Down the ISP failure rabbit hole....

[schuck6566]

Well, 2 weeks of fairly regular outages with half a dozen techs coming out and finding nothing wrong. Here's what was ck'd and done to finally (we hope)get my internet reliable again. This started with internet going out around the same time each night for 6-12 hours,then POOF! back up.lol  Days I had outages in July= 7th,8th,9th,11th,12th,13th,17th,18th,19th,20th,21st.

 

#1 Tech(sub contractor)comes out,ck's my equipment (2 modems,1 ph & 1internet)and they are working so he ck's the connection at the box in our service room and it's working,hooks back up and no signal at equipment.Goes back,RE-hooks it up and has signal. Suggests there's an issues in the box OR with the AMP a couple floors below or the 1 above me(I'm between 2 line amps over 20 years old). Put it in his notes to ISP.

#2Next outage I contact provider and THEY say problem was solved. I tell them NOT! They say person came out next day and balanced my signal and reported the issue resolved and I note that 15mins before his time of the resolution report is when my internet & ph went out & stayed out. (He hooked me into the wrong lug apparently)

#3 Company tech arrives test my equipment,finds nothing wrong after ck'ing the box(he hooked me back into the correct lug) Tells me he has 25 years experience and doesn't want to hear what the 1st tech had to say.Tells me he doesn't pay attn to their notes and the 3rd party techs HAVE to send them.After his visit,supposedly fixed.

#4 City wide outages,damage to local lines,cause 4 day delay in getting next tech while they scramble to fix their crap.

#5 Next tech comes out after I've been complaining to a supervisor and replaces the 2 separate modems with 1 modem (1gb WiFi6 telephone) I ALSO find out from property manager that provider had a different tech on the 8th floor working there earlier that day(where the 1 amplifier is)If they replaced the amp is unknown.

#6 first 2 days of new modem had outages but seems to have leveled out now.Waiting to see what's next. 

 

#7 A side note,the new modem has a usb feature for hooking in printers,ect., and it screwed with the usb print feature on the netgear nighthawk router. Also the default address isn't a 192.xxx.x.x so had to enter the new default into the netgear software manually just to be able to log in and see the WiFi devices that were connecting. Anything to make life easy....

Edited July 25, 2022 by schuck6566
corrected dates.

[Sir Beregond]

4 minutes ago, schuck6566 said:

#2Next outage I contact provider and THEY say problem was solved. I tell them NOT!

 

This gets me.

 

"Hi, I am calling to report that my internet service is down."

 

"No it's not, we solved it."

 

Really, I had nothing better to do then to call you guys?

[schuck6566]

2 minutes ago, Sir Beregond said:

 

This gets me.

 

"Hi, I am calling to report that my internet service is down."

 

"No it's not, we solved it."

 

Really, I had nothing better to do then to call you guys?

lol, My provider is changing their name on Aug1,  they're STILL owned by Altice but they will have a different name now. The company name currently being used has 2 class action lawsuits against them in 2 diff states and had a settlement awarded against them for 2.2 million in WV for unsafe practices.

They had a Tweet that said "Here's what Blank wants you to know"and goes on to show 1 of the reviews they have posted "What's a positive experience I had with Optimum Employees?" "The technician who installed my service was on time and professional" People tore that up saying it was the minimum you should be able to expect in customer service not a positive aspect. Then I responded with

[pio]

This was one of the reasons I ended up going with multiple ISP's and bonding them together with failover.  That sucks man.  Hope you've got it all sorted out.  Do you have any backup options?  What about LTE?

[schuck6566]

15 hours ago, pioneerisloud said:

This was one of the reasons I ended up going with multiple ISP's and bonding them together with failover.  That sucks man.  Hope you've got it all sorted out.  Do you have any backup options?  What about LTE?

lol, ATT offers a whopping 1Mb DSL in my area and T-Mobile isn't sure yet??? if they're in my area(a high rise issue),a new fiber provider is coming to the city but starting on the OTHER side(of course) and even then don't know if they will do the high rise when/if they do this side of town.Starlink isn't coming until possibly 2023...

[Sir Beregond]

Sounds like where I grew up. You had dial up, satellite (which really sucked), or ISDN before DSL showed up for a whopping 1.5mbps down, but that was an upgrade. 

[pio]

8 hours ago, schuck6566 said:

lol, ATT offers a whopping 1Mb DSL in my area and T-Mobile isn't sure yet??? if they're in my area(a high rise issue),a new fiber provider is coming to the city but starting on the OTHER side(of course) and even then don't know if they will do the high rise when/if they do this side of town.Starlink isn't coming until possibly 2023...

 

No, what I meant was actually using an LTE service, would that be an option?  I know that's sometimes frowned upon, but you can get cheap plans from MVNO's like say Straight Talk for AT&T and pop that sim card into an LTE router.  I've heard of businesses using this type of service before, so I went ahead and tried it out myself because of similar issues you're having.  I ended up having the best of luck with Verizon myself, so I just found a cheap MVNO plan and stuffed it into an LTE router.  Have that wired up as my backup ISP in case my other line goes down.  I was using it as my daily ISP for a few months.  Once you get the kinks worked out, it does work.  You just have limited data is all, just like a cell phone.

[schuck6566]

8 hours ago, pioneerisloud said:

 

No, what I meant was actually using an LTE service, would that be an option?  I know that's sometimes frowned upon, but you can get cheap plans from MVNO's like say Straight Talk for AT&T and pop that sim card into an LTE router.  I've heard of businesses using this type of service before, so I went ahead and tried it out myself because of similar issues you're having.  I ended up having the best of luck with Verizon myself, so I just found a cheap MVNO plan and stuffed it into an LTE router.  Have that wired up as my backup ISP in case my other line goes down.  I was using it as my daily ISP for a few months.  Once you get the kinks worked out, it does work.  You just have limited data is all, just like a cell phone.

And there lies my issue, it's the data I need because we stream everything. All tv is streamed from either Sling or some other source Plus Kodi and wifes gaming. According to Suddenlink's own graph here I've used 108.2Gb of Data in about 72 hours. When this goes down,it's during prime time (usually from around 3:30 p.m to 2:00 a.m sometimes not until 6p.m.) So I'm looking at anywhere from 6-12 hours PER outage that I'd be streaming off the LTE service. I was lucky that tonights was only from 9:45 p.m. to 1:00 a.m so wasn't too bad just watching DVD's. Here's an idea of my Data usage monthly....

[pio]

6 minutes ago, schuck6566 said:

And there lies my issue, it's the data I need because we stream everything. All tv is streamed from either Sling or some other source Plus Kodi and wifes gaming. According to Suddenlink's own graph here I've used 108.2Gb of Data in about 72 hours. When this goes down,it's during prime time (usually from around 3:30 p.m to 2:00 a.m sometimes not until 6p.m.) So I'm looking at anywhere from 6-12 hours PER outage that I'd be streaming off the LTE service. I was lucky that tonights was only from 9:45 p.m. to 1:00 a.m so wasn't too bad just watching DVD's. Here's an idea of my Data usage monthly....

I used 450GB on my Verizon MVNO last month before I was able to get a cable line in.  

[ENTERPRISE]

Ahh yes, the infamous ISP. 

 

I have had a fair share of run in with these guys. I wont bore you with all of them, but one that still tickles me to this day was when I was on ADSL Broadband. I had issues with disconnections to the exchange and rubbish speeds, as these connections rely on copper phonelines I always run the listen check. I plugged in my old school landline phone to listen for line noise/crackles. Low and behold, it was a very noisy line. 

 

I called the ISP to report the issue, of course I have to run through all the diagnostics with them while they are on the line, even though I have already done as such...but I understand they have to do this. They run a line test and call me back. However they tell me my line is fine and no faults detected. I explained to them that they either tested the wrong line or there is something funky with their diagnostics as I can HEAR the issues on the line. 

 

All in all it took a while to convince them to send out an engineer. I actually had to take a recording of the noisy line and play it back to them to make them believe me. My question as always was, why would I be spending my time calling them if I was not experiencing problems lol. 

 

Ultimately the engineer came out, checked the local exchange and low and behold an engineer who had visited recently to make a change for another customer had semi knocked out my connection in the exchange.  

 

However this story is a very common one this is probably the Nth time I have had this issue, or I have helped a relative/friend with the same issue. 

[schuck6566]

On 27/07/2022 at 02:16, pioneerisloud said:

I used 450GB on my Verizon MVNO last month before I was able to get a cable line in.  

The problem with cell as a back up is I'd have to have an unlimited data cell plan, that would cost me MORE than I currently pay for my Internet/home ph plan because the ACP knocks $30.00 a month of my internet bill.

On 27/07/2022 at 04:10, ENTERPRISE said:

Ahh yes, the infamous ISP. 

 

I have had a fair share of run in with these guys. I wont bore you with all of them, but one that still tickles me to this day was when I was on ADSL Broadband. I had issues with disconnections to the exchange and rubbish speeds, as these connections rely on copper phonelines I always run the listen check. I plugged in my old school landline phone to listen for line noise/crackles. Low and behold, it was a very noisy line. 

 

I called the ISP to report the issue, of course I have to run through all the diagnostics with them while they are on the line, even though I have already done as such...but I understand they have to do this. They run a line test and call me back. However they tell me my line is fine and no faults detected. I explained to them that they either tested the wrong line or there is something funky with their diagnostics as I can HEAR the issues on the line. 

 

All in all it took a while to convince them to send out an engineer. I actually had to take a recording of the noisy line and play it back to them to make them believe me. My question as always was, why would I be spending my time calling them if I was not experiencing problems lol. 

 

Ultimately the engineer came out, checked the local exchange and low and behold an engineer who had visited recently to make a change for another customer had semi knocked out my connection in the exchange.  

 

However this story is a very common one this is probably the Nth time I have had this issue, or I have helped a relative/friend with the same issue. 

lol,they're coming BACK today because even after the new equipment on my end, the last 2 nights have had outages as usual.This is the 3rd time I've had a rep admit it sounds like the issue is somewhere in the line or THEIR amplifiers but I can never get the techs to run diagnostics from street to the lug where I connect(I'm in a highrise).There are several amps divided between the floors of the building,I figure if the 1 below me is flaking out like a vid card with a weak cap it might be causing my issue. Everythings fine until the heat gets too much for it (late afternoon,early eve no cooling in the room it's located) Comes back after it starts cooling off Early a.m. But what do I know?

Edited July 28, 2022 by schuck6566

[Sir Beregond]

I have two ISP choices basically. Centurylink or Comcast (XFinity). I refuse to get Comcast even though it could be faster (at least according to their site). Centurylink ADSL might be slow by comparison, but I never have data caps with them. $55/mo. for 40 Mbps down/1.5 Mbps up. Would be nice if they ran Fiber. My buddy gets Fiber from them for $75/mo. I think, and has 1 Gbps down/up.

 

My only complaint is with multiple users on the net, really have to use a net limiter or any built in download limiters when downloading huge games or something so it doesn't make everyone else slower than molasses.

 

Outside of that though, its generally been pretty reliable and while I have experience downtimes, sometimes lengthy, those are usually rare.

[schuck6566]

Well, we'll see if this is the miracle fix,part of the amp or transformer got replaced in the building this morning before the guy got here. He didn't want to get too plain with me after I told him my theories on the heat in the rooms with the amps & he said that wouldn't effect them,then said a weak part would show in the line test, THEN office called him back after he called to inquire about my outage between 11:15 & 11:47 and they called him back & told him about the other tech replacing the unit in my building at that time because several OTHER modems were also having the same issue when they traced them in the building. But,yeah,customers don't know what they're talking about. lol  Edit: Only outages so far have been Storm/power related and has come right back up as soon as it ran it's power cycle, and my speed actually is faster on this modem even with the storm. Wife has double the speed on her xbox1s on this modem/router wifi compared to the netgear nighthawk being hooked up, and here's results for my comp wired direct also.(this modem has 2 lan out puts,1 for me,1 going to 4 port switch in bedroom )   I pay for 400Mbps down & 40Mbps up. first I've gotten past 39 up in forever.

Edited July 29, 2022 by schuck6566

[schuck6566]

Just an update, Optimum keeps calling to offer me internet upgrade to 1Gb up/down for $20 a month more because they are laying fiber.BUT they can't answer if that would just be to a trunk somewhere on the buildings property that the whole building would feed off like the current cable does or if they'd be running new lines in the building. Back when they were Cox they originally ran the cable lines to all the apt's in this building but now the lines/equipment are over 20 years old. Seems like it'd be like taking the motor outta 1 of the new chargers or Mustangs and bolting it up to an old 3 on the tree and expecting to get the same type of performance the Charger/Mustang had.  Oh,and on the web page,the 1Gb plan says 1Gb down/25Mbps up. lol When I pointed that out to the caller,he said that was for the old cable 1Gb service. Think I'll stick with my 400/40 for now 'till I can see a need for greater speed AND see they have dependable service with the fiber here.

[Cerberus]

i wish google fiber would offer 10/10

 

lol

[pio]

Glad you got things sorted out @schuck6566.  I was finally able to get cable again not too long ago, 300 / 10.  I hear you on the ACP thing, I use that to get my Verizon cell service for free.  Look into Visible, and look into LTE routers.  Also look into TTL settings.  I can't say much more than that, as they technically frown upon it (although its not illegal since businesses use those types of things).  There's also AT&T and T Mobile options too for high data caps / unlimited.  With as often as my Spectrum goes down, I'm happy to have a backup ISP, dedicated VPN, and dedicated ad blocker right at my gateway.   

 

400 down / 40 up is pretty decent service though.  I think Spectrum offers a similar package, but here its $80 / month.  The one I'm on is only $50.  I could certainly use the upload speed, but since nobody that's using my upload helps pay for the connection, they can deal with slower speeds.   

Edited August 27, 2022 by pioneerisloud

[schuck6566]

lol, And once again the internet is in and out with the high temps. At least it's going with the over 100degrees days this year.

[ENTERPRISE]

1 hour ago, schuck6566 said:

lol, And once again the internet is in and out with the high temps. At least it's going with the over 100degrees days this year.

Mod it with a fan!

[schuck6566]

15 hours ago, ENTERPRISE said:

Mod it with a fan!

It's in the room of the highrise where the lines for the floors come off the main trunk line running up the building. There are 11 floors and 3 signal amps in 3 of the 10 rooms that over heat.(basicly electrical closets and janitor storage rooms) We're not allowed to even go in there,let alone make changes to the building. I've recommended an air intake at bottom of door with exhaust fan in top of wall on side of room just to move the hottest air out but nothing gets done by management.

[ENTERPRISE]

4 hours ago, schuck6566 said:

It's in the room of the highrise where the lines for the floors come off the main trunk line running up the building. There are 11 floors and 3 signal amps in 3 of the 10 rooms that over heat.(basicly electrical closets and janitor storage rooms) We're not allowed to even go in there,let alone make changes to the building. I've recommended an air intake at bottom of door with exhaust fan in top of wall on side of room just to move the hottest air out but nothing gets done by management.

Oh right, I thought it was your own personal router, but yeah I can see how that would be a problem.