Question The impossible internet problem of 3 years

[vguy95]

Hi, I'm going to do my best to explain what I know about this situation I'm in. I would really appreciate if the Networking genius' could help me figure this problem out, since we've had this similar problem for 3 years. Its a direct ethernet connection, not WiFi. Its 1 GB down and 100 upload from Shaw here in Canada. I have ran tests on other computers in the household, with different ethernet cables and ports and created the same situations. The modem/router is the same device.

It all began 3 years ago, out of no where between like 2 am central to 11 am, the internet would spike and lag on things like live streams. I complained many times, and eventually some guy on the forums said they found the problem and patched it, seemed to work. About 3 months later, the problem was less specific to time, but my upload would spike downwards to 49 Kbps or so. Because I'm a live streamer on Twitch.TV its important to have a good connection, so when I was running Streamlabs OBS, I noticed I was dropping 3-5% of my total frames, which is very bad for streaming. In order to see what exactly was going on, I went to inspector twitch TV and graphed my upload. It showed what I suspected, the upload kept spiking downwards to 49 Kbps, sometimes 1 Mbps, sometimes 2 Mbps, sometimes 3 Mbps -- and you need about 6 Mbps upload to maintain a 1080p stream. I also tested other twitch servers, the same thing.

When I contacted Shaw they did the typical hey, I did a speed test it looks fine. They hooked up their equipment to my cable modem, said hey it looks fine. In the past, they had sent a total of 10+ techs out, and locally they could never find an issue. About a year later, someone working internally at Shaw almost instantly found a problem in the node. He called me personally, and let me know that he found the problem. The problem was like 90% better. He then found some other problems, but it was still doing this weird spiking stuff once in awhile. It was never completely fixed, but I was somewhat satisfied and just accepted it.

Some months later pass, I end up with the exact same problem. The upload is spiking downwards again. Because Shaw didn't believe my Streamlabs OBS and inspector Twitch, I decided to watch my Streamlabs OBS live information, and when it would begin lagging I would immediately go do a test on testmy.net, with a dummy file upload. This way I could try to rule out whether its a specific server, or if its just like this across the entire internet for me. Well, when I did that and plotted the graph there too, it showed my average upload was 8.8 Mbps, and the graph showed spikes downwards to 1 Mbps (as my other applications were reading).

I showed Shaw all of this. They keep saying it looks fine, no matter what I do. So, my next step was I was going to try to find even more evidence to show a problem exists. So, I downloaded pingplotter and did some tests. It showed at 10.0.0.1 (my local modem) has a constant 50% packet loss. When I do pings to google, theres many hops that have a constant 50-70% packet loss too. I notified Shaw of this, and they said they dont trust 3rd party software for their diagnostics.

One thing I'm questioning, is that theres a cable line going directly to my house, which is close to my modem, that looks frayed. The tech was up there just the other day, I'm not sure how he didnt notice that, or maybe its not a big deal and I'm wrong about that.

Here are some of the images I have. (? when I try to upload it says contact admin something went wrong)...

https://imgur.com/oOXXyXF

View: https://imgur.com/oOXXyXF

https://imgur.com/jmQ7Nxf

View: https://imgur.com/jmQ7Nxf

https://imgur.com/SOZtis7

View: https://imgur.com/SOZtis7

https://imgur.com/nRIPRUb

View: https://imgur.com/nRIPRUb

https://imgur.com/rR5pcrG

View: https://imgur.com/rR5pcrG

 

[Ralston18]

@vguy95

Run the tests suggested in the preceding posts.

Plus I will suggest some additional ways to "look at things" and do further testing:

Use Task Manager, Resource Monitor, and Process Explorer (Microsoft, free) to observe system performance.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer

Use all three tools but only one tool at a time.

Do some observations while doing everything but an upload.

Get a sense of how your system is performing, what resources are being used, to what extent ( %), and what is using any given resource.

Make notes, capture screenshots; just to have some baseline data.

Then launch some uploads as you normally do and again observe system performance. Look for what changes. You may discover some bottleneck in your system that is affecting the uploads.

Network overview

Connectivity most likely being similar to the following simplified line diagram:

Shaw-ISP ===coax, DSL, Fiber? ===> Modem(XB7 ?) ----Ethernet cable ---->[WAN port] Router [LAN port(s)] ------ Ethernet cable--> Your PC.

Feel free to edit and correct my line diagram.

Router IP being 10.0.0.1 as understand the data thus far.

Likewise: Make and model router? (Noted XB7 -I believe that that is a modem.)

The make and model information should be on the router.

Who provided modem and/or router?

The router's logs (if available and enabled) may be capturing some relevant errors regarding the uploads.

Who has full admin rights to the router? You will need help from that person.

= = = =

Reading back:

Please update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

Include PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, refurbished, used)?

Disk drive(s): make, model, capacity, how full?

Lastly, for the moment, run and post the results of "ipconfig /all" (without quotes) via the Command Prompt.

You should be able to copy and paste the results without any need to retype everything.

Post accordingly.

 

[vguy95]

So I will put my idiot ISP hat on now.

Please prove that the data that is received by all these programs was actually sent out of your machine correctly. Ie how do you prove that the data was not already damaged before it was even sent out the ethernet port of your machine.

Now if there is some kind of test server you could setup in your house that could receive the stream and analyze the data format it would be pretty easy to say see there is no frame loss in the house and this is the same data I am sending outside the house.

Until you find someway to basically prove some kind of problem the ISP can correctly say "it is a application issue". Even your own testing shows you only see issues with this one application every test tool you run shows no issues.

So me not having use OBS I can't say much. Are there any fake test "streams" where you could play some kind of pre encoded video file so you are not use OBS on live data. In effect you would be uploading a data file just using the transport part of the software rather than the complex encoding.

What I would suspect if this is a real network issue it is some kind of hardware/firmware issue in the ISP equipment. This would be similar to the intel PUMA issue years ago in cable modems. There was a bug that pretty much only certain game traffic would hit. No other traffic was affected. There were many more gamers than you have streamers so it was simpler to isolate it to certain models of modems. In this case if the problem is really equipment related it is likely some hardware revision of some board in the ISP equipment where only certain units are affected.

I still think your first step is to find a way to confirm that the data is actually correct as it leaves your machine. Then you need to find a way to help the ISP find this. I mean lets say you have 100% access to the ISP equipment what would you check. Just like you know nothing about their equipment they know nothing about data streaming and it really appears it is only that kind of traffic being affected.

If that was the case then why dont other Twitch streamers who use the same software as me, same modem as me, have the same problem as me? Whom are in my city, just outside of my node?

 

[vguy95]

and yet, being such "garbage" it shows same results as testmy.net for me.
as for using multithreading, it's non-issue, it's goal is see what is the maximum speed your connection allows, not what you normally can get with single thread. (difference here can point to problems on computers CPU power)
connect to local servers? by default, yes. it has a button to choose from list of them. or search from anywhere in world.
my result is same to local, europe and US, including shaw in canada.

My goal was to get you to test following things:
packet loss between you and twitch with streaming load and without.
different streaming loads to see where actual working upload speed is
find out what the testable maximum speed of connection is.

and rule out your computer and router, both of which are easy targets to blame for the ISP.
but since I know nothing, I'll stop here.

Ookla software OBJECTIVELY discards 30% of your slowest speeds. It is NOT a diagnostic too, it is an ANTI diagnostic tool. Anything that garbage software shows, is completely fake and rigged by the software to the point that it provides little to no information at all. There is NO reason to value that software in that speed test, its a gimmick. You should read about the software and what it does, and if you are honest with yourself one bit, you would immediately realize that its an actual scam, created for ISP's so they can say hey, go to speedtest.net, if it shows its good, its all good!

it is GARBAGE. And its very angering that anyone places ANY value on fast.com and speedtest.net. READ WHAT THE SOFTWARE DOES. There should be a class action lawsuit against ISP's for this nonsense if you ask me.

Ookla software will allow maximum speeds because the nature of the software, dont you understand that? It doesn't matter what it shows because the software in Ookla is completely rigged. Even when there was objective problems in the node (which they confirmed they found, major ones at that) Ookla didn't even show it! It showed maximum speeds on Ookla. It is TRASH, absolute TRASH, should NEVER be used.

 

[vguy95]

So I will put my idiot ISP hat on now.

Please prove that the data that is received by all these programs was actually sent out of your machine correctly. Ie how do you prove that the data was not already damaged before it was even sent out the ethernet port of your machine.

Now if there is some kind of test server you could setup in your house that could receive the stream and analyze the data format it would be pretty easy to say see there is no frame loss in the house and this is the same data I am sending outside the house.

Until you find someway to basically prove some kind of problem the ISP can correctly say "it is a application issue". Even your own testing shows you only see issues with this one application every test tool you run shows no issues.

So me not having use OBS I can't say much. Are there any fake test "streams" where you could play some kind of pre encoded video file so you are not use OBS on live data. In effect you would be uploading a data file just using the transport part of the software rather than the complex encoding.

What I would suspect if this is a real network issue it is some kind of hardware/firmware issue in the ISP equipment. This would be similar to the intel PUMA issue years ago in cable modems. There was a bug that pretty much only certain game traffic would hit. No other traffic was affected. There were many more gamers than you have streamers so it was simpler to isolate it to certain models of modems. In this case if the problem is really equipment related it is likely some hardware revision of some board in the ISP equipment where only certain units are affected.

I still think your first step is to find a way to confirm that the data is actually correct as it leaves your machine. Then you need to find a way to help the ISP find this. I mean lets say you have 100% access to the ISP equipment what would you check. Just like you know nothing about their equipment they know nothing about data streaming and it really appears it is only that kind of traffic being affected.

Only thing I can think of is to try to get the IP of different twitch servers and somehow do pings to them through pingplotter or something to see if it picks up anything. In the OBS streaming software, you can do bandwidth tests without going live, where you're essentially streaming to the server but it doesn't show you as live... Normally inspector twitch tv will graph this data for you, but its been down for some weeks.

But like I said, when I do an upload file to testmy.net, the graph shows not only slower than normal speeds, it shows the upload spiking downwards to less than 1 Mbps (which is basically my entire issue, since a 1080p stream requires a constant rate of 6 Mbps). So, testmy.net shows the exact same problem, inspector twitch graphs the problem and shows the upload spikes downwards to 49 Kbps.... how else can I possibly test this more!?! I dont know where to go anymore, to me that seems like enough data to show theres a problem. But then Shaw sends you to speedtest.net and that gimmick software always shows max speeds. Its CRAP.

 

[Ralston18]

Reference:

"If that was the case then why dont other Twitch streamers who use the same software as me, same modem as me, have the same problem as me? Whom are in my city, just outside of my node?

There are many, many other factors involved.....

Starting with the PC, the router, the modem, software, configuration settings, and the hops taken along the upload path.

I would be very surprised if any one else's uploads have the same path excluding maybe the last couple of hops.

Take a look at pathping and tracert results.

Plus the path being taken can change during the upload process due to traffic, technical problems, and weather.

= = = =

Also, reading back I realized that you have a combined modem/router. That being the XB7 - provided by Shaw?

This modem/router?

https://support.shaw.ca/t5/internet-discussions/shaw-fibre-gateway-2-xb7-user-guide/td-p/48429

https://support.shaw.ca/t5/internet-articles/how-to-connect-your-shaw-equipment/ta-p/6476

 

[vguy95]

and yet, being such "garbage" it shows same results as testmy.net for me.
as for using multithreading, it's non-issue, it's goal is see what is the maximum speed your connection allows, not what you normally can get with single thread. (difference here can point to problems on computers CPU power)
connect to local servers? by default, yes. it has a button to choose from list of them. or search from anywhere in world.
my result is same to local, europe and US, including shaw in canada.

My goal was to get you to test following things:
packet loss between you and twitch with streaming load and without.
different streaming loads to see where actual working upload speed is
find out what the testable maximum speed of connection is.

and rule out your computer and router, both of which are easy targets to blame for the ISP.
but since I know nothing, I'll stop here.

I guess you are just in denial and believe its a worthwhile test because its a popular speedtest. Read some information on testmy.net and see how its different and you'll understand why Ookla is completely pointless to use. I mean that, it is literally a useless application. It provides nothing. False information, thats what it provides.

 

[vguy95]

Reference:

"If that was the case then why dont other Twitch streamers who use the same software as me, same modem as me, have the same problem as me? Whom are in my city, just outside of my node?

There are many, many other factors involved.....

Starting with the PC, the router, the modem, software, configuration settings, and the hops taken along the upload path.

I would be very surprised if any one else's uploads have the same path excluding maybe the last couple of hops.

Take a look at pathping and tracert results.

Plus the path being taken can change during the upload process due to traffic, technical problems, and weather.

= = = =

Also, reading back I realized that you have a combined modem/router. That being the XB7 - provided by Shaw?

This modem/router?

https://support.shaw.ca/t5/internet-discussions/shaw-fibre-gateway-2-xb7-user-guide/td-p/48429

https://support.shaw.ca/t5/internet-articles/how-to-connect-your-shaw-equipment/ta-p/6476

 

[vguy95]

@vguy95

Run the tests suggested in the preceding posts.

Plus I will suggest some additional ways to "look at things" and do further testing:

Use Task Manager, Resource Monitor, and Process Explorer (Microsoft, free) to observe system performance.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer

Use all three tools but only one tool at a time.

Do some observations while doing everything but an upload.

Get a sense of how your system is performing, what resources are being used, to what extent ( %), and what is using any given resource.

Make notes, capture screenshots; just to have some baseline data.

Then launch some uploads as you normally do and again observe system performance. Look for what changes. You may discover some bottleneck in your system that is affecting the uploads.

Network overview

Connectivity most likely being similar to the following simplified line diagram:

Shaw-ISP ===coax, DSL, Fiber? ===> Modem(XB7 ?) ----Ethernet cable ---->[WAN port] Router [LAN port(s)] ------ Ethernet cable--> Your PC.

Feel free to edit and correct my line diagram.

Router IP being 10.0.0.1 as understand the data thus far.

Likewise: Make and model router? (Noted XB7 -I believe that that is a modem.)

The make and model information should be on the router.

Who provided modem and/or router?

The router's logs (if available and enabled) may be capturing some relevant errors regarding the uploads.

Who has full admin rights to the router? You will need help from that person.

= = = =

Reading back:

Please update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

Include PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, refurbished, used)?

Disk drive(s): make, model, capacity, how full?

Lastly, for the moment, run and post the results of "ipconfig /all" (without quotes) via the Command Prompt.

You should be able to copy and paste the results without any need to retype everything.

Post accordingly.

Shaw ISP COAX, MODEM XB7, Ethernet Cable, WAN? ... yes, ETHERNET cable to my PC.

I have a Ryzen 3900X 16 gb of ram, its a GTX 960 2gb (yes, terrible) but my frames aren't dropping based on my FPS, the frames that drop are perfectly correlated with the internet... this happens even when I play Hearthstone (a card game that uses SO little resources). I have an EVGA Supernova 750 Watt PSU. The router/modem is provided by Shaw and has been swapped out in the past. I also changed ethernet cables.

I have full admin rights to the router. I have logged in the router, couldn't find any relevant information, but I could show you if you like. There doesn't seem to be all that much information collected there...

But like I said, this problem began years ago. Shaw came here and screamed bloody murder, they cant "see" anything, all their tests are "fine". I argued with Shaw for years, eventually there was some guy at Shaw who said hey, do you know anything about Twitch and uploads? Somehow this guy, found some guy who works on the infrastructure at Shaw, and he called me personally and said he found the problem. Immediately after that, all the uploads and graphs I would normally create were 99% clean. Not everything was fixed, but the majority of the problem was gone. This was after Shaw denied it was their problem like 50+ times. Now, I have the same problem again, and its even worse.

I think we are wasting our time looking at all these details, and I think the focus should be on how to prove its actually in the node. All the problems I ever had with this damn Shaw has been on their end. And, outside my house, the last time I spoke the Shaw guys through chat, they said the signal is a little low coming into my house. They have told me that 3 times, but then when the Shaw techs come here, they say nothing about it and act like theres no issues. Yet, if I contact Shaw right now, they will say there seems to be a slightly weak signal coming TO my house.

It is honestly mentally deteriorating me. I tried to stream on twitch to create an income, and it helped me mentally because I been going through a rough time, and this damn internet, it just wont let me stream properly and these Shaw guys are some of the most uneducated dimwits I have ever met in my entire life, its like talking to someone in India that doesn't speak english or something. I can tell them exactly what happens, show them proof that its on many different sources, websites, doesnt matter where I go, and they just keep saying they cant see anything. I can tell them its an intermittent problem with the upload and they will send me to speedtest.net and act like thats the way to diagnose my internet. It makes me want to just explode with anger, because I have met with like 30+ techs and none of them know what they're doing and they usually know less than even I do.

 

[Ralston18]

Try the following:

At the next opportunity when you will not be online for a couple of days, power down, unplug, and disconnect modem, router.

Just let it all sit.

When you return then, in order, reconnect and turn on the modem. Wait awhile then reconnect and turn on the router.

The objective being to get a new IP address from Shaw by waiting long enough that your current IP address is released. Then you get a new IP address. May or may not help and some ISPs will just give you the same IP address anyway.

As a fall back simply ask for a new IP address.

 

[vguy95]

Try the following:

At the next opportunity when you will not be online for a couple of days, power down, unplug, and disconnect modem, router.

Just let it all sit.

When you return then, in order, reconnect and turn on the modem. Wait awhile then reconnect and turn on the router.

The objective being to get a new IP address from Shaw by waiting long enough that your current IP address is released. Then you get a new IP address. May or may not help and some ISPs will just give you the same IP address anyway.

As a fall back simply ask for a new IP address.

I'll ask for a new IP address.

What do you think this can accomplish? Is my IP address static?

 

[vguy95]

Try the following:

At the next opportunity when you will not be online for a couple of days, power down, unplug, and disconnect modem, router.

Just let it all sit.

When you return then, in order, reconnect and turn on the modem. Wait awhile then reconnect and turn on the router.

The objective being to get a new IP address from Shaw by waiting long enough that your current IP address is released. Then you get a new IP address. May or may not help and some ISPs will just give you the same IP address anyway.

As a fall back simply ask for a new IP address.

I just got a new IP address, or they told me they gave me one. It restarted my modem/router

 

[vguy95]

now its even worse than it was originally

https://imgur.com/TThStVV

View: https://imgur.com/TThStVV


according to my streamlabs OBS (uploading stream) I'm now dropping 9.8% of my total frames, and I keep seeing it spike downwards to 1000 Kbps (VERY SLOW). The downwards spikes in the upload can be seen in the screenshot. Note this is a 100 upload connection, and I have slower speeds than the average connection with my provider, and I have one of the best internet plans from my provider.

 

[Ralston18]

Details matter.

What hardware do you have from Shaw?

https://support.shaw.ca/t5/internet...w-internet-modems/ta-p/5756#content-section-1

Run "WhatismyIP"

https://www.whatismyip.com/

Do not post your Public IP information, or location.

Simply check if the information matches what you are being told.

Then, when the opportunity occurs, shutdown and unplug the modem/router for a day or so.

Determine if the Public IP address changes.

I ran Speedtest and then testmy.net. Not a rigorous test - just a quick look at things.

testmy.net reported the download speed to be about 30% lower than speedtest. Upload speeds were almost the same value.

Then the next test round went the other way with download speeds "swapping" while upload speeds stayed the very much the same. Inconsistent.

Run the combined test a few times and watch the download speeds.

Compare Speedtest and testmy.net results. How close or far apart are the results? How consistent are the results?

There are some other diagnostic commands that can be used. However, I want to do a bit of testing with those commands before making further suggestions.

The intent is to objectively narrow down and quantify the problem and the source/location.

Be it your network, Shaw, or beyond.

That is what I am trying to accomplish.

 

[vguy95]

Details matter.

What hardware do you have from Shaw?

https://support.shaw.ca/t5/internet...w-internet-modems/ta-p/5756#content-section-1

Run "WhatismyIP"

https://www.whatismyip.com/

Do not post your Public IP information, or location.

Simply check if the information matches what you are being told.

Then, when the opportunity occurs, shutdown and unplug the modem/router for a day or so.

Determine if the Public IP address changes.

I ran Speedtest and then testmy.net. Not a rigorous test - just a quick look at things.

testmy.net reported the download speed to be about 30% lower than speedtest. Upload speeds were almost the same value.

Then the next test round went the other way with download speeds "swapping" while upload speeds stayed the very much the same. Inconsistent.

Run the combined test a few times and watch the download speeds.

Compare Speedtest and testmy.net results. How close or far apart are the results? How consistent are the results?

There are some other diagnostic commands that can be used. However, I want to do a bit of testing with those commands before making further suggestions.

The intent is to objectively narrow down and quantify the problem and the source/location.

Be it your network, Shaw, or beyond.

That is what I am trying to accomplish.

I'll answer these questions shortly, but like I said fast.com and speedtest.net, the software is rigged as hell. If you run real world applications (basically anything) I believe you'll find testmy.net is closer to reality than other speed tests. I find CIRCA speed test shows similar results to testmy.net also. I believe this is because the Ookla software discards 30% of your slowest speeds. If you read what the software does, it is a huge gimmick. I'm not sure why the test exists in the first place if the software is rigged to show favorable results, I dont understand it.

 

[Ralston18]

I am not promoting or championing any given speed test software or method.

All forms of measurement are subject to flaws and errors. Test devices often list some + or - accuracy.

So if you do multiple tests and there are outliers then the outliers may be disregarded as such. AKA "anomaly" when warranted.

How does someone buy a thermometer in a store? Look at all of them and pick the one or two thermometers in the middle of the temperature range amongst the thermometers. However, if you can see your breath and mid range temperature is 56 F then all thermometers may be suspect. Except for the thermometer that reads 32 F.

Key is to run multiple tests and make measurements in as many ways possible.

You do not need to use software that you believe to be rigged. On the other hand I would be curious as to why Ookla chose to disregard 30% of the slowest speeds. Does not appear to be hidden if that is indeed being done. Any references to cite?

Here is what Ookla says about their methodology:

https://www.ookla.com/articles/how-... with Speedtest,on key network health metrics.

From the link:

"We require a footprint of at least 30% in an operator’s market before we will calculate a Coverage Score to ensure that an operator is generally available to the public. "

I understand that to be more of a minimal sample size than a disregarding of slowest speeds.

Appears to me that Ookla is being quite straightforward and upfront regarding their methodology and practices.

And I fail to see how Ookla would benefit by rigging results.....

 

[vguy95]

I am not promoting or championing any given speed test software or method.

All forms of measurement are subject to flaws and errors. Test devices often list some + or - accuracy.

So if you do multiple tests and there are outliers then the outliers may be disregarded as such. AKA "anomaly" when warranted.

How does someone buy a thermometer in a store? Look at all of them and pick the one or two thermometers in the middle of the temperature range amongst the thermometers. However, if you can see your breath and mid range temperature is 56 F then all thermometers may be suspect. Except for the thermometer that reads 32 F.

Key is to run multiple tests and make measurements in as many ways possible.

You do not need to use software that you believe to be rigged. On the other hand I would be curious as to why Ookla chose to disregard 30% of the slowest speeds. Does not appear to be hidden if that is indeed being done. Any references to cite?

Here is what Ookla says about their methodology:

https://www.ookla.com/articles/how-ookla-ensures-accurate-reliable-data-2021#:~:text=Each test taken with Speedtest,on key network health metrics.

From the link:

"We require a footprint of at least 30% in an operator’s market before we will calculate a Coverage Score to ensure that an operator is generally available to the public. "

I understand that to be more of a minimal sample size than a disregarding of slowest speeds.

Appears to me that Ookla is being quite straightforward and upfront regarding their methodology and practices.

And I fail to see how Ookla would benefit by rigging results.....

Ookla benefits by being sponsored by the internet ISP's, they give priority access to servers too, for the ISP's... in general the speed tests are also connected to local servers (not how internet works in reality in most cases). This thread summarizes it very well https://testmy.net/ipb/topic/28902-why-do-my-results-differ-from-speedtestnet-ookla-speed-tests/

The benefit of it is when your customers phone in and say "HEY, I have a problem with my internet!" the first part of their script is to send you to an Ookla based speedtest, either speedtest.net or Fast.com (both are Ookla software). Then it hides internet problems, and it allows the customer service to say looks like everything is fine! Time to move on!

 

[vguy95]

Either way, Ookla based software is the ONLY test that I have done that does not show my problem, ONLY Ookla software. Real world applications across the board, and other speed test sites show the problem I'm having.

 

[vguy95]

Details matter.

What hardware do you have from Shaw?

https://support.shaw.ca/t5/internet...w-internet-modems/ta-p/5756#content-section-1

Run "WhatismyIP"

https://www.whatismyip.com/

Do not post your Public IP information, or location.

Simply check if the information matches what you are being told.

Then, when the opportunity occurs, shutdown and unplug the modem/router for a day or so.

Determine if the Public IP address changes.

I ran Speedtest and then testmy.net. Not a rigorous test - just a quick look at things.

testmy.net reported the download speed to be about 30% lower than speedtest. Upload speeds were almost the same value.

Then the next test round went the other way with download speeds "swapping" while upload speeds stayed the very much the same. Inconsistent.

Run the combined test a few times and watch the download speeds.

Compare Speedtest and testmy.net results. How close or far apart are the results? How consistent are the results?

There are some other diagnostic commands that can be used. However, I want to do a bit of testing with those commands before making further suggestions.

The intent is to objectively narrow down and quantify the problem and the source/location.

Be it your network, Shaw, or beyond.

That is what I am trying to accomplish.

It does look like my IP was changed.

I have the XB7 modem, the white one.

 

[vguy95]

https://imgur.com/QMrFPG3

View: https://imgur.com/QMrFPG3


This is the fastest its been in months (usually its around 8 Mbps). However, if you even look at the history of my tests (and my internet has been bad for years at this house) my overall average before was even faster than it is now... not only that, the average of my upload is 68% slower than my city average on Shaw. And I have I think, the best upload you can get with Shaw in the city of Winnipeg.

So how does that make sense? Other people using the Shaw network (whom likely have slower internet plans than me) are averaging at a rate of 68% faster than my average, sometimes its like 75% faster.

In every way, my connection is slower than all the averages. Why? The internet also shouldn't be spiking downwards like that constantly, it should be more or less a horizontal line with maybe some disturbances, not a 100 upload connection going to 0 every 10 or 15 seconds or less.

 

[vguy95]

Shaw is coming here later today. Suggestions?

 

[Ralston18]

ISP Shaw -----(Coax cable) ------>XB7 ----> Ethernet cables ----> wired network devices and ~~~~ wireless ~~~ > wireless network devices.

Correct?

This modem/router?

https://support.shaw.ca/t5/internet-articles/how-to-connect-your-fibre-gateway/ta-p/5299

First trace all of the wires and connections to make a network sketch starting with where Shaw's coax cable enters your premises and leads to the XB7. Look for any splitters anywhere. Include all connections and ports. Label devices and ports.

Look for any splitters or coax cables that are not properly terminated.

FYI:

https://blog.solidsignal.com/tutorials/tip-terminate-unused-ports/

Look for other signs of damage: kinks, hard bends, rodent chews, bare conductor showing, corrosion anywhere (including splitters, coax connections, and barrel connections.

Look for any cables that go nowhere, unconnected.

Point out all such things to the tech. Take photos for the record.

 

[vguy95]

ISP Shaw -----(Coax cable) ------>XB7 ----> Ethernet cables ----> wired network devices and ~~~~ wireless ~~~ > wireless network devices.

Correct?

This modem/router?

https://support.shaw.ca/t5/internet-articles/how-to-connect-your-fibre-gateway/ta-p/5299

First trace all of the wires and connections to make a network sketch starting with where Shaw's coax cable enters your premises and leads to the XB7. Look for any splitters anywhere. Include all connections and ports. Label devices and ports.

Look for any splitters or coax cables that are not properly terminated.

FYI:

https://blog.solidsignal.com/tutorials/tip-terminate-unused-ports/

Look for other signs of damage: kinks, hard bends, rodent chews, bare conductor showing, corrosion anywhere (including splitters, coax connections, and barrel connections.

Look for any cables that go nowhere, unconnected.

Point out all such things to the tech. Take photos for the record.

lol, he seemed really confused. Didn't know what to say when I brought up testmy.net and other speed tests aside from Ookla. Then kinda acknowledged it but basically said he doesn't think he can fix my problem.... He didn't find anything wrong but was very confused when my speed tests were going 8 Mbps and kept resorting back to speedtest.net. There are no extra splitters, that was replaced last time they were here, last year they also replaced the cable coming to the house.

I mentioned that the Shaw Chat keeps saying the signal to my house is weak, and he kept saying Oh they say all sorts of things. And he didn't seem concerned about it... nothing was accomplished really, I asked him if he could try to contact the guy that fixed most of the problems over a year ago, who found problems in the node, even though when people would come here they would see nothing. He said he would try, but it didnt seem very convincing. I basically asked him to leave notes on the file that would allow me to escalate it again hopefully.

I showed him the problems though and whats happening, but he had no idea what to do because when he hooked up his equipment he claims that it looked good. The thing is, I even talked to him and said you're looking at it for like 30 seconds at a time, when its an intermittent problem in general, and he agreed basically it would be hard to see if it was intermittent. However, simple speed tests show theres a MAJOR problem!

~ 8 Mbps upload is way slower than it should be...

 

[bill001g]

The guy that comes to your house can only test the cables between your house and the first ISP node. They can not do much more than you about problems farther into the network. It does likely show that it is not a physical problem to your house since the equipment they use is very sensitive to cabling issues.

So you are still no closer. It could be a problem with shaw I guess but it could also be a problem with any of the other ISP in the path. This in someways is why speedtest.net is a more valid test. You likely can pick a server that does not leave shaws network.

Looking up testmy.net it appears they have extremely limited number of testing servers they only have 1 in canada. They have 13 worldwide where speedtest likely has more than 7 in a city near you. Also testmy does not actually own any servers it appears it buys everything from a hosting company called the constant company.
This hosting company has very limited connections to very large ISP. Their main connections to other ISP appear to be via airtel (india) and ntt (japan). Note this does not mean the traffic goes to those countries but these ISP have much fewer interconnects in north america than say verizon or att.

Pretty much it looks like testmy is likely some guy in his garage rather than some large company.

Your testing does not show the problem is actually in shaws network almost the reverse. It shows that if the traffic goes via some ISP there is a problem and if it goes via others it does not have issues.

Shaw primary internet partners are GTT, tata, and cogent. So lets say your traffic that has a issue goes from say shaw to tata to airtel to the testmyip server but the connects that work go shaw-gtt-server location. gtt is a much larger tier1 ISP in north america.

How do you know that the problem is actually inside shaws network and not a problem between other ISP they connect to. Shaw although a big company is not a actual tier 1 ISP unlike say verizon, att or tmobile it is not even even a tier 2 ISP. It depends much more on connectivity other larger ISP carry the traffic on its own network.

This thread is very long but have you tried a vpn service. The VPN data center might have a different path between your ISP and other ISP.

 

[Ralston18]

Very likely that the problem's cause is beyond you and Shaw.

However, there may be more to be learned.

Are you able to login to the Shaw modem?

https://support.shaw.ca/t5/internet-articles/how-to-log-in-to-your-shaw-wifi-modem/ta-p/6468

https://support.shaw.ca/t5/internet...teway-xb6-xb7-xb8/ta-p/5114#content-section-0

Just to look. Do not change anything.

Any logs to be seen?

And, just to be sure, no un-terminated (versus dust caps) coax ports on your side?

 

[vguy95]

Very likely that the problem's cause is beyond you and Shaw.

However, there may be more to be learned.

Are you able to login to the Shaw modem?

https://support.shaw.ca/t5/internet-articles/how-to-log-in-to-your-shaw-wifi-modem/ta-p/6468

https://support.shaw.ca/t5/internet...teway-xb6-xb7-xb8/ta-p/5114#content-section-0

Just to look. Do not change anything.

Any logs to be seen?

And, just to be sure, no un-terminated (versus dust caps) coax ports on your side?

But that wasn't the case before. Before when I had this EXACT same problem, they screamed bloody murder for over 1 year straight claiming they see nothing, eventually some guy working there was like I see something, and then he fixed it. So I'm not convinced its 'beyond Shaw'.

I can login yes. I do not see any logs though.