Hello everyone! I am on my 2nd pot of coffee here, and decided to finally break down and register. For I need some help with my internet speeds and such.
I am a wannabe city boy living near the sticks of SW Kansas. I was a very happy customer of Cox Communications prior to this year. 3 awesome years of literally trouble free internet. Now, 2010 rolls around and the very first week and about every 1-2 months since I have had to call my ISP for a strange intermittent issue. I have learned bits and pieces of how a modem actually works, as well as how the internet works. I am sure I know nothing compared to vault of knowledge that lies within the pages of these forums.
I am a fan of World of Warcraft, and similar MMO's. Also play around with friends on XBL occasionally. I use my internet for 80% games, and the rest for wikipedia. Maybe a lil more when new episodes of "Glee" is on Hulu for the wife. Sometimes she makes me watch, it is almost unbearable.
Here is my problem...in a nutshell.
When the problem begins to show its ugly face my speeds go up and down during peak times. Usually starts at 5pm and ends around 2am CST. I am on the preferred package with Cox. Which amounts to 12mb/4mb when my connection is grand. I will begin to notice my latency in games bounce around a week or so prior to them being reduced to less than dial up speeds. I use Speakeasy, broadband.gov, and of course Testmy to diagnose. Along with tracerts and pings.
Right now my speeds range from 4mb-9mb using testmy. My service includes Speedboost. Which I am almost sure affects the speed tests making them appear to be faster than they actually are. Every time I call tech support the techs tell me that all my signals and their pings come out fine. They see no issues. First they always want to do is send a technician out to "fix" the problem. And then proceed to charge me for it.
Here is what I have for a computer. I'll reply with a DxDiag if you guys would like to see it.
Core 2 Duo 3.0ghz
2GB DDR2 G skill (PC6400)
GTX 285 standard clocks.
Asus P5Q-Pro
Atheros AR8121/AR8113 (latest drivers as of today, no change in speeds)
Windows Firewall with exceptions to online games
No Router(crapped out)
Motorola Surfboard SB5101U
My signals as of now.
Down
S/N ratio 38.3 dB
Power level 0.4 dBmV
Up
Power 42.7 dBmV
Thanks for any input.