Incredibly low download speeds, intermittent for years, becoming constant

[entrappedmind]

Bumping for a response from @CA3LE or anybody else who might have any ideas.

 

Had a window of no tests because my power supply decided to die on me (and the spare I tried using as a band-aid subsequently died, too). When it rains, it pours.

 

Prior to that, though, this was how the last handful of tests I got looked. Still spiking. I mean, I'll take that as a definite improvement over 12+ straight hours per day at ~4 Mbps, but this still ain't right, y'know?

 

 

[nanobot]

You might want to have a tech come out with a signaling meter. I had Spectrum send one out Tuesday morning, and my tests went from all-over-the-place to consistent 90-120Mbps. (I pay for 100Mbps and was seeing around that before.)

 

I was getting the same thing you are right now: some tests would come back at 2-10Mbps, some at 100Mbps+. Latencies did the same weird spikes.

 

It turned out that the way they ran my cabling introduced a lot of noise, two bad junctions, and cost me huge signaling levels. The thresholds were red-red-red on his meter when he got here, then after doing a couple quick mods it was blue-blue-blue. I was seeing 10-20% packet loss Monday, now I see <1% packet loss. (It also didn't help that my modem was old-old and one of those "combination" / modem+router+wifi units...the new modem is just a modem.)

 

Here are my results for the last week. That last drop was just before he showed up. This also doesn't include the tests I aborted because things just hung.

 

[entrappedmind]

That does look incredibly similar... But wouldn't that also show up on a test within the ISP's network? Because my issues only show up as soon as the data leaves the Buckeye network - which is why they're refusing to so much as acknowledge there is an issue, much less do anything about it.

 

For example, my most recent tests. These were performed at the same time - one here:

(https://testmy.net/db/qqsHYdzLe)

and one on Buckeye's network:

(http://buckeyebroadband.speedtestcustom.com/result/4793d4b0-7b42-11ea-a918-afd21c61947b).

 

If it was a signal noise issue, wouldn't it show up at least intermittently on the intranet test as well? Also, my cabling hasn't been touched in a decade (and the router has already been replaced in the hopes of fixing the issue), so if it was anything to do with my wiring, wouldn't it have shown up even longer ago than this? As far as I'm aware, coax cable doesn't degrade over time - or am I mistaken?

 

Also, how would that square with the issue that brought me here in the first place, where my speeds had initially been sustained for hours at a time at low speeds, then hours at a time at high speeds? If it were signal noise, that couldn't have happened, am I right? This, for example:

 

Thank you for your response, @nanobot!

[nanobot]

Odd...

 

I don't run the "Spectrum Speed Test" (same as Buckeye -- branded 'speedtest.net').

 

I don't think it's the Buckeye network, I have several business contracts with them and we're not having any issues, I'm seeing bidirectional gig across the whole rack.

 

If it were a low SNR it's still possible. My cabling ran right past my washer, and when I turned the washer on my SNR hit the floor, and my speeds dropped to damn-near nothing. (We were able to prove it while the tech was here.) It's possible a large appliance kicking on introduces enough electrical interference to kill it.

 

Are all the splitters (if any) grounded? I.e. a bare or green cable running from the splitter to something metal? (Often home plumbing is grounded, that's usually a safe target.)

[entrappedmind]

23 minutes ago, nanobot said:

I don't run the "Spectrum Speed Test" (same as Buckeye -- branded 'speedtest.net').

I don't typically run that test, either. But it's the one they direct you to use. And if it doesn't show any issues, as far as they're concerned, no issues exist.

 

23 minutes ago, nanobot said:

I don't think it's the Buckeye network

I'm fairly certain it isn't, either. As I referenced (much) earlier, my traceroute (normal and reverse, via various providers' looking glass utilities) testing leads me to point the finger at Level3, where every bit of my data is routed through upon leaving the Buckeye network. Problem is, I can't address it with Level3 (because I'm not their client), and Buckeye refuses to.

 

23 minutes ago, nanobot said:

It's possible a large appliance kicking on introduces enough electrical interference to kill it.

There are no appliances whatsoever between where the cable enters my home and the router. Comes in the north wall of the basement, runs along the sill plate about ~20' east, then ~20' south, then up ~10' to my router. The only electrical item anywhere close to nearby is a sump pump ~10' below the cable.

 

23 minutes ago, nanobot said:

Are all the splitters (if any) grounded?

I don't believe so. The only splitter was already replaced about a year ago by a Buckeye tech in an attempt to fix this (which they now insist never happened, coincidentally).

[entrappedmind]

Having some major latency issues tonight (which is usually how the problems begin once the weekend hits). Your comments about packet loss made me decide to investigate that side of things. Trying a new tool to ping specific IP's every second and log them. Here's the result, from the first ~100 tests:

 

 

The Google DNS ping is screaming that there's a problem. However, the fact that it isn't repeated on the other pings seems odd. Granted, #3 is bad and even #4 and #5 are concerning - yet Cloudflare is fine?

 

I think I'll ping each hop on the Google route, and see if that shines a light on a specific point in the route that's creating issues... Unless somebody's got a better idea, anyway.

 

I'll report back with my results.

 

EDIT to add: Wow. Left it running a bit while I posted the above, and after hitting send, this is what it showed. YEEK.

 

EDIT to update: Okay, I ran the specific hops in the Google traceroute... Should I be interpreting this to mean there's just something wrong with 8.8.8.8 at this specific moment, and it's causing me to chase my tail??

 

 

 

[entrappedmind]

Must have allowed too much time to pass and can no longer edit, so I apologize for the extra post... But I realized I forgot to include an example of the latency issues I was referring to:

 

(https://testmy.net/latency?tID=l8r7vp3ve1)

[entrappedmind]

Finally got them to quit ignoring my emails yesterday, as they had been the previous eleven days. Now they're trying to pass the buck by sending a technician out - while asserting that doing so won't fix the issue - which will presumably run me $50. For obvious reasons, nobody is entering my home until this health scare is over with, so this leaves us back where we started.

 

Any further ideas from anybody here? Or am I just stuck dealing with the real-life version of the South Park cable guys?

 

The email chain, continued (sans attachments):

 

[entrappedmind]

Still struggling. Back to getting emails ignored. I guess I should be happy to pay $250/mo for the inability to maintain a connection to, essentially, anything on the internet. Can't stay connected to Skype or Discord calls, can't stay connected to Twitch in order to stream, can't watch Youtube or Netflix without continual buffering... Honestly, I haven't been able to use my internet connection for over a month for anything other than complaining about my internet connection. 

 

Still hoping for someone here to have some sort of epiphany that solves - or at the very least, explains - my issues.

 

The past week's tests since my last post:

[entrappedmind]

Another week of frustration, another week of the problem (and my pleas for help) being ignored by Buckeye, another week of running a thousand more tests.

 

Sigh.

 

[entrappedmind]

@CA3LE, I've noticed you replying more and more to other threads, so I was wondering if I could possibly get some input on my particular issue...? Going on a month since my first cry for help here (and twenty since my first to my ISP), and I'm no closer to a solution now than when I began. In fact, it feels like it's gotten noticeably worse over the time I've been testing. What was once a drop to ~6Mbps is now a drop to ~600Kbps, what was once a ping spike to ~200ms is now four spikes to ~800ms.

 

Or should I just take this as a sign that I should embrace the Amish way of life?

[entrappedmind]

Emails still being ignored by Buckeye, posts still being ignored here... I guess I should just resign myself to throwing away $200+/mo for speeds I used to get from $12/mo AOL dial-up back in the day, eh? I'm out four grand at this point, going back to when these issues began, for crying out loud.

 

I mean, if somebody here is connected to Buckeye, and that's preventing you from addressing my posts, that's understandable - but it'd be swell if someone would tell me so that I stop wasting my time repeatedly posting in the hopes that eventually I'll have provided enough data that something jumps out at somebody.

 

Anyway... Here's the tests going back to my last post on Wednesday (Thurs, actually, but it won't show more than a thousand tests at a time).

 

[CA3LE]

On 4/29/2020 at 12:54 PM, entrappedmind said:

@CA3LE, I've noticed you replying more and more to other threads, so I was wondering if I could possibly get some input on my particular issue...?

 

Hi @entrappedmind sorry I'm slow catching up.  I'm taking the time to read this topic in depth now and will respond soon.

[entrappedmind]

Much appreciated, @CA3LE! Please take as much time as you need, and let me know if you need any further updates or anything else from my end.

 

Thank you in advance!

[CA3LE]

3 hours ago, entrappedmind said:

Much appreciated, @CA3LE! Please take as much time as you need, and let me know if you need any further updates or anything else from my end.

Thank you in advance!

 

No problem, this is going to take a little time to fully catch up on all that's written.  You have quite the case here.

 

Right now (after cleaning out the responses that hughesnet people posted on this topic for some reason) I'm reading into your communication logs with your ISP.

 

At this part,

 

Quote

I show in the last 24 hours, you have downloaded nearly 35GB of data. This would not be attainable on such low speeds. Checking the connection to your home, the signal levels are good, and there are no errors being reported in the event log.

 

Uhhhhhh... that person is a moron.  35GB, over 24 hours... off the top of my head, you don't need very much to do that.  Let's do some basic math (a subject apparently unknown to that rep) for fun.

 

35 * 1024 = 35840 MB

35840 / 24 = 1493 MB per hour

1493 / 60 = 25 MB per minute (rounding up)

25 / 60 = 0.42 MB per second

0.42 * 8 = 3.36 Mbps consistently is all it takes to push 35 GB per day in bandwidth.  So early on I'm getting an idea of who you're dealing with on the other end.  Frustrating.

 

... getting back to it.

 

Edited May 6, 2020 by CA3LE
clarified 'that rep'

[CA3LE]

Quote

As stated by previous techs over webchat and through this correspondence; we have no control over what happens with data once it is no longer in our footprint.

 

To that I would say...

You have no control over what happens once the data leaves your footprint but you do have control over who you're peering with.  This issue appears to be caused by edge connections leaving "your footprint".  Basically, some of YOUR internet providers aren't delivering.  This is trickling down to me, the customer.  You can see in my traceroutes where the massive spike in latency occurs!  This should help techs track down the weak links.  That should be where you investigate and if it ends up outside of your control... then it's within the control of one of your peering providers.  YOU choose your internet providers just like I choose mine.  You are responsible for your peers and if they aren't performing for your customers to the point it's affecting their connections... then you need to pick new peers and strengthen links to best accommodate your customers.

 

Not even barely dug into the details yet and it's very obvious that this is an issue on their end, leaving their network.  You're definitely getting the run around and are due credit... going back to at least when you first started notifying them of the issues.

 

... getting back to it.

[CA3LE]

... well, looks like you kinda did tell them that.

 

Quote

1. "It would be up the the provider where the issue is at."
2. Providers, plural, you mean. Each of the tier 1 providers that you are contracted with through Maxxsouth. Not me. So, just as I'm seeking technical support from you as your customer, it's Buckeye's responsibility to seek technical support from the tier 1 providers they are a client of (HE, NTT, Cogent, etc, as listed in my original support request). Again, not me. I am not their client. Block Communications is.
3.  
4. That is what I've been asking for all along, because there's nothing I can do about your connection to the backbone - for you to investigate why your customers' data is having so much trouble making the hop from your tier 2 provider to the tier 1 backbone. It doesn't matter how fast a connection within your own network is if you're unable to maintain an outgoing connection to support even a tenth of that speed.
5.  
6. "Technical would not recommend any credit at this time seeing that you are getting your correct speeds to us which is what we guarantee."
7. Returning to the 'water department' metaphor, it doesn't matter how clear the pipes between you and I are when your own water intake is 90% blocked - yet (figuratively, of course) you're charging for water you're unable to deliver and refusing to address, investigate, or even so much as acknowledge the blockage. I cannot understand how that could possibly be rationalized.
8.  
9. There is nothing I can do about your connection to the internet backbone. And, once again, this issue isn't going away by being ignored - I tried that for over two years, to no avail.
10.  
11. Sincerely,

 

How did they respond to that?  I don't see a response yet... continuing down the topic now.

[CA3LE]

On 5/4/2020 at 8:48 AM, entrappedmind said:

Emails still being ignored by Buckeye, posts still being ignored here... I guess I should just resign myself to throwing away $200+/mo for speeds I used to get from $12/mo AOL dial-up back in the day, eh? I'm out four grand at this point, going back to when these issues began, for crying out loud.

 

I mean, if somebody here is connected to Buckeye, and that's preventing you from addressing my posts, that's understandable - but it'd be swell if someone would tell me so that I stop wasting my time repeatedly posting in the hopes that eventually I'll have provided enough data that something jumps out at somebody.

 

Anyway... Here's the tests going back to my last post on Wednesday (Thurs, actually, but it won't show more than a thousand tests at a time).

 

I wasn't ignoring you, was just finding it hard to get the appropriate time to catch up on the thread once I noticed it.  Then it kept growing.  This thread made me realize that my notifications when you type @CA3LE were on but set to only notify me with a popup here and not by email.  I changed my preferences so I'll be properly notified.  I had too many notifications piled up so I was no longer noticing new items.

 

All caught up now.  Well... with this thread anyway.

 

On 4/1/2020 at 10:38 PM, entrappedmind said:

This info, coupled with that hop being hidden in my own traces, coupled with their reluctance to take any action whatsoever... It makes me wonder. Am I being deliberately throttled - which they've guaranteed numerous times in writing that they do not do - or am I just paranoid?

 

If you are being throttled you can test for this by connecting through a VPN host.  GigaNews has a free 15 day trial, make sure to pick a plan that has VyprVPN.  Keep in mind that connecting through an intermediary will slow you down.  But if you're being throttled you may see an improvement instead of a drop... that may help provide an answer. 

 

Test with TestMy.net connected normally, then enable the VPN to a nearby location, make sure you're connection is fully established by opening another browser (go to any known site -- I'd go to https://testmy.net/iptools https://testmy.net/database and refresh it to see the IP details change - it usually take a few seconds to get the connection fully re-established) -- once you know you're connected through the VPN re-test the connection.  If your connection is faster through the VPN --- it shouldn't be, that's a sign.

 

Edited May 6, 2020 by CA3LE
different link

[entrappedmind]

4 hours ago, CA3LE said:

early on I'm getting an idea of who you're dealing with on the other end

Exaaaaactly.

 

3 hours ago, CA3LE said:

You're definitely getting the run around and are due credit... going back to at least when you first started notifying them of the issues.

Which would be back in September of 2018, when they blocked me on Twitter for asking for help (screenshot attached). I'd call the chances of a credit being somewhere in the neighborhood of "snowball's chance in h-e-double-hockey-sticks." Glad to see someone agrees, though, for sure!! At least tells me I'm not crazy.

 

3 hours ago, CA3LE said:

How did they respond to that?

By ignoring me for eleven days, and after being prodded, replying with the same old song-and-dance they've repeated since this began (other screenshot attached).

 

2 hours ago, CA3LE said:

I wasn't ignoring you

I figured you weren't. I know how stuff falls through the cracks where message boards are concerned. Have run them myself, and had the same thing happen to me. No worries.

 

2 hours ago, CA3LE said:

If you are being throttled you can test for this by connecting through a VPN host

I've done so, but only on single, isolated tests. Not in the 5-minute-intervals that I've been testing normally. I'll set something up (barring unforeseen issues) and run those tests via VPN overnight tonight.

 

Any other thoughts or suggestions beyond the unlikely possibility of being throttled/traffic-shaped?

 

Thanks for the responses!

[entrappedmind]

7 hours ago, CA3LE said:

you can test for this by connecting through a VPN host.

This seems to pretty definitively show that with or without VPN, the same bandwidth drops occur. Which, as I understand it, would eliminate the possibility of shaping/throttling.

 

[entrappedmind]

Bump for @CA3LE... Did you have any other ideas, or am I just pretty much stuck dealing with getting ~6% of the bandwidth I'm paying for roughly 40% of the time?

 

My emails are still being ignored;

I remain blocked by their Twitter account where I initially sought help back in September 2018;

I've attempted calling three times since they started ignoring my emails and waited on hold over an hour twice and the one time I did get through I got the same run-around I'd gotten via email;

and when visiting their office in person, I was informed they don't offer technical support in the office and to call their support number or contact them via email.

 

I'm kind of at the end of my rope, here.

[CA3LE]

19 hours ago, entrappedmind said:

Bump for @CA3LE... Did you have any other ideas...

 

What's your zip code?  -- are you certain that there aren't any other options?

 

A week ago I emailed the President of Buckeye, Geoff.Shook... pretty sure the email got to his inbox, no send return error.

 

Quote

Good Evening Geoff,

Just wanted to bring a topic to someone's attention at Buckeye.

https://testmy.net/ipb/topic/34246-incredibly-low-download-speeds-intermittent-for-years-becoming-constant/

This customer is getting the major runaround and has mounted a lot of evidence to prove his case.  I know you're a busy man, this is not where your time is best spent.  Emailing you with hope you can forward this to the right people and make yourself a happy customer.  I feel his frustration and would love to see Buckeye step in and make things right for him.

- Happy Testing!

- Damon - TestMy.net

 

... no response, not like I expected one.  But I was hoping he might notice it and shake a branch to get things moving for you.  Long shot.

 

If I were in a similar situation, being ignored (by someone I was paying for service) first, I'd make a phone call and give them a chance to make it right.  If it continues and you see no hope of it getting better, hopefully there are more reliable options available in your area.  You may have to look outside of your normal consumer options.  The advertised speed may be slower but if the connection sustains that speed and doesn't fluctuate heavily like you're seeing now.... then maybe a slower speed will be an improvement overall in your case.

 

Sometimes you have to vote with your feet and walk over to the competition.

[entrappedmind]

On 5/12/2020 at 3:50 PM, CA3LE said:

What's your zip code?

44870. 

 

On 5/12/2020 at 3:50 PM, CA3LE said:

are you certain that there aren't any other options?

Apart from the Hughesnet and their satellite ilk (tech with inherently, prohibitively high ping for my needs), no. And every time I try looking up Spectrum, I get all excited because it appears to be available until you reach the final step of the quote process where they give you a big 'ol "Sorry! This service is not available at your location!" prompt. It also demonstrates how sad my situation is that I'm wishing for a provider with their own long history of service issue complaints such as Spectrum. Alas, that's where I'm at.

 

On 5/12/2020 at 3:50 PM, CA3LE said:

A week ago I emailed the President of Buckeye, Geoff.Shook

Yeah, you'll notice his Twitter is now private. That's my fault. After Buckeye blocked me back in '18, he was the first person I messaged to voice my frustration. Didn't get me any further than I anticipate your email got you. I wholeheartedly appreciate the extra effort on your part, though!!!

 

On 5/12/2020 at 3:50 PM, CA3LE said:

I'd make a phone call and give them a chance to make it right. 

Been there, done that already. As mentioned in my message before your reply, "I've attempted calling three times since they started ignoring my emails and waited on hold over an hour twice and the one time I did get through I got the same run-around I'd gotten via email." No dice.

 

On 5/12/2020 at 3:50 PM, CA3LE said:

You may have to look outside of your normal consumer options.

The only option apart from satellite would be a wifi hotspot on my phone, but those speeds are even worse (see attached) - AND I only get around two or three bars of 4G in my location to boot.

 

On 5/12/2020 at 3:50 PM, CA3LE said:

Sometimes you have to vote with your feet and walk over to the competition.

I'd love to - but it doesn't make any sense to move from a nearly-unusable connection to a completely-unusable connection. And the days of just living without the internet are rapidly disappearing in our rearview mirror, which I'm sure is news to precisely nobody here. lol.

[entrappedmind]

Just an update for you, @CA3LE, the past few days my speeds have gotten even worse than normal - moreover, they've stopped fluctuating. They're now consistently in the 5-10Mbps range.

 

I've attempted to contact support twice more via email, on the 12th and earlier today, and my emails are still being ignored. The last response I've gotten back was April 12. And as I said, phone hasn't given any better results the one time I actually managed to get through the wait time.

 

[CA3LE]

This is just wrong.  So unprofessional on their part.

 

I'm curious, do you happen to know anyone around your area who also has Buckeye?  I'd be interested to see if they have similar issues... they might not even know it because they aren't testing for it.