Intermittency issue not resolvable by technicians

fzheng

Intermittency issue not resolvable by technicians

I've been dealing with an intermittency issue for several months now. Many technicians have tried to no avail, and I am looking for possible solutions/ideas.
The drops occur randomly throughout the day, and more frequently between 8pm - 10am, but not exclusive to these windows. They last anywhere between a few seconds to a few minutes. When they happen, they often happen consecutively (several drops over a few minutes). These drops happen about 15 times a day or more. When a drop happens, it seems the internet drops gradually. For example, if a drop happens when I'm on a Discord call, the other person can no longer hear me but I can still hear them and see their stream (with reduced quality). If the drop lasts longer, eventually I am removed from the call. Other things drop instantly, but Discord never does. These drops happen even when I am connected directly to the modem, but interestingly the technicians say the modem does not show any drops.

Solutions attempted unsuccessfully:
Replaced router multiple times
Replaced modem multiple times
Tried 5 different ethernet cables
Plugged modem into external battery, as well as the AC adapter in the panel (i forget what this device is called, it is an AC adapter connected to a coax cable)
Internal cabling bypassed (modem coax goes directly outside through a hole in the wall)
External cabling replaced
Underground cables checked
Disconnected all wired devices (router by itself still drops)
Node was checked by technician, no problems

If you have any ideas for other possible solutions, I would appreciate it.

fzheng

• 1) I lose internet connection outside of discord, I was just using that as an example of how it behaves when a disconnect happens, that it doesn't just cut out outright, instantly. I have a network uptime monitor that sends pings to different targets every few seconds, and when they go down, my discord goes down.
  
  2) They do sometimes, but I might not be able to relay all of that back to you. I'm in direct contact with one of the senior techs so I can ask them things if needed.
  
  3) The modem and router were replaced several times, you will have to elaborate what a drop line is to me but I'm relatively sure it's been tried
  
  4) This is florida so there are storms all the time, but the problem has persisted since February or so without ever stopping

5) Looking into that right now, my bill history only goes back as far as February so it's likely there was a change around the time the problem started

6) Modem is TM1602A MTA, I'm aware that this is an old model but I had problems before they gave me this one. I stayed with this one because it seems to take less time to come back on when it drops, compared to newer modems. The router is SBE1V1K, but like I said before, the drops happen even when the router isn't connected.

I believe one of the techs set up signal monitoring, and they could see that my router would drop, but not the modem. The modem never showed as dropping, despite the drops still happening when I connect my pc directly to the modem.

Satch

Thanks for the update,

The drop line is the main line that feeds all of your cable company services into your house. Think of it like a telephone line for your telephone. We had to have our drop line replaced five years ago because the DVR would miss recordings, the TV would pixilate, Internet would drop. Tech came out and found our main drop was thirty years old! He replaced the drop line and all the problems went away.

If equipment has been swapped out and the problem has been happening at least since February, it could be a problem with the drop line, the junction box on your street, if you have signal splitters on your equipment that could be a problem. There's something inside your home or outside your home that isn't quite right, and it is causing the Internet dropping. Oh yea, when our tech came out, not only did he re-wire the house, but he put in a new drop line and replaced an outlet going to the CATV box.

But the problem is that most techs are not going to want to do these things if your signals are good when they are there. When did you last contact your senior tech? I would let him know that this is still happening. I would get a supervisor tech (if you can, to come out and do a "head to toe" check of all wiring and lines inside and outside the house.) There is something wrong, and I think this is something that is going to even go way above the great mods here. This needs tech supervisor attention, at least level 3 escalation.

Satch

RAIST515O

Saw similar behavior once with a TP Link router... IIRC it was using an early Archer C7 chipset. CPU load would sometimes spike under moderate loads--way more than expected.

Made me an even bigger fan of Broadcom solutions.

Another thing that could be coming into play is microwave or various EMF sources. Unshielded motors, bad fluorescent devices, etc. that could be near a line.

catchtwentytwo

@fzheng:

You said you have a MTA modem which would be intended for Spectrum Voice. I had a connection problem with an internet radio in another room when I put a 2.4 GHZ cordless phone next to our Spectrum RAC2V1K router.

If there is a cordless phone near your modem and/or router, temporarily disconnect it (power and phone line) or relocate it and see if that helps . If Spectrum Voice is no longer in use, that's another reason to replace the older modem.

fzheng

To all the people talking about my router, I've stated in my original post that the problem still happens when I am connected directly to my modem (via ethernet cable, no router)

RAIST515O

The problems may not be exclusive to either device... both can have their own issues causing weird things to happen both separately as well as in conjunction with each other.

Intel Puma 6 based modems have had performance/stability issues, as have routers using the Qualcomm IPQ9570.

The question is what path to take for testing.

Spectrum 3.1 modems should be available for free because that is where Spectrum is going with their networks (3.0 upgrades to 3.1), and the modem you are using also has a VERY undesirable chipset. So, it should be replaced with an upgrade regardless (hopefully also with a more reliable chipset, like maybe Broadcomm). Should be a good place to start and see if any noticeable changes occur with/without the router and wired/wireless through the router.

Satch

Welcome!

I have some brainstorming questions:

1.) How can you be sure that the problem is not with Discord servers? Could it be something in their transmission?

2.) When the technicians come out to visit and do line and signal checks, do they say what they are doing?

3.) Have you ever had your drop-line replaced or your modem/router replaced?

4.) Any bad storms in the area over the past month or two?

5.) Any changes to the account since this started happening?

6.) List all equipment you have from Spectrum. How old are the modem and router? Is your model DocSis 3.0 or earlier model? Spectrum is providing a free modem upgrade to DocSis 3.1. If you have an old DocSis 3.0 modem.

I would recommend calling Spectrum and setting up free signal monitoring for your account for 30 days. Say you have had techs out, but things are fine when they get there and they can never find the problem. When you set up signal monitoring for your equipment over the phone:

1.) Let them know multiple tech visits show that everything is fine.

2.) Let them know when the drops occur that they are random throughout the day, but get worse from 8-10 PM

3.) Have them put a note on your account for signal monitoring.

4.) Follow up with any recommendations from Spectrum over the next month. If they come back and find nothing wrong, modem/router may need to be swapped out for newer models.

Satch

William_M

Hi @fzheng, welcome to our community!

I've taken a look at your modem and everything from our end looks great. I only see 1 single timeout in the log, signal levels are holding steady, very low error correction, 0 minutes offline. The node is also looking very healthy. The router however is definitely disconnecting, I'm seeing at least 17 instances over the past week where it didn't respond for several minutes, 64 minutes total.

I've seen a similar issue which was ultimately caused by an LTE backup that was sitting next to the modem. Check to make sure the modem, router, and cables aren't near anything that might emit wireless signals or use a lot of power. Old CRT monitors and speakers can cause issues too.

If there's nothing like that I'd recommend scheduling another technician. I understand you've had multiple but most were spread out and not considered repeat appointments. If you call us back within 30 days if an issue persists after an appointment it gets automatically escalated, to the highest level on the 3rd repeat appointment. We can send a private message to set that up for you if you'd like.

I strongly encourage you to switch back to a new modem, even if that didn't help before the fact you are using an old D3.0 modem is a heavily complicating factor. The router hasn't been replaced since the first appointment and is worth exchanging again since that is what we see going offline and will be another complicating factor. I'd also recommend discussing with the tech about removing the amplifier (device with the AC adapter,) as it will cause issues in the near future even if it's not now.

RAIST515O

Oof... just looked up the modem... gonna want a different one in general because of the chipset:

Intel Puma 6

The router's Qualcomm IPQ9570 chipset has also exhibited some stability issues with wifi... namely with the newer radios (6ghz and such). Has also has seen issues when switching bands when the higher frequencies get too week.

If you are connecting wirelessly, may want to look into disabling "smart" management (if you can), and giving each radio a unique name (SSID) so you can select the best band to use per device (ie: Home_24, Home_5g, Home_6).

HT_Greenfield

@fzheng : Just curious if you could try it with a different "pc" at this point.