[SOLVED-ish] Degraded Speed Ghost

[juicemain]

Well I have two more frustrating updates:

1. I observed the degraded speed state on the ISP provided router while playing Overwatch.  It is much rarer on the ISP router, and it definitely resolves itself much quicker.  It has never caused disconnects unlike 3rd party routers, but I did observe the degraded speed just now.

2. I tried the Protectli Vault FW2B, and wow.  Not good performance.  I couldn't even get it to hit full gig speeds.  It only performed at around half, ~500m down / ~500m up.  Even with that though, I definitely still noticed the decayed state while testing as it decayed to ~500m down / ~50m up.

Whew.  I feel I've exhausted all of my options, save for contacting the ISP directly.  I did call the ISP customer support line, just to ask if we could check the logs from router and modem.  The representative told me I could check those logs by logging into the Calix U6 through the ip address browser portal.  Unfortunately, that's not the case.  These routers are locked down.  Can't shell into them, and the browser UI options are extremely limited.

If anyone has any clue as to what this could be at this point, anything would be much appreciated.  I have no idea what to check next, and I highly doubt the ISP is going to be willing to help much.  Thanks again for all the help already.

[muchacha_grande]

Hi, your situation reminds me a problem I had with pfSense a long time ago. Of course the speeds were slower at that time.
The solution was, if I can remember well, to set a fixed speed at the WAN interface. I set 100M full-duplex and the problem was solved.
For some reason the auto negotiation was not working as expected.

[nero355]

If anyone has any clue as to what this could be at this point, anything would be much appreciated.  I have no idea what to check next, and I highly doubt the ISP is going to be willing to help much.  Thanks again for all the help already.

Ask your ISP to replace the ONT with a different/better/updated model ?!

[pfry]

[...]I tried the Protectli Vault FW2B, and wow.  Not good performance.[...]

Just a note, that's not surprising when compared to your ThinkCentre M720 or OptiPlex 7070 SFF (even assuming minimal configurations for those two).

Did you check ARP on your equipment (not just presence, but correct MACs)? Again, Linux-based devices would likely be unaffected.

Misconfigured ISP equipment is a distinct possibility as well, but getting an actual tech to look at it is practically impossible these days. (Don't think AI will improve this, as it's a management/policy issue, which will not change.)

[juicemain]

Hi guys, back with what will probably be the final update here.  So I did what I should have done from the start and tested with the computer directly connected to the ONT.  I observed the slowdown here as well.  So it's definitely a problem with the ONT, or upstream.  Thanks for all the help.  I guess I can mark this one as solved since we've ruled out Opnsense entirely.  I will post another update when or if the problem gets resolved.  Take care.

If anyone has had a similar issue before, or any advice with dealing with this situation moving forward feel free to share.  Cheers.

[juicemain]

Sent a detailed email to my ISP explaining the situation and telling them that I observed the behavior when directly connected to the ONT, and they literally responded with an email only saying "it's a poor idea to run directly connected to an ONT."  -_-

[juicemain]

Okay, sorry to post again.  But the ISP just told me that the ONT does NOT have logs.  AI LLM says otherwise.  I am unable to find that information for myself.  Does anyone know for sure whether or not the Calix GigaPoint 803G Model No: 100-04255 11 should have logs accessible by the ISP?  Thanks.

[nero355]

Sent a detailed email to my ISP explaining the situation and telling them that I observed the behavior when directly connected to the ONT, and they literally responded with an email only saying "it's a poor idea to run directly connected to an ONT." -_-

Typical large companies bullshit these days sadly -_-

Sorry to hear you are experiencing that kind of nonsense...


A short search shows it's a GPON ONT while most ISPs are migrating to XGS-PON equipment the last couple of years so maybe ask them to move you over if that's possible ?!

[juicemain]

Thank you, I will give that a go.  But they are literally giving me pushback trying to say that it could still be something "local."  I even just recorded a video capturing an instance of one machine displaying the behavior when connected directly to the ONT, and another instance in the same video of two machines connected directly to the ISP router displaying the same behavior.  That has to completely rule out anything in the home right?

[cookiemonster]

My suggestion will be to test with a non-*bsd-based router. A Linux one instead.
user friendlies were dd-wrt and open-wrt. It's been a while since I looked, it might have changed.
The reason to suggest it is that you likely eliminate any possible tuning required under freeBSD for your connection. Linux tends to have more hardware support for NICs as well. Yes you are using well supported nics in freebsd but tunables could be a factor.
Additionally it might be possible to put some additional logging in place to support your case with the ISP.

[juicemain]

Sigh.  So the ISP, after denying that the ONT included logs, sent me this in our conversation:



Full resolution: https://i.postimg.cc/pxVcqhYW/unnamed.png

I'm assuming these are the ONT logs right?  Does anyone know what kind of system this is?  From what I can see, it is showing nonzero Downstream and Upstream Bip error counts.  This isn't normal correct?  Does this confirm errors at the ONT?  Does this point to any particular issue?  Any and all feedback much appreciated.  Fighting an uphill battle here.

I know this isn't the place for this conversation at this point, but I greatly appreciate the help in troubleshooting assistance that you all have offered. 

[nero355]

That has to completely rule out anything in the home right?

I totally AGREE with you! :)


Another TIP that I can give you :
Check if there are any Communities (Forums) with a sub-forum or topic that applies to your ISP and see if there are any Level 3 technicians active there that could help you somehow...