Cable Modem Loses Synch - Need more ideas!

Raevynwillow

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Mar 6, 2014
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K so i got cable a few weeks ago, and it worked..for a few days, then randomly it dc's and attempts to re-synch with cox (i am in kansas). For a few days i put up with it, it didn't happen a lot but it got frustrating after awhile.

Finally i called cox up, they had me come down and swap out the modem, was one of their "self install" ones. fine. gave me a newer netgear one. came back home, fired it up...internet not working...at all, nothing.

Call back to cox (they were great customer support mind you, no complaints there) sent a tech out to take a look at lines etc. 1st tech came out, did some tests, he ended up running a new line from pole, re-wired, and the signal was so strong and good now, he put a attenuator (filter) on the modem, to keep the signal in check, all was good...he left...internet worked fine for another day or so, then back to square one. Sigh.

so then i call up again, and this time i spent a good hour with a lady, on tier 2 support (hey moving on up!) and we did bunch of stuff, finally we couldn't get it working again right, so sent a 2nd tech out (yesterday)

ok so this guy knew a little more than 1st tech, he did all the testing, everything was good, he even tested it from the wall, and from outside directly to the modem, and he replaced the only piece outside that hadn't been, the cable from the box, to the connector to the wire (that the coax inside my house plugs into)...everything was great! was on internet no disconnects all night, most of the morning...till...an hour ago

It works way way better, but still not 100%, as once in awhile it STILL drops and re-connects for some reason, basically it drops out, attempts to re-synch with cox, fails, re-attempts...in a cycle, fortunately today it has re-connected fast and working great again, but the fact that its still doing it...is unacceptable

Earlier when it did it, the lights didnt even fall off, it dropped just long enough to give me a page cant be displayed, and my netflix had to re-buffer, 30 seconds later we were back up...an hour passed or so, and out of nowhere, complete drop, that lasted a good 2-3 min, and now i am up again stable for 30 min as i write this forum post

So having replaced every single piece from me to the pole, new modem, checked power (plugged into another outlet, into a surge protector etc) new cables (havent replaced ethernet ones though) I'm not really wanting to tell the lady who is going to be calling me today for a callback to make sure its working right that its not, but i mean this is just weird

Anyone else have any other ideas? signal strength perfect, new equipment, new wiring, everything in between, and it still drops once in awhile, its 95% more solid than yesterday, but if i can get it to not drop at all, ever like its supposed to, that would be great.

I built 2 brand new pc's, windows 7 on one, windows 8.1 on the other, when it works, it works great, the motherboard in these pc's is a Asrock Z87 Fatality edition, it has a "Killer" Ethernet gaming deal that lowers pings in online games, thats only thing i can think of that may be interfering but i doubt that, as the lady on phone said it was def the modem, so i dont know.

/frustrated in kansas
 
as your posted sounds like your in an older home. did any of the techs look at the inside wires and splitters???
here on the east cost comcast want the cable modem on the first splitter that comes into the home. the other issue could be a bad box in the home. the other issue could be the isp hardware that your connecting to is getting over loaded or has an issue i would see there another local hub that they can have your modem connect to. (cable isp dont give you a fixed ip info it ramdom to the local hardware.).
 

navysealbrian

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Jan 18, 2006
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Several years ago there was a freak snow storm during the end of October while there were still leaves on the trees, no surprise there were a few utility poles down. Long story short, the poles were fixed up, but I noticed that my connection wasn't 100% normal on my cable internet connection. When it it wet outside, the connection was horrible. After some quick testing, I found out I was getting some packet loss, up to 4% of packets were being lost. I went and did a visual inspection of the lines down my street, particular where one pole snapped in half, and found there was a crack in the black casing of one of the wires. My ISP sent a total of 3 technicians to my house over a span of a week, they replaced various things, similar to you, but the problem still persisted. Here's the messed up part, I told the technicians about the crack in the line casing down the street and it wasn't until the third one actually forwarded that information down to the line repair guys. Well, once that crack was patched up, my packet loss was gone and my connection was normal again. This issue was up my street, several houses away.
You might be having a similar issue. Insist on having them check the lines going down your road. If you know of any recent repairs or poles that went down, let them know specifically where. Also just walk along the poles and just look at it yourself, take note of it and keep calling them until they fix it.