Cable Internet Reliability Issues?

[Aileron]

I have a very weird issue. We had Time Warner Cable internet for years and we had a problem that persists even after the Spectrum change over. We've also gone through several modems and routers and it's exactly the same. The issue is we either have 235 mbps or 5 mbps randomly. When the modem is restarted it will either connect at 5 mbps or 235 mbps and it'll stay at that speed. After about a day at a high speed it throttles down to 5 mbps. This leaves me to restarting the modem like 3 or more times at the start of my day until I regain my rated speed (through ethernet not wifi in case someone asks -- connection issue not my PC or modem). We've contacted Spectrum's customer service several times but the person that comes out won't do anything other than change our modem and when they see we're at our proper speed they pretty much feel "problem solved" even when I reproduce the issue in front of them. -- Is there a possibility that the equipment outside is old and needs an overhaul? I don't know how these things work so is this a known issue? All I know is it has to do with where the modem connects to and is unrelated to internet traffic or hardware inside the home. -- I'd like to be informed about this issue so if another tech support guy comes out I can tell them specifically what they need to change on their end instead of giving me a new modem and calling it a day. Thank you.

[Daimaou]

8 hours ago, Reignfire said:

I have a very weird issue. We had Time Warner Cable internet for years and we had a problem that persists even after the Spectrum change over. We've also gone through several modems and routers and it's exactly the same. The issue is we either have 235 mbps or 5 mbps randomly. When the modem is restarted it will either connect at 5 mbps or 235 mbps and it'll stay at that speed. After about a day at a high speed it throttles down to 5 mbps. This leaves me to restarting the modem like 3 or more times at the start of my day until I regain my rated speed (through ethernet not wifi in case someone asks -- connection issue not my PC or modem). We've contacted Spectrum's customer service several times but the person that comes out won't do anything other than change our modem and when they see we're at our proper speed they pretty much feel "problem solved" even when I reproduce the issue in front of them. -- Is there a possibility that the equipment outside is old and needs an overhaul? I don't know how these things work so is this a known issue? All I know is it has to do with where the modem connects to and is unrelated to internet traffic or hardware inside the home. -- I'd like to be informed about this issue so if another tech support guy comes out I can tell them specifically what they need to change on their end instead of giving me a new modem and calling it a day. Thank you.

When it comes to cable you have a few varying factors. Most of it comes down to the age of the neighborhood and the equipment in between especially the type of coax. Do your neighbors have the same issues?

 

Just curious how old is the neighborhood and area you live in?

[Aileron]

I don't believe the neighbors even have internet. It's not a rural area (we're a quarter of a mile from the local high school and beside a very busy highway) but the equipment outside is probably very old. It's a small town so houses are spread out.

[Donut417]

15 hours ago, Reignfire said:

I have a very weird issue. We had Time Warner Cable internet for years and we had a problem that persists even after the Spectrum change over. We've also gone through several modems and routers and it's exactly the same. The issue is we either have 235 mbps or 5 mbps randomly. When the modem is restarted it will either connect at 5 mbps or 235 mbps and it'll stay at that speed. After about a day at a high speed it throttles down to 5 mbps. This leaves me to restarting the modem like 3 or more times at the start of my day until I regain my rated speed (through ethernet not wifi in case someone asks -- connection issue not my PC or modem). We've contacted Spectrum's customer service several times but the person that comes out won't do anything other than change our modem and when they see we're at our proper speed they pretty much feel "problem solved" even when I reproduce the issue in front of them. -- Is there a possibility that the equipment outside is old and needs an overhaul? I don't know how these things work so is this a known issue? All I know is it has to do with where the modem connects to and is unrelated to internet traffic or hardware inside the home. -- I'd like to be informed about this issue so if another tech support guy comes out I can tell them specifically what they need to change on their end instead of giving me a new modem and calling it a day. Thank you.

Could be a signal issue. Go to 192.168.100.1, compare the signal page with here:https://www.dslreports.com/faq/16085

 

If there is a signal issue it could explain the slow downs. It could also be an overloaded node, but generally you see this during prime time. 

[Daimaou]

4 hours ago, Reignfire said:

I don't believe the neighbors even have internet. It's not a rural area (we're a quarter of a mile from the local high school and beside a very busy highway) but the equipment outside is probably very old. It's a small town so houses are spread out.

Well try what Donut posted and every time it drops to 5 call and keep calling. I had issues with Comcast similar to yours once and the squeaky wheel gets the grease after you've built enough tickets just start asking for supervisors and work your way up. 

[Aileron]

On 3/30/2019 at 3:30 PM, Donut417 said:

Could be a signal issue. Go to 192.168.100.1, compare the signal page with here:https://www.dslreports.com/faq/16085

 

If there is a signal issue it could explain the slow downs. It could also be an overloaded node, but generally you see this during prime time. 

I'm rather new to all these terms but after resetting my modem yesterday I woke up to this speed  once more and I'm attaching the image from the modem's status page with the slow speed and after I reboot it until my speed returns.  When I call customer service what should I be telling them? It never worked in the past. Thank you.

[Donut417]

23 minutes ago, Reignfire said:

I'm rather new to all these terms but after resetting my modem yesterday I woke up to this speed  once more and I'm attaching the image from the modem's status page with the slow speed and after I reboot it until my speed returns.  When I call customer service what should I be telling them? It never worked in the past. Thank you.

Before you call them I would check all your coax connections and make sure they are good and tight. While you dont have the most Uncorrectables I have seen, you have them across all downstream channels. Hard to say why, my guess some kind of interference, Broadcast TV uses those bands and T Mobile uses part of the 600 Mhz band in some areas with more on their way. Another thing you can try is hooking the modem directly up to the wire coming off the pole and checking theses again. If the signal looks better than the wiring in your home is the issue and you will need to address that, if the signal looks just as bad then its an issue with the ISP, all you can do is call them and say your having issues. Regardless your probably going to need to have a tech come out. 

[Daimaou]

if all else fails I just switched to Windstream's fiber check and see if its available in your area it looks like we live in the same general area.

[Aileron]

All my coax connections inside the home are solid and the cable that leads into the room comes straight from outside. I checked Windstream but their check availability screen doesn't even list my city or neighboring cities. I'll have a tech come out but I'm not even sure what to tell them that I didn't tell them in the past. Also why would my upload speed stay the same but my download speed drops to 5 Mbps? Are there multiple connections that my modem chooses at random and some are rated only at that low download speed? Also if the wiring inside my home and to their box is properly installed what could be the issue on their end? Thank you.

[mtz_federico]

Does it happen at a specific time or with a specific weather?

[MarbleHornets]

(Coming from a former spectrum field tech) Defiantly your signal level is barely in spec when you seem to be having connection issues, which would make sense why you're loosing speed. How old is your coaxial wire, and do you know if it's rg6 or 69? Do you know if there is any splitters between your modem the ISP? (Including any outside wall box). Also following the line, is there any major kinks or sharp bends and is it held in by any staples across the wire that might be pinching it? And do any of the wires run along side electrical wire or come in near your junction box for your power? Do you also happen to have a powered amp before it leaves your house or right as it enters? Any of those could be causing some signal loss or ingress, but like @mtz_federico said, is there any specific time it happens or is it seemingly random?

 

Edit: All of this stuff should be what other techs are looking for, but I've known my fair share of lazy or just plain stupid techs, especially if they're contractors and not even employees. 

[Donut417]

2 hours ago, MarbleHornets said:

your signal level is barely in spec

ehhhh. Ive seen worse on my side. Unless Spectrum's system is not as forgiving as Comcast's. With all the uncorrectable errors, I have a feeling just like you its a coax issue. Seems like the OP could have some interference on the line. 

[MarbleHornets]

15 hours ago, Donut417 said:

ehhhh. Ive seen worse on my side. Unless Spectrum's system is not as forgiving as Comcast's. With all the uncorrectable errors, I have a feeling just like you its a coax issue. Seems like the OP could have some interference on the line. 

At least the supervisors I was under wanted us to be +/-8 and we weren't supposed to have +/-10, and true I have seen worse as well, but if he's consistently getting bad signal that's causing him problems, that should be addressed as well. And that's more of what I was leaning towards as well, though knowing all the variables is always helpful, hence my kindof long checklist of things that'd I'd like to know.

[Aileron]

Sorry for the late replies. Let me show you what the area looks like. See the coupling in that picture? Over a decade ago there was someone who had a satellite TV service apparently (we removed the old dish that was barely hanging off the roof). Instead of replacing the cable line into the home they added that coupling. All this was before we moved in. Other than that I don't know what this other clutter of wires are.

[Aileron]

More pictures.. It looks like the cable line comes out of the ground then from the main housing leads to a secondary housing using thin unprotected wire then using a splitter goes into the home (there are only two rooms with cable). How does it look? I'm no expert.

[Donut417]

The cable that runs from my demark on the side of my house to the basement is several decades old. Everything still works, so I doubt thats the issue unless the cable went bad due to the elements. Just make sure everything in the box is tight. I live near the expressway and the railroad and I have seen the vibrations cause these cables to come loose. 

[Aileron]

I did some more checking today and the cable isn't buried at all. It comes down and to the right then is routed up along the side of the house then it travels across the parking lot about 10 feet off the ground (blowing in the wind) and through some woods to who knows where.I made sure everything was tight and nothing was loose at all.

[Aileron]

Update: The cable guy left like 4 hours ago and he said he did all he could. He changed out the cabling and said that maintenance would work on the rest on their end. It seemed to help because I'm keeping my higher speed longer and the modem connects quickly but there's a new issue. Every 30 minutes my connection drops and the modem has to reconnect. It's happened like 6 times so far. Is this an issue where I should just wait and see if someone fixes? What could cause this? Everything seems fast and stable and then it DCs w/o warning. I uploaded an image of what the status page looks like after a clean restart. Thank you.

[Donut417]

12 minutes ago, Reignfire said:

Update: The cable guy left like 4 hours ago and he said he did all he could. He changed out the cabling and said that maintenance would work on the rest on their end. It seemed to help because I'm keeping my higher speed longer and the modem connects quickly but there's a new issue. Every 30 minutes my connection drops and the modem has to reconnect. It's happened like 6 times so far. Is this an issue where I should just wait and see if someone fixes? What could cause this? Everything seems fast and stable and then it DCs w/o warning. I uploaded an image of what the status page looks like after a clean restart. Thank you.

Your upstream power is toooooooo high. Like Sweet Jesus high. Id be calling them fucks back and tell them to get this shit working. Im surprised your even able to get a connection. 

[Aileron]

They seemed to work on it yesterday and today and the upstream power is much lower. I just started using the internet for today so we'll see how it goes. Thanks for the help.

[Aileron]

I don't really get it. It took 3-4 hours for my internet to drop back down to a slow download speed. When the guy was out at my house his exact words were "I did all that I can do" after changing out all the cables. Maintenance came out and did their thing and the numbers are better and I have no disconnects at least. Is this something I just have to live with? What are these Correcteds and Uncorrectables? Is there a possibility that some of these downstream connections are capped? Thoughts?

[Donut417]

2 minutes ago, Reignfire said:

these Correcteds and Uncorrectables

They are errors. corrected are ok. Lots of uncorrected are not. It means that the cable network in your area has interference from the outside. Keep in mind that TV broadcasters use within the 500-600 Mhz bands, actually T Mobile bought a bunch of the 600 Mhz band. Band 12 again T Mobile uses, sits at like 750 Mhz and you better believe, if there are damaged cables or issues on the cable network, those wireless signals can cause issues. I just checked my errors and I have them over all channels like you, but mine are in the hundreds and yours are a bit higher. 

[Aileron]

Is there anything I can do or they can do (realistically) on their end to stop the interference so I don't have such unreliable internet?

[Donut417]

7 minutes ago, Reignfire said:

Is there anything I can do or they can do (realistically) on their end to stop the interference so I don't have such unreliable internet?

You cant bitch at them. Thats about it. Contact the FCC, maybe that will unstick their head from their ass. 

 

On your end. If you have a laptop and some power near where the cable comes to your home, you could connect the modem directly to the cable from the pole. As in the cables that are outside. If you signals improve then its your wiring in your home that you will have to fix. If the signals are still shit, then its on them to fix it as their pace. The issue is, the interference could be on the wiring outside OR it could be in one or more of your neighbors homes. They literally would have to track it down. Im sure they will eventually, but it could take some time. 

[Aileron]

My internet is very confusing to me. I've been on it all night and for 7 hours there have been no uncorrectables. I've been keeping a close eye on the status page and uncorrectables seem to appear all at once out of the blue. There will be zero and then all of a sudden 20-30k happen. Any idea why?

Edit: As I was typing this I checked and it just happened. I don't understand why.

Edited May 4, 2019 by Reignfire
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