After changing from my Cox modem/router to my own modem (I have a Motorola MB8611), my son is thinking his ping rate has gone up, especially when he is gaming.
Is there any way to know if it is really the modem or our ISP or the game server or something else? I don’t what to have to go back to the Cox modem/router. Thanks!
Also, Cox offers Elite Gamer software but he says it’s a scam. Anyone know?
Thanks,
Tony
What specifically is your son experiencing? Is the ping consistently high, or is it jittery? What latency is he expecting?
I believe the Elite Gamer software is a rebranded SD-WAN product. There are situations where it may help, but it may cause more harm than good. Plus, who knows what nefarious way your ISP is monetizing it.
To rule out the modem, I would test and compare the latency you’re getting between the ISP-supplied modem and your own modem. Fast.com is a good site to use for this, click “more” after the download test completes to display the latency metrics.
Consistently high ping at certain times during the day which he said he didn’t have before.
No way to check the Cox modem…I returned it a month ago.
I assume you went through the whole enrollment process to activate your modem and it’s a supported model for you part of Cox?
The times I’ve seen problems with modems having poor performance (below their specs) was with very new modems that weren’t yet supported by the provider or where something went wrong with activation and you were given a config that didn’t take advantage of the abilities of your modem–sort of a baseline config instead of one customized to what your modem supports.
I would contact their tech support and see if their tier 2 support can take a look at your config and make sure it’s correct. I have to get a twitter guy involved with Comcast last time I had a similar issue because tech support was completely useless.
I’ve moved on to fiber and no longer have these issues. Thank goodness. Best of luck!
What latency is your son seeing? When you run the fast.com tests do you see the same latency spikes? That would rule out a problem specific to the game.
Higher latency based on time of day makes me think there’s either some scheduled task on your network eating up bandwidth, or maybe the headend on the ISP side is overloaded during peak times.
Regardless, speculation only leads to wheel spinning - time to get testing!
Yep, fully compatible and enrolled with my provider.
He uses ping-test.net.
He did mention to me that the pings were over 100 or 150 at times. Now, regardless of what the pings are showing, what I want to do is rule out the modem itself. How to do this? He might just be thinking since I switch modems he’s seeing this but it may have been like this before.
There is still the chance that something went wrong during provisioning.
So what do I do in this case?
Try the fast.com site, or another reputable testing site. That ping-test site looks pretty kludgy. Fast will give you buffer bloat metrics as well, and it’s run on the Netflix CDN so you know its reliable on the server side.
Test a different modem and see if you get the same results.
I also agree with @willmore, get ISP support involved and describe the symptoms you’re seeing. We can offer guesses but they can have eyes-on.
I’m not buying another modem just to test it. That would require not only having to send it back but also to call up the cable company and registering it. Trying it for a few days and then switching back and calling up the cable company again.
I’m just trying to figure out if it’s the modem, the ISP, or the game server. If that requires swapping out the modem, I’ll just stay with what I got.
Do the ‘contact L2 tech support and get them to check the provisioning’.
Is that with Cox or Motorola?
5 reasons your ping is so high
Also on the internet…
Helpful tips on how to reduce high ping and latency
Try moving closer to your router.
Things such as walls, floors, and other physical obstacles will affect your wi-fi signal.
Close background programs and websites that are in use.
Pause or cancel any background downloads & close all websites on all devices.
Connect fewer devices to the Wi-Fi network.
Each device connected to the network will affect the connection speed and increase your ping.
Reboot your router.
Restart the router to help get the device functioning especially if it has been used extensively.
When gaming make use of local servers.
Playing games on a server located in your country will decrease your ping.
Check with your Internet Service Provider for any issues.
Check for any reported network issues or outages
Connect your device directly to your router.
This can be done via an Ethernet cable. On a wired connection, the ping is always less.
Also from the internet…
Upgrade your router.
Try replacing your router especially if it is old and used a lot.
Change your Internet package.
Upgrade your Internet package with higher upload and download speeds.
I think in saw that on Chat GPT! 
Again, I’m trying to find a way to know if it’s the modem or the ISP. Thanks.
It is always ISP. The modem has the abilities that it has, only the ISP can lower that. So, call COX if it’s not working as well as it should be. And, yeah, totally ChatGPT from that @CrimsonChin. Dude, really, if you don’t want to help, just don’t post.
So if it’s always the ISP, why do I see articles that day to restart the modem?
Do you still have the old one, or have you given it back already?
Have you changed the cables? Is it possible the new cables aren’t as good a quality as the old ones and are getting interference? Is it possible one of the cables got bent during the changeover?
Or it is possible that the modem is not as efficient as the old one.
Other possibilities are somebody in the neighbourhood has started using more data at certain times, causing a bump in the contention ratio at the times you are experiencing problems. E.g. new neighbour who is downloading heavily or a family watching multiple 4K streams at peak times.
That would require not only having to send it back but also to call up the cable company and registering it. Trying it for a few days and then switching back and calling up the cable company again.
Ah, that is very different from here. You are allowed to use any modem you want, as long as it conforms to the local telecoms’ standards. You can swap out a dozen modems a day, if you want. The only drawback is, only the official modem has its MAC address registered at the ISP, so the alternative modems can’t pull in the automatic configuration, you need to enter the ISP username and password manually, but the rest goes over DHCP.
So if it’s always the ISP, why do I see articles that day to restart the modem?
It is nearly always the ISP, except when it isn’t. But for them, it is easier to get you to restart the modem than to run a line test. Modems are computers, then can crash, they can run slowly, when they have been on a long time and caches etc. are full and they have no more free memory, a buggy update. It shouldn’t happen, but it can happen. Restarting the modem is quick and simple and doesn’t cost anything, to see if it clears the problem. But often it is a problem with the line.
Cox is the one to talk to.
I’ve never used ping-test.net but the results for me are fluctuating massively m, frequently +/- 100ms from the average.