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@CMCRAWFORD do you have Bell's DSL/VDSL service, or Fibre to the Home? If you're running Fibre to the Home, personally speaking, unless you're having issues with it, I probably wouldn't go from FTTH to cable coax service. FTTH should give you much better upload speeds and lower latency, latency being a potential issue for VPN conference calls. Interestingly enough, DSL/VDSL will also give you better latency as well, albeit with lower download/upload speeds.
@CMCRAWFORD there might be two issues at play:
1. Cable performance issues with the external cable and its connectors; or
2. Wifi issues if that is how you connect to the modem or router.
Without getting technical, using a pc or laptop connected via ethernet to the modem or router, ping the Rogers DNS. With a command prompt, type in the following command;
ping -t 64.71.255.204
Assuming that you're on an unlimited plan, let that run for at least an hour, longer if you prefer. Use Ctrl C to bail out of the test. At the end of the test, have a look at the results to see what your packet loss happens to be. It should be under 0.1% although tech support might argue that 0.1% is too low. That's what I see whenever I run ping tests using ICMP or TCP/IP. The same goes for any UDP tests where UDP is used for DNS lookups for web pages and for gaming.
Here's an example from a short run, test start and end of test:
ping -t 64.71.255.204
Pinging 64.71.255.204 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 64.71.255.204: bytes=32 time=13ms TTL=57
Reply from 64.71.255.204: bytes=32 time=11ms TTL=57
Ping statistics for 64.71.255.204:
Packets: Sent = 600, Received = 600, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 9ms, Maximum = 31ms, Average = 11ms
Control-C
^C
If you use something like: ping -n 3600 64.71.255.204
that will ping the Rogers DNS for 1 hour and automatically terminate at the end of the test. Increase the "3600" if you want to run a longer test.
I'm assuming here that you're running the new Ignite TV System with the XB6 modem. When the tech did the install, did he replace the external cable and its connectors. If you've been using DLS for a while, that implies that the external cable wasn't used for a period of time. During that time, its highly likely that the cable and its connectors have deteriorated to the point where both should be replaced. The cables don't last forever and every few years require replacement. That could mean two to three years, or it could mean beyond 10 years. It doesn't matter whether the cable runs underground or arrives overhead from a utility pole. If the cable and its connectors are in good shape, you shouldn't see any packet loss over an ethernet network. Wifi is a different story, as it depends on a number of variables, but thats not impossible to resolve. First step is any packet loss issues over ethernet.
@CMCRAWFORD wrote:
A spontaneous decision to switch from Bell after a sales person made a great offer at my door over a week ago has left me with some regret. The good news is I have not canceled Bell and may not because I am a little surprised at the volume of issues in only a week.
I understand this is a forum for TV but some of my items spill into the Internet category:
1) Ignite boxes have a tendency to freeze, requiring a reboot.
2) Netflix via Ignite closes during a stream 50+% of the time.
3) Netflix or the apps will no longer launch until the Ignite box is restarted. Service was just installed last Tuesday and we have restarted the boxes 5 times at least for this very issue.
4) On occasion the Ignite boxes have restarted themselves.
5) My Wife's iPad was connected to the Wifi and then it started prompting for the wireless password. When provided it stated it was the incorrect password. Resetting the iPad network settings and joining the network again resolved the issue.
6) Streaming video content on our iPad or other devices will buffer on occasion.
7) My laptop disconnects from the network 15 - 20 times a day. I connect to various customers via VPN(s) and I will lose my connection or have to wait while it reconnects (usually 30 - 45 second intervals).
😎 Teams conference calls cuts drops audio for 5 seconds at a time.
Not sure if these are items discussed and/or resolved already?
If you are running into really weird issues, you might need to do a full reset of your Ignite TV equipment. (Order matters.) First, reboot the XB6 modem by power-cycling it; wait for the status LED to turn solid white. If you have Pods, wait a moment for the mesh to re-establish. Next, power-cycle each set-top box. You should not have to do this often. If problems come back soon after and persist, please contact Rogers for further assistance.
Re: #4, it's normal for this to happen overnight but should not happen during the middle of the day... unless the set-top box picked a very strange time to update firmware. The Xi6 should also never randomly crash and reset; they are normally pretty stable.
Re: #5, this is a weird iOS glitch and I've seen this happen to people myself a few times. (If you search the Internet, you'll see that since fall, 2019, MANY have reported that some of their Apple devices have problems connecting to a known Wi-Fi network but other Apple devices can connect to the same Wi-Fi network just fine. People have shared some "interesting" workarounds.) This has nothing to do with Rogers Ignite service or hardware.
Re: #6, you might have some Wi-Fi issues in your area. Try installing Apple's "AirPort Utility" from the iOS App Store and enable the Wi-Fi scanner in Settings. Scan your local Wi-Fi environment and make sure that you and your neighbours are not using the same Wi-Fi channels. You might need to adjust the Wi-Fi settings on your router and manually set Wi-Fi channels to optimize and stabilize your Wi-Fi network.
Re: #7, Some users have reported issues with VPN clients. The XB6 itself does not have any settings to enable or disable VPN-passthrough and some people have reported issues with VPN clients that don't deal well with NAT traversal. I don't know where things stand in terms of a fix or workaround.
Best of luck in getting these issues resolved. I was once a Fibe TV customer as well and have no regrets switching.
@CMCRAWFORD wrote:
A spontaneous decision to switch from Bell after a sales person made a great offer at my door over a week ago has left me with some regret. The good news is I have not canceled Bell and may not because I am a little surprised at the volume of issues in only a week.
One other thing came to mind: is your Bell equipment still active? Are you using a VAP2500 or VAP3400 with your Fibe TV service? Did you configure the same Wi-Fi network name in the XB6 that you had configured in your Home Hub?
If you have duplicated the Bell Wi-Fi setup and both the Bell and Rogers equipment are active, you WILL run into all sorts of problems.
If you have VAPs that are still active, they either auto-select or randomly select their Wi-Fi channels. In my home, my VAP tended to pick the same channel as a Wi-Fi mesh node that was less than 2m away from it. You need to ensure that they are not causing any problems for you in your home.
The one point to remember is that Bell has been using IPTV for some time now, whereas Rogers brought this out last year. So there are definitely some growing pains as Rogers learns the lessons that Bell probably learned a few years ago.
That's actually not totally bad, 2% over wifi. I expected higher than that. Your ethernet test results will be interesting.
When you're running a VPN, are you running it via ethernet or wifi?
With Bell's equipment, were you running a VPN via ethernet or wifi?
Personal opinion, switching to a wifi dependent system really requires more user oversight, in the form of monitoring the wifi channel availability, from time to time. To that end, download Winfi Lite (a freebie) on to a Windows platform and fire that up. Sort the data by using the RSSI or channel columns to see who else you're competing with. To see the graphical presentation, select the tool icon in the second row from the top. That icon sits between the funnel shape (Filter) and wheel icon (configuration) icons. That tool icon will display a second panel in the lower half of the application. Select "Spectrum" to see the graphical channel usage. That should be easy to understand, to see where your network sits compared to your neighbours channels. If you take a walk around your home, upstairs, main floor and downstairs, that should give you a good idea of what to expect from your wifi network performance, or lack thereof. The download site for Winfi Lite is as follows:
Fwiw, in the 5 Ghz channels, you want to be up in the channel 149 to 161 range as those channels are allowed to use the highest output power of 1 Watt. The lower channels are restricted to 200 mill-watts.
Edit: If you do a walk-about, around your home with Winfi Lite running, or any other Wifi channel analyzer, when you arrive at a location of interest, stop in place for two to three minutes in order for the analyzer numbers to settle out. That will should give you a true idea of what the wifi reception conditions look like at that location.
Ok, thats not bad.
So there are a couple of items that come to mind.
1. Rogers doesn't support VPNs. Personal opinion, that's a major problem. VPN performance is hit and miss depending on the VPN type and protocol used.
2. Can you look at the bottom of the XB6 modem and let us know what modem model you have. It will either be an Arris or Technicolor built modem. The Arris is a TG-3482ER modem, and the Technicolor will be a CGM-4140 modem.
The Arris modem is an Intel Puma 7 chipset modem, while the Technicolor is a Broadcom BCM-3390 chipset modem. They are totally different from one another. The Intel Puma chipset modems have been a problem for VPN users ever since they were introduced by Rogers, and to date, there have been several models of Intel Puma modems released and used by Rogers with similar issues of poor VPN performance. That's an Intel design and implementation issue that Rogers and other ISPs are stuck with. The Arris built modem is the latest version of the Intel Puma lineup. My personal choice would be the Technicolor modem but, that doesn't guarantee success with VPNs.
If you're using a Windows 10 laptop, consider loading Winfi Lite and have a look at your wifi environment to see who you're competing with. Fwiw, there will be differences in wifi performance between Rogers XB6 modems and Bell's HH3000 modem, which I assume you were using. Its possible that you just won't see the same level of wifi performance out of Rogers's XB6 modems. There are definite differences in wifi performance between the various models of the XB6 modems themselves. That is why the Technicolor CGN4140, running 5 Ghz channels 149 to 161 should be the modem and channel range of choice.
I'm wondering what channel you're using now, 2.4 or 5 Ghz and by switching to the 149 to 161 channel range, if you would see better VPN performance, if you're not already there.
For now, I would log into the modem and check the wifi parameters against the lists below. Change the parameters to match the lists:
check/set the following 2.4 Ghz wifi parameters:
Wireless Mode: 802.11 n
Channel Bandwidth: 20/40 Mhz, although, for test purposes you could set this to 20 Mhz. In a crowded wifi environment, I would set this for 20 Mhz. It should default to 20 Mhz in a crowded environment.
Wireless channel: AUTO or, to an open channel if one existed, or to the channel that offers the least interference from neighbouring routers and modems as seen with Winfi Lite.
WPS Enabled: OFF Note: The techs most likely use this to connect the Xi6-A / Xi6-T set top boxes to the modem. Its not secure and should be disabled when its not in use. The set top boxes should continue to operate when the WPS is disabled.
Security Mode: WPA-Personal
Auth Mode: WPA2-PSK
Encrypt Mode: AES only
Check/set the following 5 Ghz wifi parameters:
Wireless Mode: 802.11 a/n/ac mixed
Channel Bandwidth: 80 Mhz, although, for test purposes you could set this to 40 Mhz. I would use 80 Mhz to get run the fastest throughput possible.
Wireless channel: 149 to 165 Use this higher channel range as it runs higher transmit power levels.
WPS Enabled: OFF As per the note above
Security Mode: WPA-Personal
Auth Mode: WPA2-PSK
Encrypt Mode: AES only
If you had to change any parameters, reboot your router after the changes have been saved.
I use these settings as recommendations for users running the Hitron CODA-4582 which is an Intel Puma 7 modem, similar to, but not exactly the same as your Arris XB6 (TG-3482ER).
Have a look with Winfi Lite to see who else is operating in the 5 Ghz channel 149 to 161 range. Hopefully there aren't many other users in that channel range. You will probably find that even with competition in that channel range, your data rates will be higher than they would be in the lower channel range, simply due to the difference in power output for those channel ranges.
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RogersYasmine
grrr, what a pain. Thats the result of Intels plan to take over the home wifi world. Now that Intel is attempting to sell that particular division, it will be interesting to see where this plan goes from here.
Ok, there was something goofy that came up recently regarding usage of the app or online settings. I don't remember the details but I believe that it shifts complete control over to the local app or online app, something like that. I think the only remedy to retain local "user" control was to reset the modem, set it up from scratch and never use the app or online app. This also means that you have to log into the modem to change any settings.
Hopefully @-G- can chime in here and refresh my memory on this one. I don't use the XB6 modem, so I don't keep constant track of all of its peculiar behaviours.
Can you list the current wifi settings when and if you have time. I'm curious of what their currently set to. I'm wondering if the channel controls for both 2.4 and 5 Ghz channels are running on Auto instead of fixed channels?
Not sure if its completely the Arris model (with the intel chipset) which is 100% the issue?
Hard to tell, as just about every VPN setup is slightly different..
I currently have the arris model at home.
For work, we use Cisco Anyconnect. Which is one that people have mentioned having issues with.
But mine is able to connect just fine. I was using it for 2+ hours on Friday with no signs of any issues, dropout, etc. It was on WIFI as well.
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