UPC connection dropping

FloatingVoter

For the last four days, my 20 Mbs connection has been cutting out at various times of the day. I'm on wireless and connecting into the modem seems to fix the problem. Trouble is both my computers go at the same time (they're independent of each other so its not malware) and both can log into the router. I'm wondering do I have a faulty router, a crap internet connection or is this just UPC messing with the line ? I'm in Dublin 8.

Jonathan

The Cisco EPC2425 is useless for wireless.

The wireless drops out constantly.

FloatingVoter

Jonathan wrote: »

The Cisco EPC2425 is useless for wireless.

The wireless drops out constantly.

Thanks, but the router is a Netgear wgr614v9 (modem is Scientific Atlanta).
This only started 4 days ago. No problems of this sort in the previous ten months. (and I didn't bother going for the 30 Mbs upgrade so thats why I didn't post in that thread).

DingDong

First thing to try is changing the wireless channel.

Mr. Presentable

I think UPC may be messing with the line. I've had two disconnects this week - the only ones in about a year. Resetting the modem then router resolved both.

Captain Chaos

Jonathan wrote: »

The Cisco EPC2425 is useless for wireless.

The wireless drops out constantly.

I have been using it since November. Have 3 lappys, 1 PC, a 360 and PS3 all connected wirelessly and never have I had a dropped connection. Works very well for me.

FloatingVoter

DingDong wrote: »

First thing to try is changing the wireless channel.

Is that easy / risky ? As you've guessed I'm no expert and I don't want to screw up the entire set-up just because UPC might be fiddling with the lines in advance of the March upgrade.

sombaht

Fairly straightforward.

1. Open up a browser and enter 192.168.1.1 in the address bar.
2, Click on ok if prompted for login/password details.
3. Scroll down to Wireless heading
4. Click on Basic and select a new channel from the Channel drop down box.
5. Click on apply to save new settings.

Cheers,
sombaht

FloatingVoter

Thanks Sombaht . No witchcraft involved . Thats all I needed to know.

IrishTonyO

FloatingVoter wrote: »

Thanks Sombaht . No witchcraft involved . Thats all I needed to know.

Download inSSIDer first and see what networks are around you and what channels they are on.

http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider

sombaht

Nice utility IT!

Cheers,
sombaht

IrishTonyO

sombaht wrote: »

Nice utility IT!

Cheers,
sombaht

Yeah it's very handy especially when having problems. There are 8 or 9 wireless networks in range of me and started having problems, but used this and noticed none of them ever used channel 12, so set my to that and no problems since. I run a check every now and again to make sure

Big Nasty

My UPC Broadband drops off regularly, once if not twice a day and the modem needs to be reset each time. Apparently this is a regular occurance - I actually read on another thread where someone bought a socket remote so they could reset without having to get up of their ass it was happening that often.

the_law

Anyone whose UPC connection has started dropping regularly in the last 4 days (since around Wednesday for me), this is definitely a network issue.

I'm in Rathmines and started getting such faults when the new CMTS was installed on Wednesday to resolve the speeds issue.

I would very much appreciate anyone who has seen such problems start in the last few days to post here. In my experience the connection sometimes fails shortly after I commence a large download.

From looking at the Scientific Atlanta DOCSIS log (you can do this yourself, go to http://192.168.100.1/_aslvl.asp and login with user admin and pass W2402 - then select access level 3 for ethernet, enter the password W2402 again (don't enter a username here) and submit... then return to main page and you can see all the tabs) I am getting a DCC error within seconds of my connection dropping.

DCC is a Dynamic Channel Change request, sent from the CMTS to your modem to request it to move to a different channel, as yours is getting too full. It makes for more efficient use of bandwidth and ideally only drops the connection for a few seconds. This is why I think I'm seeing it after starting large downloads - I'm filling up a channel and being transferred to a quieter one so as to not affect other customers. However, the process is not working smoothly.

For me, rebooting the (UPC supplied) SciA EPC2203 modem does not fix the issue. However, getting my router to renew its (public) IP does fix the problem every time. If you are directly connected to the modem by Ethernet (no routers or wireless malarky) an ipconfig /release then ipconfig /renew should fix it. If you don't know how to renew your router's public IP, turning it off and on again should do it too. Try this next time, being sure to leave your modem alone.

I've only been speculating the last few days, as I've considered that my equipment might be the fault. But if others are having the same problem (FloatingVoter, I'm in Rathmines and you're probably close) it is definitely a wider system issue.

Anyone who's had this the past few days (or increased frequency in the past four days) - please post the following:

-where you are (eg Ranelagh, Portobello, Crumlin if you can, not just D8)

-your modem/what UPC gave you - is it the Scientific Atlanta modem only, or the Cisco wireless router, or the Scientific Atlanta with a separate Netgear Wireless router

-your router that you supplied yourself, (if any)

-if you're on the Scientific Atlanta, please log into the modem as described above and see what's on the Log tab around the time of your disconnects

-what you were doing when it disconnected - did you just start a download?

-if you could fix the issue by leaving the SciA modem on and restarting your router.

For those feeling adventurous, try DOCSDIAG, run with the -vv option and see what your CMTS MAC address is. Put it in http://www.coffer.com/mac_find/ and see what the manufacturer's name is. Mine changed from Cisco to Casa when this problem started.

I'll be talking to a guy in UPC who knows his stuff and seems to actually care about providing a good service on Monday - if I can tell him straight off that there are multiple customers with an identical issue then he'll pass it to the right folks.

FloatingVoter

Above rings true as I was starting large-ish usenet downloads whenever the connection dropped if I recall. Its late now but will run the tests later on. re location I'm Dublin 8(off Cork Street).

Back...it disconnected again this morning. Scientific Atlanta with separate NETGEAR wireless router. Unplugging the router and not the modem got it back this time. Heres the log dump if thats of any use...

Time ID Level Description
Mon Feb 15 15:20:48 2010 68010300 Warning (5) DHCP RENEW WARNING - Field invalid in response
Mon Feb 15 12:38:41 2010 73040100 Notice (6) TLV-11 - unrecognized OID
Mon Feb 15 12:38:29 2010 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Mon Feb 15 12:38:22 2010 67020600 Critical (3) DCC aborted unable to communicate on new upstream channel
Mon Feb 15 12:38:22 2010 82000400 Critical (3) Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Un...
Mon Feb 15 12:18:08 2010 68010300 Warning (5) DHCP RENEW WARNING - Field invalid in response
Mon Feb 15 11:48:06 2010 73040100 Notice (6) TLV-11 - unrecognized OID
Mon Feb 15 11:47:57 2010 68000100 Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Discover sent, no offer received
Mon Feb 15 11:45:17 2010 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Mon Feb 15 11:45:12 2010 84000100 Critical (3) SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire QAM/Q...
Mon Feb 15 11:45:07 2010 68000100 Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Discover sent, no offer received
Mon Feb 15 11:38:27 2010 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Mon Feb 15 11:38:19 2010 68000100 Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Discover sent, no offer received
Mon Feb 15 11:35:09 2010 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Mon Feb 15 11:35:00 2010 68000100 Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Discover sent, no offer received
Mon Feb 15 11:31:50 2010 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Mon Feb 15 11:31:42 2010 68000100 Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Discover sent, no offer received
Mon Feb 15 11:28:24 2010 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Mon Feb 15 11:26:40 2010 68000100 Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Discover sent, no offer received
Mon Feb 15 11:23:21 2010 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Mon Feb 15 11:23:11 2010 68000100 Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Discover sent, no offer received
Mon Feb 15 11:16:43 2010 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Mon Feb 15 11:16:33 2010 68000100 Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Discover sent, no offer received
Mon Feb 15 11:13:18 2010 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Mon Feb 15 11:13:10 2010 68000100 Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Discover sent, no offer received
Mon Feb 15 11:10:00 2010 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Mon Feb 15 11:09:52 2010 68000100 Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Discover sent, no offer received
Mon Feb 15 11:06:37 2010 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Mon Feb 15 11:05:27 2010 68000100 Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Discover sent, no offer received
Mon Feb 15 11:02:10 2010 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Mon Feb 15 11:02:01 2010 68000100 Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Discover sent, no offer received
Mon Feb 15 10:58:40 2010 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out

SomeRndmPerson

I'm having the same problem this week, in Rathmines. Anyone found a solution?

Is there any way to stop this channel switching which seems to be the problem? Logfile below.

Tue Mar 02 14:11:31 2010 82000500 Critical (3) Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ...
Tue Mar 02 12:00:50 2010 73040100 Notice (6) TLV-11 - unrecognized OID
Time Not Established 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Mon Mar 01 21:38:30 2010 67020600 Critical (3) DCC aborted unable to communicate on new upstream channel
Mon Mar 01 21:38:30 2010 82000400 Critical (3) Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Un...
Time Not Established 68000200 Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Request sent, No response
Time Not Established 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Mon Mar 01 18:00:37 2010 67020600 Critical (3) DCC aborted unable to communicate on new upstream channel
Mon Mar 01 18:00:37 2010 82000400 Critical (3) Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Un...
Mon Mar 01 16:17:48 2010 82000500 Critical (3) Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ...
Mon Mar 01 12:30:53 2010 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Mon Mar 01 12:30:51 2010 82000300 Critical (3) Init RANGING Critical Ranging Request Retries exhausted
Mon Mar 01 12:30:51 2010 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Mon Mar 01 12:30:36 2010 82000300 Critical (3) Init RANGING Critical Ranging Request Retries exhausted
Mon Mar 01 12:30:36 2010 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Mon Mar 01 12:30:23 2010 82000300 Critical (3) Init RANGING Critical Ranging Request Retries exhausted
Mon Mar 01 12:30:23 2010 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Mon Mar 01 12:30:09 2010 82000300 Critical (3) Init RANGING Critical Ranging Request Retries exhausted
Mon Mar 01 12:30:09 2010 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Mon Mar 01 12:29:52 2010 82000300 Critical (3) Init RANGING Critical Ranging Request Retries exhausted
Mon Mar 01 12:29:52 2010 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Mon Mar 01 12:29:40 2010 82000300 Critical (3) Init RANGING Critical Ranging Request Retries exhausted
Mon Mar 01 12:29:40 2010 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Mon Mar 01 12:29:26 2010 82000300 Critical (3) Init RANGING Critical Ranging Request Retries exhausted
Mon Mar 01 12:29:26 2010 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Mon Mar 01 12:29:11 2010 82000400 Critical (3) Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Un...
Mon Mar 01 12:28:41 2010 82000500 Critical (3) Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ...
Sat Feb 27 20:31:49 2010 67020600 Critical (3) DCC aborted unable to communicate on new upstream channel
Sat Feb 27 20:31:49 2010 82000400 Critical (3) Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Un...
Sat Feb 27 15:20:20 2010 82000500 Critical (3) Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ...
Fri Feb 26 20:33:06 2010 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Fri Feb 26 20:32:59 2010 67020600 Critical (3) DCC aborted unable to communicate on new upstream channel

jumbobreakfast

Same error for me and it's been happening for at least a week. Only got into the logs today and am seeing the same error

I'm out in Sallins

Dongasaurus

Getting barely between .5 and 2.5 megabits here and sites are slow to resolve.

BENT

Yarnhall

Getting ******* ridiculous.

colferma

Yep, I'm in the same situation and it's a nightmare. I'm near Rathmines too. Sometimes a 'big' download messes it up (i.e. youtube video -- I often only get the first 30-50 seconds of it, also I was dropped from Skype twice today), othertimes it happens for no reason, seemingly. Log as follows:

Wed Mar 03 15:33:58 2010 73040100 Notice (6) TLV-11 - unrecognized OID Time Not Established 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out Time Not Established 68000100 Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Discover sent, no offer received Time Not Established 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out Tue Mar 02 16:54:24 2010 68000100 Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Discover sent, no offer received Tue Mar 02 16:51:12 2010 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out Tue Mar 02 16:51:05 2010 82000400 Critical (3) Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Un... Tue Mar 02 16:50:25 2010 82000500 Critical (3) Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ... Time Not Established 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out Mon Mar 01 13:49:06 2010 82000500 Critical (3) Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ... Time Not Established 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out Time Not Established 84000200 Critical (3) SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire FEC f... Time Not Established 84000100 Critical (3) SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire QAM/Q...

jumbobreakfast

Just happened there again while patching a game:
Wed Mar 03 21:25:48 2010 73040100 Notice (6) TLV-11 - unrecognized OID
Wed Mar 03 21:25:31 2010 67020600 Critical (3) DCC aborted unable to communicate on new upstream channel
Wed Mar 03 21:25:31 2010 82000400 Critical (3) Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Un...


Just a blip, but a very annoying one. I'm in Sallins on 30mbps using the Scientific Atlanta modem. To be honest I think I've had this problem for nearly a month. I think my line and modem are okay, are these acceptable levels?:

Receive Power Level 2.6 dBmV

Transmit Power Level 51.7 dBmV

Downstream Status Operational

Channel ID 4

Downstream Frequency 506000000 Hz

Modulation 256QAM

Bit Rate 42884296 bits/sec

Power Level 2.7 dBmV

Signal to Noise Ratio 36.9 dBmV

Upstream Channel

Upstream Status Operational

Channel ID 3

Upstream Frequency 53600000 H

Modulation 16QAM

Symbol Rate 2560 Ksym/sec

Power Level 51.7 dBmV

A friend of mine in Carlow is having similar problems but he has the Cisco modem. I must get him to check his log file. he knows how to get through the admin password request so I hope the logs are easy for him to find

codesonetwo

Just signed up to their 30mb package in Rathgar. Having huge problems with addresses not resolving. An IP/renew seems to do the trick but the whole service is gradually becoming unusable.

Any updates?

Stevek101

Same problem in Dublin 9 area. I've had it for at least two weeks now. It is always when I start a large download or multiple ones.

Scientific Atlanta modem with my own Linksys wireless router. I can see DCC errors in the log.

drver1

Same problems in Rathfarnham, connection drops 1 or 2 times an hour if not more! same equipment for the past year, emailed them 3 days ago, with no reply since.

SomeRndmPerson

Had no problems for the past day or so, started back even worse now

colferma

Just rang NTL there to see what their spiel was. I got a helpful lad who ran speed tests, checked the computer when it was hardwired etc. When I was on the wireless doing a speed test, I got dumped so I could point out to him exactly when it happened. Of course, no problem was registered at their end so he couldn't offer any solution. Latency/ping spikes seem to be the problem, but he wasn't sure why exactly they were happening. He decided on the usual recourse in the end, and a technician is coming out. Seemingly my modem processor might be at fault, and if it's not that, the only other answer is to 'bring my computer to a computer shop'.

I pointed out to the tech support that a lot of people in the area (I'm in Rathmines/Rathgar) are having the same problem. He replied that a million things could cause that one problem, and they may not be connected. The only way they'll know if there's a network fault, he said, was if everyone rang in to complain. Since they haven't received any phone calls, they assume there's no problem.

I also queried the DCC thing and the modem log: he claimed the DCC was a strictly wireless issue (no mentioned of CMTS -- I don't really understand these things but I think that CMTS is the link between DCC and modem?), while the modem log 'critical errors' were just single packets being lost which was no big deal. Ditto with the timeouts; they happen all the time, he said.

I don't really have the wherewithal to contradict the tech support, or even pose any really good questions, so the only thing that occurs to me is if everyone phones in maybe it'll raise a few eyebrows in UPC.

If anyone with a bit of know-how could post some more info that'd be great too.

the_law

DCC has nothing whatsoever to do with wireless.

Basically, the new equipment in UPC is sending four 38Mbit channels down your cable line. Your modem can pick any one of these to receive on. Obviously, if two 30Mbit users are downloading on one channel at the same time, they'll only get 19Mbits each. So DCC is carried out - an instruction is sent by UPC to one of the 30Mbit users to move to a less busy channel, and everyone's happy again and gets the full speed.

There was definitely a problem with this in the Rathmines area recently... but I have a feeling it may have been resolved over the last few days. I've been busy with work down the country so haven't been at home as much to put it through its paces.

There does seem to be a general upload issue though, I'm only getting 2Mbit and it's 5am, contention will not be an issue at this time (unless someone's done something really stupid...)

Edit: CMTS = Cable Modem Termination System - basically it's the headend (headend = UPC's switching centre, where all the channels and internet are modulated onto the cable) equipment that puts internet on the cable line.

Anyone who told you DCC was a wireless issue is full of sh1t...

Stevek101

Sat Mar 06 21:44:16 2010 73040100 Notice (6) TLV-11 - unrecognized OID
Sat Mar 06 21:44:02 2010 82000200 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Sat Mar 06 21:43:55 2010 67020600 Critical (3) DCC aborted unable to communicate on new upstream channel
Sat Mar 06 21:43:55 2010 82000400 Critical (3) Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Un...
Sat Mar 06 21:43:24 2010 67021600 Error (4) DCC rejected parameter invalid for context

This is the error list from the log when my connection was dropped while downloading two large files. Any insight?

jumbobreakfast

I dont have a wireless router/modem, I use the Scientific Atlanta Cable modem and I get DCC errors so I can back up The Law's statement

Anyone know how to view the logs on the cisco box? I want to see if my mate in Carlow is having the same problem. Not the firewall logs but the cable modem logs. It just happened there again for me btw

colferma

the_law wrote: »

There was definitely a problem with this in the Rathmines area recently... but I have a feeling it may have been resolved over the last few days.

Just wondering if people in the Rathmines area are still suffering like I am? I get temporary bumped off wireless every few minutes even when I'm not downloading, and only refreshing the page 10,000 times seems to work.

Also, if the problem persists, has anyone else tried ringing them to register the grievances?

John_Mc

Living in Harolds Cross Dublin 6w. Have the netgear router and scientifica modem combo.

Same symptoms as highlighted here, but haven't checked the logs.

Have they rolled out new hardware recently that could cause this?