Cable company cannot figure it out ( internet connection )

[Shastasage]

Hello!

We have had this issue for almost 2 years....and it is driving us nuts.

Cable company keeps saying it all ok on our end. When they came last year it happened while they were here and stil cannot figure it out.

What happens is we have 24mbps download and 2 upload

When uploading anything...downloading and roku just doesnt happen...it shuts it to dial up.

Sometimes we get 24 and things seem great...we can have all computers running and download stays around 20 from 3 different speed test providers.

Some days we dont go over 6 mbps

Then we have the horror days like today when we get 0.34 mbps download and .48 upload and nothing is on but my computer with google chrome open.

Then it will throw us off or the connection goes dead.

I decided to screen capture it today and caught some really weird stuff going on. The video is about 12 minutes as i go over 3 speed test companies....and you can see the really weird activity.
http://othersecret.com/Mark/capture-9.mp4
Its only 12mb

The internet cable guy is coming over tomorrow...again!... and it would be great if someone out there had any ideas on what the heck might cause this

Thanks for any input!

Shastasage

 

[Harvey]

How good is the condition of the cable runs in your home? Faulty cable can cause problems, especially if there is too much capacitance or any of the connectors are faulty.

You might ask the cable tech to check performance at the entry point with nothing else connected. Then, test it again with the rest of the house hooked up.

Another possibility could be an intermittant cable box or Internet modem. Intermittant means that it works sometimes, but not consistantly. Swapping in another box could help.

Remember Harvey's corollary to Murphy's Law:

"A malfunctioning device will fail to malfunction in the presence of a qualified repair technician."

It's why your car stops making that noise when you get within two blocks of the mechanic's shop.

 

[JackMDS]

All ISPs do the same "Silly" song and dance, they pretend that their computer at the service room can see every thing on the Network.

In reality their Central computers can see very little info about the specific client's side connection.

It is important Not to start arguing with the customer service person and claim I did this already. When on the phone with them do what they want you to do, and report the outcome.

The ISPs service desks are Not manned by the CEOs. It is manned by low level employees that have a very strict orders about the level of their interaction. They did not establish the service policies and are No allowed to deviate from the on screen protocol.

The trick is to go one time with their ritual of "song and dance" (connect disconnect do some voodoo dance etc.), then demand that a technician will come to your location with his connection checker instrument and make sure and show you that a valid signal at the contract level comes out of the Client side of the Modem.

 

[IBuyUFO]

go into your cable modem's configuration page and see what kind of power levels you're getting in the downstream.

 

[John Connor]

Have the tech check for ingress on the line to the tap. Switch modems.

 

[pandemonium]

Check for faulty wiring. I had a similar issue where all of our troubleshooting and fixes did nothing until we figured out it was the kitchen light being turned on that caused large interference with the unshielded wiring for our DSL lines. So check any possible near-connection areas at the junction boxes and look for unshielded wiring along where your cabling runs.

 

[bruceb]

Word of advice: For cable modems to work properly, the best way is to hook it up to a connection as close as possible to the point of entrance to the home. Cable comes in, goes thru a special data capable splitter, then to the Modem and the other port of the splitter then feeds the video to the tv sets.
Worst case is the signal level from the cable company is too low. It may be something they can fix or you may need an amplifier like this:

http://www.cabletvamps.com/Choosing An Amp.htm

Generally, the cable tv company will have the proper type if you need one.

 

[Cabletek]

Hello!

We have had this issue for almost 2 years....and it is driving us nuts.

Cable company keeps saying it all ok on our end. When they came last year it happened while they were here and stil cannot figure it out.

What happens is we have 24mbps download and 2 upload

When uploading anything...downloading and roku just doesnt happen...it shuts it to dial up.

Sometimes we get 24 and things seem great...we can have all computers running and download stays around 20 from 3 different speed test providers.

Some days we dont go over 6 mbps

Then we have the horror days like today when we get 0.34 mbps download and .48 upload and nothing is on but my computer with google chrome open.

Then it will throw us off or the connection goes dead.

I decided to screen capture it today and caught some really weird stuff going on. The video is about 12 minutes as i go over 3 speed test companies....and you can see the really weird activity.
http://othersecret.com/Mark/capture-9.mp4
Its only 12mb

The internet cable guy is coming over tomorrow...again!... and it would be great if someone out there had any ideas on what the heck might cause this

Thanks for any input!

Shastasage

So there are multiple possible things here.

Unless your ISP happens to be comcast I can only go with what you see by looking at 192.168.100.1 which is not much info, but sometimes may be enough. If its comcast, contact me by PM and give me the modem CM or HFC mac address [deopending on the brand you have one calls it on thing another called it different, I can then look up both your modems history for a week and your node history and see if anything obvious is showing up.

Cable quality, you could take pics I suppose, and I can loo kat them but its not going to be easy to spot an old poly core 59 line without being there.

Router, you can simply bypass this for awhile and see if the problem goes away if it does the router is involved, may be a setting, may be kids over seeding, may be anything.

Wireless SNR, you can try a few apps [inSSIDER from metageeks its free for personal use, just google inssider], but if you have wireless land line phones in the area it will not show these, so you need to verify what frequency they run on and what freq your router runs, then consider, unplugging the phones next time it starts and see if it goes away if they are indeed in the same freq range, usually 2.4Ghz.

Finally the device, do multiple devices have this issue or just one I saw roku ?

 

[Mushkins]

Did anyone else notice the OP seems to have said he's paying for 24D/2U and everything is going to crap as soon as someone starts uploading?

2Mbps upload is crap, especially if its not even a dedicated 2Mbps but "advertised." If you're saturating that uplink it's totally normal that your streaming netflix barely works, same as if you dont put an upload cap on torrents.

Without more details my first impression is that it's just a low bandwidth connection that's being saturated.

 

[Lorne]

Follow the cable line all the way to there connection box, Look for any splicings especially hidden under the house trim, Find any and clean them up and use electrolitic greas on them.

Had two different friends houses go through this with the cable companys and they were stumped, One was spacific by time of day and the other was random times.
Both were some stupid ground point splice that the cable companies installed that would break connection, One was at 4pm when the sun was hitting the eve of the house and the other was next to dryer exhaust vent.
I clean them up and never had a problem again.

The cable installers think there shite dont stink and will never recheck there own work, So look for splice points and redo connecters.

Also check if the neighbors have simular issues, I had a friend that problems and it was a junction down the street, The sprinklers would kick on in the morning and leak water into the box, Daytime would heat the box up and the humidity would wreck havok with the internals, They couldnt find anything because they kept accessing it in the late morning.
They figured it out after a week of nagging customers and put silicon sealent around the base of the box.

 

[Texashiker]

Hello!

We have had this issue for almost 2 years....and it is driving us nuts.

Cable company keeps saying it all ok on our end. When they came last year it happened while they were here and stil cannot figure it out.

I used to work for a cable company, for whom I did internet service.

From the brief description you gave, these are the things I would check if I did your service call.

Noise on the line - the internet carrier frequency is sometimes broadcast on a frequency close to a local TV station, or a local radio station.

If the shielding is broke on the line going to your house or in the attic you will get bleed through.

Things to look for: Lines on certain TV channels. Ask the cable guy what channel is close to the internet carrier frequency, then look for lines on those channels.

The company I worked for, our internet carrier was between channels 6 and 7. Lines on channels 5, 6, 7 or 8 indicated noise on those channels.

Lines on the channels only works with an analog channel. If the signal goes through a digital box the box will take the lines out.

Voltage on the line - this can slowly degrade the internet signal until it stops working..

Things to look for: Go to where the line goes into the house, disconnect the line going into the house, lick your finger, touch the copper core of the cable line. If you feel a slight tingle one of the appliances connected to the cable line is not grounded and is back feeding voltage into the line.

Voltage on the line can slowly build up, kinda like static. If the internet improves after disconnecting the line going into the house and reconnecting, you may not have a good ground.

Make sure the cable line is grounded to a grounding rod. A poor ground can cause problems.

Neighbors back feeding voltage to the tap: To check this you will have to disconnect the neighbors cable line where they tie into the main line, then use a voltage meter to see if any are back feeding voltage.

How old the line going to your house? Is it on a utility pole or buried? Has a service tech changed the fittings on the tap, ground block and splitter?

Checking the signal: I would start at the ground block at the back of the house and take a signal reading of the upper and lower channels.

Then go to the tap on the main line and take another signal reading.

Knowing that signal drops off at a certain rate over a given distance the tech should know if the line going to the house is good.

Then go to the attic, or where the splitters are at, take another reading, then to where the modem plugs in and take another reading.

If the tech is not using a signal meter he is shooting in the dark.

Have the tech write down the signal levels on the work order, and get a copy of the work order for later reference.

 

[pandemonium]

Now there's some effort! Well done, Texashiker.

 

[Texashiker]

Now there's some effort! Well done, Texashiker.

Thank you.

This was my routine when I did internet service:

Knock on the door to let the customer know I was there. Tell the customer I needed to take a signal reading where the line goes into the house and ask if the customer had any dogs. If the customer had dogs, ask if they bite, and if the customer could put the dogs up while I was there.

Go to the back of the house, disconnect the line, inspect the fittings and ground block for corrosion, take a signal reading. If the fittings and ground block were old, maybe change them out for good measure.

While I was at the ground block, make sure the cable line was grounded to the ground rod or main ground wire.

Go to the modem location, disconnect the cable line, take another signal reading.

Between the ground block and the cable modem there should have been about 4.5 decibels of signal loss. That would have been 3.5 db for a splitter in the attic, and a db of loss of the length of cable.

Anything over say 5 db I would go to the attic, or where the splitters were at.

An experienced tech will know what the signal should be at the back of the house, at the splitters, and at the modem.

If the signal going into the house is not good, then I would go to the tap and take a signal reading.

If the signal at the tap was not good, I would go to the amplifier on the main line and take a signal reading.

All of those readings were handed over to maintenance for them to adjust the levels.

 

[serpretetsky]

Did anyone else notice the OP seems to have said he's paying for 24D/2U and everything is going to crap as soon as someone starts uploading?

2Mbps upload is crap, especially if its not even a dedicated 2Mbps but "advertised." If you're saturating that uplink it's totally normal that your streaming netflix barely works, same as if you dont put an upload cap on torrents.

Without more details my first impression is that it's just a low bandwidth connection that's being saturated.

yeah, the original post is a little confusing. Saturating the upload can quickly bring your internet speeds down to a crawl (both down and up).

 

[C2bcool]

Man I had so much trouble getting my Comcast Cable Internet to work properly. Had 3 or 4 techs come out and same problems. Then some OLD cuban guy came (actually right after another tech left as they double booked).

He decided to take a look anyway and man did that guy know his stuff. He changed the connections (outside ones were rusty), changed every connection in the garage (cut and redid the metal connector/terminal part). He even found some oldass splitter that was outside that sucked and changed that out. Finally, since my house has 2 incomming connections he put the Cable/Phone Modem on its own and everything else on the other. Since then not a single problem on Comcast's end.

 

[Harvey]

Now there's some effort! Well done, Texashiker.

^ This! :thumbsup:

 

[John Connor]

Voltage on the line - this can slowly degrade the internet signal until it stops working..

Things to look for: Go to where the line goes into the house, disconnect the line going into the house, lick your finger, touch the copper core of the cable line. If you feel a slight tingle one of the appliances connected to the cable line is not grounded and is back feeding voltage into the line.

Voltage on the line can slowly build up, kinda like static. If the internet improves after disconnecting the line going into the house and reconnecting, you may not have a good ground.

Make sure the cable line is grounded to a grounding rod. A poor ground can cause problems.

Now that is some useful knowledge! I have many outlets in the house where there is no ground and I have been zappet touching the cable connector. And get this! The cable guy when he was out here trying to figure out why some channels would digitize told me not to ground the cable line! Currently, sometimes the Military channel and some other channels will become digitize. Things got better with a new drop because we had a bad line and a lot of ingress. I seen it on the meter. I'm going to look at our cable box again and make sure it's grounded.

 

[Texashiker]

And get this! The cable guy when he was out here trying to figure out why some channels would digitize told me not to ground the cable line!

Uh, yea.

The first thunderstorm that comes through, if a bolt of lightening hits close to your house you can probably kiss your computer goodbye.

If you are lucky the surge will stop at modem.

If you are not lucky, your motherboard will have burn marks on it where the surge went through the network card and tried to go through the motherboard to get to the power supply, which is grounded through the house wiring.

Why is the power going through the computer? Because the house wiring is grounded, or it should be anyway.

When the power surge gets into the cable line it will be looking for a ground. If the cable is not grounded the surge will try to go through your computer to get to the house wiring ground.

I have seen entire home networks taken out by lightening strikes close to the house. The cable line was not grounded outside either.

The cable line has to be grounded. If it is not, the cable line is a conduit for lightening strikes straight into your home.

 

[John Connor]

I'm going to check and see if the cable is grounded. But i'm not really scared of a lightning strike as everything here including power is buried.

 

[Cabletek]

Uh, yea.

The first thunderstorm that comes through, if a bolt of lightening hits close to your house you can probably kiss your computer goodbye.

If you are lucky the surge will stop at modem.

If you are not lucky, your motherboard will have burn marks on it where the surge went through the network card and tried to go through the motherboard to get to the power supply, which is grounded through the house wiring.

Why is the power going through the computer? Because the house wiring is grounded, or it should be anyway.

When the power surge gets into the cable line it will be looking for a ground. If the cable is not grounded the surge will try to go through your computer to get to the house wiring ground.

I have seen entire home networks taken out by lightening strikes close to the house. The cable line was not grounded outside either.

The cable line has to be grounded. If it is not, the cable line is a conduit for lightening strikes straight into your home.

The cable is grounded at every active device it contains and every where it passes a transformer, even if not at his house, and the devices the cable connects to connect directly to power line that are grounded as well, the 12/10 gauge ground wire cable uses is in no way going to stop a lightining strike, 1.21 gigawattts or otherwise. That is going to melt about anything it touches in the telecommunications world anyway, and once the connections are broke it matters not if its grounded anymore, that much power is going to destroy it lickedly split if it indeed hits it. The reason the NEC requires a ground bonding [which is the real reason you SHOULD bond to power, its against CODE, period] is to protect against faulty electric wiring, such as floating or broken neutral, not lightning.

If this can't handle it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XCl98QrDUk
coax and UTP have no prayer.

The reason you bond is its CODE, and it protects you to some degree against stuff like the link below, but the real reason the cable comapny bonds you is to protect their equipment from YOUR power failures.

IE something like this
http://www.electrical-forensics.com/Open-Neutral/Open-Neutral.html

If that was inside your house, the bonding would run it to ground and protect the plant outside, since this was at the drop no such luck, but you get the idea, I don't know who thinks a tiny 10 gauge wire is lightning protection but I assure you as a 33 year veteran of the sunshine state, you are wrong.

 

[Texashiker]

, I don't know who thinks a tiny 10 gauge wire is lightning protection but I assure you as a 33 year veteran of the sunshine state, you are wrong.

I never said grounding would stop a full lightening strike.

When I was doing internet service, after a thunderstorm the vast majority of people who had damage to their modem, firewall, network cards and computers, their cable line was not properly grounded.

Grounding helps with other issues, such as an old TV backfeeding voltage into the cable line. Usually the backfeed is usually around 60 volts, but for some reason the backfeed disrupts the internet signal.