Help diagnosing packet loss

[harrisjb78]

My father has been having a very slow/unstable internet connection. Sometimes the speed will drop under 5mb down, sometimes it won't connect at all.
I ran a trace poll to 8.8.8.8 and came up with....

(Name, Address, Ping, Avg ping, Loss, Pkt complete, Pkt total, Best ping, Worst ping)
Lighthouse 192.168.1.1 1 0ms 0ms 0% 11 / 11 0ms / 0ms
Unknown Host 142.254.216.61 2 25ms 15ms 36% 7 / 11 9ms / 25ms
agg61.ngflnyen02h.northeast.rr.com 24.58.217.85 3 19ms 21ms 27% 8 / 11 11ms / 44ms
agg28.lncsnycd02r.northeast.rr.com 24.58.38.132 4 10ms 16ms 45% 6 / 11 10ms / 39ms be29.rochnyei01r.northeast.rr.com 24.58.32.62 5 21ms 22ms 27% 8 / 11 11ms / 42m
bu-ether15.chcgildt87w-bcr00.tbone.rr.com 66.109.6.72 6 25ms 34ms 9% 10 / 11 25ms / 51ms
0.ae0.pr1.chi10.tbone.rr.com 107.14.17.192 7 35ms 38ms 9% 10 / 11 25ms / 68ms
ix-ae-27-0.tcore2.ct8-chicago.as6453.net 64.86.79.97 8 32ms 31ms 19% 8 / 10 24ms / 45ms
Unknown Host 209.85.173.6 9 38ms 37ms 9% 9 / 10 24ms / 57ms
Unknown Host 108.170.244.1 10 25ms 38ms 9% 9 / 10 25ms / 96ms
Unknown Host 209.85.250.39 11 81ms 100% 0 / 10
google-public-dns-a.google.com 8.8.8.8 12 24ms 40ms 19% 8 / 10 24ms / 59ms

The loss is always on the 2nd hop which IIRC is anything from the modem to the ISPs modem, correct?
All the wiring in the house is new with good, clean connections.
The setup is: cable in > telephony modem (Arris, not sure exact model, ISP provided) > VoIP signal amplifier (ISP provided on the only call they responded to) > modem (Linksys CM3008) > router (Linksys WRT1200AC) > wired to PC

I have no idea why there is 2 modems in line. This was the setup the ISP provided and he simply copied it.
The ISP has said they will not send a crew out again.

What should my next step be in diagnosing this?
I looked through many solved threads but haven't come up with anything.

 

[bill001g]

That is very strange but I suspect they have 2 modems connected to your line one for their voice service and a second one owned by you for the data service. The data likely does not actually pass through their modem they are both just connected to the same incoming coax cable.

The modems and the cables are completely transparent to trace/ping. The problem is between your router and the ISP router. In most cases this is the cabling outside your house but it can be the modem or cabling inside your house.

It depends on how much effort you want to take. You could try to remove everything and hook your cable modem directly to the incoming cable at the very first point you can near your house. Most times there is a grounded barrel connector on the outside of the house. You would want to remove the cable going into the house and hook a short cable at that point. This pretty much will eliminate any issues in the house.

Your other option is to pay for a service call and have a tech come out and find the problem. If the problem is outside your house the ISP geneally does not charge you for the call.

Note the voice services bundled by cable companies tend to rather expensive compared to doing this your self with a small VoIP box and subscription to a VoIP service. There used to be some you could get for free from google but I hear something has changed in that plan

 

[harrisjb78]

Ahh yes, you are correct. The line comes in and the amplifier acts as a splitter with two separate lines going to the VoIP modem and the data modem.

Thank you, I will try that.