@fedge : What is the exact make and model of the Nextbox. There are many. Have you checked the signal yourself. Poor signal to your home or neighbourhood is the major cause of issues. Here's a post on the topic. You can check the signal yourself, or call Rogers to check the signal in your home/neighbourhood. Sometimes a technician will not be able to do anything inside the home if the issue is outside (neighbourhood feed for example), in which case a different technician is required.
If there's a signal problem, switching to Ignite may even be worse.
@fedge I agree with @57 Don't consider switching to the Ignite TV service when your cable signal performance is suspect.
Speaking of cable performance, just for the heck of it, if you have time and are interested, log into your internet modem, navigate to the STATUS .... DOCSIS WAN tab and copy the signal table. That starts at the Downstream Overview line and includes everything below that line. Select or highlight that entire table, right click .... Copy. Then start a new post, right click .... Paste. The result should look just like the modem's table. If you have a black Hitron CGN3xxx modem, you will have a Downstream Overview and Upstream Overview section. If you have the white Hitron CODA-4582 modem, you will have a Downstream Overview, OFDM Downstream Overview, Upstream Overview, and OFDM/OFDMA Overview sections. In any case, I'd like to see the whole table just to see if there is any indication of a signal issue. Ignore the data that sits above the Downstream Overview line as its specific to the modem and shouldn't be posted in an open forum.
Note that sometimes it takes several tech visits to resolve issues, and, that some techs have more experience than others, to be polite about it. If a contractor tech can't resolve the issues, then its time for a Senior tech (real Rogers tech) or perhaps a maintenance crew if the situation warrants their attention. Do not hesitate to call back in to complain about the same issue if the tech did not resolve it. Call in as many times as it takes. My usual advice is to put tech support on speed dial and don't hesitate to use it.
@fedge can you post the Downstream Overview section as well. That section sits above the OFDM Overview section. Your OFDM Overview section is missing the two lines for the OFDM receiver channels. Are they actually missing in the user interface, or is that a copy and paste problem?
You're running a Hitron CODA-4582 which is an Intel Puma 7 modem. That modem should be running DOCSIS 3.1 on the downstream side and using one OFDM Downstream channel, instead of the running DOCSIS 3.0 which uses the upper channels (1 to 32) .
From the display, your modem has just been updated to version 7.1.1.27 which should be listed as the Software version on the Status page of the modem. Personal opinion, whenever a modem update occurs, the user should run a restart/reboot, at a minimum. Pull the power off of the modem, wait for 10 to 15 second and plug the modem back into the wall socket. If that doesn't cut it, I'll run a factory reset to ensure that the modem behaves as it should after a firmware update. Note that a modem reboot is scheduled as part of the firmware update, but, I've always found on previous Hitron modems that another restart or factory reset was required to see the modem perform as expected. Its a practice that I've carried over to this modem.
Looking at your data so far, your DOCSIS 3.0 upstream channels are running higher than normal for this modem when its running DOCSIS 3.1 on the downstream side. But, I need the upper data sections to know what the modem is running at the present time, DOCSIS 3.0 using the upper channels, (1 to 32) or one of the OFDM Downstream channels, which is what it should be running. One channel should be enabled.
Ok, so, if you can post the Downstream Overview and OFDM Downstream Overview, we'll see what mode the modem is running in. You could just post the whole table. Include the "Downstream Overview" line and the everything below that line.
Edit: Note that the normal upstream output for this modem is in the 30 to 32/33 dBmV range. Your modem is running at 40 dBmV which is well within spec, but, higher than normal. The max output for DOCSIS 3.0 three or four channel operation is 51 dBmV, although Rogers uses 52 dBmV. That high output level would only happen if you had external cable and/or connector problems on the go, which would require the modem to run high signal output levels in order to maintain comms with the Cable Modem Termination System (CMTS).
@fedge the upper DOCSIS 3.0 channels (1 to 32) look ok. QAM at 256 is good, your signal levels are good. The target is 0 dBmV, so, yours are a little high which is more than ok. There is a high frequency roll-off at 800 Mhz which in your case is fine. The signal level drop isn’t very much above 800 Mhz. The signal to noise ratios are fine as well.
The OFDM Downstream Overview section doesn’t present enough information to determine the health or status of the OFDM channel itself. That’s a problem with the design of the user interface. There is one OFDM channel active, so your modem is running DOCSIS 3.1 for downstream data, using the single OFDM channel for the downstream data instead of the upper DOCSIS 3.0 channels (1 to 32). Tech support has access to the channel data, so if there was any issue with the OFDM channel, you can simply call tech support, ask the Customer service Rep to run a signal check on the modem and then ask specifically if the OFDM data was within spec. That should include the signal level, signal to noise ratio and the QAM level which should be 1024 for this modem at the present time.
As indicated above, the DOCSIS 3.0 upstream channels are higher than what I would expect to see. So, that indicates a cable issue or a noise issue. The CMTS will command the modem to run higher output levels in either case. But, as I indicated above, 40 dBmV is still well within spec. Over the course of many years, as the external cable and its connectors fail, that output level will increase until it reaches the failure point at 51 dBmV. You shouldn’t have to worry about that for many years.
The upstream OFDM/OFDMA section show disabled, as expected. The purpose of the firmware update/upgrade is to support OFDMA upstream. Don’t know when that is going to happen.
So, from a signal point of view, I wouldn’t expect to see any issues with your 4582 modem or the nextboxes. Now, as @57 indicated, its worth a call to tech support to check the signal level for the nextboxes. I would expect them to be ok, but, the tech would confirm or deny that thought.
Note that with the modem indicating signal levels that were ok, you could still run into problems if there were short service interruptions occurring, as would happen in the case of a failing cable, or failing upstream equipment. That possibly wouldn’t show up in the table, but, looking at the Event Log might show the issue. Continuous DHCP alerts or Lost MDD Timeout alerts might be indicative of that type of problem. One way to detect something like that is to run a ping test to the CMTS or the Rogers DNS.
If you run a command line trace to anywhere:
Tracert www.google.ca
The second hop will be the CMTS. If you ping the CMTS, its just the modem, local tap, neighbourhood node and CMTS in the path, plus any amps that won’t show up.
Ping xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (Hop #2 IP address)
You might see high ping times. Ignore them if they’re there. I don’t have this firmware version yet, so I don’t know if the previous high pings to the CMTS will show up or not. That is a modem firmware timing issue which didn't affect anything beyond the CMTS. What you’re looking for right now is packet loss. Over the course of several hours, you should only lose a handful of packets. Anything over that might indicate an issue with some piece of equipment between the modem and CMTS. Just as an example, running a six hour test last night to Rogers DNS 64.71.255.204, with just under 60,000 pings, only two responses were lost. I’d expect anyone on the network to be able to repeat those results.
Next target beyond the CMTS is the Rogers DNS 64.71.255.204. If you want to use that as a target, give it a go.
Ping 64.71.255.204
Running a ping test to the CMTS or DNS will tell you if there is any type of intermittent signal issue afoot which would affect the nextboxes.
If you have any issues with the 4582, I wouldn't hesitate to run a factory reset. That is a pain when you have to set the modem up from scratch, but, the reset should resolve any modem issues. External cable or equipment issues won't be affected by the factory reset.
Hope this helps.
