Contributor
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67 Messages
Intermittent disconnects since recent work in area for Next Gen network - High upstream now - Is this the culprit? Arrange tech visit?
Hopefully I can get some guidance on next steps from some of the helpful people here or Xfinity Support forum reps themselves.
Background (no issues past several years):
I have had Gigabit Extra for a few years at least and speeds and reliability have been great throughout those years (and before when on lower speed plans).
Arris S34 cable modem.
Using speedtest, I get 15500 Mbps down / 41.88 Mbps up. All fine there.
I did not monitor my Upstream power levels for a long time since things were very reliable (work remotely and work machine connectivity has been rock solid.
They were usually in the mid 40s dB range, at most in the upper 40s.
Current Situation (recent upgrade nearby causing issues):
About 4 weeks ago, Xfinity upgraded to Next Gen at the main street (so part 1 of 2 only).
This caused some outages back in April and techs had to fix the nearby nodes (nodes outside neighbor's homes on my street e.g.; not my node to my knowledge).
This week there were official outages on Monday and Tue (per Xfinity app, so not my home but in the area and I got temporarily / intermittently impacted those days - mainly within a 1 hour window ands then fine again).
Intermittent disconnects - Issue on my end or?
Today I got disconnected ONCE (so far) for 4 or 5 minutes or so (log entries below), but there was NO outage posted this time, pointing to something in the line signal from the node at the street to my home cable entry point. perhaps?
Upstream Power High?
Is 51 dB still considered too high? If so, is the upstream power explaining the the 4 to 5 minute disconnect 3 hours ago? (connection was fine all day before and since - been online for work and it immediately alerts if the connection is disrupted).
I noticed my Upstream power levels appear to be high now which they have not been in YEARS since they adjusted splitters etc. maybe 8 years ago or so.
Again this all started right after the network upgrades at main street feeding the line into our set of streets - about a month ago.
| Upstream Bonded Channels | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Channel ID | Lock Status | US Channel Type | Frequency | Width | Power | |
| 1 | Locked | SC-QAM | 16400000 Hz | 6400000 | 51.0 dBmV | |
| 4 | Locked | SC-QAM | 35600000 Hz | 6400000 | 51.5 dBmV | |
| 3 | Locked | SC-QAM | 29200000 Hz | 6400000 | 51.5 dBmV | |
| 2 | Locked | SC-QAM | 22800000 Hz | 6400000 | 51.5 dBmV | |
| 41 | Locked | OFDMA | 36200000 Hz | 44400000 | 44.5 dBmV | |
Issues (per event log)?
I checked my S34 cable modem event log and it shows some interesting entries at that time (time is off by 1 hour versus Eastern time). Hopefully someone can explain them since I have not seen them in the past.
I highlighted some entries in red. Are these of concern?
|
Notice |
CM-STATUS message sent. Event Type Code: 16; Chan ID: 193; DSID: N/A; MAC Addr: N/A; OFDM/OFDMA Profile ID: 3.;CM-MAC;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1; |
|
Warning |
RNG-RSP CCAP Commanded Power in Excess of 6 dB Below the Value Corresponding to the Top of the DRW;CM-MAC=MAC ADDRESS REMOVED;CMTS-MAC=<<MAC ADDRESS REMOVED>;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1; |
|
Warning |
REG-RSP-MP Mismatch Between Calculated Value for P1.6hi Compared to CCAP Provided Value;CM-MAC=MAC ADDRESS REMOVED;CMTS-MAC=<<MAC ADDRESS REMOVED>;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1; |
|
Warning |
MIMO Event MIMO: Stored MIMO=-1 post cfg file MIMO=-1 |
|
Notice |
CMSTATUS:US_Diplexer_Mode_Change: [TLV-21.1], [5-85MHz]. |
|
Notice |
CMSTATUS:DS_Diplexer_Mode_Change_Ignored: [TLV-21.3], [1002MHz]. |
|
Notice |
CMSTATUS:DS_Diplexer_Mode_Change_Ignored: [TLV-21.2], [258MHz]. |
|
Notice |
CMSTATUS:US_Diplexer_Mode_Change_Ignored: [TLV-9], [85MHz]. |
|
Critical |
Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Unicast Maintenance opportunities received - T4 time out;CM-MAC=MAC ADDRESS REMOVED;CMTS-MAC=<<MAC ADDRESS REMOVED>;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1; |
|
Warning |
Lost MDD Timeout;CM-MAC=MAC ADDRESS REMOVED;CMTS-MAC=<<MAC ADDRESS REMOVED>;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1; |
|
Notice |
CM-STATUS message sent. Event Type Code: 21; Chan ID: 193; DSID: N/A; MAC Addr: N/A; OFDM/OFDMA Profile ID: N/A.;CM-MAC=MAC ADDRESS REMOVED;CMTS-MAC=<<MAC ADDRESS REMOVED>;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1; |
|
Critical |
SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync;CM-MAC=MAC ADDRESS REMOVED;CMTS-MAC=<<MAC ADDRESS REMOVED>;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.1; |
Any ideas?
Looking for next steps suggestions. Should I arrange for a tech visit?
As noted, never had issues till recent work in the area for Next Gen and in past Upstream power levels were below 50. Used to be rock solid till the recent work a month ago.
PS: Unfortunately our cable lines from node (green box) at the street to our house are underground if that needs to be replaced. :(
Then again the line has always been fine and these intermittent disconnect issues (NOT frequent, but I work from home) only started when the Xfinity Next Gen work started nearby. Our street has not been upgraded yet
though.
Thanks for any help!
(edited my post to remove MAC addresses; did not realize I had not masked / removed them till after posting)
XfinityArmand
Official Employee
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2.1K Messages
6 days ago
Thank you so much for taking the time to reach out to Xfinity Support @njweb! We are so glad to hear from you and want to assist in any way that we can in addressing your service concerns. No worries! You have reached out to the best team of experts here to ensure you are having a top tier experience with your services. So that we can get a good look at what is going on, please free to shoot us a private message with your details, and we will take it from there.
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EG
Expert
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110.5K Messages
4 days ago
@njweb @XfinityArmand
Please circle back here and post any possible solutions for the issue here in these open public forums so that all readers here may benefit from the exchange / info. This is in keeping with the spirit for which these public help forums were originally intended. Thank you.
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njweb
Contributor
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67 Messages
3 days ago
@EG / @XfinityArmand / All,
Update:
I have not had any disconnects since the single disconnect last Friday.
My signal levels are basically the same as Friday though (mid 30s SNR and 52.5 dBm for the worst of the 4 SC-QAM upstream channels).
Per some Xfinity reps I talked to via direct messaging elsewhere:
Xfinity did some maintenance Sunday night into Monday morning (i.e. yesterday AM) since they detected noise which also impacts the node I am on.
They did NOT complete the maintenance and hence have additional maintenance planned at 1 PM tonight.
Since things are working very well (get 1,550 Mbps down still and have not experienced any disconnects since the one on Friday) and since additional maintenance is planned overnight tonight, I may leave well enough alone.
That said, IF things get worse, I could always experiment with reconnecting the Commscope 9 port unity amplifier - CSMF1APDU9VPI 9-Port Passive VoIP MoCA amplifier *.
One of the technicians had installed the amp many years ago when I had issues with my X1 boxes at the time (have a cable card now). However, when the issues persisted at the time (again this was many years ago) another technician removed the amplifier and went back to splitters but installed a filter / special splitter and since then things have been fine for many years (till the recent Next Gen work in the area which resulted in some outages).
Side note - I wonder whether my signals are just being reported as worse by the Arris S34 than the S33 and prior modems.
Then again I would not be surprised if the signal degradation was caused by some recent Next Gen upgrades at the main street pole and the ensuing work they did at the time at some nearby nodes (e.g. right across the street at neighbor's house).
* I also have an EVO 9uu 9 port amp, but the Commscope is still 'mounted' to a board of wood in the basement in case I need it again.
(edited)
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njweb
Contributor
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67 Messages
3 days ago
@XfinityAmandaB
The maintenance work - headend maintenance - was completed overnight per Xfinity Support direct chat. They told me there is additional upcoming overnight maintenance early Thursday AM and then again early Friday AM.
My connection has been stable since last Friday's one disconnect which resulted in my modem being rebooted.
Also There have been no outages during typical daytime business hours this week (unlike last week where there were 2 or 3 outages, and that additional 5 minute disconnect Friday when there was no official outage reported).
Signal levels now:
So while my upstream power is high, it does not appear to be impacting my internet connection stability currently.
However, assuming connectivity stays stable for now, obviously in summer the upstream power levels will degrade further on hot days. That is another reason why I like to have a buffer (lower upstream power that i used to have when it did not exceed 48.5 or so dBmV.
(edited)
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njweb
Contributor
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67 Messages
3 days ago
No problem. Thanks Peter; will do.
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njweb
Contributor
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67 Messages
2 days ago
Update - The 2nd round of maintenance (out of 3 planned rounds) completed overnight and ALL my downstream channels' SNR levels worsened significantly compared to yesterday's.
For example the 2 OFDM-PLC channels' SNR levels, as compared from yesterday to today, dropped - one from 36 dBmV to 35 dBmV and the other one dropped 3 whole points 35 dBmV to ONLY 32 dBmV now.
Also the SNR for ALL 32 of the '256QAM' downstream channels dropped by ~2 points each!
I also noticed that for the first time ever I now have uncorrectables for many of the 32 '256QAM' channels. The numbers are double digits, but still not good when I never ever had any '256QAM' channel s with uncorrectables previously (for the last 10 years).
(Till now I only had uncorrectables for the OFDM-PLC channels).
I am in touch with Xfinity Support directly via another channel and have asked them if it is possible for them to relay my signal degradation to the team performing the maintenance so it can be investigated when they perform tonight's 3rd round of maintenance.
(edited)
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njweb
Contributor
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67 Messages
2 days ago
Update some partially good news:
(These levels are great and are back to where they used to be before the Next Gen upgrades at the main street about 5 or 6 weeks ago (not our street) and then some 'repair' work in my set of streets to address issues that had been caused by the nearby Next Gen upgrade).
The health check triggered a closed ticket that the field team can see, so hopefully they notice. my high upstream power when they work on maintenance 'round 3' overnight tonight for my neighbors and me.
Conclusion for now:
As of now the SNR levels are all excellent and my internet connection is very stable.
That said, if anything, I would just like the upstream power levels to improve (go down) by about 4 or 5 dBmV, which would give me a bit of a buffer.
The current 51.8 dBmV is obviously borderline (over 50 dBmV) and does not give much margin, if any, for any further degradation (especially in the hot summer months when those upstream power levels always get worse due to heat).
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