btownuser's profile

New Poster

 • 

5 Messages

Friday, September 27th, 2024 4:09 AM

Insight as to what is causing this?

So for about two months now (likely longer) I've been experiencing random mini-drop-outs of internet connection. Usually several times throughout the day, but not so frequently it was bothersome.

This is full on internet loss as it affects both wifi and ethernet connected devices. These drops last but for a few seconds, but its enough that most sensitive things will drop out and reconnect, streaming stuff will buffer briefly, and other similar things will pause for a few moments. Basically long enough to be both annoying and noticeable in all aspects when it does happen. But not frequently enough for one to really be overly bothered.

This problem escalated even worse starting last weekend when the rains came back into my area a bit more than it's been all summer. Can't confirm the relation here, but figured it was worth mentioning. Nonetheless since this point, my connection has been terrible to borderline unusable with how frequent the drops are. And just how severely my connectivity has degraded since.

My setup is straightforward. No splitters. Just a straight connection directly to the modem. No 3rd part router, etc. Techs were out back in February to test all the lines and everything panned out fine in that aspect. Testing each individual segment between the various break-points. They still went ahead and replaced all of the couplers at the connection points (Overhead line to underground connection, underground to under-house connection, and re-terminated the cable that'd ultimately go right into the modem itself), redid the grounding due to some corrosion, and just made sure everything was as fresh as possible. They also were out tweaking on the outside amp, which has been a common failure point and issue over the years. Nonetheless this did fix the issue up until recently.

I've also had the modem itself replaced very recently since the old one I've had for a reasonable while and know these things [Edited: "Language"] out pretty frequently as it is. While this semi-helped slightly, it did not fix much of anything. Power cycling the modem does improve the connectivity, but only for a few hours at best.

Nonetheless, I've been monitoring a steady ongoing ping and have seen a lot of random packet losses. Some here and there, others clustering together. And of course this clustering of packet losses gets worse to the point the mini-drop outs began happening with intensifying frequency. Staying common of 1 or 2 drops within 5-15 minutes on average. Again unless I power cycle the modem, which again only briefly helps. The random packet losses continue and pick right back up and steadily increase and cluster. Rinse and repeat. The connectivity also seems to degrade with more usage (i.e. more things pulling data. Like multiple TV's streaming, etc.) which exacerbates the connectivity problems most of the time when they start happening. But not very surprised given it's hard to pull more data when the data is being lost at a rapid escalating pace as the connectivity quality degrades.

A tracert doesn't point out any obvious problems as it usually goes through completely with low latency and full reads. So nothing to report there.

Doing the connection test through the app also does little to really help, but it has picked up on a measured speed drop as well. Occasionally. Usually when the mini-drops are happening frequently it can detect a horrible drop in speed. I've had it pick up anything from only 12% to 72% average. Still this prompts a restart of the router. Allowing it to do so, then retesting, I've gotten the app to realize an issue for once earlier today and got in touch with a tech there. The tech noticed there was a lot of unresolved errors within itself and likely the modem needed to get a clean update to itself, which they initiated and we let the modem correctly fix its firmware with the proper updates. This of course rebooted the modem and naturally only temporarily fixed the issue. So here we are again with the drop-outs as we speak. I've scheduled a tech (again) as my prior appointment got randomly canceled for some reason. So in the meantime I'm here trying to get insight as to what might be causing this issue or if anyone else has been having this same problem. (Browsing the forms here, seems like it).

Anyways, another weird thing I've noticed is within the modem itself. Monitoring its own status over the past few days as well. There have been 0 Event logs related to connectivity or any other weird issues that others have noticed or experienced. No event codes, no T3's, etc. But what has been even stranger is more related to the Downstream and Upstream Channels.

Downstream
Channel Bonding Value
Channel ID
5
1
2
3
4
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
29
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
37
Lock Status
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Frequency
507 MHz
483 MHz
489 MHz
495 MHz
501 MHz
513 MHz
519 MHz
525 MHz
531 MHz
537 MHz
543 MHz
549 MHz
555 MHz
561 MHz
567 MHz
573 MHz
579 MHz
585 MHz
591 MHz
459 MHz
690000000
SNR
36.9 dB
37.2 dB
37.1 dB
37.1 dB
37.0 dB
37.1 dB
37.3 dB
37.1 dB
37.0 dB
37.1 dB
36.9 dB
36.9 dB
36.7 dB
36.9 dB
37.0 dB
37.0 dB
36.7 dB
36.7 dB
36.7 dB
36.8 dB
35.5 dB
Power Level
4.4 dBmV
4.2 dBmV
4.5 dBmV
4.3 dBmV
4.5 dBmV
4.6 dBmV
4.5 dBmV
3.9 dBmV
3.9 dBmV
3.5 dBmV
2.9 dBmV
3.4 dBmV
2.9 dBmV
2.6 dBmV
2.7 dBmV
3.0 dBmV
2.6 dBmV
4.4 dBmV
4.1 dBmV
3.9 dBmV
8.6 dBmV
Modulation
256 QAM
256 QAM
256 QAM
256 QAM
256 QAM
256 QAM
256 QAM
256 QAM
256 QAM
256 QAM
256 QAM
256 QAM
256 QAM
256 QAM
Unknown
256 QAM
256 QAM
256 QAM
256 QAM
256 QAM
OFDM

Upstream
Channel Bonding Value
Channel ID
1
2
0
0
0
Lock Status
Locked
Locked
Frequency
35 MHz
29 MHz
Symbol Rate
5120
5120
Power Level
44.8 dBmV
45.5 dBmV
Modulation
QAM
QAM
Channel Type
ATDMA
ATDMA

So here's where it gets a bit weird. I've noticed that the power levels have been fine nearly the entire time. All the readings come out correct according to Xfinity's guide.

However, in this capture do you notice there are channels... missing? Both Downstream and Upstream. In fact, this has been what's so weird about it... These change. As in, the number of them. The Downstream channels have been the most odd to observe. That capture above is actually the most amount of channels I've had during this entire observation of the modem's status. Usually I'm only seeing Channels 1-6 at best (and the 37). Other times it's just channel 5, 1, 37. Or 5, 1, 2, 37. Sometimes just channel 5. Or channel 0. Or channel 1, 37. Or just 37. Or just some random up and down number of very few downstream channels. Upstream does this too. I've had 0 channels show up. 1 Channel. 2, 3, and even all 5. And this changes rapidly. Even as I write this and have refreshed the status page, the number of Downstream channels has gone down to 15, and upstream only has Channel 1. I assure you I can refresh this again right now and it'll be different yet again. Yet the power levels continue to read correct and the frequency is mostly spot on. Occasionally Channel 5 will bug out and say 0 MHz, but another refresh of the status page and it's back to normal. Still, I don't think it is very normal to have Channels coming and going like this. Or can anyone identify any weird number that I'm not catching?

As for the CM Error Codewords, this too has been... sporadic. 

CM Error Codewords

Channel ID
5
1
2
3
4
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Unerrored Codewords
653575349
1340269212
1340279242
1340265637
1340290761
1340300289
1340305084
1340313031
1340310323
1340323050
1340326930
1340333763
1340337505
1340344525
1340349236
1340351471
1319165520
1319173134
1319180523
1319195480
1319203594
653545053
653569702
276181879
653539023
653543171
653551180
653553952
653560424
653564834
653569759
653575349
Correctable Codewords
0
4
4
0
4
7
6
5
10
12
19
22
33
29
47
59
105
118
102
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Uncorrectable Codewords
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
21362050
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

There is one in particular under the Uncorrectable that is obviously waaaay out of range and obviously a problem. I'm not too familiar with this table or what is good/bad/etc exactly. I know some, but not enough to have a keen eye for... "that isn't right" aside from you want your Uncorrectable to be 0. So if anything seems wonky here or can help figure out what the heck is going on, feel free to enlighten me a bit. Not required though. Still, it's related to the Downstream channels and populates up and down as weirdly as the channels come and go.

I am honestly at a loss as to what might be causing all this chaos. Again, I have a tech scheduled to come out Saturday as long as their system doesn't cancel on me (again). I've done all I can in the realm of what I can do, so clearly this needs a tech to look at. And maybe even their maintenance crew to examine things further downstream. Clearly something is bugging out bad somewhere and is causing these really aggravating mini-drop outs to happen. However I still wanted to see if anyone here had some insight as to what could plausibly be causing all this?

1 Message

1 month ago

It sounds similar to what I've been experiencing for the past several years.  We've had technicians out every couple of months who replace something or tweak something else, which occasionally will provide short-term relief, but the mini-drops come right back.  I'm nowhere near as technically savvy as you, but I'm following the post to hopefully see if Xfinity finds a solution for you.

Official Employee

 • 

1.7K Messages

1 month ago

@btownuser Thank you for reaching out with such detailed information about the internet issues you've been seeing. We're a team of experts dedicated to addressing all your questions and concerns and we'll work alongside you to advocate for the best possible resolution :).

Please send a direct message by clicking the chat icon in the upper right corner of the page, click on the pen and paper icon, then enter “Xfinity Support” in the “To” section. Please include your name and address and I'll be happy to help.

Expert

 • 

106.9K Messages

1 month ago

@btownuser @XfinityEmilyB 

Please circle back here and post any possible solutions for the issue here in these open public forums so that all readers here may benefit from the exchange / info. This is in keeping with the spirit for which these public help forums were originally intended. Thank you.

forum icon

New to the Community?

Start Here