Madelinecash94's profile

Contributor

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27 Messages

Tuesday, August 13th, 2019 5:00 PM

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Packet Loss and Latency Spikes. Online Chat and Games.

Hello,

 

I recently moved into an apartment and have troubles with my upload connection. While playing online games or chatting via Discord, I will periodically be removed from the game, lag, or sound choppy over the mic. I have exchanged my modem, am hard wired in, and even had a tech visit my apartment to replace the tips of all coaxial cables to reduce any noise. He mentioned replacing the nodes on the side of my apartment, but I did not see him do this. I understand everything seems alright on Xfinity's end, as told to me by an employee who has never heard of packets, but the problem persists. This is during both high and low traffic hours and happens fairly often, drops (interference, disconnects, etc.) happening twice minimum every half-hour. About two to seven percent packet loss during a five minute test. This occurs much more often while pinging a site like bungie.net or discord.com, compared to google or xfinity.

 

In addition to this issue, and one I have not encountered before, my download speed will almost freeze for a few seconds just as often as the upload... probably at the same time, I have yet to monitor it during the occurences. The internet will not drop altogether, but YouTube videos will stop (pre) loading, speedtest.net will plateau and remain stuck on one number, and websites will not load while I continue to hear my friends on Discord or Skype. It doesn't disconnect altogether, just portions of it. 

 

Some pictures from PingPlotter are attached. Please let me know if you need any additional information. I do not believe there is anything wrong with the hardware at this point. I may just need someone to monitor my connnection for a bit to pinpoint the problem.

 

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

Capture2.PNGCapture3.PNGCapture.PNG

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Accepted Solution

Contributor

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27 Messages

6 years ago

I was finally able to resolve my issue with the help of an EXTREMELY knowledgeable technician! He explained everything in full and showed empathy, treating my problem as his own. I hope all receive this type of customer centric support. 

 

The issue was caused by severe damage to the node, box, on the side of my apartment. As my technician explained, "It looked like someone took an ice pick to the seal." He swapped me to a new slot and replaced everything. In addition to this, he replaced the tip of every coaxial cable in my apartment with compression and removed any splitters, checked my frequency levels before and after the switch, swapped my modem to the best manufacturer in his opinion, made reccomendations, and explained everything along the way. 

 

Some things I learned during this experience that could help others:

 

  • Start here https://forums.xfinity.com/t5/Internet/ANSWERED-Tips-for-troubleshooting-your-Xfinity-Internet/ta-p/2941127
  • Post your issue to the xfinity forums so they might lend an extra hand. Add pictures of your testing and any problems you found using the link above.
  • Try to politely ask for an experienced technician and not a contractor who doesn't know what the word "ping" means. My first technician *cough*. I tried this is in a not so polite way and I was told my the Xfinity store "They're all trained the same way." Yeah... ok. 
  • Buy your own modem and router or combo. I still had a few other issues with the one I rented, a new modem and router remedied this. The amount of money you'll save and the extra features are worth it for the more experienced user. You can hardly change any settings with the rented modems, takes 45 minutes to call and change them. Avoid any with the Puma chipset and future proof with 3.1. 
  • Be persistent, do not settle. 

Hopefully using some of this will help others resolve their issue much faster. As for trying to avoid the 10 steps you have to take before a good tech visits your apartment, I have no advice. 

 

Good luck!

Contributor

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27 Messages

6 years ago

One more thing. I had very similar issues at my old house. Three techs visited and said "everything looks good" or "that's just the way shared networks work with cable, sometimes packets are lost," but then a fourth technician visited and fixed everything. Replaced every cable, ran several tests, and the next day the issues were solved. I wish I had the guy's information because he was very knowledgable and helpful.

Expert

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110.1K Messages

6 years ago

Can't see your pics. Since you are a new poster, they need to be approved by a Forum Admin. That could take some time. In the interim, you could try hosting them at one of those free third-party pic hosting sites like Imgur or Photobucket and post the link to them here.

Contributor

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27 Messages

6 years ago

Google: Ok for right now, but I assure you packets are lost periodically.

https://imgur.com/6VyAccE

 

Discord

https://imgur.com/KU2nY9T

 

Bungie (Destiny 2): The worst of them all at all times. Same with Overwatch, CS:GO, and several more. UPnP is on.

https://imgur.com/UGpxLMX

 

 

Expert

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110.1K Messages

6 years ago

The packet loss is starting right at your router in the Google and the Bungie traces. Is this with a WiFi connection ? If so, for a test, does a computer hardwired directly to the router / gateway device with an ethernet cable have the same problem ?

 

What do the modem's signal stats look like ?  Try getting them here http://192.168.100.1 or here http://10.0.0.1

Please post the *Downstream Power Level*, the *Upstream Power Level*, and the *SNR* (Signal to Noise Ratio) numbers.

What is the exact make and model number of the modem / gateway device ?


Contributor

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27 Messages

6 years ago

Thank you for the quick response! I’ll post all the information once I’m home.

All tests are done with a hard wired connection. Have not gamed wirelessly for over a decade.
Tested with multiple cat 6 cables.

Contributor

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27 Messages

6 years ago

Here is all the information requested. Thank you for your help and time! I'll do my best to send any more information you need as quickly as I can. 

 

Also, upon further testing I have found that everything works and seems perfectly fine for 10 or so minutes and then terribly for a few. Ran a test to Bungie for much longer than the last and had near 10 minutes of 0 packets lost followed by 5 of nearly pure red. No idea if that helps. I was away from my computer the entire time.

 

Downstream Levels:

 

Capture.PNG

 

Capture1.PNG

 

Capture2.PNG

 

Capture3.PNG

 

Capture4.PNG

 

Capture5.PNG

 

Upstream Levels:

 

Upstream.PNG

 

Modem Information:

 

Modem.PNG

 

 

In case it does not post again, here are the links from Imgur.

 

Downstream: https://imgur.com/a/7i8lbx9

Upstream: https://imgur.com/a/P3m0T4G

Modem: https://imgur.com/a/PkFdJbP

Expert

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110.1K Messages

6 years ago

Check that link. I only see silly generic pics.

Expert

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110.1K Messages

6 years ago

The stats are o/k. Please post the RF error / event log entries as well.

Contributor

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27 Messages

6 years ago

Annnnnd it's back. Immediately afterwards. Also, what does this mean? Is my firewall blocking certain things it shouldn't? Might be a whoops on my part.

 

https://imgur.com/sERfkTc

 

 

https://imgur.com/Ln16BNq

 

 

https://imgur.com/L6TDIyU

 

Contributor

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27 Messages

6 years ago

The links are working for me. I'll check again. And after an hour of flawless connection, it all went back to beyond poor. 

Contributor

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27 Messages

6 years ago

I switched the modem from the living room to the bedroom and everything seems ok at the moment. 

 

There have not been any lag spikes or interuptions. I did run a PingPlotter test the second I made the switch and did receive packet loss, but ran it again just now and received almost none. May simply be an anomoly. We'll see.

 

The reset cleared the event logs (if I'm finding these right... advanced > logs > log type "event") so I will continue to play now and again for the next 24 hours and upload them afterwards if the problem persists. I will message you tomorrow night. 

 

Here is the test from this evening.

 

https://imgur.com/GComYcT

 

Contributor

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27 Messages

6 years ago

Evening!

 

After several hours of play there is nothing new on the event log. However, there is on the firewall logs. What do you recommend? 

 

Visited comcast again today as well, I was in the area, they once again suggested I swap my modem... Idk what to do. The problem is so inconsistent, have yet to find a pattern. The only constant is Ping tests and PingPlotter. Always showing packet loss.

 

Contributor

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27 Messages

6 years ago

Found a bit of a pattern. May be two issues causing these drops. Perhaps the modem itself, noise, and/or the firewall. 

 

https://imgur.com/a/R2PGQcj

 

 

 

Also... is this bad? Thousands of errors all down the line. They all went to 0 once I reset the modem however.

 

https://imgur.com/KDzo6SN

 

New Poster

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3 Messages

5 years ago

Same exact issue constantly and I am paying for gigabit. Upload spead constantly dissapears or drops well below 6mbps per a second. It does so with both wifi and believe it or not even worse and more frequent with a lan cable. The severity of the issue maximizes on ps4 when playing destiny 2. It's near impossible to even play. It's especially frustrating because destiny 2 is the only reason that I am paying for gigabit service. Comcast needs to adress thus issue or advertise that their services do not work properly for gaming.
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