Contributor
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25 Messages
Xfinity, please fix your upstream equipment. It is leaving us with a half-working connection.
So I find myself here again. After multiple attempts to have my issue resolved - a completely normal and everyday issue for a provider - I try again, this time on the forums.
I have Blast! internet, using my own Surfboard SB8200 modem. Not complicated.
For a week and a half, we have been having connectivity bounce at random. It corresponds with usage any heavier than an ICMP ping echo. It will drop for seconds at a time, dropping all packets en route, then come back up for a few seconds, then drop again.
Yesterday it got bad enough that both residents that this connection serves could not reliably do any work. (We are both working from home) Teams and Zoom meetings are impossible. Any VPN connection is up down up down, reconnecting... please wait. It's clearly a signal amplitude or power issue.
So Yesterday I contact xfinity. Get the robot lady. Can't get an actual person unless she reboots my modem and I wait ten minutes for the service to call me back. It didn't help. I have already done this. I finally get an agent. She walks me through her flow chart to the point where she literally tells me "there's nothing more we can do". I tell her the problem isn't us, it's xfinity. She blames my modem. Says this may have to go on until the pandemic is over, so that they can safely get a tech into my home to check.
So do it all again and get another agent on the phone - this one seems to have some knowledge. I ask her to check the signal quality for down and upstream of my modem. She says it looks fine. I ask her to ping to my modem. She can't reach it. Then she can. I am then told to contact the manufacturer of the modem because it is obviously the problem. I tell her it's not. I ask if there is a network team she could escalate my ticket to, she says because this is a consumer-owned modem, there is no team, and please contact the modem manufacturer.
So I get arris on a chat. They have me confirm my modem is functioning, then I ask if I can show the logs from the modem to confirm what I'm seeing - I tell them the highs and lows of downstream and upstream, and other details of the channels. THE MANUFACTURER SAYS TO CONTACT THE PROVIDER. THE SIGNAL IS MISCONFIGURED OR DISRUPTED.
Here are the exact words:
( 34m 20s ) Seshan R: What we are checking here is the way the signal comes from out to inside the home. There are some important things that should be within a specific range in order for the internet to work properly. First, the SNR should be above 33 on all of them. The downstream power should always be between -15 and +15. The closer to 0 the better connection. Finally, your upstream power should always be between +45 and +51 On all of those values you should not have more than 3 decibels (or dB) between the lowest and the highest By having the values in less than that, your device will have interrupted connection, slow or no connection at all. ( 35m 35s ) Seshan R: Your downstream power has a lot of difference and the Upstream power level is very low. ( 35m 51s ) Seshan R: Its Cable signal level issue. ( 36m 7s ) Seshan R: In your case, your coaxial cable is sending poor signal, and is affecting the device itself to communicate properly, we would recommend that you contact your service provider to make the appropriate adjustments to those levels for you. If they advise that the levels they are sending are within those ranges, this would indicate a possible issue with a faulty cable splitter or a coaxial cable line in your area in need of maintenance.
So, with confirmation in writing, I contact xfinity to chat with someone, just hoping I can get a tech scheduled to look at the upstream equipment and fix whatever is garbling my signal so much. I explain to the person the whoe schpiel, she recommends I contact the manufacturer, I tell her I have and that they agree with me that the problem is xfinity. She asks me to then change my coaxial cable "per the suggested troubleshooting methods for consumer-owned modems". I tell her I can't - and this isn't a lie, I really can't.
When Xfinity installed this in my home, they pulled the cable all the way from the trap installed on the side of my house directly in, through the floor, and up where the modem is. I cannot change the cable without running new cabling - it is a single piece. Plus, that's past the demark - that's Xfinity's problem, not mine. Considering the pandemic situation, I would be happy to install it should xfinity provide me with the materials, but it's not my responsibility to fix.
At this point she - to her credit, she was the most helpful so far - asks if it is ok to have a technican come by today between 3-6pm to check the cabling outside. I am overjoyed. Thank you! I agree with the times, thank her, and close the chat.
I receive no email of this appointment. I get a bad feeling.
I literally wrote a full page note to the Xfinity tech, taped it to the side of my house where the cable comes out and connects to the trap, informing him of what's going on and thanking him for fixing it. I also taped another slip of paper to the wall by where the cable comes out, pointing to exactly which coax cable is mine, so no confusion occurs.
By 6pm, nothing.
Then, I see an Xfinity van drive down my street... past my house...... it turns around, then leaves the street. Never to be seen again.
I wait a bit. Maybe the change takes a bit to happen. My modem restarts...awesome!! I didn't do that! It must mean something has changed!
Let me check the levels on my modem:
Channel ID Lock Status Modulation Frequency Power SNR/MER Corrected Uncorrectables 5 Locked QAM256 549000000 Hz 7.8 dBmV 41.9 dB 0 0 1 Locked QAM256 525000000 Hz 7.4 dBmV 42.1 dB 0 0 2 Locked QAM256 531000000 Hz 7.3 dBmV 42.0 dB 0 0 3 Locked QAM256 537000000 Hz 7.3 dBmV 41.8 dB 0 0 4 Locked QAM256 543000000 Hz 7.3 dBmV 41.9 dB 0 0 6 Locked QAM256 555000000 Hz 7.5 dBmV 41.7 dB 0 0 7 Locked QAM256 561000000 Hz 6.8 dBmV 41.6 dB 0 0 8 Locked QAM256 579000000 Hz 5.9 dBmV 41.0 dB 0 0 9 Locked QAM256 585000000 Hz 5.9 dBmV 41.1 dB 0 0 10 Locked QAM256 591000000 Hz 6.2 dBmV 41.3 dB 0 0 11 Locked QAM256 597000000 Hz 5.8 dBmV 41.1 dB 0 0 12 Locked QAM256 603000000 Hz 5.8 dBmV 40.9 dB 0 0 13 Locked QAM256 609000000 Hz 5.4 dBmV 40.8 dB 0 0 14 Locked QAM256 615000000 Hz 5.6 dBmV 40.8 dB 0 0 15 Locked QAM256 621000000 Hz 5.5 dBmV 40.7 dB 0 0 16 Locked QAM256 627000000 Hz 5.6 dBmV 40.7 dB 0 0 17 Locked QAM256 633000000 Hz 5.5 dBmV 40.7 dB 0 0 18 Locked QAM256 639000000 Hz 4.9 dBmV 40.3 dB 0 0 19 Locked QAM256 645000000 Hz 5.0 dBmV 40.5 dB 0 0 20 Locked QAM256 651000000 Hz 5.1 dBmV 40.4 dB 0 0 21 Locked QAM256 657000000 Hz 5.1 dBmV 40.4 dB 0 0 22 Locked QAM256 663000000 Hz 5.1 dBmV 40.5 dB 0 0 23 Locked QAM256 669000000 Hz 4.7 dBmV 40.3 dB 0 0 25 Locked QAM256 495000000 Hz 8.3 dBmV 42.0 dB 0 0 34 Locked QAM256 507000000 Hz 8.1 dBmV 42.0 dB 0 0 35 Locked QAM256 513000000 Hz 8.0 dBmV 41.8 dB 0 0 36 Locked QAM256 519000000 Hz 7.8 dBmV 42.1 dB 0 0 37 Locked Other 762000000 Hz 10.2 dBmV 0.0 dB 10680748 29068 38 Not Locked QAM256 0 Hz 0.0 dBmV 41.1 dB 0 0 39 Locked QAM256 471000000 Hz 6.0 dBmV 41.7 dB 0 0 40 Locked QAM256 477000000 Hz 7.1 dBmV 41.8 dB 0 0 41 Locked QAM256 483000000 Hz 8.0 dBmV 41.9 dB 0 0
(Note: these two are the worst, and they mean the signal is unrealiable, at best.)
And the logs (MAC addresses removed to protect the innocent):
05/06/2020 18:02 84020300 5 "MDD message timeout;CM-MAC=;CMTS-MAC=;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;" 05/06/2020 17:49 74010100 6 "CM-STATUS message sent. Event Type Code: 4; Chan ID: 37; DSID: N/A; MAC Addr: N/A; OFDM/OFDMA Profile ID: N/A.;CM-MAC=;CMTS-MAC=;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;" 05/06/2020 17:49 84020300 5 "MDD message timeout;CM-MAC=;CMTS-MAC=;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;" 05/06/2020 17:48 74010100 6 "CM-STATUS message sent. Event Type Code: 4; Chan ID: 37; DSID: N/A; MAC Addr: N/A; OFDM/OFDMA Profile ID: N/A.;CM-MAC=;CMTS-MAC=;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;" 05/06/2020 17:48 84020300 5 "MDD message timeout;CM-MAC=;CMTS-MAC=;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;" 05/06/2020 17:48 74010100 6 "CM-STATUS message sent. Event Type Code: 1; Chan ID: 37; DSID: N/A; MAC Addr: N/A; OFDM/OFDMA Profile ID: N/A.;CM-MAC=;CMTS-MAC=;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;" 05/06/2020 17:48 84020300 5 "MDD message timeout;CM-MAC=;CMTS-MAC=;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;" 05/06/2020 17:38 74010100 6 "CM-STATUS message sent. Event Type Code: 4; Chan ID: 37; DSID: N/A; MAC Addr: N/A; OFDM/OFDMA Profile ID: N/A.;CM-;CMTS-MAC=;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;" 05/06/2020 17:38 74010100 6 "CM-STATUS message sent. Event Type Code: 1; Chan ID: 37; DSID: N/A; MAC Addr: N/A; OFDM/OFDMA Profile ID: N/A.;CM-;CMTS-MAC=;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;" 05/06/2020 17:38 84020300 5 "MDD message timeout;CM-MAC=;CMTS-MAC=;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1;"
( The bolded messages mean things are bad.)
Nothing has changed. Connection still has numbers not within range, and it is causing packet loss.
So, please - Xfinity, Comcast, whoever I give my money to - please, can I have this looked at and fixed? We need to have an internet connection to do our jobs. It's how we order some of our groceries now. It's how I check in on my mom. The inconvience is not just a creature comfort issue.
Please have our service fixed. I have been running a ping and right now have 20-24% packet loss. This isn't stable.
You have a fault in your equipment, on your side, and I can't do anything more to fix it.
mander5055
Contributor
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25 Messages
4 years ago
Current upstream numbers.
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CCAndrew
Gold Problem Solver
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25.9K Messages
4 years ago
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mander5055
Contributor
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25 Messages
4 years ago
Still trying to get Xfinity to do something. Numbers and logs from my modem.
So still not normal. Getting kicked off of meetings.
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mander5055
Contributor
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25 Messages
4 years ago
Still waiting for things to be fixed here.
At least the downstream power looks acceptable, now.
So, again, some questions:
- Correctables are normal: why are there so many Uncorrectables? Why is that channel consistently below the minimum of 35 for SNR?
- Why is my Upstream power not within +45 - +51 dBmV?
And some logs...
(This is all my logs are composed of. It means Channel 37 is having a bad time with getting FEC lock of an OFDM profile, over and over and over again.)
I like how we now have a record of my "Service Call" being completed on Wed the 6th at 9:31am. Would this be the van driving by my house, and then leaving? Or the 4 times I had to call Xfinity for that to even happen? My service call was not completed.
We're just over here with 5-6 minutes of connection and then our connection dumping. So, I'll give you a call again to see if I can get you to do anything.
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mander5055
Contributor
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25 Messages
4 years ago
Before I post the utter failure that is my modem's logs, I'd like to relate to you the experience of trying to contact your support by phone:
Me: calls your number
Xfinity: Hello, I'm the automated robot.
Me: I want an agent.
Xfinity: Ok, before that, I want to reboot your modem. Ready to reboot your modem?
Me. No.
Xfinity: Rebooting your modem helps our techs during troubleshooting. Ready to reboot your modem?
Me: No.
Xfinity: Ok. If you have any more issues, hit 0 to return to the menu, or simply hang up!
Me: calls xfinity again
Xfinity: Hello, I'm the automated robot.
Me: I want an agent.
Xfinity: Ok, before that, I want to reboot your modem. Ready to reboot your modem?
Me. Ok fine. Sure.
Xfinity: I just sent the signal. It will take 10 minutes. How do you want me to contact you? Phone or text?
Me: Phone.
Xfinity: Ok. We will call you.
Xfinity: hangs up.
16 minutes later.....
Xfinity: is it better now?
Me: No.
Xfinity: Ok, if you have any other issues, press 0 to return to the main menu, or simply hang up!
Ad infinitum. There is no way to get to your human representatives without either 1) rebooting my modem when I don't want to, 2) there's no 2. I would try to chat online with an agent, but it's very hard when my connection drops every 3-8 minutes.
Meanwhile, my connection drops because your network is failing FEC lock on OPDM profiles repeatedly, sometimes on ALL channels!
Mixed in with the normal FEC lock failures on channel 37, over and over.
Here are the results of a ping going out from my laptop on my LAN to 75.75.75.75 (your own DNS server):
Losing ~12+% of packets after leaving my network.
Wish there was a way to actually contact you guys. So you can fix your issue.
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mander5055
Contributor
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25 Messages
4 years ago
Hi again. Still no word from Xfinity. Still dropping connection several times an hour, and dropping packets so often it makes attending web meetings or managing a remote server a needlessly horrible experience. It's only our jobs. Nothing important.
Since your techs can't get out to do anything, I thought I'd spoon-feed them a little more.
So this is where the coax comes into/out of my house. The Xfinity installer ran a single piece all the way from this filter, inside, under the floor, and up through the floor directly to my modem. This is why I cannot "change the cable per the manufacturer's recommendations" when your support asks me to do so, after they have blamed the issue on my modem again.
After that, it goes across the yard and is affixed to this utility pole - you remember this one from last time, right? It's the one the Xfinity tech broke while climbing, and I had to make multiple calls to both Xfinity and DTE to see if the pole can be replaced, and both companies disowning it so they wouldn't have to repair it. We had just moved in. It took us a month to get service due to this. It's that pole. Here is the leaning, broken pole from last time:
It then enters one of these two taps - I'm not sure which. And I'm not climing up there to check. (If this goes on much longer I may have to, considering Xfinity isn't going to lift a finger to do anything about it).
So, there you go. Instead of having a technician come out to check out your cabling, I have provided these pictures so that you don't have to bother with providing service to a customer.
You have my contact info. I've been a customer since I moved to the state. I'll keep on trying to get through to support, but should you feel a wild hair, you can contact me any time to let me know when a tech will be out to check signal levels at your taps and the filter on the back of my house.
Pinging out to 96.120.40.145 (the next hop out from my modem on the way to 75.75.75.75):
Levels:
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ah365
Frequent Visitor
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14 Messages
4 years ago
you can get a human agent in the customer service through a trick I did, just answer no, no to restart your modem questions; go back to the main menu then go again to the same option, it won't ask you again to restart the modem.
But talking to a human migh not make a big difference 😞 as they might hangup or tell you to restart the modem!!!
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jeffro7172
New Poster
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2 Messages
4 years ago
Following this thread as I am having similar issues. I have the 8300 instead of 8200 and Arris told me the same thing and Comcast told me the same thing. A nice round of finger pointing and intermittent drops throughout the day. It's not as bad as yours. I can use it when it's up but it drops for 6-7 minutes when it's down. Then just magically comes back up, no modem reboot, just works again.
A modem reboot will speed up the process but super frustrated. Hope you get resolved.
Jeff
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mander5055
Contributor
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25 Messages
4 years ago
WOW can give me more than double the speed at the same cost, and have told me that I would get to speak to a human technician if I have issues in the future. For everything I've heard from others on their quality and etc, that is currently head and shoulders over Xfinity and their complete neglect.
Awesome job, guys.
I don't want apologies or platitutdes, I just want a stable connection.
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mander5055
Contributor
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25 Messages
4 years ago
Figured I'd post some modem logs while I've been on hold for 45+ minutes trying to talk to a human tech (MACs removed)
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mander5055
Contributor
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25 Messages
4 years ago
I have been harsh about lack of support and progress thus far, so in the interest of fairness I wanted to update this thread with some positive news regarding progress.
I'd like to update and say that last night I got ahold of someone at Xfinity and they were able to schedule a virtual troubleshoot this morning with a local tech.
Johnathan - the technician - was extremely cordial and got the background on the situation, did the normal troubleshooting questions, and then had me download an app to my phone so that I could show him the cabling and external connections via the camera(the filter, the horizontal to the pole, and where it affixes to the pole) just so he could make sure there weren't any obvious issues.
After that, he immediately scheduled an appointment with an external technician who will be showing up tomorrow morning to take a look at the cabling and hopefully replacing anything that looks amiss.
Also, local Detroit metro technician Johnathan deserves kudos (and a raise!!) for his efforts and having to work on a saturday morning!
In the process of troubleshooting, I also talked with my neighbor who also has Xfinity, and they have been having the same issues. Hopefully I can update this tomorrow saying that the problematic hardware was replaced and I now have proper signal levels and no issues maintaining FEC lock on OFDM profiles on my modem.
And if not, then I guess it's back to harsh? We shall see.
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mander5055
Contributor
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25 Messages
4 years ago
So they came through and an external technician came out yesterday morning to check everything. Quizzically, he said that he didn't find anything wrong - he used the word "flawless" a lot.
He said that it could be that a network tech (he's not a network tech?) had fixed or replaced a component before he arrived. If that's the case, it's weird he didn't see any kind of change notes for the address or line.
One thing I found out that I was unaware of, is that my house is evidently at the end of this particular cable run, and that can add instability to the connection just by being so far away from the head end of the local cable plant.
So that's great, I haven't had any connection drops since then.
What doesn't make sense to me if the network is 'flawless' is why my logs still show Channel 37 failing FEC lock on the OFDM profile.
So that's still occuring, but as long as I don't see any more drops then that's fine. I'll test for a few days.
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Boris-Badenov
New Poster
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7 Messages
4 years ago
OMG, it's like groundhog day all over again, exactly the SAME nonsense. Exactly the same issue. I'm in the W. Campbell Area. Talked to Arris and they said exactly the same thing...LOW upstream voltage. Down Stream is fine, no issues, Up Stream BARELY on a good day 2 Mbps, this doesn't cut it for having kids at home and Zoom classes and the really important stuff like me getting my butt kicked in Splatoon 2 by 10 year olds.
Been trying to give pictures but guess it's not happening, lets just say that my upstream voltage is 39.0 dBmv
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tlynna
New Poster
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1 Message
4 years ago
Hi @mander5055 , did you ever get fixed? I am having similar issues (in Waterford) and if you were fixed, I would love to be able to reference this chain in my next service call. Thanks! Ummm, also, I would love to know if you didn't get fixed, too. :*(
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Boris-Badenov
New Poster
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7 Messages
4 years ago
Ok, yes I got my upstream issue 'fixed' BUT it wasn't because they set the modem to the MFG specs. I have zero clue what they did but it's been playing well with others for a while now. We have been having issues with the cables in this area for awhile, they were stringing new ones the other day.
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