    PING: 11ms

    JITTER: 2ms

    DOWNLOAD: 141.4 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 10.3 Mbps

     

    PING: 8ms

    JITTER: 3ms

    DOWNLOAD: 142.5 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 10.3 Mbps

     

    PING: 11ms

    JITTER: 3ms

    DOWNLOAD: 132.2Mbps

    UPLOAD: 10.3Mbps

     

    PING: 11ms

    JITTER: 3ms

    DOWNLOAD: 143.8 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 10.3 Mbps

     

    PING: 10ms

    JITTER: 5ms

    DOWNLOAD: 141.8 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 10.2 Mbps

      

    11:30-45 AM

    PING: 11ms

    JITTER: 3ms

    DOWNLOAD: 104.8 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 10.0 Mbps

     

    PING: 12ms

    JITTER: 2ms

    DOWNLOAD: 119.7 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 9.3 Mbps

     

    PING: 12ms

    JITTER: 1ms

    DOWNLOAD: 113.3 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 9.3 Mbps

     

    PING: 12ms

    JITTER: 1ms

    DOWNLOAD: 107.8 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 9.5 Mbps

     

    PING: 12ms

    JITTER: 2ms

    DOWNLOAD: 105.1 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 9.3 Mbps

     

    PING: 12ms

    JITTER: 1ms

    DOWNLOAD: 120.6 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 8.6 Mbps

     

    1-1:15 PM

    PING: 12ms

    JITTER: 4ms

    DOWNLOAD: 86.1 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 10.2 Mbps

     

    PING: 12ms

    JITTER: 12ms

    DOWNLOAD: 84.7 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 10.2 Mbps

     

    PING: 13ms

    JITTER: 13ms

    DOWNLOAD: 98.2 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 10.2 Mbps

     

    PING: 9ms

    JITTER: 3ms

    DOWNLOAD: 94.3 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 10.3 Mbps

     

    PING: 10ms

    JITTER: 6ms

    DOWNLOAD: 92.1 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 10.1 Mbps

     

    PING: 11ms

    JITTER: 2ms

    DOWNLOAD: 81.3 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 10.2 Mbps

     

    4-4:15 PM

    PING: 15ms

    JITTER: 2ms

    DOWNLOAD: 82.8 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 9.6 Mbps

     

    PING: 14ms

    JITTER: 3ms

    DOWNLOAD: 81.7 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 7.8 Mbps

     

    PING: 14ms

    JITTER: 2ms

    DOWNLOAD: 79.7 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 6.7 Mbps

     

    PING: 12ms

    JITTER: 2ms

    DOWNLOAD: 73.3 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 9.0 Mbps

     

    PING: 12ms

    JITTER: 3ms

    DOWNLOAD: 85.5 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 7.2 Mbps

     

    PING: 12ms

    JITTER: 9ms

    DOWNLOAD: 82.1 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 9.9 Mbps

     

    6:30-6:45 PM

    PING: 13ms

    JITTER: 1ms

    DOWNLOAD: 64.5 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 9.9 Mbps

     

    PING: 11ms

    JITTER: 3ms

    DOWNLOAD: 67.0 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 9.8 Mbps

     

    PING: 14ms

    JITTER: 2ms

    DOWNLOAD: 67.4 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 9.9 Mbps

     

    PING: 12ms

    JITTER: 3ms

    DOWNLOAD: 65.6 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 10.0 Mbps

     

    PING: 12ms

    JITTER: 4ms

    DOWNLOAD: 62.3 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 9.8 Mbps

     

    PING: 12ms

    JITTER: 4ms

    DOWNLOAD: 61.0 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 10.0 Mbps

     

    9-9:15 PM

    PING: 15ms

    JITTER: 14ms

    DOWNLOAD: 23.4 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 9.9 Mbps

     

    PING: 12ms

    JITTER: 7ms

    DOWNLOAD: 18.1 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 9.9 Mbps

     

    PING: 9ms

    JITTER: 3ms

    DOWNLOAD: 20.5 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 10.2 Mbps

     

    PING: 18ms

    JITTER: 39ms

    DOWNLOAD: 7.3 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 10.1 Mbps

     

    PING: 11ms

    JITTER: 28ms

    DOWNLOAD: 16.7 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 10.3 Mbps

     

    PING: 7ms

    JITTER: 4ms

    DOWNLOAD: 13.8 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 10.1 Mbps

     

    11:15-30 PM

    PING: 8ms

    JITTER: 5ms

    DOWNLOAD: 73.1 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 10.1 Mbps

     

    PING: 9ms

    JITTER: 3ms

    DOWNLOAD: 77.5 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 10.1 Mbps

     

    PING: 11ms

    JITTER: 2ms

    DOWNLOAD: 74.5 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 10.2 Mbps

     

    PING: 11ms

    JITTER: 3ms

    DOWNLOAD: 70.5 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 10.1 Mbps

     

    PING: 13ms

    JITTER: 2ms

    DOWNLOAD: 68.8 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 10.2 Mbps

     

    PING: 9ms

    JITTER: 4ms

    DOWNLOAD: 74.5 Mbps

    UPLOAD: 10.1 Mbps

    • felicityc's avatar
      felicityc
      New Contributor

      This appears incredibly consistent with 'high average use' timeframes. I noticed internet service was generally fine after around 1am- at around 7am to 9am it starts to act up again. This is consistent with everyone working from home/now using their internet far more than they used to.

      I just don't think many ISPs in America were ready for this kind of incident. Europe has a much tighter infrastructure- one can argue America is more spread out, but infrastructure in the main cities have no excuse.

      btw I would recommend trying alternate speed tests; Cox uses speedtest.net and ONLY connects to their own servers. Incredibly, I've started to get much worse results from their test servers. I will literally reach max speed faster on a further server owned by Sprint or someone else than by their testing ones. So just try speedtest.net on a different server than cox's default or dslreports or something.

      • SnpynAZ's avatar
        SnpynAZ
        New Contributor III

        Thanks felicityc We report using Cox' testing site due to their techs requesting numbers from there but we do try a few other speedtest sites as well, most are Ookla driven, with no real difference in performance. The simple fact is Cox has not adequately planned their infrastructure to handle the type of capacity needed to manage this situation.

        One of the main concerns we have with much of this is it appears Cox has no issue raising rates, introducing hard caps, charging more for "unlimited" downloads and increasing fees so they can make more money but when they can't deliver what they're billing you for, they become silent and continue to charge their customers the full rate for services they are clearly not properly delivering. At what point do they take ownership?

        Oh... and here we are, another day down and still no response from Cox email support . Thanks again felicityc

  • SnpynAZ's avatar
    SnpynAZ
    New Contributor III

    Cox speed test numbers for this evening.

    8:40-9 PM

    PING: 7ms
    JITTER: 20ms
    DOWNLOAD: 25.7 Mbps
    UPLOAD: 10.2 Mbps

    PING: 10ms
    JITTER: 7ms
    DOWNLOAD: 44.2Mbps
    UPLOAD: 10.2 Mbps

    PING: 11ms
    JITTER: 8ms
    DOWNLOAD: 41.7 Mbps
    UPLOAD: 10.2 Mbps

    PING: 12ms
    JITTER: 4ms
    DOWNLOAD: 43.4 Mbps
    UPLOAD: 10.2 Mbps

    PING: 11ms
    JITTER: 12ms
    DOWNLOAD: 41.7 Mbps
    UPLOAD: 10.1 Mbps

    PING: 12ms
    JITTER: 2ms
    DOWNLOAD: 28.9 Mbps
    UPLOAD: 10.2 Mbps