My Internet Provider Tech Guy Needs Your Help

[BigGotter]

For months now I have been having internet issues. Constant rubber banding while playing CoH, delayed response when clicking on videos on YouTube. First thing I did back in August when the problem started was run a speed test to see if the problem is on my end or with Mediacom. I am signed up with Mediacoms wired internet residential service cable broad band network, Xtream service plan 1 gig internet. When everything is working right, I usually get around 749mbps download and 45mbps upload speeds. However, when it's not working right, my download speeds are normal (749mbps) but the upload speeds are only .03-1.7mbps. I have more than one computer and have the same problem no matter which one I'm on. I called up Meidacom tech line and reported the problem back in august and they came out and verified the problem was on their end, and he put in a ticket to have the next higher up tech look into it. Weeks go by and still having the same problem, so I report it again. Tech guy comes out, says yup, it's still not fixed. He sends a ticket to the next guy up. Weeks turn into months and we're still having the same issue. No upload speed!  Last week, I called and report it again. This time a new tech guy comes out and verified the same problem. He informs me that there several homes in the little town I live in that have reported the same issue, and that the next higher up tech guy that knew how to fix it had passed away a few weeks ago and nobody else knows how to fix it.  So, I'm asking for help or suggestions as to what is broken or what button needs to be pushed, so I can inform the tech how to fix their internet. I am frustrated and grasping at straws now.   Thanks 

[shortguy on indom]

• SORRY TO HEAR.  NO IDEA ON THIER END..
• I READ SOMEWHERE THAT THE INCOMING SIGNAL HAS TO BE BETWEEN A CERTAIN LOWER AND UPPER LIMIT RANGE.
• I KNOW THEY SAID GOOD ON YOUR END... BUT ARE ALL THE COAX CABLE ENDS TIGHT?... MAYBE CHANGE OUT AN OLD/BAD COAX CABLE?

[lemming]

Have they done a trace to see where the problem happens?

[WanderingAries]

Such a good tech and he didn't leave notes?!?

 

If it's multiple people / homes, then they need to troubleshoot the first node between them and their nearest main hub. If they can't figure THAT out, then they all need refunds on their schooling. 

[BlackSpectre]

Something else to consider… Cable Internet is SHARED among the people in your community. That means the limited bandwidth gats smaller and smaller with each person transferring data through it. It might be that several people in your neighborhood are uploading a lot of large files at the same time you’re accessing it. It might be they’re doing it all the time. maybe. 
 

However, if your tech knows there is a technical solution, then maybe he’s right? Maybe. 
 

But yeah, if multiple people are experiencing it , the problem is on the company’s end. They probably should upgrade their hub/node. 
 

 

[BigGotter]

To answer a few questions, yes, I have checked all connections that I have access to. The problem exists before it even comes into the house.  All of the cable lines in town and the surrounding counties were replaced a year after hurricane Michael came thru back in October of 2018. Originally, this same problem with no upload speed happened in August of 2023 and was reported. The tech came out and did his checks on the line, and did say he traced it back to a place just outside of town but couldn't determine the source of what was causing it. Many weeks later, the problem mysteriously vanished with no explanation.  Then a new problem arose months later with zero internet for days. It might work for an hour or 2 then go completely down for another 10-12 hours. This problem finally resolved itself after months of "Maintenace on the lines".  Here we are back to August 20024 and the no upload speed problem returned as my original post talks about.  The "shared Internet" I can see happening if it was just a gradual drop in speed as people start streaming one by one, however the speed is going from 49mbps upload to suddenly nothing. And there's no certain time of day or night it may be working as intended or not. Totally random.  The "node" sounds like the most likely culprit. Leaking seal allowing water to get in, bad connection in the box. If they would get me a bucket truck, I'd replace it myself, lol, free of charge, lol. Anyways, I got another ticket put in as I'm writing this to have the tech guy come back out. I'll let ya know how our conversation goes this time 🙂

[WanderingAries]

While the shared connection nature of cable IS an aspect that could easily be a component, the bigger contributors (aka business) should be isolated from (consumer) your lines. There is of course the local streamer who could be clogging things up, but even they are only likely exacerbating, not causing the issue.

 

For frame of reference, when we had DSL (until I pushed for cable), anytime it rained, their little shack of a local node here would drop (probably because it wasn't likely sealed properly), so yeah, that'll do it too. When I was up north, we had squirrels get into the close-to-the-house junction box and cause us to be down all weekend (bad for college kids).

 

If this continues much longer (and/or it looks like you're being pushed aside), then I'd push to have an outside (call the news?) source look into it as being an act of ineptness or bureaucracy (who really owns the lines / node causing the issue?!?). What it Feels like is that said point of failure is being managed by the next tier up the chain (of ownership) and They're dropping the ball.

[Marine X]

This kind of problem is becoming more and more common. Back in the day the ISPs were all phone companies, Public Utilities, governed by the Public Utilities Commission. If you had an ongoing issue, you could report it to the PUC and the ISP would be forced to resolve the issue or be fined till they did. Now we have all the Cable and Fiber based ISPs as the majority of the market share and they are considered Entertainment Providers, not Public Utilities and are not answerable to the PUC or anyone in particular. This will probably be addressed eventually but has not, at least where I am, so they don't tend to take service issues as seriously as they should.

[WanderingAries]

10 hours ago, Marine X said:

they are considered Entertainment Providers, not Public Utilities

 

Which in the modern world is BS because they're now essential services (for internet / phone)

[BigGotter]

I'm back in action. They replaced the node today. Speed test is showing 896mbps download and 60mbps upload. No more rubberbanding.  Thanks for everyone who commented on this topic. My tech guy thanks you, and he gets to keep his job. 

[BigGotter]

It's broken again. No upload speed and back to constant rubberbanding. Worked great for 3 hours before it went straight to nothing. I have been back on the phone with tech support tonight, and we went thru the checklist of unplugging the router/modem and disconnecting the coaxial cable for 10 minutes. They also tried "reprograming" the router. I suppose that's something like reverifying files.  After an hour of futile attempts, they had to give up and put in a ticket for a tech to come back out. 🤬

[biostem]

Dumb question - was a direct wired connection to the modem/gateway attempted?

[BigGotter]

Yes, my computers are hard wired to the modem. The problem with no upload speed is present on all my devices wired or wireless. The Maintenace Tech has already determined that the problem is on their line. There have been several other homes that have reported the same problem in the little town I live in.  I'm doing as much research as I can and have found a video that discusses "Competitor Back feed" going into the node from the home where the faulty equipment is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajFWM0RGEEA   I would expect the Mediacom tech that's trying to fix it to have training and access to the tools to troubleshoot and track something like this down.  Stay tuned for updates in a day or 6. Things move at the speed of snail around here.

 

[BigGotter]

I have working internet as of 30 min ago. Mediacom tech was working on the line early this morning. Don't know what they did, but it's working now. Let's see how long this lasts.

[BigGotter]

9 hours of perfect working internet and suddenly it went back to the same thing. No upload speed. 🤬

[BigGotter]

11/28/2024 Thursday, 5:30am. Upload speed is still at nothing. It starts to rain 30 minutes later and now I have perfect working internet. It rained off and on throughout the day and again Friday morning. Internet working perfect until 7pm. I was in a mission and suddenly everything stopped. Mapserve! I check internet status and its out completely. Few seconds later it comes back up. I log back in and after a few minutes, Mapserve! Internet is down again. When it came back up, I was able to run a test, and everything was perfect. I log back in and same thing happens about 7 more times. I finally give up and log out for the night. This morning, I ran a speed test before doing anything else and find that the upload speeds are back to nothing. Tech guy is scheduled to be here Sunday morning. Here we go again! 

[WanderingAries]

They Should have already confirmed working / replaced everything from the modem to the wire between the house and the local pole by now. So them coming out (given everything else) is nearly pointless short of doing a traceroute command (while it's out) to see where in the hops it's dropping. That should give the EXACT IP / location for where the failure is at that point in time. I say that because things don't Always take the same path depending on the complexity of connections between your house and the hubs as there could be alternate branches that the connection may take.

[WanderingAries]

IDK why it didn't come to mind before, but I'd highly suggest getting with everyone affected, customer wise, and ask the CS dept of the ISP about credits on your bill (if they're not already doing that on their own) due to the service impact. Enough of that tends to trigger a bell up the chain and may help 'encourage' them to get this dealt with. When we lost whole weekends due to squirrels getting into the local box, they would put a couple dollars' credit on the account that month. Since this has been happening for quite some time, then that would add up and the bean counters don't like when numbers go towards the red on their end.

[BigGotter]

Update, Mediacom tech was scheduled for December 1st but was a no show. Received an automated message later that evening that the appointment had been cancelled. Had to call them back and make a new appointment. December 8th is the next available time.🤬🤬 Billing is aware of the problems and have issued 2 month's worth of credit at least.  I took a little ride around town yesterday just to see if anybody was working on anything and just look for any obvious signs damaged lines etc.. What a mess! all kinds of wires dangling, cut, rewired, spliced, reconnected (maybe). Tennis shoes hanging, Kudzu climbing, Oak trees falling. Theres no business's left, everything shut down many years ago. Even the liquor store went out of business. Population 900 and declining. Just an old farming community down in Southwest Georgia that I call home. Anyways, there's a definite pattern to the problem that I'm tracking. Between 7pm-9pm it drops to nothing instantly (no upload speed) It stays like this until about 8am in which it starts slowly creeping up in speed as each hour passes, until 1pm at which its back to its correct upload speed. The only oddity is when it rains, the internet works perfect no matter what time it is but eventually reverts back to the same old problem a day after the rain stops. I'm not ready to give up yet. 

[lemming]

Hmm, wonder if there's some operation that runs at night that uploads security footage?

 

[WanderingAries]

1 hour ago, lemming said:

Hmm, wonder if there's some operation that runs at night that uploads security footage?

 

 

Or remote backup, etc. Something downstream may well just be clogging things up, but that would have to be a LOT of data. They'd have to know about it for sure as it would certainly trigger a network QOL quota.

[Calculator]

Based on your last update post, it really sounds like a bad connection going to the node - especially if the other affected people are on the same node.

 

I would recommend that your ISP provider test their lines during the period of outage rather than during the hours of 'normal' operation. (Yes, that means they'll have to be out after dark...)

 

And, if they don't know what a Time-Domain Reflectometer is..it might be time to introduce them 😉

[BigGotter]

Status update, nothing has changed. Still waiting on my scheduled appointment set for this coming Sunday for the Mediacom tech to come out again. Mediacom did send an automated message earlier this week saying they were conducting maintenance in town and the number of homes (55) to be affected by the outage. Later that evening Mediacom sends a message saying they have completed work and service has been restored. I immediately run a check and find nothing has changed. Mediacom then sends a message wanting to cancel my appointment. I guess the automated system thinks all pending open tickets have been resolved for this area. Of course I replied NO! Do not cancel!   Now, for some good news, I had perfect working internet upload speed around 74-85mbps last night. Here's the kicker, it started raining around 6pm right before it usually stops working. It rained for about 45 minutes, just a light shower. I actually got to team up and run a few missions with no rubberbanding. I get up this morning and check the internet speeds and as I expected, it was right back down to 0.39mbps upload speed. I'm wondering if the trees and vines that run up against the internet cable and overhead power lines could be causing a feedback. Then when it rains that feedback flows down the wet tree to ground allowing the internet to work only when it rains. I'll be talking to the tech guy Sunday about it if he ever shows up. lol.

[biostem]

It may be a dumb question at this point, but have you considered switching to a different provider?  Even some sort of home wifi via 4G/5G would be better at this point...

Edited December 6 by biostem

[WanderingAries]

21 hours ago, biostem said:

It may be a dumb question at this point, but have you considered switching to a different provider?  Even some sort of home wifi via 4G/5G would be better at this point...

 

They'd likely have poorer speeds with DSL / Satellite and any other cable provider would use the same backbone that their current one is using most likely, so the odds of the problem persisting are high. Which also makes me wonder WTF nobody's squashed this by now.