Audio/video/Xbox chat and game dropouts over past month

[smith6612]

Hey, thanks for the comparison line quality tests. They actually point out a bit more having a few here.

From what I see, one problem seems to be with Verizon's connectivity from their core router to the edge router (A Juniper ERX). If you look at your initial line quality test, P0-0-0-0.BSTNMA-LCR-22.verizon-gni.net and P12-0.BSTNMA-BRTNMACO-ERXG03.verizon-gni.net have a latency very close to each other. Granted, the first router I mentioned probably has ICMP data on lower priority, so it might be delaying response back until it is finished working on other tasks. The second router would be the edge router you are attached to, and this serves as a "Gateway" between what is basically the Internet and your virtual circuit at the CO.

The last two tests you provided gave information suggesting the link between the two routers was problematic, either lossy or saturated. It could also suggest that the Juniper ERX was overloaded, and this would also cause packet loss and/or slow speeds. Latency between those two routers should not vary any more than 1-2ms to each other. If for some reason a link is saturated, it should not jump more than 10ms from one router in the same area to another.

The other noteworthy event would be the packet loss between your connection and the Edge Router. If it is not from your line generating CRC Errors due to noise as I pointed out before, it is probably from the same reasons as I pointed out above with the two routers on Verizon's end. Somewhere, the link between the Juniper ETX to the DSLAM (where your data effectively is dumped onto a private link to your home via copper) there is an overloaded circuit, perhaps a virtual ATM Circuit or the connectivity to the DSLAM, or along the way there is a failing/faulty piece of equipment that needs attention. Now, the latency between your connection and the Juniper is considered normal, since you are on an Interleaved profile. Interleaving is meant to increase error checking on the line at the expense of latency. In this case, Verizon has set the depth of error checking to cause latencies of 30ms+ to their network from your line down, and in reverse, instead of what you would get on a FastPath profile of 6-8ms.

Now, pinging Google will not goof up a line quality test like your first test shows up. 40 Byte packets won't even show up on the radar. If such an activity causes the test to goof up like that you have bigger problems. When I performed my line quality test, I had Steam and Trillian connected to a total of 9 networks overall, and as you hopefully noticed, my latency is very consistent and without loss until my connection started to become utilized.

So in this situation, here is what I would do. Visit DSLReports again and post up in their Verizon Direct forum, reporting this trouble. Inform them of the packet loss and por overall performance of the connection. They tend to be pretty good with solving these issues. Providing your line tests to them might also help them solve this issue. Failing a resolution there after trying what they have to offer, please send me a PM and I'll direct you to someone who can see what the heck is going on and fix it without question for you.

[Brainiac4271]

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@Smith6612 wrote:

So in this situation, here is what I would do. Visit DSLReports again and post up in their Verizon Direct forum, reporting this trouble. Inform them of the packet loss and por overall performance of the connection. They tend to be pretty good with solving these issues. Providing your line tests to them might also help them solve this issue. Failing a resolution there after trying what they have to offer, please send me a PM and I'll direct you to someone who can see what the heck is going on and fix it without question for you.

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Thanks so much! 

I'll work on this when I get home.

[Brainiac4271]

Update:  I posted to the dslreports.com Verizon Direct forum a week ago.  I got this reply on Monday:  "I agree with you that there's a line issue that affects your service. 6dB margin is the lowest dB manufactures specify for modem to be able to synch.  I will need to open a ticket with our maintenance office and request investigation. What is the best 'can be reached' number should our maintenance office need to call you directly and what is the best contact time using the provided number? Preferably a cell#, home, work, etc., in case Verizon needs to contact you directly for any reason regarding the ticket."

I've been doing very well with the connection, even before I got that response.  On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights last week, I did not lose a single packet. On Sunday night, I lost one packet out of 10,882.  I didn't lose any packets last night. I've had almost flawless Skype video calls. So things have been going well from a functional standpoint for the past week. However, when I went to check my speed on the Verizon network, my download speed is only 4.845 Mbps downstream and 0.705 Mbps upstream. Yet my transceiver statistics still show a downstream speed of 5.760 Mbps downstream and 0.864 Mbps upstream with a downstream margin still very low at 6.3 dB. I also ran another line test Monday, and it passed. My hypothesis is that I've been doing well from a connection standpoint because somehow my speed has been slowed down. While I'm grateful to have a functional and useable connection, since I'm paying for the advanced package, I'd like to have the line and/or equipment problems fixed on Verizon's end so that I can have a useable connection at the speed I'm supposed to have. Clearly, something is wrong, particularly given the low downstream margin.  If the margin drops much further, the modem won't be able to synch.  I hope the Verizon Direct forum team gets back to me again.

Here's the line test I ran on 10/24:

Test (From Central USA)	Loss	Min Latency	Avg Latency	Max Latency	Pass Fail
basic ping 10s of 40 byte packets, 2 per second	0%	73.5ms	74.2ms	76.0ms	pass
low bandwidth stream 10s of 512 byte packets at 56 kbit	0%	79.4ms	80.4ms	82.2ms	pass
medium bandwidth stream 10s of 512 byte packets at 128 kbit	0%	79.4ms	80.4ms	82.6ms	pass
higher bandwidth stream 10s of 1400 byte packets at 384 kbit	0%	89.9ms	91.0ms	93.7ms	pass
your first hop ping stream of 40byte pings to 130.81.195.205	0% loss	49.0ms	You are 24ms to your first hop	pass
Jitter/loss with small packets tested from Central - USA:
Jitter/loss with small packets tested from West Coast - USA:
Jitter/loss with big packets tested from Central - USA:
Jitter/loss with big packets tested from West Coast - USA:
1 minute MTR (hop loss analysis) from Central - USA Hop Host LOSS Rcv Sent Best Avg Worst 0 ae-2.bb-c.slr.lxa.us.oneandone.net 0% 60 60 0.30 0.36 0.54 1 te-2-1.bb-c.ms.mkc.us.oneandone.net 0% 60 60 0.78 0.85 0.98 2 64.209.105.233 0% 60 60 13.94 26.45 653.09 3 0.xe-8-2-0.BR3.CHI13.ALTER.NET 0% 60 60 14.17 15.92 62.48 4 0.ae3.CHI01-BB-RTR2.verizon-gni.NET 0% 60 60 16.49 25.05 122.12 5 P0-0-0-0.BSTNMA-LCR-22.verizon-gni.net 0% 60 60 49.66 49.82 50.19 6 P12-0.BSTNMA-BRTNMACO-ERXG03.verizon-gni.net 0% 60 60 45.81 46.74 53.41 7 pool-71-174-167-189.bstnma.east.verizon.net 0% 60 60 79.01 79.94 82.68 pass 1 minute MTR (hop loss analysis) from West Coast - USA Hop Host LOSS Rcv Sent Best Avg Worst 0 ??? 100% 0 60 0.00 0.00 0.00 1 ge-2-0-0-c01.snvacaid.bb.megapath.net 0% 60 60 0.87 4.31 80.66 2 ge-6-16.car2.SanJose1.Level3.net 0% 60 60 0.86 7.84 213.57 3 ae-3-80.edge1.SanJose3.Level3.net 0% 60 60 2.11 2.49 9.16 4 mci-level3-10g.SanJose3.Level3.net 0% 60 60 2.12 5.65 87.23 5 0.ae1.SJC01-BB-RTR1.ALTER.NET 0% 60 60 4.31 8.43 75.01 6 P0-0-0-0.BSTNMA-LCR-21.verizon-gni.net 0% 60 60 96.65 96.86 97.29 7 P10-0.BSTNMA-BRTNMACO-ERXG03.verizon-gni.net 0% 60 60 100.42 101.64 123.67 8 pool-71-174-167-189.bstnma.east.verizon.net 2% 59 60 132.82 133.35 134.79 pass