Metrocast Question

jetskier · 05-22-2007, 12:32 PM

My internet connection appears to display a rather odd behavior and I was wondering whether anyone else saw this with Metrocast.

When I reset my cable modem and wireless router the access speed is good. I have used the Metrocast speed test and I am getting about 6Mbps download speed. However, as I let the connection sit, it gets slower and slower and slower. I looked at the wireless router and I am the only one on the connection. I have not tried bypassing the wireless router but this seems like an issue with Metrocast (I will try bypassing the router). If I reset the cable modem and wireless router, the connection returns to decent performance.

Has anyone experienced this one with Metrocast.

Thanx in advance!
Jetskier

onthebay · 05-22-2007, 12:37 PM

I have the same issue with my wireless router. Once I reset it is fine but it does get anoying.

jetskier · 05-22-2007, 12:46 PM

Have you been able to determine whether the issue is the router or the Metrocast infrastructure?

RI Swamp Yankee · 05-22-2007, 08:47 PM

The wireless router is the problem. With a wired connection, all those data packets flow right into your computer. With a wireless connection the data packets get stuck on the antenna and have no place to go.

BTW, the same thing happens with my Lynksys from time to time and I am on Cox in RI.

jetskier · 05-22-2007, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RI Swamp Yankee

The wireless router is the problem. With a wired connection, all those data packets flow right into your computer. With a wireless connection the data packets get stuck on the antenna and have no place to go.

BTW, the same thing happens with my Lynksys from time to time and I am on Cox in RI.

OK, I am going to use the Ethernet port directly on the cable modem as a test when I get back to the lake. It sounds like the prime implicant is the wireless router.

My father once brought his car to a local mechanic with an electrical problem. The mechanic tried to start the car and nothing happened. He told my father to wait a minute...it takes a little while for the electrons to fill the wires. My father took the car elsewhere.

Lakegeezer · 05-23-2007, 07:14 AM

I had a similar problem on my TWC/Adelphia cable connection. No difference if it was wireless or wired (I keep my antenna greased). When I disabled some of the router firewall options, the problem went away. Give it a shot.

My unproven theory is that now that Firefox and IE browsers block pop-ups, those connections get stuck in the router, and (to use a non-technical term), bog it down.

jetskier · 05-23-2007, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lakegeezer

I had a similar problem on my TWC/Adelphia cable connection. No difference if it was wireless or wired (I keep my antenna greased). When I disabled some of the router firewall options, the problem went away. Give it a shot.

My unproven theory is that now that Firefox and IE browsers block pop-ups, those connections get stuck in the router, and (to use a non-technical term), bog it down.

Thank you for the suggestion. I went out to the Linksys web page and performance degredation seems to be somewhat of a chronic complaint. I am going to try the following and I will post the solution for the next person:

Change the channel number (in case there is an interference issue with another router in the area).
Update the firmware to the latest revision.
See whether any of the filters or firewalls are blocking. NAT should not be of issue.
Dropkick the router and buy another brand.

Jetskier

Knot Droolin' · 05-23-2007, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jetskier

Thank you for the suggestion. I went out to the Linksys web page and performance degredation seems to be somewhat of a chronic complaint. I am going to try the following and I will post the solution for the next person:

Change the channel number (in case there is an interference issue with another router in the area).
Update the firmware to the latest revision.
See whether any of the filters or firewalls are blocking. NAT should not be of issue.
Dropkick the router and buy another brand.

Jetskier

I've been in the network engineering industry for years and Linksys has always had "issues". I've also seen many issue with D-Link. Netgear has been a good solid performer and I also think the new ASUS devices are holding their own especially if you need a NAS storage solution built into the router.

What ever your device, remember to flash often as new bug fixes come out.

Cheers!

Argie's Wife · 05-24-2007, 02:03 PM

We had the same problem and then got a new Apple AirPort Express (we had a Linksys router before.) The AirPort Express was only about $79 and easy as pie to set up - plug in and go. No more re-setting the darned thing everyday!

(Go here for more info

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL...rport_wireless

RI Swamp Yankee · 05-25-2007, 07:18 PM

Don't forget to check and see how many people in the neighborhood are using it when it slows down.

Knot Droolin' · 05-25-2007, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RI Swamp Yankee

Don't forget to check and see how many people in the neighborhood are using it when it slows down.

Hi Swamp Yankee!

You could very well be right about this in terms of Metrocast since I do not know their topology or their service very well. In today's network environment, however, traffic shaping is usually employed in such a way so that all users on a street will not be impacted by one or two "bandwidth" hogs. Traffic shaping is also how large corporations make data and voice service co-exist on the same physical network links (AKA Voice Over IP). Voice traffic is very delay sensitive and data traffic can withstand delay. Same type of tech is employed in many of today's ISP networks to gaurantee a quality of service to each user.

jetskier · 05-25-2007, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knot Droolin'

Hi Swamp Yankee!

You could very well be right about this in terms of Metrocast since I do not know their topology or their service very well. In today's network environment, however, traffic shaping is usually employed in such a way so that all users on a street will not be impacted by one or two "bandwidth" hogs. Traffic shaping is also how large corporations make data and voice service co-exist on the same physical network links (AKA Voice Over IP). Voice traffic is very delay sensitive and data traffic can withstand delay. Same type of tech is employed in many of today's ISP networks to gaurantee a quality of service to each user.

Hi all,

I have tried a number of suggestions as follows:

Update to latest firmware No Change
Change Channel No Change
Disable Filtering No Change

I can get the router into some interesting states by power cycling and refreshing my IPCONFIG on my laptop. There is something very odd about this router. I am going to pick up a Netgear tomorrow and see whether I have better luck. Maybe the router knows that I used to work for Bay Networks.

Jetskier

KennyOfTheLake · 05-26-2007, 11:38 AM

FWIW I've been using a Netgear WGT624 router with a Netgear WG511T card for quite a while with no problems. It clocks up to 108mb in extended range mode.

jetskier · 05-26-2007, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KennyOfTheLake

FWIW I've been using a Netgear WGT624 router with a Netgear WG511T card for quite a while with no problems. It clocks up to 108mb in extended range mode.

I picked up a WGT624 router today and installed it. Guess what? Same issue! Hmmmmmmmm.

I tried connecting my laptop directly to the cable modem and saw downstream performance on the order of about 25kbps. Hmmmmmmmmm

I called the technical support line for Metrocast and they had me pat my head, rub my belly, reseat the coax and repower the modem. They pronounced it fixed! I restarted my computer and 25 kbps downstream speed.

I call technical support back and they said that the line was fine. I told them that I was still getting 25 kpbs performance. They said that indeed there was packet loss and they would have to schedule a tech.

Please, just shoot me now!

Jetskier

Knot Droolin' · 05-28-2007, 04:57 PM

Jetskier,

Did you also replace the ethernet cable between the modem and the router?

jetskier · 05-29-2007, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knot Droolin'

Jetskier,

Did you also replace the ethernet cable between the modem and the router?

Actually, no. Metrocast acknowledged that they were getting frame loss on pings to the modem. That would tend to indicate that it is their infrastructure.

Thanx for the suggestion.

Jetskier

Weirs guy · 05-29-2007, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knot Droolin'

Jetskier,

Did you also replace the ethernet cable between the modem and the router?

You'd be better off replacing metrocast.

jetskier · 05-29-2007, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Weirs guy

You'd be better off replacing metrocast.

Agreed. Do you have suggestions for an alternative provider? I seem to be too far from the CO for decent Verizon DSL performance and I have not found another Cable/MSO.

Appreciated in advance.

Jetskier

Knot Droolin' · 05-29-2007, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jetskier

Actually, no. Metrocast acknowledged that they were getting frame loss on pings to the modem. That would tend to indicate that it is their infrastructure.

Thanx for the suggestion.

Jetskier

Jetskier,

You probably got a new ethernet cable with your new router. I would replace the cable anyway. A bad cable can always cause tons of chatter, duplex mismatches, and/or TCP resend requests which could saturate the upstream side of the modem. This could also cause drops to occur to the modem from Metrocast's head end (due to the saturation of the link).

This may not be the fix, but it is an easy thing to test and I can not tell you how many times a bad cable has halted traffic on gig links. Always start with the physical layer and move up the stack..

jetskier · 05-29-2007, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knot Droolin'

Jetskier,

You probably got a new ethernet cable with your new router. I would replace the cable anyway. A bad cable can always cause tons of chatter, duplex mismatches, and/or TCP resend requests which could saturate the upstream side of the modem. This could also cause drops to occur to the modem from Metrocast's head end (due to the saturation of the link).

This may not be the fix, but it is an easy thing to test and I can not tell you how many times a bad cable has halted traffic on gig links. Always start with the physical layer and move up the stack..

Hi Knot Droolin'

I doubt that this is the issue, but for you, I will give it a try.

Thanx!

Jetskier

Knot Droolin' · 05-29-2007, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jetskier

Hi Knot Droolin'

I doubt that this is the issue, but for you, I will give it a try.

Thanx!

Jetskier

LOL, thanks!

If I could get on my soap box and give one other piece of advice to others out there while we are on the topic of bandwidth:

One thing that probably isn't the issue here, but that millions of PCs nationwide are plauged with is unpatched, zombie PCs. Many, many times network providers hear complaints from users about "how slow my connection is" when in fact their PC is an "owned zombie". Meaning it is owned by a criminal who has compromised it. Once the "Bot Master" owns enough PCs around the world he then sells time on these zombie PCs to other shady people such as email spammers.

If your PC is a zombie you may not know it unless you notice a decrease in speed. That decrease in speed is due to your PC sending out millions of spam emails in conjuntion with the rest of the zombied "bot herd". This decreases both your PC's available bandwith and impacts the PCs CPU. There are tens of millions of zombie PCs on the 'net and everyone is vulnerable. Here is a quick article in layman's terms: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...021601388.html

The best way to prevent your PC from falling victim is to patch it. So everyone with a PC please patch monthly!! Microsoft releases patches the second Tuesday of every month. Everyone should visit http://www.microsoft.com/security every second Tuesday to patch their system.

Ever wonder where spam comes from? It could be coming from your system....

.....Steps down from soap box......

Sorry, I hate spam and over 80% of all email traffic on the 'net is spam.

Weirs guy · 05-30-2007, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jetskier

Agreed. Do you have suggestions for an alternative provider? I seem to be too far from the CO for decent Verizon DSL performance and I have not found another Cable/MSO.

Appreciated in advance.

Jetskier

No, but you'll be glad to know that karma got me for being a smart butt and I noticed last night my b a n d w i d t h i s g e t t i n g s l o o o o o o w e r. So now I'm in the same boat you are. I would LOVE to see metrocast get some competition in the Weirs Beach area though. Hopefully we can both find something to help us.

jetskier · 05-30-2007, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Weirs guy

No, but you'll be glad to know that karma got me for being a smart butt and I noticed last night my b a n d w i d t h i s g e t t i n g s l o o o o o o w e r. So now I'm in the same boat you are. I would LOVE to see metrocast get some competition in the Weirs Beach area though. Hopefully we can both find something to help us.

I just called them up and asked them to rate limit you. KIDDING!

FYI, they have a speedtest that you can run to determine your effective data rate:

http://speedtest.metrocast.net

Jetskier

EllyPoinster · 06-01-2007, 07:01 AM

A couple years back I had a severe drop in performance with Metrocast. They remotely diagnosed the problem as "packet loss" and sent a tech out to find the source. Starting from my computer, he worked backwards checking the connections. After several hours, he finally found a loose connection at the end of the cable line just past my home. With that fixed, everything returned to normal.

05-22-2007, 12:32 PM	#1
jetskier Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: North Reading, MA and South Down Shores Posts: 850 Thanks: 57 Thanked 183 Times in 114 Posts	Metrocast Question My internet connection appears to display a rather odd behavior and I was wondering whether anyone else saw this with Metrocast. When I reset my cable modem and wireless router the access speed is good. I have used the Metrocast speed test and I am getting about 6Mbps download speed. However, as I let the connection sit, it gets slower and slower and slower. I looked at the wireless router and I am the only one on the connection. I have not tried bypassing the wireless router but this seems like an issue with Metrocast (I will try bypassing the router). If I reset the cable modem and wireless router, the connection returns to decent performance. Has anyone experienced this one with Metrocast. Thanx in advance! Jetskier

05-22-2007, 12:37 PM	#2
onthebay Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 114 Thanks: 0 Thanked 3 Times in 2 Posts	Microsoft Wireless Router? I have the same issue with my wireless router. Once I reset it is fine but it does get anoying.

05-22-2007, 12:46 PM	#3
jetskier Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: North Reading, MA and South Down Shores Posts: 850 Thanks: 57 Thanked 183 Times in 114 Posts	Linksys Wireless Router Have you been able to determine whether the issue is the router or the Metrocast infrastructure?

05-22-2007, 08:47 PM	#4
RI Swamp Yankee Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: North Kingstown RI Posts: 688 Thanks: 143 Thanked 83 Times in 55 Posts	The wireless router is the problem. With a wired connection, all those data packets flow right into your computer. With a wireless connection the data packets get stuck on the antenna and have no place to go. BTW, the same thing happens with my Lynksys from time to time and I am on Cox in RI. __________________ Gene ~ aka "another RI Swamp Yankee"

05-23-2007, 07:14 AM	#6
Lakegeezer Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Moultonboro, NH Posts: 1,657 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 342 Thanked 618 Times in 278 Posts	Could be the router settings I had a similar problem on my TWC/Adelphia cable connection. No difference if it was wireless or wired (I keep my antenna greased). When I disabled some of the router firewall options, the problem went away. Give it a shot. My unproven theory is that now that Firefox and IE browsers block pop-ups, those connections get stuck in the router, and (to use a non-technical term), bog it down. __________________ -lg

05-24-2007, 02:03 PM	#9
Argie's Wife Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Alton Posts: 1,908 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 533 Thanked 579 Times in 260 Posts	We had the same problem and then got a new Apple AirPort Express (we had a Linksys router before.) The AirPort Express was only about $79 and easy as pie to set up - plug in and go. No more re-setting the darned thing everyday! (Go here for more info http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL...rport_wireless

05-25-2007, 07:18 PM	#10
RI Swamp Yankee Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: North Kingstown RI Posts: 688 Thanks: 143 Thanked 83 Times in 55 Posts	Don't forget to check and see how many people in the neighborhood are using it when it slows down. __________________ Gene ~ aka "another RI Swamp Yankee"

05-26-2007, 11:38 AM	#13
KennyOfTheLake Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Wickford, RI Posts: 24 Thanks: 11 Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts	Netgear FWIW I've been using a Netgear WGT624 router with a Netgear WG511T card for quite a while with no problems. It clocks up to 108mb in extended range mode.

05-28-2007, 04:57 PM	#15
Knot Droolin' Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 31 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Ethernet cable Jetskier, Did you also replace the ethernet cable between the modem and the router?

06-01-2007, 07:01 AM	#24
EllyPoinster Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 160 Thanks: 13 Thanked 25 Times in 20 Posts	A couple years back I had a severe drop in performance with Metrocast. They remotely diagnosed the problem as "packet loss" and sent a tech out to find the source. Starting from my computer, he worked backwards checking the connections. After several hours, he finally found a loose connection at the end of the cable line just past my home. With that fixed, everything returned to normal.