My neighbor came to me tonight (7PM Arizona time) because she was having some problems with her Cox internet connection. Before I get to far in to this I want to say that I have worked for two different ISP's (one was DSL and one was cable) so I have a working knowledge of the networks and technologies used.
She was on a wireless connection so I began running a constant ping to cox.net and we ended up at 22% packet loss; that is unacceptable. I ran a tracert to cox.net and found that around hop 5 the connection times started to spike. I rebooted her router and her modem, even reseating the coax to the modem and I verified there was no splitter. We still had very high connection times in a ping to cox.net but the packet loss was gone. I ran another tracert to cox.net and at hop 5 again the connection times were spiking.
I bypassed her router and connected her computer directly to her modem then ran a speed test via speedtest.net. She had about a 2Mbps download and about a 4Mbps upload. I ran testmy.net and we got about the same results. She is on the preferred plan so she should be getting higher speeds, even with her DOCIS 2 modem. The modem she has is rated for a 30Mbps download speed (verified through the modem manufacturers online documentation) and we were no where near that. I even ran the cox speed test and we had a 5 Mbps download. We called Cox tech support and here's where the real fun began.
We talked to a tier 1 agent, I explained what I was seeing and she ended up transferring us to Enoth who is a tier 2 agent. While waiting for him I pulled up the modems GUI and looked at the signal levels and I saw no problems. He verified this and he said he didn't see anything wrong with her connection. Then he began telling us about how her DOCIS 2 modem is "out of date technology" and in order to get the full 25Mbps she's paying for, she should update her equipment. I explained to him several times that the connection times from her modem and out her front door were fine, that is was at hop 5 where the issue seemed to be but he insisted that it must be her modem. I read him the manufacturers ratings for the modem so he decided to take a different route.
He then told us that it must be a high volume of traffic on the network. Now.... I worked for a cable internet service provider so I know that this is not something that is ever told to a customer. On a DSL connection that may be an issue, but not on a cable network. I told him that I would write down every IP in the tracert and I would come back over to my house (just across the sidewalk, not even across a street) and I would run some tests.
I came home to my DOCIS 3 modem, hard wired to my computer and I started a ping to cox.net; what a surprise to find that I was also experiencing very high connection time. I ran a tracert and WOW... My connection took exactly the same hops as my neighbors and at hop 5 the connection times spiked. I ran speedtest.net and had a 5Mbps download. I ran the cox speed test and I had an 8Mbps download. I called cox.....
The tech that I spoke with this time was a few sandwhiches short of a picknick. I explained the issue I was having, high ping connections, spikes at hop 5 in the tracert, slow speeds and after listening he then asked me for all of my accoount info. I gave it to him and then he said "So are you not able to get online, or what's going on there?" I nearly blew a gasket.......I explained it all AGAIN and I then explained that I'd just called from my neighbors house because she was having the same exact issue. He said it may be a network issue and he would forward the information on. I asked him if my neighbor was downloading 5,000 gigs of data right now, would that affect my speeds and he said NO it WOULD NOT; I already knew that.
So WTF is up with all the ** service? Why are we being told different things? Do you all really think anyone wants to buy a *** 150Mbps connection when you can't even get a 25Mbps connection to work? Cox keeps hiking their rates and the service is going down the tubes. The phone calls tonight are pretty proof positive of that.....