Forum Discussion

HandsomeChef's avatar
HandsomeChef
New Contributor III
5 years ago

Upload Speed Issues (Once Again) in the Las Vegas Area

I've been experiencing intermittent upload speed issues since October. Before October my connection was flawless; since then my upload speed varies wildly throughout the day. Some days my upload speed is worthless; I'm a streamer and content creator and I am constantly unable to work. Cox has recommended ONCE AGAIN to send a tech to my home to inspect; but what is he going to do? My specific issue has warranted 3 tech visits, all of which "replaced lines". However the problem persists. Had a Cox tech configure the Cox modem, still had issues... Cox tech confirmed my equipment is not the culprit... Still have issues. 

I might have 2-3 days in a row with no upload speed issues, then the next day I'll wake up, do a speedtest and get 5mbps up. My download is NEVER effected. 

It's clear that this forum is flooded with upload speed complaints, it appears nationwide; but many of them are coming from the Las Vegas market. I'm at my ends wits with Cox unable to fulfill their service duties on a consistent basis. I know Cox is capable of running consistent speeds because I've received them from Cox in the past. However it seems like something is seriously "broken" on the Cox side. It doesn't take much looking around here on these forums to determine that, #1 I'm not the only customer having this EXACT issue and #2 Cox customers are continuously finding evidence that Cox IP's are in fact the culprit. 

My question is, what is Cox planning to do to properly restore consistent upload speeds to its users. It's a very sad day where I have to make the decision to not renew my lease on a place that I love and move out of the region entirely to find an ISP that actually maintains its infrastructure, installs fiber and doesn't constantly blame its customers for its own shortcomings. But that's the decision I keep coming back to because I am UNABLE to work as a professional with Cox Communications as my local ISP. 

Please advise. 

intermittent upload speed
las vegas
Upload Speeds
  • nRGon's avatar
    nRGon
    New Contributor II
    5 years ago

    I'm so glad I found this thread. I've been having THE SAME exact issue. Most people aren't reporting it because they don't need the upload speed. I stream on Twitch though and my upload has been abysmal. The most recent outage/maintenance they did took it down to 1.5 mb upload speed when I'm paying for 30. I've had 6 tech appointments and they can't connect to my modem using their $5,000 testing device so they blame my modem. I've gotten the SAME results using a test modem provided by Cox though. It's **. I'm fairly certain it's a node issue and that they're TRYING to address it at the moment with all the outages and maintenance.

    Just got off the phone with their "advanced" resolution department. Their advice was to switch to a business account haha what a joke! I asked what the reliability is for their residential service and he said "I don't know you'll have to talk to sales".

    • nRGon's avatar
      nRGon
      New Contributor II
      5 years ago

      Today, after 5 hours on the phone back and forth with sales, tech support tier 1, advanced resolution department, my modem manufacturer and back to tech support, I got ahold of a nice tech support agent that was willing to put in an advanced hardware ticket for my node/neighbor. WOW. I have called Cox about 20 times in the last month trying to get this to happen. Amazing the terrible level of support yet a knowledgeable tier ONE agent was able to help me when everyone else refused to do this.

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

        nrgon If you're utilizing upload speeds in the Las Vegas area and are having persistent problems continue to post evidence here please. When you experience problems next time run an MTR test -> https://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/winmtr_portable - and post the results here. 

        Make sure on OBS you remove the global fastest twitch server in settings and replace it with the most local twitch server you can find; start streaming and look for the server ip info on your twitch page, plug into the MTR then run this test for about 10-15 seconds and post the results here.  

        Also make yourself a spreadsheet and log different speedtests periodically throughout the day from different sources. Dslreports/speedtest.net/fast.com. I'd also recommend getting a google meshing router because the APP controls are pretty great and the internal network speed test shows whats actually coming and going through your router. When I showed the onsite techs these logs and live tests from the router's APP they could see clearly this is an external issue and it #1 gets them off your back about your equipment, #2 you have evidence and #3 they shouldn't be charging you for those visits. 

  • wigllysz's avatar
    wigllysz
    New Contributor II
    5 years ago

    I'm in CT but have noticed the same thing. Started in October for me as well. My upload speeds drop to 1-2Mbps. I have 5 Nest cameras that need at least 10Mbps to upload in HD. I pay for 35Mbps.

    • JonathanJ's avatar
      JonathanJ
      Former Moderator
      5 years ago
      @Wigllysz

      Are you having this issue when being hardwired directly to the modem or wireless? If wireless please reboot the modem and hardwire a device directly to the modem to see if the issue persists.


      Jonathan J
      Cox Moderator
  • hbombvegas's avatar
    hbombvegas
    New Contributor
    5 years ago

    Las Vegas here as well. I have had about 1 hour total of intermittent service a day (if not a full blown outage) since Nov 3rd with a 5 day straight outage as the longest. Went through corporate after 28 calls into Cox, 22 sms notifications stating "outage is cleared" but no service, at least 15 modem resets a day, bypassing router completely. I've had entire house rewired and new modem on Nov 10th. It took the tech 4 hours to get the service on since it kept dropping while he was here and it quit working 1 hour after he left. It's Dec 2nd and I'm at about every 30 mins the service drops (no router), causing me to reset my new modem again. It's not you, your lines or your equipment..it's the ISP. I even blamed the rain, solar flares, retrograde, hoping it would just miraculously work again. Gaming is impossible, working from home is impossible

    • BrianM's avatar
      BrianM
      Moderator
      5 years ago
      I am seeing some gaps in your modem polling history where it has been offline for some reason. It actually looks to be offline currently, but yours is the only one nearby that is offline. We will likely need a technician back out to look into this as it looks to be specific to just your home at this time. If you would like to setup an appointment, you can send us an email to cox.help@cox.com with a link to this thread and your home address.

      Brian
      Cox Support Forum Moderator
  • Allan's avatar
    Allan
    Moderator
    5 years ago
    Hello HandsomeChef, Your modem is up and running with a good signal. However, the modem is reporting some packet loss and that will cause an issue with your upload speeds. I do recommend having a tech come out to resolve this issue for you. Please send us an email with your name, address, and a link to this thread to cox.help@cox.com so we can get this process started for you. Thanks. -Allan Cox Support Forums Moderator.
    • HandsomeChef's avatar
      HandsomeChef
      New Contributor III
      5 years ago

      As I asked before, what is a tech visit going to accomplish? Each tech that has visited my residence has #1 blamed my modem, #2 tried the cox modem, #3 replaced the outside line and #4 determined this is an outside issue not related to my equipment. Tonight is literally the worst performing upload speed I've had since I've moved here and the past couple days I've seen wild fluctuations in upload speed. This is SO obviously a node/infrastructure issue OR Cox is flat out throttling upload speeds regionally. I'm not trying to throw accusations around but I've caught your tech support lying to my face more then once and I am tired of it. I'm also tired of you accusing me of having sub-par equipment when this has literally been ruled out BY your techs and logged BY your techs internally. 

      I was told when these issues began in October after battling with your tech support for 15 days straight that you had regular outages and infrastructure issues that needed to be resolved. Then I was told these issues WERE resolved. Issue was resolved for a few days, then problems, then no problems, then problems, then no problems, then problems. How am I supposed to work? What am I as a paying customer supposed to do when half of every month I'm unable to achieve an upload stream. 

      So once again, what is a tech going to do once they come out? Are they going to look at my lines, my equipment or are they going to check out the node? I don't need another level 1 tech coming into my residence, which you're going to again try and charge me for, eating up MORE of my time for a PERSISTENT Cox Communications failure to provide service. 

      If you want to actually help with this situation please ESCALATE this ticket and have techs go look at the physical infrastructure in and around my neighborhood and hey, maybe even the whole region to determine what the actual ROOT cause of the situation is. 

      Resolve this issue Cox I'm losing money at your hands and I'm NOT receiving the service that I pay a lot of money for. I will continue calling your billing dept. AGAIN and asking for refunds for your failure to provide the basic internet services I'm paying for. 

      • DaleAA's avatar
        DaleAA
        New Contributor II
        5 years ago

        Also here in Las Vegas. Arris has many months of recordings. Read my post . 

  • ekhawaii's avatar
    ekhawaii
    Contributor
    5 years ago

    Yes HChef...this internet speed issue has a lot of complaints...it's one thing to have slower test results, and another where users like you "Experience"  the slow or zero speed.  I'm here in OC and although not a gamer, I have noticed the Upload Cox test to go down to 4-6 in the past month.  It went back up 11.1 about 2wks ago and steady so far.  So what happened to my area...COX must have cleaned up a fitting or switch/box or added a signal booster or even changed the filter that they use to control the speed for the different users purchased tiers.

    To OC (227/11.2), LV (218/5.2), Wichita (70.7/6.0) and NewEng (24.2/11).  I know these further servers are miles away, so I would expect my downloads to be slower, However, why would NewEng at 11 be the same as my OC.  Since the physical lines to/from these places are the same, ISP's must place Filters to slow down the traffic or COX has bad/loose connectors along specific lines.  Since we all have issues just going from the street to our possible faulty modem/routers, imagine COX and all other ISP trying to connect across the country with lines/boxes and connectors.  What a headache.

    It has to be in the COX lines because using different Test tools to some of these areas sometimes you get quite different results.  COX tells you to login to your account then run the speedtest....apparently it gives them data...I wonder.

    I did some searching on download/up 

    https://www.bandwidthplace.com/download-speed-vs-upload-speed-whats-the-difference-article/

    https://www.allconnect.com/blog/difference-between-download-upload-internet-speeds

    https://stevessmarthomeguide.com/internet-speeds-explained/

    Cox reports your modem has good signals but Packet loss is reported.  I wonder what tool they use to see packet losses to your modem.   I've use pingplotter, CMD ping and tracert but if any report a problem, it's usually downstream.  Now a modem log does report Correctable/UnCorrectables....maybe thats the measure....

  • JVegas's avatar
    JVegas
    New Contributor
    5 years ago

    Also in Vegas, also been experiencing this same issue since October.  First time posting about it, been hoping it would fix it self.  Are you also experiencing packet loss on the upload side? 

    • Allan's avatar
      Allan
      Moderator
      5 years ago
      @JVega, It looks like your modem is also reporting packet loss. I am showing an average of about 10% at this time. Are there and splitters or signals amps on the cable line going to the modem? If not, we may need to schedule a tech to come out and take a look. -Allan
      • JVegas's avatar
        JVegas
        New Contributor
        5 years ago

        No there aren't any splitters on the line going to the modem, never had any any issues until recently.  But I am happy to report that I've had zero packet loss in the last 96+ hours. No problems with online gaming (Apex, Fortnite, ect), where before there was noticable lag from upload packet loss. 

        My Contour box is also much more responsive that it has been recently.  It was sometimes slow to respond and would require a long restart. 

        Perhaps something got fixed in my area, because service hasn't been this good since October. 

  • DaleAA's avatar
    DaleAA
    New Contributor II
    5 years ago

    I also live in Las Vegas NV. Summerlin area.  Ready post if you can.