Too Many TCP/UDP In Netstat - Charter Cable Internet

[jmwpom3]

I have been having speed issues recently with Charter. I was always getting a steady 20M down/ 1M up for a long time. Recently, it's been fluctuating greatly and sometimes grinding to a halt altogether. There were some line issues that were fixed by Charter. But I"m still seeing my numbers drop down lower than I'm paying for. (especially the upload @~ .2M - .9m Up)

Anyway, contacted support at charter and they worked out the issues on their end, but problem not fixed. They had me run netstat -an and I got somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 tcp and 40 udp instances, and sometimes more. According to them I am not supposed to have more than about 12 each, any more than that was an issue. They told me that was the issue and that I needed to contact "The Computer Manufacturer". I thought that was funny since I put the system together. She says, "Call Microsoft and I"m sure they can help you." ROFL

Issue is that I am not familiar with this particular issue with the ports so I'm asking if anyone has ideas to work this out. Charter's girl told me that it was spyware that needed to be cleaned. I downloaded thier package of anti-virus/spyware/firewall package, ran them, ran spybot & adaway as well as CCleaner. (registry/temp file cleanup)

I still have the issues, with or without the router. Sometimes steady 20-30MB dl / 1m up. Other times UP drops as low as 256K-ish and ping moves from 10-20 up to 60-100.
Thanks in advance for your help.
System specs below:


i5 760
2x2gb ripjaws @1600
gigabyte p55a-ud3
windows 7 home premium 64 bit
Motorola surfboard 6120 docsis 3.0 modem
Linksys/Cisco e2000 wirless-n router

 

[Guest]

I would try here http://www.dslreports.com/forum/charter since there are more knowledgeable Charter employees on that forum.

 

[jmwpom3]

Thanks Grumpy,
I'll see if I can repost there as well. But, after my recent, multiple, failed attempts with Charter's customer service/tech support people, I was hoping someone here might have a suggestion on how to work out the issue. Maybe someone's had this issue and knows a quick way to figure out which ports need to be turned off and how to go about getting a better diagnosis than, "you have too many"? I don't know if it's an issue with Windows 7, the modem, or even my router? I had a thought that maybe it has something to do with the way the router and the way it assigns ip/dns numbers?? Again, not my are of expertise. (a situation I'm hoping to improve in dealing with this problem)

 

[Guest]

I have Charter in my area as well as my computer service business and never heard more BS from supposed techs then from the ones from Charter. I just checked my Windows 7 computer and I have about 80 TCP & 80 UDP connections and my Charter internet works. Charter never wants to admit it's their problem.

 

[jmwpom3]

I have Charter in my area as well as my computer service business and never heard more BS from supposed techs then from the ones from Charter. I just checked my Windows 7 computer and I have about 80 TCP & 80 UDP connections and my Charter internet works. Charter never wants to admit it's their problem.

LOL
Obviously. If they'd just take responsibility for the issue and work it out, then I wouldn't be asknig for help with random port monitoring. I mean, como on... they told me to "Call Microsoft and they'll help you with the problem." Really? What alternate universe do you live in?

And, yeah, I can't find anything else online anywhere stating that you should have X number of TCP/UDP instances in netstat. You'd think if that were a real enough problem to put in their troubleshooting phone scripts, that someone other than me would've also had this problem. It's working today for me fine with all the "extra" port listening. It just doesn't stay that way.

Thanks for the time.

Anyone else who'd care to chime in on the issue, I'd still like to at least have some ammo to fire back at their tech support people next time I call.

Thanks.

 

[Guest]

I once had a Charter Tech tell me she "really didn't know a lot about computers"!

 

[lilcinw]

Open a command prompt as an administrator (Vista/Win 7) and run netstat -abn. I just ran that and IE has 50 tcp connections.

Maybe 12 open connections was accurate when hampster dance was new but I would be willing to bet that windows services and background updaters break that as soon as windows boots.

It sounds like they have oversold your local cable hub and don't want to drop more lines to your neighborhood.

 

[jmwpom3]

@Grumpy:
Yeah, I had to explain to the last girl that there shouldn't be any reason to EVER turn off/restart the modem.(or the computer for that matter) Her thing was that I need to turn it off every night and only turn it on when you are on the computer. Why? Because the modem gets hot. LOL No matter what I said I couldn't convince here that this was complete BS. I paid for a 24/7 "ALWAYS ON" internet connection. And, in the middle of the night is usually when they send system updates, according to every other tech that I spoke with. I even have had 2 seperate in house service calls on the matter: they both said the problem is not on my end but in the lines somewhere.

@lilcinw
That sounds about right, overselling the local hub. The whole thing is probably just what they use in their sales script when the client won't buy their usual BS.

 

[Kewlx25]

connections doesn't mean data being actively transfered. You can have an idle connection opened that only sends a keep-alive/heart-beat packet every minute.

The real question is how much data is being transfered in/out of your computer. If you have Win7, just get the free Network Wiget. It'll let you know much much you're transferring.

As for "connections", I've had over 4000 connections opened while doing P2P and I could still play video games. Opened connections don't mean crap.

 

[jmwpom3]

connections doesn't mean data being actively transfered. You can have an idle connection opened that only sends a keep-alive/heart-beat packet every minute.

The real question is how much data is being transfered in/out of your computer. If you have Win7, just get the free Network Wiget. It'll let you know much much you're transferring.

As for "connections", I've had over 4000 connections opened while doing P2P and I could still play video games. Opened connections don't mean crap.

I do have Win7 and I will give that gadget a try.
Thanks

 

[jmwpom3]

Thanks guys. I'm sure it's just charter. I am slowly getting back to norm.
THanks for the replies. If you have anything else to say or add, please do.

 

[jmwpom3]

Best answer selected by jmwpom3.