How do I test if a Cable Modem is going bad?

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FireBean

Gawd
Joined
Apr 12, 2010
Messages
994
Hey everyone. I got a fun issue going with my internet connection and of course Cox Tech Support says it's not them. I also love it when you have pfSense running for your firewall, they ask you to hook up a computer directly, and tell them it is a computer. They're all like:

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Anyways, I've already replace the entire router with some spare parts just to make sure it was not hardware related.
Here are my results for both the old and new pfSense router.

Download - 2.5Mbps w/ 6-22% Packetloss
Upload - 65Mbps w/ 0% packetless

WTF is going on?
 
192.168.100.1 usually gets you into the modem so you can see the logs and see what errors show up.
 
FireBean said:
Anyways, I've already replace the entire router with some spare parts just to make sure it was not hardware related.
Here are my results for both the old and new pfSense router.

Download - 2.5Mbps w/ 6-22% Packetloss
Upload - 65Mbps w/ 0% packetless

WTF is going on?
Click to expand...

I'm only seeing one result posted. Is that from the old or new pfSense router?
Connecting your computer directly to the modem will eliminate whether or not it's related to the pfSense router or not, therefore I am not sure why you argued with them against them asking you to do that.
 
Unless you can run a speed test directly from your pfSense box, you'll need to connect something directly to the modem to test speeds. You will also want to check your cable signal levels. Signal-to-noise ratio should be over 35, and the Downstream Power level should be in the single digits, positive or negative. Ideal is as close to zero on that one.

If you have the same slow speeds when you have bypassed your router, then basically you have essentially four things that could be going on
1. Modem is bad
2. The provisioning of the modem is off (wrong, bad provisioning, or you've been throttled for exceeding a data cap)
3. Line signals are off. This is often a cabling issue.
4. The node you're connected to is having problems

Since your upload is great, I doubt your modem is bad, but a new modem will rule out issues 1 and 2.
 
I would connect a real Windows PC directly to the modem and run some speed and ping tests. Try a new Ethernet cable. If you have two different ethernet cables and two different real Windows PCs, this should show them it is their modem (if the modem came from them).
 
FYI... it appeared to be the router... the USB Stick that was hosting started to die. So It is now running off of a Intel x25-E SSD. :p Cannot kill that thing.
 
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