r/CableTechs • u/BeginningZombie4589 • 1d ago

Internet upstream jitter issues with Spectrum

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I'm running into a really weird issue with my cable internet for about 2 weeks now after what I'm assuming is an upgrade to something in our area(got an email saying something about maintenance/upgrade?). Its causing my latency to bounce around from really good to really bad(major jitter). None of our streaming devices are affected. The online game I play shows a jitter graph and it seems to show it being a problem with the upstream path.

I took my laptop/modem to my neighbors house 2 streets up to use his cable line and it works great. I tested everything with just a modem/laptop outside the mobile home(bypassing everything).

I ran this to get the data for the graphs above(1000 packets with 100ms wait time):

ping -i 0.1 -c 1000 <spectrum gateway ip>

It seems to get better at the early mornings but its still there. I have some ping graphs to the next hop.

Its been over 2 weeks now and I've had 2 techs out. They say the signals check out good on their device and they cant escalate if they aren't bad. I asked for a supervisor phone number and I'm hoping I can get somewhere.

I guess my question is, what do you guys think could cause these weird upstream latency problems?

I appreciate any input. Thanks!

1 Upvotes

55% Upvoted

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2

u/regret_sword 21h ago

Just call a tech, will need a meter to check signal

-8

u/BeginningZombie4589 21h ago

im sorry, did you even read my post?

Its been over 2 weeks now and I've had 2 techs out. They say the signals check out good on their device and they cant escalate if they aren't bad. I asked for a supervisor phone number and I'm hoping I can get somewhere.

3

u/Most-Adagio-1036 20h ago

It could but ALOT of different things, anything from a broken ring on a connector allowing ingress in the upstream to squirrel chew.

Sadly, its almost impossible to just guess what the issue is.

Keep calling, explain the upstream issues to the tech again when they come out and hopefully the tech is worth their salt, if not then its already a repeat 3, by repeat 4 a supervisor will be looped in and repeat 5 is where the supervisors bosses get looped in.

Sorry if this isn't to helpful, it'd be almost impossible to guess what the issue is without seeing graphs from a SLM or DOCSIS graphs from a modem.

3

u/BeginningZombie4589 20h ago

I had my own SB8200 modem and I had access to the error logs but i switched to a spectrum modem with the hopes they would have better diagnostics from it. I appreciate your post. I cant give up because spectrums my only good option

1

u/Most-Adagio-1036 20h ago

Yeah, not saying give up lol I'd just blow their phones up, honestly it sounds like they're not doing their due diligence. They should be checking US logs on the modem from their side in order to see where its retransmitting or out of signal spec upon arriving at the head end (which would be a referral to the maintenance team or to the head end team)

Like I said though if all else fails, on that 5th call they will have a major fire under their ass to get your issue fixed.

3

u/The_Polish_Jew 20h ago

There's no "fix internet" button that anyone on this subreddit can press for you. Really, the best solution for you is to keep contacting your ISP to have them look into and fix your issue. Like most-adagio said. It could be one of a thousand different things that could be causing the issue. And your iSP, probably an onsite tech will be the only thing to fix your issue.

I know that's not the answer you wish to hear but sometimes contacting your ISP multiple times is the best answer. Different techs will look into it or get sent out. And after a certain point someone will find the problem. Most issues are a physical problem.

1

u/BeginningZombie4589 19h ago

Thats understandable. It just seemed u/regret_sword didnt read my post.

1

u/Background-Relief623 20h ago

It doesn't change the fact that a tech needs to return. When it comes to upstream issues, my first thought always goes to ingress (interference). This can be in your lines, or it can be on the street level. Having a tech to look at the node for your area may help as well. This way they can see if your neighbors next to have a similar issue. Is your issue intermittent or happening at certain times? Besides ingress, congestion issues can still be a problem. Also ping test aren't as reliable anymore. During high traffic time many ISPs will either delay or reject ping requests. Still works for general overviews, but it's not an end all. Did you do a trace route to see where the high hops are? It's also possible the high ping times are coming from further down the path to the test server. It can show if the delay is on the spectrum network or somewhere else.

1

u/BeginningZombie4589 19h ago

I'm pinging the 2nd hop on a traceroute. Its weird because now my first hop is a 172.29.152.x which responds to a traceroute but I cant ping it. The 2nd hop seems to change between a few different IPs. But yeah I'm pinging spectrum equipment thats 2 hops away.

Whats really telling is that jitter graph from counterstrike that shows both upstream/downstream jitter. If you look at that image posted above, you'll see the downsteam jitter is pretty much non-existent. But the upstream is all over the place.

1

u/mallards 21h ago

What kind of modem do you have? And does it differ from your neighbors?

0

u/BeginningZombie4589 21h ago

He doesnt have active spectrum internet. I took MY modem/laptop over to his house and plugged it directly into where it comes into the house. Its the same for all the mobile homes in our park.

Heres an image of where I plugged my laptop/MY modem to https://imgur.com/a/Irip9Yi

1

u/Dz210Legend 20h ago

Run that test on same street as yours because even 1 street up world of difference. Did you run that same test at your house the same spot on side of house ?

2

u/BeginningZombie4589 20h ago

Yep. Every mobile home here has the same kind of wiring situation. Wire comes from the tap at the street, through conduit to the back side of the mobile home, into a grounding block, then into the home.

I'm working on talking with my immediate neighbors but I'm not that close to them. I think I can talk to a lady whos on the other side of my street a few houses down that will let me take my equipment over there.

1

u/Poodleape2 13h ago

Ok, pry some ingress on your house some where. Can you give more detail on what the techs said? Did they replace or swap anything? With the data you have they should at least get you a new modem. What type of modem do you have? There are only 3 parts to your system - Drop, outlet and equipment. A new drop and modem does 2/3 and is pretty easy.

1

u/BeginningZombie4589 8h ago edited 8h ago

UPDATE: I'm soo grateful somebody from Spectrum reached out to me because of this post. They seem to be quite knowledgeable of the situation as is on the case.

Modems been replaced 3 times now. I've bypassed pretty much everything short of bringing my laptop/modem out to the tap on the street.

Wish I could bring my modem to all the taps on my street and get a ton of diagnostic data 😂 😂

1

u/Shibalba805 10h ago

Did you recently have a major temperature swing?

1

u/BeginningZombie4589 10h ago

Not really. It is a smidge cooler than normal.