Upload Spikes to 49 Kbps, 1 Mbps, 2 Mbps, 3 Mbps on a 100 Upload

[vguy85]

Hi guys,  I am reaching out for some help that nobody seems to be able to resolve.  I will do my best to explain.

Over 2 years ago, here in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada I am with an internet company named Shaw.  I am currently on an XB7 modem from Shaw and previously was on an XB6.  I am connected through Ethernet directly and the XB7 acts as the modem/router.  The current plan is 1 Gb down, 100 upload.

I am a Live Streamer on Twitch.tv

Out of no where over 2 years ago, my frames began dropping on my Streamlabs OBS.  In most cases it was "only" (which is a lot) 3-4% of my frames, sometimes it would drop even more than that.  I used a 'dummy stream' where I would upload without having any applications open, and it would be graphed on a website called inspector twitch tv.  The graph showed that the upload was spiking downwards to 1, 2, 3 Mbps in some cases, and in other extreme cases the upload would spike all the way down to 49 Kbps.  In my opinion, this was clearly my issue.  To maintain a 1080p stream on Twitch TV, you need 6000 bit rate, which is around 6 Mbps.

I ended up trying other twitch servers, I had the exact same issue.  I changed Ethernet cables, modems, COAX cables in the house/outside nothing changed.  So, I ran more tests on like testmy.net, and did a 100 Mb upload, and I would plot that graph, and it would also show that my upload was spiking downwards to 1 Mbps (again, the same problem).  I then would do a DropBox upload, and it was slower than normal too.

Shaw sent like 10+ techs here, and they would hook up their equipment and say they see nothing wrong.  But in reality, I could show them all my applications, other websites that show my speeds are slow, and they would just keep going back to speedtest.net (Ookla based software) which is basically the only speed test that doesn't show my problem.

Eventually I was able to get ahold of someone deep in Shaw, someone they referred to as a plant specialist -- he contacted me personally, and basically out of no where said he found the problem, and it was something in the node (he works on the actual infrastructure and was able to find it).  Its important to note, that this problem was intermittent (just as my problem is now) and doesn't happen every second.  Sometimes it can take up to 2 minutes or longer for it to happen.  When he found this problem, the graphs I would create, almost completely cleared up, by like 95%.  There was still the odd spike downwards, but it wasnt *horrible*.

2 years later, I'm experiencing the exact same problem and going through the exact same process.  My upload is spiking to 49 Kbps, 1 Mbps, 2 Mbps, the speeds are slower everywhere I go on the internet except the speedtest.net website that they keep sending me to, they come over here and hook up their equipment for 30 seconds and say they see nothing.  I feel like I've done absolutely everything and to me it seems like its a problem in the node again, and it seems like the people there just dont care to fix it.  But I'm open to the possibility that the settings in the Shaw network or the modem or something are wrong, so I am here asking people like you who know better than me, to help me with this.

I use to make a very small amount of income on Twitch, and because of this it has completely ruined that.  Shaw has a monopoly in my area, the next fastest internet here is 100 down 10 up.  Here are some pictures of my problem

https://imgur.com/oOXXyXF

https://imgur.com/jmQ7Nxf

https://imgur.com/YxLeyVb

https://imgur.com/BiWRvIw

***Edited Labels***

[Datalink]

Are you able to contact any of the Level II techs.  You would probably have to argue with the Level I tech that you contact via phone, or perhaps online chat.  If you can get thru to a Level II tech, the aim of the discussion would be to review the maintenance records for your neighbourhood node to see what notes might have been left on file that describe the previous problem and what was done to rectify it.  That should be the starting point.  

Now, keep in mind, that the previous problem might not be relevant to today's problem, but, reviewing the previous situation notes, with a Level II tech who should be able to check for the same item, would either confirm that the previous problem has returned, or rule it out completely.  

Fwiw, you can post the entire downstream and upstream signal levels and codeword stats without using screen captures.  To copy those tables, one at a time, park your curser just ahead of the first character in the table's top left hand cell, hold down the shift key and scroll down to just after the last character in the bottom right hand table cell.  Release the shift key and with the table cells highlighted or selected, use Ctrl c to copy the data.  In a post, use Ctrl v to paste in the table data.  That should result in a table in the post that looks like the table in the modem's User Interface.  Repeat the same procedure for the other two tables.  You might be able to copy all of the tables in one run.  Don't know if it will work, but, you could give it a try.  Same procedure, go from the top left hand cell in the top table, to the bottom right hand cell in the bottom table.  See if you can select that entire table range, copy it and paste it into a post.  If that doesn't work, you'll have to copy and paste each table individually. 

When those tables are pasted into a post, a horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the post will be created automatically which allows readers to scroll right, to see the whole table.  

[vguy85]

The competitors way of dealing with this issue is insufferable.  They have sent 5 techs here the last 2 months, who all claim to not see the problem.  I find myself mentally breaking down from repeating myself so many times to these people, and others.  It feels like they're playing games with me, not listening, valuing things that dont make sense and omitting things that make perfect sense.  For example;

Their go to protocol is to go to speedtest.net or fast.com (or anything with Ookla software) and do a speed test and say hey, it looks fine.  Ookla based software discards 30% of your slowest speeds, connects by default to local servers within the city, ran by the competitor itself, and Ookla gives priority access to these servers.  It is the most anti-diagnostic tool in existence to find internet problems.  By default, it also uses multithreading.

I can show them uploads to testmy.net, uploads to multiple twitch servers, uploads to drop box, you name it, everything is dramatically slower than it should be.  The upload graph plotted on testmy.net shows exactly the problem my real world applications are having, spikes in the upload down to less than 1 Mbps on a 100 upload connection.  Testmy.net also indicates, that the speeds I'm getting, on my provider, are 70% slower than the average speed within my city, on that same provider, even though I have the fastest internet available on that provider.

In the past, I got so angry at them that somehow I managed to internally contact someone at the competitor, a "plant specialist" who looked into this and immediately found the problem in the past, and the problem was in the node.  This was only after 10+ techs came out and said they saw nothing wrong.  Here is a picture of my upstreams

https://imgur.com/YxLeyVb

https://imgur.com/BiWRvIw