Microsoft Teams / Zoom / Google Meet - periodic sound loss during the call/meeting - AX86u with Merlin 386.1

[Sky1111]

I'd argue with the idea that the 4582 is past its shelf life. The XB6 which is used for the Ignite TV service has two versions, the Arris TG-3482ER which uses the same Intel Puma 7 chipset, as does the 4582, with minor variation to add telephone service to the XB6. The other version is a Technicolor CGM4140COM which uses a Broadcom BCM-3390 chipset. The newer XB7 modem probably arrives in the same varieties, an Arris Intel Puma 7 and Technicolor BCM-3390, but, don't quote me on that one. Perhaps Arris has seen the light of day and is providing an XB7 with a Broadcom chipset. There's no good reason to switch to the Ignite TV service, other than for the purpose of upselling in an attempt to solve a problem for which there should be an easy resolution. Solve the problem instead of upselling the customers. Grrrrr.......

In any event, log into the 4582 and have a look at the STATUS .... DOCSIS WAN tab. Look at the bottom OFDM/OFDMA Overview section. If it shows that you have an OFDMA channel enabled, which is an upstream OFDMA channel, then you have problems. Rogers has been slowly enabling the OFDMA channel across the network. An unforeseen issue cropped up with the 4582 modems, with issues just as you have described, that is loss of upstream audio and video. As a result, Rogers has disabled OFDMA on some 4582 modems in affected areas. They are completely radio silent on the issue, so, no one outside of Rogers knows if this is a hardware issue, network noise issue, or an issue with the neighbourhood node or CMTS. Rogers is investigating the issue, but, there's been no word on this at all.

Beyond that, you could simply copy the signal data, from the Downstream Overview line, all the way to the bottom right hand corner of the OFDM/OFDMA Overview and post it here or on the Rogers Forum. That table will copy all in one go, which enables you to post it in forum. There's always the possibility of cable signal issues affecting the upstream data.

Are you running any other services such as a Nextbox for tv or a Home Phone which has its own modem?

Edit: Fwiw, I also use the Hitron CODA-4582 in Bridge mode with an 86U behind it. We've never had the OFDMA channel enabled, so, haven't seen any of these issues so far. Rogers needs to sort this out pretty quickly, or come to the conclusion that its time to switch all 4582 users to a Broadcom modem. That will be a little expensive, abandoning all of the 4582 modems at the same time.

Thanks Datalink!
Now I can tell my family that this not my fault
No, I do not have any other modem or Rogers service, just gigabit internet

Now questions:
- my Rogers modem is bridge mode, and I do not think I can login - so I have to reset it in order to login and check OFDMA setting?
- I requested - thru Rogers Community forum - to get that new FW for my modem - 7.1.1.35 - it is worth getting anyway, right?
- should I just cut the chaze and request Rogers support to disable OFDMA?

 

[Datalink]

To log into the modem with the modem in:

Bridge mode: use 192.168.100.1 thru the router

Gateway mode: use 192.168.0.1 thru the router

You don't have to disconnect the router, keep your network as is.

Now, if you attempt to log into the modem, and it hangs, not wanting to display the login page, restart the modem. Pull the power, wait for 10 to 15 seconds and plug it back in. Thats not ideal as it will cause the signal levels to look pretty good after the restart. Ideally, you want to look at those levels after the modem has been running for a while, so that you can see them at their worst. After a restart/reboot, the modem levels will look pretty good, at least, for a period of time.

So, give 192.168.100.1 a go and see what happens. Even if yo have to restart the modem, that shouldn't affect the status of the bottom OFMDA channel.

If it turns out that the OFDMA channel is active, by all means tell tech support to disable the channel. I don't know if tech support is able to do that directly, or if you need to get one of the forum moderators to attend to it. That seemed to mysteriously happen for other customers who complained in the forum, without them asking directly to have the OFDMA channel disabled. Magic I guess .......

I'm running 7.1.1.35 on my router, but its on the test group list. I don't know if Rogers has decided to update all 4582 modems to that firmware version by now.

 

[Sky1111]

I ended up resetting my modem as for the love of Queen I could not remember the password (not default of course)
Here is what I found

FW version: 7.1.1.33

in OFDM secions of WAN:

So I take is OFDM is enabled on modem?

 

[Datalink]

OFDM is downstream, which is fine. That's been in operation for 4 years now. OFDMA is upstream, which is new, and for this modem, is causing problems at the present time. So, you need Rogers to disable the OFDMA (upstream) channel. Possibly by now its just a call to tech support. I'd give that a try first.

Can you post the entire table, starting at the Downstream Overview line and continuing all the way down to the bottom of the OFDMA overview. Select that entire table area like you would with a normal document, right click .... Copy. Then, in a post, right click .... Paste. The end result should look just like it does in the modem's UI. Ignore the data that sits above the Downstream Overview line as its specific to the modem and shouldn't be posted in an open forum.

Post the signal data in either forum, Rogers or here. It might be worth having a look at the rest of the data, just to see if anything else is amiss.

If you do call tech support, make sure that you specify that you need the "OFDMA" channel disabled. If tech support can't do that, then the next step is to send a message to the Rogers forum moderators to have the OFDMA channel disabled on your modem.

 

[Sky1111]

Datalink - many thanks man!

Here is the entire table (and I apologize that to good folks on this forum for discussing an issue which is not related to Merlin FW)

Port ID	Frequency (MHz)	Modulation	Signal strength (dBmV)	Channel ID	Signal noise ratio (dB)
Downstream Overview
1	591000000	QAM256	-0.099	7	38.983
2	597000000	QAM256	0.099	8	38.605
3	603000000	QAM256	1.000	9	38.983
4	579000000	QAM256	1.200	5	38.983
5	585000000	QAM256	0.500	6	38.605
6	279000000	QAM256	-1.200	1	37.355
7	609000000	QAM256	1.000	10	38.605
8	615000000	QAM256	0.799	11	38.605
9	621000000	QAM256	0.900	12	38.983
10	633000000	QAM256	1.099	13	38.605
11	639000000	QAM256	1.000	14	38.605
12	645000000	QAM256	1.599	15	38.605
13	651000000	QAM256	1.799	16	38.983
14	657000000	QAM256	1.500	17	38.605
15	663000000	QAM256	0.799	18	37.636
16	669000000	QAM256	0.799	19	37.636
17	675000000	QAM256	1.200	20	37.636
18	681000000	QAM256	1.599	21	38.605
19	687000000	QAM256	1.500	22	38.605
20	693000000	QAM256	1.099	23	38.605
21	699000000	QAM256	1.700	24	38.605
22	705000000	QAM256	1.900	25	38.605
23	711000000	QAM256	1.599	26	38.605
24	717000000	QAM256	1.299	27	38.983
25	723000000	QAM256	1.500	28	38.605
26	825000000	QAM256	3.099	29	38.605
27	831000000	QAM256	3.000	30	38.605
28	837000000	QAM256	3.000	31	38.605
29	843000000	QAM256	2.799	32	38.983
30	849000000	QAM256	3.500	2	38.983
31	855000000	QAM256	2.599	3	38.605
32	861000000	QAM256	1.500	4	38.605

Receiver	FFT type	Subcarr 0 Frequency(MHz)	PLC locked	NCP locked	MDC1 locked	PLC power(dBmv)
OFDM Downstream Overview
0	4K	275600000	YES	YES	YES	-0.500000
1	NA	NA	NO	NO	NO	NA

Port ID	Frequency (MHz)	Modulation	Signal strength (dBmV)	Channel ID	Bandwidth
Upstream Overview
1	25900000	64QAM	39.770	6	6400000
2	38700000	64QAM	39.770	8	6400000
3	32300000	64QAM	39.770	7	6400000
4	21100000	64QAM	38.260	5	3200000
5	0	QAM_NONE	-	---	1600000
6	0	QAM_NONE	-	---	1600000
7	0	QAM_NONE	-	---	1600000
8	0	QAM_NONE	-	---	1600000

Channel Index	State	lin Digital Att	Digital Att	BW (sc's*fft)	Report Power	Report Power1_6	FFT Size
OFDM/OFDMA Overview
0	OPERATE	0.2023	10.9687	9.6000	45.0315	37.2500	2K
1	DISABLED	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	2K

 

[Datalink]

Those numbers look ok. Only problem from what I can see is the upstream OFDMA channel being enabled at this time.

Maybe one of the moderators can move the thread to the Other LAN and WAN forum section or other appropriate section.

 

[Sky1111]

I suppose my last call to Rogers did work - this morning:

Channel Index	State	lin Digital Att	Digital Att	BW (sc's*fft)	Report Power	Report Power1_6	FFT Size
OFDM/OFDMA Overview
0	DISABLED	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	2K
1	DISABLED	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	2K

 

[Sky1111]

@Datalink, I owe you coffee/beer!
Disabling OFDMA seems to be fixing the issue - been many Teams/Zoom/Skype calls - not a single glitch so far!

 

[Datalink]

Lol, make it a rum and coke and I might hold you to it

 

[Sky1111]

Man I jinxed it. Even with OFDMA off, the problem is back...
Well, I still have ticket open with Rogers and I got a text message from them that they are still investigating the issue... damn!

 

[Datalink]

Ok, in that case, have a look at the following thread, specifically after the signal levels posted in that thread.

The object of the exercise at this point is to look for packet loss due to degradation of the external cable and connectors.

Interminent issues with packetloss to Rogers gateway - Rogers | DSLReports Forums

Forum discussion: For the past 4 years never had a single issues with my rogers internet. I run a gbit connection with the white coda modem in bridge mode and using pfsense as my router/firewall. In the last two months every so often my internet will go down with pfse

www.dslreports.com

 

[follower]

Man I jinxed it. Even with OFDMA off, the problem is back...
Well, I still have ticket open with Rogers and I got a text message from them that they are still investigating the issue... damn!

Try this.
'Enable IGMP Snooping': Enable

 

[Sky1111]

Try this.
'Enable IGMP Snooping': Enable

thanks, but good folks on this forum specifcally suggest to keep it off. Besides, IGMP Snooping applies to wifi only, but I see problems even on the wired client (Teams video call freezing)...

 

[follower]

thanks, but good folks on this forum specifcally suggest to keep it off. Besides, IGMP Snooping applies to wifi only, but I see problems even on the wired client (Teams video call freezing)...

Do you use IPTV? If you do enable IGMP(IPTV option) then.

 

[Sky1111]

Do you use IPTV? If you do enable IGMP(IPTV option) then.

I do not... only Netflix/Amazon Prime/Youtube... but again, I only see IGMP Snooping on wifi advanced page-is that right?

 

[follower]

I do not... only Netflix/Amazon Prime/Youtube... but again, I only see IGMP Snooping on wifi advanced page-is that right?

No.
LAN>IPTV>Enable multicast routing

 

[Sky1111]

No.
LAN>IPTV>Enable multicast routing

this?

 

[follower]

this?
View attachment 31829

Yes. And try IGMP v2 or v3.

 

[Sky1111]

Turns out Rogers simply turned OFDMA back on....
long story short, Rogers tech support, including the manager, have not freacking clue - or pretend that they do not. Unfreackin believable.

 

[Datalink]

Ok then, send a message to any of the moderators on the Rogers forum to disable the OFDM channel. You can also use @communityhelps on the Rogers forum which is a collective address for the moderators.