Internet Issues

Joined
Aug 30, 2004
Messages
31,869
Location
CA
Background: I have been subscribing to the Xfinity/Comcast 175 megabit pkg for 6 months with zero issues until approx two weeks ago. The modem is an Arris SB8200.

Issues:
1) Intermittent loss of connection. When this happens, the modem is unable to connect (and authenticate). When this occurs, multiple modem reboots and hard resets have no effect. This issue is most prominent during peak hours (late morning, early afternoon). The loss of service happens on most weekdays and lasts for at least an hour each time. I have never experienced out-of-service issues on the weekends or late at night.
2) Modem is connected, but the connection is extremely slow. Only certain sites will work. This is sporadic.

Solutions tried:
1) Comcast sent a tech to inspect the connection. A ground block and Moca filter were replaced at my house. The tech did testing at the neighborhood "vault" and stated that network congestion is the most likely issue, which cannot be resolved. Supposedly, the tech disconnected my home's connection, connected his testing equipment, and was able to confirm the connectivity issues I am experiencing. Three other houses are connected to the same vault and my neighbors' state they are experiencing occasional slowness, but not the out of service issues I have been having.
2) I have replaced my wifi router with a different brand (and set-up), no improvement was observed.
3) I am currently using my other neighbor's Xfinity connection. He is connected to a different "vault" and his connection is perfect, so I am strongly suspicious that there is a connection issue somewhere.

Logs:
1) Modem power levels:
https://i.imgur.com/4KClr1t.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/FH5oMC5.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/eD24jh4.jpg

2) Error Logs:
https://i.imgur.com/9NpkXsw.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/BkN91Px.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/rJpJkq9.jpg

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
 
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Same thing happening here using Verizon. Huge number of people streming netflix and other film services. Worst Internet service EVER!
 
Here in NW NJ since the schools are closed as well as many businesses I'm experiencing the same. Everybody is home playing computer games or watching movies. The system is just overloaded.

Whimsey
 
Hey Critic,
One of the things to do is bite the bullet and rent an comcast modem. This eliminates them blaming your equipment as the issue.

The other thing to try is changing your DNS to something like cloudflare. It sounds like this is a very local issue to your pedestal as oppose to your neighborhood node or backend.

PM'ing some other info.
 
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I'd guess you have a connection issue. We have Comcast/Xfinity, and, even with the increased demand from everyone being home, I tested our speed at 115 mbps, and we are just paying for 100. I'd keep digging, particularly if your neighbors' connection works well.
 
When I was getting T3/T4 time puts it was because the line from the pole to my house was chewed up, but my power levels were way out of whack. Like +15 down and 56-57 up.
 
The error log shows a period of complete signal loss sometime on or before 4/2, then a reset on 4/7 at 10:35, signal re-acquisition at 10:36 and good operation since then.

The signal levels are good.

As I understand it the "vault" is a passive tap off of a main cable, the main cable starts at a neighborhood level CMTS which converts everyone's service to / from fiber optic. The fiber is much faster than cable, so the congestion occurs leading into the CMTS.
 
I did a hard reset around 10:30 this morning. The Internet has pretty much been unusable all day today.

This is a speedtest that I did from my phone just a few minutes ago.

03E198C9-9F77-436E-BD7B-5C28A74BFE42.png
 
i too have experience internet problems like slow speeds and drops recently . i have just been attributing it to suddenly having a few hundred thou of people using the pipeline at home that would normally be at work. i really hope this is over soon

my mom had an issue of drops in the past and even though the tech said the signal was strong , when another tech came out he changed a coax connector that he said was the issue and no more drops . you know how i know? because mom will call me everytime there is an issue .LOL
 
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Here in Pittsburgh PA the schools will ALL begin teaching online in the middle of April. That may increase the load on the local internet, though I am sure some of those kids are now using the internet for other things and will be simply switching over what they are using it for. It will be interesting to see if all of them being home schooled via the internet over-loads the system.

Until then the teachers are being trained via the internet on how to conduct online classes from their homes.
 
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Consider yourself fortunate. I live in a rural part of NC where my download speed from Centurylink is limited to 6 mbps (six). My other choice is Mediacom, the cable company rated the worst by Consumer Reports a few years ago.
 
I use a VPN and notice certain cities have a hard time connecting BIG cities with high population. So I go with a rural city, cities I've never heard of no problems with connection.

Originally Posted by The Critic
Background: I have been subscribing to the Xfinity/Comcast 175 megabit pkg for 6 months with zero issues until approx two weeks ago. The modem is an Arris SB8200.

Issues:
1) Intermittent loss of connection. When this happens, the modem is unable to connect (and authenticate). When this occurs, multiple modem reboots and hard resets have no effect. This issue is most prominent during peak hours (late morning, early afternoon). The loss of service happens on most weekdays and lasts for at least an hour each time. I have never experienced out-of-service issues on the weekends or late at night.
2) Modem is connected, but the connection is extremely slow. Only certain sites will work. This is sporadic.

Solutions tried:
1) Comcast sent a tech to inspect the connection. A ground block and Moca filter were replaced at my house. The tech did testing at the neighborhood "vault" and stated that network congestion is the most likely issue, which cannot be resolved. Supposedly, the tech disconnected my home's connection, connected his testing equipment, and was able to confirm the connectivity issues I am experiencing. Three other houses are connected to the same vault and my neighbors' state they are experiencing occasional slowness, but not the out of service issues I have been having.
2) I have replaced my wifi router with a different brand (and set-up), no improvement was observed.
3) I am currently using my other neighbor's Xfinity connection. He is connected to a different "vault" and his connection is perfect, so I am strongly suspicious that there is a connection issue somewhere.

Logs:
1) Modem power levels:
https://i.imgur.com/4KClr1t.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/FH5oMC5.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/eD24jh4.jpg

2) Error Logs:
https://i.imgur.com/9NpkXsw.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/BkN91Px.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/rJpJkq9.jpg

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by The Critic
Background: I have been subscribing to the Xfinity/Comcast 175 megabit pkg for 6 months with zero issues until approx two weeks ago. The modem is an Arris SB8200.

Issues:
1) Intermittent loss of connection. When this happens, the modem is unable to connect (and authenticate). When this occurs, multiple modem reboots and hard resets have no effect. This issue is most prominent during peak hours (late morning, early afternoon). The loss of service happens on most weekdays and lasts for at least an hour each time. I have never experienced out-of-service issues on the weekends or late at night.
2) Modem is connected, but the connection is extremely slow. Only certain sites will work. This is sporadic.

Solutions tried:
1) Comcast sent a tech to inspect the connection. A ground block and Moca filter were replaced at my house. The tech did testing at the neighborhood "vault" and stated that network congestion is the most likely issue, which cannot be resolved. Supposedly, the tech disconnected my home's connection, connected his testing equipment, and was able to confirm the connectivity issues I am experiencing. Three other houses are connected to the same vault and my neighbors' state they are experiencing occasional slowness, but not the out of service issues I have been having.
2) I have replaced my wifi router with a different brand (and set-up), no improvement was observed.
3) I am currently using my other neighbor's Xfinity connection. He is connected to a different "vault" and his connection is perfect, so I am strongly suspicious that there is a connection issue somewhere.

Logs:
1) Modem power levels:
https://i.imgur.com/4KClr1t.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/FH5oMC5.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/eD24jh4.jpg

2) Error Logs:
https://i.imgur.com/9NpkXsw.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/BkN91Px.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/rJpJkq9.jpg

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.



Did you reset your modem and router( I believe you did). If you wanted to test the router I would go directly with the modem first(no wifi) and if connection is still the same you can rule the router out.
Sounds like your modem is trying to get a connection. Sometimes current shock can take a modem out so you need to reset it.

I don't believe your connection could be that bad with heavy internet usage...I'd check your modem could be at fault.
 
Originally Posted by mk378
The error log shows a period of complete signal loss sometime on or before 4/2, then a reset on 4/7 at 10:35, signal re-acquisition at 10:36 and good operation since then.

The signal levels are good.

As I understand it the "vault" is a passive tap off of a main cable, the main cable starts at a neighborhood level CMTS which converts everyone's service to / from fiber optic. The fiber is much faster than cable, so the congestion occurs leading into the CMTS.


The cable companies do the local hookup one way and the phone companies do it a different way. Phone company does it in a superior way with PON.
 
Critic,

Are you able to change channels on your Router's Wifi? Download the Netgear Wifi Analytics and watch this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufMNDMlHpC0

I ended up getting a TP Link Mesh Wifi system. Makes for a good signal even in the basement (used to be 1-3 Mbs - Now it's 25-35 Mbs in the basement). My router is located upstairs in one of the bedrooms on the second floor.
 
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Our 75M FIOS has been running as slow as 6-7M up and down lately. Sometimes it will throttle to around 6 down and 25-30 up. And fios doesn't have the upload, and many users sharing issues that cable does, as I understand it.

That said, even now, after midnight around here, I just did a Speedtest and got 36M down/58M up.

I read somewhere that Verizon was prioritizing bandwidth to first responders and other essential entities, but I don't know if that means a full time throttle or what. If I'm getting half speed I should pay half too.

I have found that my router seems to get more unstable with more data through it.
 
The key point I saw in the OP was:

Quote
the tech disconnected my home's connection, connected his testing equipment, and was able to confirm the connectivity issues I am experiencing.


Indicating this is an ISP-side issue, which means nothing you do at the house is going to be effective at resolving the problem. You will need to continue to work with them to get it resolved.
 
Good luck with resolve guessing once we get out of homes it will resolve. Guessing they are finding choke points in infrastructure and addressing.

I am lucky my neighbor is on $500/month zfinity business account so I get full tilt speed on lines we share. They fix my internet ASAP in any storm.

4 computers in video chat and wife running streaming google WiFi with xfinity isp rocks.
 
Is the cable from the street going through a splitter, i had similar connection problems last yearon spectrum and the tech came out and determined the splitter had gone bad and replaced it, he also disconnected the other cables that was coming out fo the splitter that went into the house to different rooms except for the one that went to the modem because he found there was some interference coming back to the splitter from one or more of the cables in the house. so if you are only using the cable for internet maybe try disconnecting other cables except the one going to the modem, and perhaps replace the splitter.
 
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