Service Electric Cablevision/Service Electric Cable TV Discussion

Jed1 · 2025-01-18T18:38:30+00:00

Hi, I'm picking up where we left off at DSL Reports. This thread is for anything Service Electric related. I even added the other division so this thread will cover all the Service Electric divisions. SECV is Hazleton, Sunbury, and Birdsboro and SECTV is Allentown, Wilkes Barre, and Phillipsburg NJ. Hopefully everybody from the old site will find their way here.

cypherstream

bsocko I don’t get why the rush to free up all that QAM space. In fact the RF signature looks the same as it did before all the premiums and language channels moved to TiVo only. There’s no empty 6 MHz chunks. They are still broadcasting, just not mapped in legacy STB’s.

We have 24 down and one OFDM. Do they want to pull a Comcast and do 32 down by two OFDM? We’re already fiber deep nodes with half the homes passed as a Comcast node, hence not needing 44 QAMs for internet.

If the next technology iteration is fiber, why rush to clear out so much QAM space?

Jed1

cypherstream I am wondering the same thing. There is enough of room now to put in a second OFDM downstream channel if they repack the QAM signal to the lower end of the spectrum. My issue would be more of a minor hiccup as the modem will lock onto the secondary channel and not go into partial channel mode.
If Bsocko is right, then they will not be ending QAM this year as I thought they would. Maybe they will do the repack after the variety tier is converted and then add another OFDM channel.
My neighbor across the street just got the TiVo and she is not having any issues so far. She also has a 3.0 modem which is the cable version of the 6190.

Since I don’t have any other internet options I am considering of buying a 6190 and dropping down to 500meg to avoid all the signal issues with the OFDM channel. I am finding that there are only a few people on this node that have a 3.1 modem, and we are all having the issue.

cypherstream

Jed1 I have no issues with my SB8200. We all did when they turned on the upstream OFDMA profile management back in September 2024, but they must have made adjustments. All of the OFDMA profile switching must have confused or modems firmware. Maybe changing the OFDMA channel ID to 25 helped in some way. They still won’t update firmware in customer modems. Some people with S33 modems don’t even lock onto OFDMA if by chance it was purchased and has an older firmware on it. Now the forward OFDM channel here is pretty good, but plant varies. I haven’t tried the cm9200 they give out free with this speed I’m on because that would end my grafana signal monitoring script. You can only access the web gui from the HFC IP and there’s not an easy way to determine what that is. If you traceroute an internet site, the first hop outside of your router is a 10.x.x.x IP. Mines something like 10.71.0.1. If I use angry ip scanner to look for open ports 22,23,80,443,8000,8080,8443 on this subnet, I can find many cable modem web UI’s, INCLUDING the CM9200, but I don’t have the login credentials for those newer CM8200/9200 modems. It’s usually like the last 8 of the serial number, which I’d need to physically get from the label on the modem.

bsocko

My guess would be planned obsolescence.

Believe it or not their are many Gen X that have a TV only or TV and Phone only product from them. They seed the new IPTV box while FORCING a subscription to internet. That is a huge increase in the bill for these customers. Someone needs to pay for the network upgrades I guess.

I overheard some techs in Bloomsburg the other day talking while at a fast food joint on their lunch. The one said any trouble calls they are not even looking at the HFC network plant but they are forcing them to fiber. Powering down nodes and reverse nodes where possible.

So my question is what happens when the QAM lineup gets down to basic broadcast? Can they terminate these customers that refuse an internet connection from them?

cypherstream

bsocko they must be really far along in Bloomsberg to just ignore HFC trouble calls and switch people to fiber. We can’t say that down here. The latest FCC broadband map was published with data as of 12/31/2024. There has been some fiber growth between June 2024 and year end down this way but it’s a very slow pace. It’s mostly in rural areas.

Jed1

bsocko I think they are doing this system wide so when fiber is finally done all the have to do is pull the coax and run the fiber drop and power up the ONT and they are done. No need to change out equipment. The problem is they will still have to maintain the HFC system to at least keep the internet portion of the spectrum in spec to eliminate any issues.
I am unfortunately having issues with the OFDM downstream channel as the SNR/MER is too low. They don’t seem to understand this as they are always looking at the bonded downstream channel specs and saying there is nothing wrong.
Event code 16 in the logs indicates that the SNR of the OFDM channel is too low and Event code 24 is saying it goes to partial channel mode.

Jed1

cypherstream Your SNR/MER is 39dB where mine is at 35dB. I think SECV doesn’t understand that OFDM problems are different than QAM problems. I woke up this morning and my modem was in partial channel mode as the OFDM channel failed. I had to reset the modem to get back online and clear the logs.
https://account.cablelabs.com/server/alfresco/79935977-877b-4027-8f6f-7d739945e1d1
Page 471 is Event code 16
If the modem is offline when I get home from work, I’ll try one more time to get them to fix it and if not, I will drop back to a 3.0 modem (6190) and call it a day. I am sick of wasting time with them anymore.

I think Bsocko is right that they don’t want to make any costly repairs to the HFC system as they probably won’t recover the cost of repairs since they figure in a couple of years fiber will be in place. Too bad Comcast didn’t overbuild Frackville as I would switch until the fiber got here as the HFC system would be brand new and trouble free.

fmd

Jed1 To clarify. The modem is assigned x modulation profiles. If the signal quality makes the modem struggle decoding some of them, it issues an event 16. That tells the CMTS to stop using these profiles. The modem continues to use the channel with lower profiles - unless all the profiles have gone bad. You can tell from the actual event (profile 0 must not go bad).

When the signal quality becomes good enough again for these profiles, the modem issues an event 24.

There are two special profiles, NCP and PLC. These must not go bad. They each have their own event codes.

Jed1

fmd Correct but right after the event code 24 and then a downstream profile assignment change the process repeats itself. And then after a number of times doing this the my internet just stops. The modem is online but it seems like it gives up on the OFDM channel and then just idles there. The only way to get it working again is the reboot or reset the modem to factory defaults. Doing a reset to factory defaults is the best methid as it will take a lot longer for to get back into this state again. SNR is at 35dB and I have an increasing number of uncorrected errors on the OFDM downstream channel. SECV says the modem is online and doesn’t send the correct personnel to look at the problem.

fmd

Jed1 Are you using a modem from your provider? Too much “profile flapping” is not great, but if it almost crashes the modem… Maybe buggy firmware?

35 dB SNR by itself doesn’t break it. The modulation profiles are assigned based on signal quality. However, if the quality goes up and down, you get profile flapping (several factors affect how severe it can get).

When you get those uncorrectables… That tells you that at least one profile cannot be perfectly decoded all the time. The event code 16 mitigates this issue though, so it doesn’t have to result in packet loss.

Jed1

fmd I own the SB8200 which is the same modem cypherstream is using and he is not having issues with his.
This problem arises when the temperatures outside get above a certain temperature like today. I came home at 3:30 the internet was down. Here are the stats from the modem.

cypherstream

I’d bet you’re using a customer owned modem. SECV will not update the firmware on them no matter how much better it makes the service. They would rather you get a rental, which is the CM9200, free on 1000/100 and 2000/200 plans. I think it’s $4.95/m on the 250/25 and 500/50 plans.

Jed1

cypherstream Yes the same modem you have the SB8200. I have been trouble free for a number of years until last summer when my power levels and SNR started to decline. Those that have a DOCSIS 3.0 modem have no issues but there is one other person upstream of me that has a 3.1 modem and is also having issues.
The problem starts as the temperatures outside get warmer. Had very little issues during the winter. I may order a new SB8200 and a SB6190 just in case they can’t fix this issue. They are sending someone on Friday at 3:00PM and I hope it is not someone with a car with a ladder strapped to the roof. If that is what shows up, then I will call and have the 6190 set up and drop my internet back to 500 down and be done with it and then return the SB8200 back to Amazon.

I have pictures in the post above this one to check out.

cypherstream

Jed I wouldn’t say never regarding Comcast. We’d thought it never happen but they expanded.

fmd

Jed1 Well, I cannot see anything in that log snippet that explains it. For sanity, how is your upstream?

Jed1 I own the SB8200 which is the same modem cypherstream is using and he is not having issues with his.

Many bugs behave like that. They only appear under certain conditions. If the plant conditions meet the bug’s conditions at your place, but not at cypherstream’s. I don’t know that it is indeed due to a firmware bug, but if we entertain the idea… Different conditions could explain it. Your neighbor… The same modem and firmware?

cypherstream

Jed1 Are you on 1gig plan? If so ask for their CM9200 modem. Its free.

Yes I had issues too when they on boarded the Upstream PMA application from OpenVault. I knew it had to be that because the press release timing was very close to the issues. I remember back on dslreports we were both having that issue. One of the things we kept seeing was logs about Upstream channel ID 8 switching profiles. It flooded the log and we assumed the poor old firmware in the SB8200 just couldn’t handle it, so a power cycle to clear that out would get it working for another 2 days. A friend who works for SECV at the time was on TONS of calls replacing modems back then.

It was clearly a firmware issue, but I can’t get SECV to upload the firmware. I asked PTD support and they wont either. I plugged it into the Comcast line and it says like SW Init: firmware download failed in the logs, like its trying but it doesn’t. It prob needs more “soak” time on Comcast’s network but then I’d be out of internet and there would be a long temp cable line from their tap to my garage.

Eventually they changed the upstream channel ID 8 to ID of 25, same number as the OFDM. They must have done other tweaks because I’ve been good since.

I had someone with an S33 and they never even locked onto OFMDA. Turns out when he bought it, the firmware that came on it was so old, and since SECV doesn’t update firmwares, he was SOL, so he just rented their CM9200 to get 1000/100, whereas before he was getting around 1000/60.

This firmware issue is a big deal and its part of the reason Comcast has a very short list of modems that can get the full tier speeds of 2100/360.

Jed1

fmd Upstream levels are fine the signal below 500Mhz is strong but after it starts to roll off. I have been losing power and the SNR dropping since last year. prior to that I never had an issue with internet signals since I upgraded to 3.1 six and a half years ago.
I am at the end of a run, and I only share the tap with my neighbor across the street. She has their CM6190 and has no internet drops, which would be correct as she has no access to the 3.1 OFDM channel. If I am not mistaken the 6190 came before the 8200 so I am going to order one from Amazon and if this tech visit goes the way I think it will I’ll boot him off my property and call SECV and switch modems and drop my service to 500 down and be done with it.
This problem only starts as the weather gets warm which does cause the signal to attenuate. I didn’t have this issue when it was cold out this winter.

Jed1

cypherstream I won’t let them install the 9200 as it has not access to the logs so if this issue continues with that modem, I won’t be able to see what it is doing. I will let them put an 8200 in so I can do an apples-to-apples comparison to make sure it is not a hardware issue with my modem.
If I get jerked around, I will drop back to the 6190 and downgrade to 500meg and call it a day. I really don’t need one gig internet anyway. This way I can recover the $10/month TV rate increase I just got.

One thing that has been happening is I am gradually losing speed since the upgrade last fall. I was able to do 920 with every test, but after the new year I dropped to around 720 down and now in the past month or so I can only get 620 down. So something is up there so that will be another good reason to just drop to 500 meg. I tried everything including hooking my PC directly to the modem and still can only get to 620. I get a constant 104 up though.

cypherstream

I was at my Dads house and did a traceroute to my IP and after their router it hit an blocked icmp device, but then it hit 10.193.20.13 then 10.193.20.77 then it must have hit me because I have ICMP disabled and I let the trace run all the way out 30 hops till it expired.

Anyway at home I decided to do an IP Scan of 10.193.20.0/24 and found all these interesting devices…

So they are layer 3 Cisco switches and it tracks that it hit the Fleetwood 3850 Linear CMTS switch then the Birdsboro 3850 CMTS switch, because thats exactly the areas I was connecting from.

cypherstream

You have a few uncorrectables, but odd it’s not like in the millions.

The 6190 is a puma chipset. This chipset has been the subject of controversy due to reported latency issues, particularly impacting online gaming and streaming.

If I still had my SB6183 I’d just send it to you for only the cost of shipping. Alas, I put it up on eBay when I got my 8200 up and running in 2020.

Jed1

cypherstream I have my 6183 but SECV has been taking them out of service. They are still installing 6190s for 250 and 500 gig subscribers. The 1 gig and 2 gig subs get the 3.1 modems. My neighbor across the street has the 6190 and has no issues with it that I know of. I am going to ask her this week to look at the logs ot see if she is getting any corrected/uncorrected errors and to see if her modem has gone offline lately. I can get a new 6190 from Amazon for $40 and will be here tomorrow. I am going to get it just in case I don’t get results on Friday. I’ll switch over so I don’t have to deal with this issue as it is finally supposed to warm up next week. This problem will not improve with warmer weather for sure, so I’ll take the latency over modem stopping every hour and having me constantly resetting it to factory defaults.

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