35% Packet loss...

renfro · 13-12-2006, 20:34

My parents have had an ntl cable modem for about 4 years without a single problem. The connection has been so stable that I even ran a mail server on the connection for about 2 years and have only stopped due to the recent (well last 2 months or so) problems.

Basically they get 35% packet loss to websites (ive always used news.bbc as a benchmark). If they try and download it goes around 12kb/s, and this is a 4mb connection.

I finally got ntl to send an engineer our but all he did was unplug the modem from the router, plug it straight into my parents laptop, pulled up a webpage and claimed there was nothing wrong. As I wasnt there my oarents got me to speak to the guy on the phone who didnt even know what packet loss and pings were, so he left and said he'd check in the Cardiff Bay office for something.

Only thing thats changed recently is that the TV box in the lounge was replaced (this seems to have a built in cable modem - has an rj45 at the back). Would this cause the real cable modem to misbehave?

Any suggestions are welcome! Im about to adsl enable my parents BT line that they've had for years as the internet connection is unusable!

thanks

Nedkelly · 13-12-2006, 20:51

Hi first the stupid check has the modem got the right power supply if its a ntl home 100 120 200 or 250 the power supply will have oem .I have jobs in the past were they are getting packet loss and they had the wrong power supply plugged in .Next thing try a tracert to bbc and look at the speeds if it is a ubr prob the 2 nd hop will take a while and have a slow speed .Another good tool to use is ping plotter as it shows you where the packet loss is and its very esay to use and understand hope this helps

renfro · 13-12-2006, 21:02

re the power supply - its the one supplied with the modem, its been plugged into the same wall socket since it was installed 4 yrs ago!

As for the tracert Ill have to do that next time I'm back.

Thanks

Feenix · 16-12-2006, 00:51

For a more informed view [on Win XP] use the pathping command at the command prompt (e.g. C:\>pathping www.ntlworld.com ) It will take a few minutes to come up with some data but it will give you a better idea as to where the problem lies. [ignore the 100% packet loss on the first hop] Report back!