Connection timeouts

Connection failures occur on devices using hardwired ethernet and Wi-Fi. Packet capture suggests the problem is on the uplink. I see some inbound packets twice: the original packets and the retransmission of those same packets. This means the server did not receive the TCP Ack (Transmission Control Protocol Acknowledgement) packets for the first set of packets. Problems on the uplink will cause connection timeouts and DNS errors. What changed on the network on Tuesday, December 3, 2024, at 8:00 am?

Here is the network path you need to troubleshoot.

Tracing route to server-[Edited: "Personal Information"]

over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     7 ms     5 ms     4 ms  10.0.0.1
  2    15 ms    12 ms    14 ms  [Edited: "Personal Information"]
  3    13 ms    13 ms    13 ms  po-302-1209-rur201.ivyland.pa.panjde.comcast.net [Edited: "Personal Information"]
  4    12 ms    13 ms    12 ms  po-200-xar01.ivyland.pa.panjde.comcast.net [Edited: "Personal Information"]
  5    16 ms    14 ms    15 ms  be-23-rar01.ivyland.pa.panjde.comcast.net [Edited: "Personal Information"]
  6    17 ms    15 ms    14 ms  be-202-ar03.ivyland.pa.panjde.comcast.net [Edited: "Personal Information"]
  7    14 ms    15 ms    15 ms  be-31213-cs01.newark.nj.ibone.comcast.net [Edited: "Personal Information"]
  8    16 ms    13 ms    14 ms  be-2111-pe11.newark.nj.ibone.comcast.net [Edited: "Personal Information"]
  9     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 10     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 11     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 12     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 13     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 14     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 15    17 ms    16 ms    15 ms  [Edited: "Personal Information"]
 16    15 ms    16 ms    14 ms  server-[Edited: "Personal Information"]

Trace complete.

@whm1955 I understand how important your services are to you as they are to me as I also to work from home full time and any service issues will cause a headache not only to not be able to assist my customers but prevents my kids from getting school work done and being entertained while I am working! 

I want to make sure we are respecting your time and not repeat the steps you have taken previously. What additional troubleshooting steps have you taken? 

I also wanted to make sure you are aware that any time you need to troubleshoot our Xfinity app can assist you step by step. It is not just to pay your bill or to get notifications about interruptions. To learn how to troubleshoot in the future you can follow the link: https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/using-xfinity-app. Honestly, it is the best app to date that we offer and super easy to use for all of your account needs.

All of our devices and services continue to have network connectivity problems.

1) The weekly Ting report shows persistent data gaps since 8 a.m. on December 3. Ting is a power monitor in our home that continuously uploads voltage and anomalies to the cloud. 

2) Zoom is dropping the control channel on my meetings. Once it resets, it automatically reconnects. Voice and media channels are unaffected because UDP and RTP protocols tolerate intermittent packet drops.

3) Apps and web browsing with Windows, Android, iPhone, iPad, and MacBook Air are severely affected. Apps can usually connect but soon fail with a network error. Browsers can generally connect but will eventually hang. Reloading the page does not change anything; it usually just hangs with a white screen indefinitely. Rebooting devices restores connectivity until the problem recurs in one to five minutes. 

4) Everything works fine when we switch to mobile data on our mobile devices.

This behavior is very unusual. We should see it on an individual service or website, not all services. The Layer 4 TCP protocol provides reliable connections, even with imperfect networks. (All networks are imperfect.)  My experience troubleshooting connection problems has led me to issues with firewalls, F5 load balancers, proxy servers, and QoS queues.

This behavior brings me back to my earlier question: what changed on the Xfinity network at 8 am EST on December 3? It has not worked well since then.

@whm1955 Thanks for following up, and explaining the details further. Are you using just a modem, or also a router for your network?