Ignite slow speed and persistant failures / issues

[PrimeInterest]

I have a issue unresolved by two tech visits and an open ticket with Maintenance. 

First tech replaced, on spec, the connector at the pole. but otherwise indicated that the router was 'within spec' and did not have any further actions he could take. At that time the speeds would vary widely from 250gbps to 50 gbps or less at which point the TV connection would stall. A day or so and although speed was around 200 mbps it would not drop enough to stall the TV or drop the other devices ( phone reverting to data connection ). Two days later second visit of tach ( from Rogers this time ) resulted in no actions on-site but were going to open ticket with Maintenance. Subsequently the connection was unstable - although modest speeds ( 150 to 200 mbps ) there were now short timeouts every few minutes - sometimes stalling the TV to quickly recover of stall it out totally for 5 seconds or so. Curret situtaion is less than 100 mbps and the stall/timeouts every 5 minutes. 

See below the Rogers connection statistics from a day ago ( around 2 days up-time as indicated ).

I imported into a spreadsheet since i had a problem inserting from a copy. Certainly huge numbers of correctable and uncorrectable errors - even within those there are some which are horrible. A couple of SNR and power channel issues ... but maybe not too bad.

At the moment the help desk indicates, best they can tell, Maintenance is monitoring the line for up to 7 days. Which would seem to be a waste if I can sit here and watch the first device ( 99.255.226.1 ) after the router ( 10.0.0.1 )  get time outs when I ping it every few minutes ... averages over 300ms when it responds at all.

I assume Maintenanve doesn't have to look to far to see a problem in my neighbouring devices to see something but waiting here on the 5th day of the ticket.

Channel Bonding Value
18	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33
Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked
663 MHz	279 MHz	849 MHz	855 MHz	861 MHz	579 MHz	585 MHz	591 MHz	597 MHz	603 MHz	609 MHz	615 MHz	621 MHz	633 MHz	639 MHz	645 MHz	651 MHz	657 MHz	669 MHz	675 MHz	681 MHz	687 MHz	693 MHz	699 MHz	705 MHz	711 MHz	717 MHz	723 MHz	825 MHz	831 MHz	837 MHz	843 MHz	350000000
40.5 dB	29.6 dB	36.7 dB	39.1 dB	38.3 dB	35.5 dB	38.2 dB	39.3 dB	36.9 dB	39.3 dB	38.1 dB	40.0 dB	29.8 dB	38.6 dB	39.5 dB	40.2 dB	32.9 dB	31.4 dB	39.7 dB	33.0 dB	39.3 dB	37.4 dB	40.3 dB	39.6 dB	40.7 dB	36.0 dB	28.3 dB	39.1 dB	29.8 dB	31.7 dB	30.9 dB	38.8 dB	40.0 dB
4.2 dBmV	0.7 dBmV	4.7 dBmV	3.9 dBmV	2.2 dBmV	4.9 dBmV	4.5 dBmV	4.6 dBmV	4.6 dBmV	4.3 dBmV	3.5 dBmV	4.0 dBmV	3.9 dBmV	4.3 dBmV	4.2 dBmV	3.9 dBmV	4.3 dBmV	3.7 dBmV	4.3 dBmV	4.3 dBmV	4.1 dBmV	5.0 dBmV	5.4 dBmV	5.9 dBmV	6.0 dBmV	5.3 dBmV	5.6 dBmV	5.5 dBmV	3.4 dBmV	3.9 dBmV	4.4 dBmV	5.3 dBmV	2.6 dBmV
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	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	256 QAM	256 QAM	256 QAM	256 QAM	OFDM
Channel Bonding Value
1	2	3	4
Locked	Locked	Locked	Locked
21 MHz	25 MHz	32 MHz	38 MHz
2560	5120	5120	5120
41.3 dBmV	42.3 dBmV	42.8 dBmV	42.5 dBmV
QAM	QAM	QAM	QAM
TDMA_AND_ATDMA	ATDMA	ATDMA	ATDMA
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33
3398040446	2442382530	1715475449	1702740480	1700311712	2339158358	2336515788	2328139158	2323598490	2316327628	2300750341	2296205493	2293606367	2285246052	2286432819	2285052729	2289211069	2291755958	2298905427	2302514186	2303084010	2309343722	2313601318	2324228241	2314669331	2286645749	2252676254	2204497911	2074317761	2030334261	1917324191	1808576582	3398040446
3223049707	115568405	234384761	214700703	212123084	118269052	118975245	120040888	120705617	122156830	125440305	126504762	126897803	128561064	128751332	129857475	129416568	129413783	128327435	128700351	129913963	128969153	128393832	126290280	129074669	134932041	137866556	144685156	182766379	188765278	215034199	220488676	3223049707
74773471	263262578	870739541	903810963	909232697	365258271	367749214	372068773	376574019	384765701	394012466	398141225	401835046	405988348	405420662	406637212	404225054	399100026	393420547	391140929	390073716	384779174	381027767	372568912	379356140	401166745	432573480	474091172	565876137	603730014	690232303	793273413	74773471
50.7%	86.6%	60.8%	60.4%	60.3%	82.9%	82.8%	82.6%	82.4%	82.0%	81.6%	81.4%	81.3%	81.0%	81.1%	81.0%	81.1%	81.3%	81.5%	81.6%	81.6%	81.8%	82.0%	82.3%	82.0%	81.0%	79.8%	78.1%	73.5%	71.9%	67.9%	64.1%	50.7%
48.1%	4.1%	8.3%	7.6%	7.5%	4.2%	4.2%	4.3%	4.3%	4.3%	4.4%	4.5%	4.5%	4.6%	4.6%	4.6%	4.6%	4.6%	4.5%	4.6%	4.6%	4.6%	4.5%	4.5%	4.6%	4.8%	4.9%	5.1%	6.5%	6.7%	7.6%	7.8%	48.1%
1.1%	9.3%	30.9%	32.0%	32.2%	12.9%	13.0%	13.2%	13.3%	13.6%	14.0%	14.1%	14.2%	14.4%	14.4%	14.4%	14.3%	14.2%	13.9%	13.9%	13.8%	13.6%	13.5%	13.2%	13.4%	14.2%	15.3%	16.8%	20.0%	21.4%	24.5%	28.1%	1.1%

[-G-]

@PrimeInterest  Looks like you may have a problem with noise.

First of all, the Uncorrectable Codewords stats on the Downstream OFDM channel should be zero, or close to zero.  (Mine is still zero after almost two weeks of uptime.)  Even if every other stat looks okay, that still represents a problem that needs to be fixed.

The SNR on the downstream channels should also be in the high 30's/low 40's.  The SNR and Power Level on the downstream ODFM channel looks okay but you have a lower-than-normal SNR on many of the DOCSIS 3.0 channels; the power levels look normal so noise is causing the SNR to drop.

Those issues on the downstream D3.0 channels should not be a factor since you should be using the D3.1 channel, but the huge number of uncorrectables is still a problem and it sure looks like noise on the signal path is also an issue that will (most likely) affect all channels.

I'm not surprised that you are experiencing problems with your service.

[PrimeInterest]

Thanks for your timely and informative response.

What / where would the noise be originating?

I tried moving the router around the room, plugging straight to an ac plug rather than a power bar, unplugging the Ethernet and VoIP cables... None had any impact.

I therefore assume something further upstream - maybe something close like the cabling from the house which is half buried and half snaking around the house to the entry point. It is about 3 years old. Nothing has changed in this area recently.

Or maybe further upstream at other Rogers devices? There is some house renovation work happening a few doors away just near the drop on the pole. Could a 'live' coax on the same drop, which might be sheared off and buried in water, cause a problem on other connections... Not that I know that but a possibility I suppose.

I assume Maintenance are the team who a do further investigation - the other Techs would not have tooling to help out.

Ed

[-G-]

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@PrimeInterest wrote:
Thanks for your timely and informative response.

What / where would the noise be originating?

I tried moving the router around the room, plugging straight to an ac plug rather than a power bar, unplugging the Ethernet and VoIP cables... None had any impact.

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The problem is somewhere on the coax line leading to your modem.

It might be a "neighbourhood" issue.  If that's the case, Rogers maintenance techs should be able to isolate the cause and resolve it.

It also might be an in-home issue, especially if the wall plate is shared with other connections that leak or generate noise.  A coax cable is normally impervious to noise ingress but it can happen at a point where you have a coax coupler.

To confirm where the problem lies, try connecting the coax line that comes into your home directly to the Ignite gateway.  If the errors clear up, then the problem is somewhere in your home.  If not, then the problem is upstream.

[PrimeInterest]

Thanks again.

There aren't any splitters,faceplates etc on the path. I don't even think there is a butt connection joining two sections of cable. Cable comes from pole, undeground to house, around house to basement wall, through wall to router. 

No change - maybe even slightly worse glancing at frequency of ping-timeouts.

No word from Rogers on any actions.

ed

[PrimeInterest]

Update - The Maintenance team came over and did something on the drop in the neighbourhood. I happened to reboot the Rogers router as I wanted to reset the statistics on the connection. Then I happen to notice no uncorrectable errors on any channel and only 2 channels  ( 1  and 33 ) which still have quite a number of correctable errors. I think the 'power' looks to have smaller values on average but hard to say. So, for now, we'll assume that things are going to be better. 

The speed still seems variable - 200-300 depending on which device - but still slower than historical.

The tech who vivisted the house after Maintenance did their thing also upgraded the router to the XB7 but that didn't seem to make any noticable difference to anything. 

ed

[-G-]

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@PrimeInterest wrote:

Update - The Maintenance team came over and did something on the drop in the neighbourhood. I happened to reboot the Rogers router as I wanted to reset the statistics on the connection. Then I happen to notice no uncorrectable errors on any channel and only 2 channels  ( 1  and 33 ) which still have quite a number of correctable errors. I think the 'power' looks to have smaller values on average but hard to say. So, for now, we'll assume that things are going to be better. 

I'm not sure why you are not seeing any downstream D3.0 channels.  I have also seen some weird looking stats in the past as well.  I don't know whether this is provisioning-related or due to some other software glitch.

As for the high number of Correctable Codewords errors on a D3.1 OFDM channel, do not be concerned.  This is totally normal, expected, and actually a good thing.

The speed still seems variable - 200-300 depending on which device - but still slower than historical.

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What speed of Internet service do you subscribe to and have you tried to perform a speed test using a wired Ethernet connection?

The tech who vivisted the house after Maintenance did their thing also upgraded the router to the XB7 but that didn't seem to make any noticable difference to anything. 

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Unless you have a next-gen FTTH service, you won't notice any significant performance improvements with the XB7 compared to the XB6.

[PrimeInterest]

I have a 1gb service. Using an Ethernet cable right off the router gave me 600-700 mbps. Wifi about 500-600 when standing beside it.

I have tplink Decos with Ethernet backhaul but even out of the base unit over Ethernet was just over 200 Mbps. Possibly some firmware update reset some things or are now poorly supported. I removed all of QoS rules I had for the TV boxes and turned on IPv6 support ( again?). Now getting 400-500 Mbps wifi off all the mesh points which is as it was before.

Ed