Internet Keeps Dropping

[Pguy]

I tried unplugging modem and 3rd party router.

This problem seems to happen more frequently. I am now entering the info into my phone (notes) - time/day of disconnection and duration.

It went down Tuesday and now today. I don't recall how long it was out last time. Maybe 30 min or 1 hr total?

I also use a wifi Smart TV.

It has reconnected a few times only to drop 5 mins (estimate) later. Sometimes the speed is normal but often, the connection is at a much lower speed suggesting a problem.

I am wondering if there's an issue.

*Added Labels*

[88dalejrfan]

Another outage of ~10 minutes. Here is a report from shortly after service came back on. Compared to the earlier report, several instances of downstream strength >11 here, and upstream strength and report power are down by 8 points.

Downstream Overview

Port ID	Frequency (MHz)	Modulation	Signal strength (dBmV)	Channel ID	Signal noise ratio (dB)
1	591000000	QAM256	5.300	7	36.609
2	597000000	QAM256	5.400	8	36.609
3	603000000	QAM256	5.400	9	36.609
4	855000000	QAM256	12.000	3	38.605
5	861000000	QAM256	11.199	4	38.605
6	579000000	QAM256	5.000	5	36.386
7	585000000	QAM256	5.000	6	36.609
8	849000000	QAM256	11.599	2	38.983
9	609000000	QAM256	6.000	10	36.609
10	615000000	QAM256	6.000	11	36.609
11	621000000	QAM256	6.500	12	36.609
12	633000000	QAM256	7.099	13	37.355
13	639000000	QAM256	7.599	14	37.636
14	645000000	QAM256	7.199	15	36.386
15	651000000	QAM256	7.800	16	37.355
16	657000000	QAM256	8.199	17	37.636
17	663000000	QAM256	8.500	18	37.355
18	669000000	QAM256	8.800	19	37.636
19	675000000	QAM256	8.699	20	37.636
20	681000000	QAM256	9.099	21	37.355
21	687000000	QAM256	9.400	22	37.636
22	693000000	QAM256	9.699	23	37.355
23	699000000	QAM256	10.099	24	37.636
24	705000000	QAM256	10.599	25	37.636
25	711000000	QAM256	10.400	26	37.636
26	717000000	QAM256	10.300	27	37.355
27	723000000	QAM256	10.400	28	37.636
28	825000000	QAM256	11.699	29	38.605
29	831000000	QAM256	11.099	30	38.605
30	837000000	QAM256	11.000	31	38.605
31	843000000	QAM256	11.400	32	38.605
32	279000000	QAM256	1.400	1	36.386

OFDM Downstream Overview

Receiver	FFT type	Subcarr 0 Frequency(MHz)	PLC locked	NCP locked	MDC1 locked	PLC power(dBmv)
0	4K	275600000	YES	YES	YES	1.000000
1	NA	NA	NO	NO	NO	NA

Upstream Overview

Port ID	Frequency (MHz)	Modulation	Signal strength (dBmV)	Channel ID	Bandwidth
1	21100000	64QAM	34.010	1	3200000
2	38700000	64QAM	35.270	4	6400000
3	32300000	64QAM	35.020	3	6400000
4	25900000	64QAM	35.020	2	6400000
5	0	QAM_NONE	-	---	1600000
6	0	QAM_NONE	-	---	1600000
7	0	QAM_NONE	-	---	1600000
8	0	QAM_NONE	-	---	1600000

OFDM/OFDMA Overview

Channel Index	State	lin Digital Att	Digital Att	BW (sc's*fft)	Report Power	Report Power1_6	FFT Size
0	OPERATE	0.2199	10.2442	9.6000	42.7815	35.0000	2K
1	DISABLED	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	2K

[-G-]

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@88dalejrfan wrote:

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@Datalink wrote:

@88dalejrfan  its possible.  If the outage is long enough the modem will probably reboot in order to reestablish comms with the CMTS.

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@Datalink strikes again on probably having called it!

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If something like that actually was happening, I would expect to see a ton of errors in the modem's Events log.

If the modem was also constantly reconnecting/re-registering, that should also show up in Rogers' stats.

[tulowindow]

Hey guys,

As you know, I've been complaining about these issues for the last while. I'm not exactly sure what has changed, but for the past week, my connection has been stable and not been having the daily drops. I noticed that many people like @88dalejrfan & @davidairs have been posted their WAN DOCSIS and have OFDMA channel active. I just wanted to point out that this is the longest run I've had without service interruption in over three months and my OFDMA channel is showing as disabled. I'm not sure why or how it's become disabled, all I know is that my service is working somewhat properly now. I will continue to monitor.

OFDM/OFDMA Overview
Channel Index State lin Digital Att Digital Att BW (sc's*fft) Report Power Report Power1_6 FFT Size
0 DISABLED 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 2K
1 DISABLED 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 2K

[Datalink]

@tulowindow keep an eye on the upstream OFDMA status, looking for a change from disabled to enabled.  It will be interesting to see any comments from you when the OFDMA is enabled once again.  Will the service dropouts reappear, or will the Rogers techs have resolved the problem issues for your immediate area?  That will be an interesting observation, if and when it happens. 

All you really have to do is look at the front of the 4582 modem, looking for the upstream LED to change from dark blue (DOCSIS 3.0 QAM upstream) to very light blue (DOCSIS 3.1 OFDMA upstream).  

[tulowindow]

@Datalink

thank you for this tip. I'll keep an eye on it for sure. I didn't know that light was an indicator of OFDMA up channel.

Right now it's certainly dark blue (and showing disabled in DOCSIS WAN)

It DEFINITELY used to be the light blue that you had mentioned when the OFDMA channel is active.

I actually realized the change from dark blue a while back but did not understand the relevance.

[88dalejrfan]

Rogers just emailed me saying they've fixed the problem and closed my new neighbourhood ticket after yesterday's 11th visit. We shall see.......

[Datalink]

hmm, yesterday Rogers indicated that there was a problem at the local tap, which should be within sight of your house, depending on where the nearest utility pole happens to be.  If thats the case, did you see a Rogers crew up on the utility pole replacing that tap?  If not, then I'd reserve judgement on Rogers pronouncement of success.  

Can you repost your signal stats, just to see if there's any difference. 

[davidair]

Quick update on my side - the technician came and gave me a new CODA modem. Wasn't a senior tech afaik. We'll see if it makes any difference whatsoever. What I'll do is to do a bit of extra monitoring on my side. It looks like the modem has some undocumented JSON APIs (for example, http://192.168.0.1/1/Device/CM/UsInfo provides the Upstream Overview). I will capture all the DOCSIS WAN stats in a SQLite database and if my ping drops reoccur I'll do a cross-check by timestamp and see if anything stands out. Wish me luck!

[88dalejrfan]

Good luck @davidair. 

@Datalink here is the latest log. I didn't notice them doing any work outside yesterday but it could have been after I went to bed. I also asked what the resolution was, and they say tickets don't note what action was taken or why, just whether it was fixed or not... 

Downstream Overview

Port ID	Frequency (MHz)	Modulation	Signal strength (dBmV)	Channel ID	Signal noise ratio (dB)
1	591000000	QAM256	4.900	7	36.386
2	597000000	QAM256	5.000	8	37.355
3	603000000	QAM256	4.900	9	36.609
4	855000000	QAM256	11.500	3	38.605
5	861000000	QAM256	10.699	4	38.983
6	579000000	QAM256	4.599	5	36.386
7	585000000	QAM256	4.599	6	36.609
8	849000000	QAM256	11.099	2	38.605
9	609000000	QAM256	5.500	10	36.386
10	615000000	QAM256	5.599	11	36.609
11	621000000	QAM256	6.099	12	36.609
12	633000000	QAM256	6.699	13	37.636
13	639000000	QAM256	7.099	14	37.355
14	645000000	QAM256	6.699	15	36.609
15	651000000	QAM256	7.400	16	37.355
16	657000000	QAM256	7.900	17	37.355
17	663000000	QAM256	8.199	18	37.355
18	669000000	QAM256	8.500	19	37.636
19	675000000	QAM256	8.400	20	37.636
20	681000000	QAM256	8.800	21	37.636
21	687000000	QAM256	9.099	22	37.636
22	693000000	QAM256	9.400	23	37.636
23	699000000	QAM256	9.699	24	37.636
24	705000000	QAM256	10.199	25	37.355
25	711000000	QAM256	10.099	26	37.355
26	717000000	QAM256	9.800	27	37.636
27	723000000	QAM256	10.000	28	37.636
28	825000000	QAM256	11.099	29	38.605
29	831000000	QAM256	10.500	30	38.605
30	837000000	QAM256	10.500	31	38.605
31	843000000	QAM256	10.900	32	38.983
32	279000000	QAM256	1.200	1	36.386

OFDM Downstream Overview

Receiver	FFT type	Subcarr 0 Frequency(MHz)	PLC locked	NCP locked	MDC1 locked	PLC power(dBmv)
0	4K	275600000	YES	YES	YES	0.799999
1	NA	NA	NO	NO	NO	NA

Upstream Overview

Port ID	Frequency (MHz)	Modulation	Signal strength (dBmV)	Channel ID	Bandwidth
1	21100000	64QAM	34.010	1	3200000
2	38700000	64QAM	35.270	4	6400000
3	32300000	64QAM	35.020	3	6400000
4	25900000	64QAM	35.020	2	6400000
5	0	QAM_NONE	-	---	1600000
6	0	QAM_NONE	-	---	1600000
7	0	QAM_NONE	-	---	1600000
8	0	QAM_NONE	-	---	1600000

OFDM/OFDMA Overview

Channel Index	State	lin Digital Att	Digital Att	BW (sc's*fft)	Report Power	Report Power1_6	FFT Size
0	OPERATE	0.2199	10.2442	9.6000	42.7815	35.0000	2K
1	DISABLED	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	2K

[GuyWiththeHat]

@Datalink.  What is the best way to get Rogers technical support to take a look at this issue with noise on the OFDM/OFDMA channel?

I like many other ppl on this thread have that channel enabled and have been suffering these types of disconnects since it was enabled (I suspect).

OFDM/OFDMA Overview

Channel Index	State	lin Digital Att	Digital Att	BW (sc's*fft)	Report Power	Report Power1_6	FFT Size
0	OPERATE	0.1766	12.1494	9.6000	40.2815	32.5000	2K
1	DISABLED	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	2K

Frustrated Customer

[davidair]

Another update:

I wrote a Windows tool that checks the modem stats every 10 seconds and dumps differences to the console.

I might eventually make it nicer (save data to sqlite so it can be plotted and turns this into a Windows Service so it doesn't get affected by reboots and whatnots) but for now it will give me the basic data I need.

Example output:

Changes detected for DsInfo

Port ID,Frequency (MHz),Modulation,Signal strength (dBmV),Signal noise ratio (dB),Channel ID,Downstream Octets,Correct,Uncorrect
1,591000000,QAM256,8,40.946,7,2658363,0,0
1,591000000,QAM256,8,40.366,7,2658363,0,0
Port ID,Frequency (MHz),Modulation,Signal strength (dBmV),Signal noise ratio (dB),Channel ID,Downstream Octets,Correct,Uncorrect
2,597000000,QAM256,7.4,38.605,8,2850310,0,0
2,597000000,QAM256,7.4,38.983,8,2850310,0,0

If anyone cares, I can publish the binary to github (or they can build from source - only requires VS2017 community edition).

[yever]

@doctor80 

I just had a 7 minutes drop. My zoom meeting was interrupted. so the setup doesn't help in my case.

[Datalink]

@GuyWiththeHat I wish I had a good answer for you.  I've already messaged the engineering staff to watch this thread and deal with the issue.  I haven't received any useful response 😞  I don't know what more I can do except to advise those customers who are affected by this to send a complaint to the president thru the "Share a concern" path.  It shouldn't have to come to that, but if that's the only way to that works, so be it.  I get the impression that further firmware updates are coming up, but I don't know if that will solve the problem for customers who are having trouble with OFDMA upstream running.  

[davidair]

Hey folks,

Do you want to do a virtual meeting and discuss the situation? Tentative agenda:

- What kind of issue you're experiencing?

- Your approximate location (city or region-level)

- For how long?

- What is your setup?

- What have you tried so far?

- Any improvements?

- What are the next steps?

Edit: please send me a direct message if you're interested.

[doctor80]

@yever - that is unfortuante. Did it happen only once? Have you had any signs of improvement with this setup though? Because right now we have 2 people in favor of improvement, and 1 person (you) against.
Interesting.

[doctor80]

@daviddair.
- What kind of issue you're experiencing?
temporary packet loss for amount of 4-7 minutes at time, around 2-3 times per day
- Location: Aurora, ON
- Many techs visits, replaced connectors, 4 CODA modems, tap fixes, SNR improvement
- Improvement only if router is in AP, modem is in Gateway mode with WIFI OFF
- Next step is to try and get another modem model which is not CODA

[88dalejrfan]

I have been quiet the past few days as I'm cautiously optimistic they finally fixed it. I received an email saying "the problem with your internet has been fixed" on the 24th, and I'm 3.5 days and counting with zero drops. I'll only know for sure if it's steady for 2+ weeks, but this is a big change from the 10+ daily drops I was having earlier in the week. 

The one thing I did notice since they reported it fixed was the upstream signal strength is around 35, rather than the 42+ I had when I experienced regular drops. For the record, upstream still has OFDMA enabled.

Rogers won't tell me what they did, but the final correspondence I had from them before this fix was implemented was: This does seem to be something between the neighborhood node and the modem itself. The signal levels are failing at the tap which is the last point between the area node and the signal reaching your home internet modem. The service technician did note the signal levels that they monitored at the tap and with that it was referred to maintenance. I understand what you mean as going back and forth, regrettably sometimes these possible noise issues are hard to pinpoint where it is originating from.

I'll keep monitoring but hopefully this 10 month fight is over.

[MisterPinst]

@davidair 

- What kind of issue you're experiencing?

Best summarized by @ab45 here. I'm experiencing exactly what ab45 describes:

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Internet/Internet-Keeps-Dropping/m-p/472150#M64180 

- Your approximate location (city or region-level)

Stouffville (L4A)

- For how long?

Approx. 2 months since my wife started complaining and I noticed the 30-60 second drops over random 5 minute periods.

- What is your setup?

When I was experiencing this issue I was using a CODA-4582 in gateway mode as well as the CODA-4582 in bridge mode with a Unifi USG router. Wireless is disabled everywhere except for my 2 Unifi Access Points (Unifi AP AC LR).

I have multiple switches in my environment with many devices, but I was able to catch these drops using a wired computer connected directly to the CODA-4582 in both gateway and bridge mode.

- What have you tried so far?

I tried pretty much everything with the CODA-4582 with no luck.

HOWEVER, I have been up for over 9 days now (since 1 pm on Dec 18) without a single drop since switching to the Rogers Ignite service using the XB6 (Technicolor version). I have been monitoring the connection 24x7 and it's night and day difference.

- Any improvements?

See above 🙂

- What are the next steps?

If you're experiencing the issues that @ab45 describes in the earlier post, see if you can upgrade to XB6 modem and make sure they give you the Technicolor version. I can't guarantee it'll work for you but so for it has completely solved my problem (at least so far....I'm curious to see what the week of Jan 4th brings).

[PizzaBear]

did you get a discount on the monthly plan or are you really paying 115/month?

[MisterPinst]

@PizzaBear I'm paying $84.99 per month + HST for the exact same gigabit unlimited plan. Offer is valid for 12 months I think. I also believe that they might have dinged me for a $30 setup fee.

All I did was replace the CODA gateway with the Technicolor XB6 gateway. Nothing else in my setup is different.

To be honest, for stable, fast internet I'd be willing to pay a lot more. It's critical for my work, my wife's work, phone service with VoIP.ms, kids school, and a lot of the things I like to do to unwind (gaming, movies, chatting with friends, etc.)

[davidair]

I was unable to negotiate a deal with Rogers - while I'm currently paying $93+tax, the best they were offering was $110+tax and wouldn't budge, in spite of all the trouble I had with the service. I am now going to try Acanac and hoping that their Technicolor TC4400 would do a better job. Keeping my fingers crossed  - will update the forum after my installation date (Jan 4).