A little bit of history to get you in the right mindset:
Live in downtown Phoenix, perfect service, 0 problems until I upgraded to 150mbit, find out my old DPC3000 can't handle those speeds (4x4 bonded). Upgrade to DPC3010, getting 180mbit most of the time, 130mbit during "internet rush hour" as everyone in the complex uses COX, no big deal. Paired with a pfSense router (dual-core 1gb RAM, 0 problems, built-in monitoring and network health alerts), flawless for over 3 years at 4 addresses now.
Move out and move into my friend's old house (who reported issues with his service all the time), and figure it won't be as awful as he says. Set up all my gear from the previous address (where it was online for 150days+), same modem, exact same router with same configuration (just plugged it all back in). Boy was I wrong and I really wish I just cut my losses and dealt with having to reboot my modem mid-game because one of the upstream channels randomly cuts out for no reason.
Installation in late November, aerial drop from the alley split with DB-6 TAP; TAP leads directly to my room, runs across my room to a closet (rack-mounted gear), 2-way -3.5dB splitter, one to my HDHomeRun PRIME CC tuner+SDV, the other to my DPC3010; -6 TAP leads to living room for future cable box placement.
Everything seems to be going great, however, within the first week the modem drops an upstream channel causing the internet to go completely out. I do not accept "reboot once a week to keep your internet running" as an excuse as I had my modem up for 150 days+ at the (literally) previous address, I figure the problem is likely with the plant (based on previous tenant's problems matching my own) and called to have tech out. Tech replaced cables, redid some fittings and played around with the aerial connection at the pole and things get mildly better.
Still experiencing intermittent high latency, write it off as neighborhood usage. New roommate moves in, add cable channels and Scientific Atlanta HD-DVR, no visible impact to modem.
Roommate wants phone service, call and order phone service, tech comes out to install MTA (I want the NIU that's on the back of the house hooked up instead, but that's another problem and ticket), says the signals are barely within range and can't get the MTA online when adding additional 2-way -3.5dB splitter in the living room (behind the -6 on the DB-6 TAP). Adds AMP to the line coming into the home from the aerial, signal levels on modem are better (up from ~+2-3dBmV on downstream to ~+8-10dBmV, installs SNR filter on back of modem as the SNR dropped after AMP was installed), everything is online and working as expected.
Day after this tech was out, cable internet drops for no reason, one of the upstream channels dropped again. Call for another tech literally next week, comes out (yesterday), can't find anything "wrong" inside, all the equipment is reading good back @ HQ (using his tools available on his tablet) except the errors accrued on the modem, goes up to the aerial and finds one signal that is just cutting out randomly which may be causing my issue, put in ticket for L&M (Line & Maintenance) to come out.
L&M out earlier today (my my that was seriously fast response time for an "internal" team), modem signals are now ~+3-4dBmV (WITH THE HOUSE AMP'd, without the AMP everything is offline, no internet, no TV on either DVR or CC and no home phone on MTA), SNR in the hole (all 8 downstream under 30dB SNR), downstream channels are cutting in an out causing 14%+ packet loss. I call for support, get a tech who is genuinely clueless (and assumes I'm a stupid customer complaining about my connection over wifi when I said nothing about wifi), asks me to reboot my computer (what?) when my router (which is ahead of my computer and directly connected to the modem) is reporting the 14% loss on it's monitoring system. Transfers me to Tier 2 (good call, your Business VoIP team calls me for trouble with internal routers at my day job, I know what I'm talking about), get Tier 2 and he says everything on the modem is in the red. Scheduled my third tech out in 3 weeks for next Saturday.
Desperate to get everything working again, I unplugged the power adapter for the the AMP for 10 minutes and reboot everything else behind it, nothing has service (DVR used to still get service, block up a little every few minutes but it still HAD service, Cable Card is still okay, blocky with no AMP, cable modem offline 100% can't even get a downstream signal anymore, and the MTA is also offline 100%, can't get a downstream signal), finally power everything back up, power up the AMP, and now my numbers are looking okay, but just that, back to ~+5-6dBmV on cable modem, SNR @ 34-38dB, packet loss is back to normal ~1%, however, I'm getting fed up with having to reboot things to make it work. I would LOVE to have my aerial drop completely replaced (both the original install tech and the tech sent out for the phone were supposed to be professional installations and both refused to re-run the aerial drop at my request "because it's not needed"). I'm at the point I want all my cables re-run because I'm sick of having one thing installed or fixed only to have something else break because of it. If the system is this brittle, something is very wrong, I shouldn't need an AMP on my drop just to make my house work now, even with the battery backup on the eMTA if the power goes out, the AMP goes out which means the eMTA is useless anyways because it will no longer get a signal.
I am appealing with the details of my trouble since moving here to the techs that browse this forum in an effort to get the kind of service I've gotten at literally EVERY OTHER ADDRESS I'VE HAD COX AT FOR OVER A DECADE. I've never had such crappy service, and such crappy customer service from the technicians that have visited me on such a consistent basis. (I've had bad techs before at previous addresses but they were the exception, not the rule.)
I just want this fixed, preferably without the AMP (if the plant is that bad, how about you fix the freakin' plant instead of making me spend $ to boost the power levels on your lines, I lived at 3 other addresses less than a mile from my current one and never needed an AMP before in this area) and without my modem just randomly losing channels, is that too much to ask?
Fed up, ready to just start cutting cables entirely and disconnecting service for the first time since starting service with COX back in '02.
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