I need a little help troubleshooting a network issue. I get these random dropouts, the connection is still live but there's no upload or download. This lasts for a few seconds then the dl/ul goes back up to the max connection speed. This cycle continues, on and on.



If I run a ping the ping timeouts coincide with the valleys in the image.

It's usually not infuriatingly bad but it can make watching youtube videos a chore. If it hits a valley at the wrong time during the load ahead pause sometimes it won't recover.

The one surefire thing to trigger the behavior, loading a website while the connection is busy doing something else. I've tried a DNS flush, I've tried changing DNS servers, neither works.

This has gone on for years, I've adjusted to living with it but I'd rather not. Full disclaimer, I don't know the first thing about running a trace (other than tracert), so I haven't done that.

[Edited on June 17, 2015 at 9:32 AM. Reason : -]

6/17/2015 9:23:23 AM

Does this happen on any of the other computers in your house/apartment?

Have you replaced your router since this started?

[Edited on June 17, 2015 at 9:45 AM. Reason : another question]

6/17/2015 9:34:07 AM

Oops, sorry, I didn't provide all the details.

1) Yes, I've replaced the router. Same problem as before.
2) Yes, this is on every device that's connected. Both wired and wireless.

6/17/2015 10:07:50 AM

Has your Cable/DSL modem been replaced, too?
What does your ISP say about this traffic loss when you call their support?

Are you with TWC? What kind of equipment do you have?

Many times there are signal and error logs you can access. I'd be interested to see them.

[Edited on June 17, 2015 at 10:28 AM. Reason : If you're TWC, the logs might be at 192.168.100.1]

6/17/2015 10:12:25 AM

Quote :

"Has your Cable/DSL modem been replaced, too?"

The original setup was a linksys router hooked up to their modem. I swapped equipment because the ISP claimed it was the issue. The current modem has a built in router/wireless so I boxed up the linksys. Same problem.

Quote :

"What does your ISP say about this traffic loss when you call their support?"

They haven't been very helpful. The modem was supposed to be the issue. Nope. A few times I've heard them say that they had too much juice going down the line. That's me paraphrasing, I don't know enough about it. Think: they throttle me down to 1.5 Mbps but the line is trying to force down 6.

On one instance they reset something remotely, the problem went away for an hour or two, then came back.

[Edited on June 17, 2015 at 10:36 AM. Reason : -]

6/17/2015 10:30:17 AM

AT&T. Here are the stats:

                                        To Gateway   To Internet
Max Allowed Speed (kbps)     1472             256 
SN Margin (dB)                    27.0             17.0 
Line Attenuation (dB)           27.4             18.0
Loss of Signal                     0                  1 
Loss of Frame                     0                  0 
CRC Errors                          1                 0 

6/17/2015 10:31:57 AM

Yes, I'm back with the dinosaurs on my internet speeds. The thing is, I've been reluctant to up the speeds (and the bill) if this problem is going to continue. Why pay more and still have the exact same streaming problems? If it drops out it drops out no matter the speed.

6/17/2015 10:37:33 AM

Those numbers look fine to me.

What's this line quality test look like for you?
http://www.dslreports.com/pingtest

6/17/2015 10:48:24 AM

http://oi59.tinypic.com/14o0j93.jpg

Link to image due to size.

No red flags when running the test against the gateway.

Edits:
Rerunning the test on the router IP, 0% loss. It's hit and miss.

Here's one of the tables from the second 0% run:

Hop	Host	LOSS	Best	Avg	Worst	Jitter
0						
1	100.64.16.175	0.0%	0.5	0.5	0.8	0.1
2	205.251.245.231	0.0%	0.8	1.1	3.1	0.4
3	54.239.108.94	0.0%	0.9	5.2	26.7	4.4
4	54.239.108.77	0.0%	0.9	1.3	3.1	0.5
5	ae-10.r05.asbnva02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net
note: this hop has shown 100 icmp loss over the last 14 days.	0.0%	1.0	1.3	2.9	0.3
6	192.205.37.53	0.0%	2.3	5.0	14.5	1.8
7	cr1.wswdc.ip.att.net
note: this hop has shown 80 icmp loss over the last 14 days.	0.0%	11.4	13.2	15.3	1.3
8	cr2.rlgnc.ip.att.net	0.0%	11.8	13.9	15.7	1.4
9	12.123.138.166	0.0%	11.7	13.9	15.6	1.4
10	12.81.56.1	0.0%	11.6	13.5	15.8	1.4
11	12.81.56.27	0.0%	11.2	11.5	17.9	0.5
12	72.157.44.3	0.0%	11.8	12.7	36.3	1.5
13	72.157.44.52	0.0%	11.6	11.7	12.2	0.1
14	(TARGET IP ADDRESS)	1.7%	20.4	22.0	59.2	2.0

6/17/2015 11:04:16 AM

It seems like you've done everything to troubleshoot your end. Maybe ISP has a bad card or a bad port and resetting clears it up for a bit. 1.5 is very antiquated I would probably call them and request the upgrade but if you experience the same issues I would tell them to fix or look at another provider. That's assuming you have at least one other choice. (The goal isn't necessarily to leave them but to actually get someone to do more than throw modems and reset commands at you and to actually roll a truck and/or get someone to the CO).

For years my god man how do you live with that? I get annoyed when i get like 3 dropped packets in a row every other month.

6/17/2015 1:08:49 PM

I would shoot myself in the face with speeds like that.

Get a TWC basic package and come with us to a land of reasonable speeds sporadically interrupted by outages.

6/17/2015 1:47:39 PM

This could be due to a loose wire or connection.

6/17/2015 2:31:46 PM

When I first bought a SB6141 modem, I was losing connection every 30 minutes or so. I was about to return it, then figured I'd try using the shitty network cable that came with it. Swapped it with the one I was using (which was the same type and still works fine), and I've never had an issue since. Might be worth a shot if you haven't replaced those cables yet.

[Edited on June 18, 2015 at 1:03 PM. Reason : .]

6/18/2015 1:02:21 PM