Rant... Cox HSI

nguyendot

Hey folks, it's been a while since I've been on the forums. I've been real busy with getting engaged and a new job (used to work at Dell ...5 years).

Anyways, let me start by saying I've had Cox Cable HSI for about ten years for my home service and except for the service at college in my crappy apartment, it's been really good. About a 99.99% uptime over those ten years. The speeds have been decent, and it's worked out. They usually take care of whatever issue I have as well.

Anyways I work for a new company, Interworks Inc. which is a turn-key IT company. We use Cox HSI here for our internet at this branch office in OKC. It's 15/4 speeds and everything runs on it: Data, Voice, etc etc. We run a small file replication between here and Stillwater with DFS/R. Anyways, since before I've worked here they've had problems with the data cutting out if any appreciable amount of traffic hit the cable modem, especially uploading. If I uploaded a file to Stillwater, or well to any destination it would go at the rated speed... 3.5 to 4.0 mbit and then every 60 seconds or so it would cut out completely for 4 seconds. I ran mulltiping on the gateway, modem, first external hop (cox's gateway), google, and a server in Stillwater. When it would cut out I could still ping the modem and our sonicwall. This test was repeatable, just upload a file.

So I call Cox to come out and look at it, and they ping the hell out of the modem and say nothing is wrong. They say they do see the packet loss when we're uploading, but since it goes away when we stop, nothing is wrong. Then they tell me to unhook the network from the modem so they can run tests. I do, and they come back with "unable to duplicate". I equated their testing with no data attached the same as testing a water hose for leaks without hooking it up to water. (They didn't get the analogy, surprise). They state that it's our network causing the problem. I gave them the shadow of doubt, and connected directly to the modem with my laptop, and reset the modem. After I got connection back, I tested once again, with multiping running still. I uploaded a 100mb file, and behold every 60 seconds it cut out for 4 seconds still. I could still ping the modem, but everything beyond that failed to pass data. (The sonicwall was removed, so it didn't respond this time!)

The technician said it could be my laptop then. I ask him the likelihood of it being my laptop, AND the network. He used his laptop and couldn't figure out how to upload anything so his test failed. Because it happens like clockwork, and primarily when uploading, I figure it's some sort of throttling gone bad. Usually throttling just cuts down your speed, it doesn't kill the data entirely. In this case every minute it would cut the speed to 0%, then you'd see the speedboost for 2 seconds (which tells me the connection was reset), and then it would resume at the normal rate for another 54 seconds until it reset again. Their next comment was "you are exceeding your bandwidth".

That's what really gets me. Cox HSI sets the speed limit on the modem, by provisioning it at a set rate, 256qam, whatever k symbols rate. If it goes faster than that, it's not my fault, I'm just the one sending the data. I can't click on a said action and say "don't go faster than the speed limit". That's not how it works. They push the excuse down to me that because we're exceeding the bandwidth, the modem can't handle it and resets ever 56 seconds. I ask them if that's the case, how would the modem handle the two tiers higher than the one I have.... 25/4 and 55/5.5? They didn't really have an answer for me. I'm really peeved that they are just throwing answers at me that they aren't thinking about first. We set up networks here, we use cable at home too, and that is not an issue. I can peg my upload at home for a month straight, and it will never drop data like that.

Anyways I look at the bigger picture, I have a shop to run and I need uptime. I ask them for a Docsis3 modem, so that it can run off 3 lanes down instead of one, and maybe alleviate the issue. This is because we've tried multiple Docsis2 modems with the same result. They install it, and the problem disappears immediately. Odd because it still uses the same one upstream channel. They try to charge me $150 for the modem, which they are now telling me will fix the issue. It's an issue with your service guys, you don't charge the customer to fix it.

Does anyone else agree with me that it's ludicrous for them to tell me that we're "exceeding upload bandwidth" ? It's like my car shutting down every minute for going the speed limit... seriously?

dcmartinpc

I'm with you! I am a Network and Systems engineer and I have to deal with Comcast and AT&T DSL from time to time. There guys are typically cable installers who have been "trained" to install internet. They have no real world knowledge typically and are typically very reluctant to escalate anything to anyone who really knows. Very frustrating but I am glad you got it resolved. BTW... Paying for that modem is ridiculous. It resolved an issue that was happening with multiple DOCSIS 2.0 modems, so it obviously wasn't the modem. My guess is some sort of backwards compatibility issue with DOCSIS 2.0 on their new DOCSIS 3.0 implementation.....

Don

nguyendot

It really seemed like an artificial throttle that reset instead of scaled down the speed. It was like a reverse speedboost, lol.

What's really funny is they asked us to get on our sonicwall and limit the upload so it wouldn't "max" out the bandwidth. I asked them how speedboost would work then. Obviously they didn't think their answer through and they had no response for me.