cox connectivity issue

[Rudolfo Munguia]

On 10/7/05, Darrin Chandler <dwchandler at stilyagin.com> wrote:
>
> Steven Crandell wrote:
>
> > Hey all.
> >
> > Nobody at cox seems to be able to figure out what's wrong with my
> > Internet connection.
> > Thought it wouldn't hurt to throw it out to you all just for giggles.
> >
> > Here's the situation
> > -I used to be a cable america customer. The network in my
> > neighborhood would drop out from under me all the time, which was the
> > reason for my switch to cox, -however- when the connection was up, the
> > speed was great.
> > -I made the switch to cox and signed up for their 256k up and down plan.
> > -I have the same internal coaxial, same internal catV and hubs, just a
> > new drop to my house on a new provider network.
> > -Once on the cox network, I found myself pulling a maximum of about
> > 30-40k regardless of what site I was downloading from and regardless
> > of the time of day.
> > -When I'm downloading something at these speeds, my connection behaves
> > as though it were totally saturated. For example, my ping times jump
> > from ~90ms to ~2000ms.
> > -A cox field tech came out to my place and decided that the problem
> > was a result of the fact that I had an older surfboard modem which
> > could not be automatically updated by cox.
> > -I bought the latest-greatest modem, and like magic I was instantly
> > getting download speeds well in excess of 256k.
> > -The next day, I was back to 30-40k max and have remained there ever
> > since.
> > -I have reproduced these results on three different computers, one
> > inside my network (linux), two directly connected to the cable modem
> > (linux and XP).
> > -I get a full 10meg on all traffic inside my network.
> > -I have asked one of the two level 2 techs that have worked on this
> > issue to verify that my connection speed is actually being throttled
> > down to 256 and not 56. I'm told I'm definitely at 256.
> > -When I use internet speed tests (toast.net <http://toast.net> <
> http://toast.net>,
> > bandwidthplace.com <http://bandwidthplace.com> <
> http://bandwidthplace.com>, etc) my speeds always
> > come back in the 256 neighborhood.
> > -I am not running any kind of a proxy on my network and have tried
> > flushing all iptables rules from my router box.
>
>
> I eventually dumped Cox due to similar performance degradation. The
> problem was diagnosed several times as a signal strength issue, and
> supposedly fixed. It was never fixed for long, though. And Cox kept
> trying to charge us for a service call even though it was obviously not
> a problem with my network or computers, but in *their* network or
> installation. Now I'm using Qwest's DSL, and while it's by no means
> perfect (their DNS servers stink), I rarely have any speed or
> connectivity issues.
>
> --
> Darrin Chandler
> dwchandler at stilyagin.com
> http://www.stilyagin.com/
>
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I had the same experience occur twice, for different reasons though.

First time, it was my cable modems power supply. I just happened to have
another power supply with the same ratings, and tried it. It worked.

Second time was about 2 years later. I went through everything you did with
Cox, then I decided that Cox and their techs had no clue. I borrowed a Fluke
Meter and connected it via a 3 port tap to the outlet where my Toshiba modem
resided and fired everything up.

The Fluke showed that the Capacitance and resistance on the line were way
off -resistance was over 400ohms. I walked way mulling this over and came
back to check on it before bed. The Fluke showed the connection had returned
to normal.

The next morning I changed the Fluke over to TDR mode, it showed what looked
like 5 different splices on the line. The connection for the Cable Modem is
supposed to be a single cable all the way back to the box outside. So I
started checking out the cables. What I found was that the cox tech had
stapled the cable under the eaves and punched through the exterior wall and
dropped the cable down the inside of the wall.

Stapling a cable alone is a no-no, but then I got up on the roof. I found 2
different 4 way taps completely rusted out with 2 mangled cables beside the
other 6. Cursing Cox, I went to Frys' Electronics, bought all the cable and
adapters and fasteners for about $120 and re-cabled the entire house.

That evening when I was finally done, I went and started the download again,
It started at about 120k, which made for a little frustration at first, then
I remembered about the Fluke, I disconnected it and the 3 way tap and tried
again. This time it started at about 340k and increased to about 480k. Just
to make sure it wasn't being cached somewhere, I tried a second download
(fbsd iso) and it hit 520k.

It would seem that the corroded taps on the roof were causing the problem,
especially during the day when they were in direct sunlight.
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