GABarber

Q: Airport Extreme and Cox Internet IPv6 Problem

This is a notification to others as well as a question:

 

I have Cox Cable High Speed Internet at several locations using an Airport Extreme 3GB connected as a router to the Cox cable modem.

 

For more than a week we would regularly find in the morning that the outside connection to the internet DNS servers were lost.  We called Cox several times, and they performed the usual reset of router and modem and things seem to work for a while.  But the next day gone again.

 

They came out and replaced the hookups, I I had to buy a new cable modem and replaced a digital switch.  Each time things seemed to work for a while.

 

I thought about replacing the Airport Extreme (as I read others had done in a similar situation to no avail).

 

After much frustration, I started to search for Airport Extreme and DNS and found similar tales.

 

After several unproductive calls with Cox Internet first tier support, I finally reached a tier who acknowledged that Cox was rolling out IPv6 and was having a problem with Airport Extreme Routers.  They said Apple was working on it and gave me a number to call at apple router support.  Unfortunalely the number they gave was no longer valid.


I persisted and eventually got to Apple support and indeed they knew of the problem and said Cox was working on it.. But there was a temporary fix - and that was to turn off iPv6 on the airport extreme (more precisely (internet > Internet Options > Configure Ipv6 : Link-Local Only).

 

For now this seemed to stop the overnight drop that seems to happen between 12:00 AM and 2:00 AM.  From experience I dont think its really an IPV6 compaibility issue, but how the router responds to some sort of reset signal/test signal that the service does in the early morning.

 

So the question is - does anybody know for sure whats going on or who is really working on this.  From my perspective both camps think its the other's problem.  BTW - Ive read about others with Non Apple routers chasing something similar.

Posted on Mar 2, 2016 9:07 PM

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Q: Airport Extreme and Cox Internet IPv6 Problem

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  • by I_Dont_Want_A_Username,

    I_Dont_Want_A_Username I_Dont_Want_A_Username Jun 26, 2016 7:18 PM in response to askin6305B
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 26, 2016 7:18 PM in response to askin6305B

    I noticed my Apple TV seems to now be having connectivity issues and is helped by a restart (reboot).  Particularly noticeable on ABCNews channel, which seems to stall when asked to stream a news video.  This seemed to start a couple of weeks ago.  Coincidence?

  • by CromeYellow,

    CromeYellow CromeYellow Jun 28, 2016 6:25 PM in response to CromeYellow
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 28, 2016 6:25 PM in response to CromeYellow

    All is well since the last issue on June 20th.  I am also getting 19/20 http://ipv6-test.com/ on all browsers lately, including on the iMacs.

  • by YatBob,

    YatBob YatBob Jun 30, 2016 6:59 AM in response to CromeYellow
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Jun 30, 2016 6:59 AM in response to CromeYellow
    Not here after a couple of weeks with good test results, the last couple of days I have been failing the tests with 0/10 and 4/20 respectively
  • by askin6305B,

    askin6305B askin6305B Jun 30, 2016 8:32 AM in response to YatBob
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 30, 2016 8:32 AM in response to YatBob

    Strange, everything looks good on your device, and I can see that your airport has a v6 WAN addr (MAC: d003.xxxx.f088   2600:8807:7F04:0:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:C90F) and v6 LAN prefix (MAC: d003.xxxx.f088   2600:8807:5000:xxxx::/64).  None of the previous tell-tale signs of this issue are present.  Could be a client-side issue.  Do you get the same results across all your connected devices?

  • by YatBob,

    YatBob YatBob Jun 30, 2016 8:42 AM in response to askin6305B
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Jun 30, 2016 8:42 AM in response to askin6305B

    Same results across all devices

    Probably my screw up, after posting I remembered that I had a 1 1/2 hour power outage yesterday, after posting I restarted my AE and ipv6 is back and passing all test. should of done a restart, but didn't think it would be necessary

  • by jmdshort,

    jmdshort jmdshort Jun 30, 2016 3:56 PM in response to GABarber
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 30, 2016 3:56 PM in response to GABarber

    Thanks for initially starting this thread and for all of the responses.

     

    I've been experiencing a similar problem with my connection (Cox; Las Vegas, NV) for the past several weeks.   Thinking it was a bad modem (several years old), I was able to get an upgrade (not quite as old but not latest/greatest either).   Didn't fix the overnight "shutdown".

     

    One question: I believe that I have a 3rd Generation Time Capsule -- not 100% sure at the moment (away from my computer as I write this).  Would getting a new Airport Extreme or Time Capsule fix this... in other words, would any of the solutions work for as old of a router that I have?

     

    Thanks,

     

    Jeff

  • by Ken0F,

    Ken0F Ken0F Jul 4, 2016 4:09 AM in response to GABarber
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jul 4, 2016 4:09 AM in response to GABarber

    Same problem. Found a "fix" that has worked for 2 weeks (formerly dropped out every night, 2 episodes since this change)

    Switched my DNS server from Cox to Google. Not hard to do, reversible (just record your current settings).

     

    Found at http://forums.cox.com/forum_home/internet_forum/f/5/t/13479.aspx  (Fourth reply by keg55)

     

    "Here's a better fix that might work for you AND give you IPv6 connectivity.

    I'm trying the Google DNS servers (8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4) now. In the Internet tab on your Extreme, change the DNS servers (not IPv6 DNS servers) from Cox's to Google's public servers previously mentioned. Click the Internet Options and change the IPv6 Configuration back to Automatically.So far, here in Arizona the above fix is working great. I never had any speed loss using the Link-local only and I'm still not losing any speed with the above. I also just ran a test of IPv6 from test-ipv6.com and received a 10/10 score with the Google DNS servers. Prior to the change when I used Cox's DNS servers I got a 0/10 score. From what I was told by Cox Internet support, IPv6 has been in my area (Phoenix, AZ) since December 2015. I'll stick with this and if Cox fixes their DNS servers, then I'll go back to theirs."

    Info on Google public servers: https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/

  • by Ken0F,

    Ken0F Ken0F Jul 5, 2016 7:47 AM in response to GABarber
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jul 5, 2016 7:47 AM in response to GABarber

    Same problem. Found a "fix" that has worked for 2 weeks (formerly dropped out every night, 2 episodes since this change)

    Switched my DNS server from Cox to Google. Not hard to do, reversible (just record your current settings).

     

    Found at http://forums.cox.com/forum_home/internet_forum/f/5/t/13479.aspx  (Fourth reply by keg55)

     

    "Here's a better fix that might work for you AND give you IPv6 connectivity.

    I'm trying the Google DNS servers (8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4) now. In the Internet tab on your Extreme, change the DNS servers (not IPv6 DNS servers) from Cox's to Google's public servers previously mentioned. Click the Internet Options and change the IPv6 Configuration back to Automatically.So far, here in Arizona the above fix is working great. I never had any speed loss using the Link-local only and I'm still not losing any speed with the above. I also just ran a test of IPv6 from test-ipv6.com and received a 10/10 score with the Google DNS servers. Prior to the change when I used Cox's DNS servers I got a 0/10 score. From what I was told by Cox Internet support, IPv6 has been in my area (Phoenix, AZ) since December 2015. I'll stick with this and if Cox fixes their DNS servers, then I'll go back to theirs."

    Info on Google public servers: https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/

  • by YatBob,

    YatBob YatBob Jul 5, 2016 8:43 AM in response to YatBob
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Jul 5, 2016 8:43 AM in response to YatBob

    Still having the issue of every couple days failing the ipv6 tests, previously thought that the issue was related to power outage,but since then a reboot of the AE re-establishes ipv6 connection to have it go away a few days later, something is happening when the 12 hour DHCP lease renewal happens. Not  loosing internet connection or speed just the ongoing ipv6 issue

  • by scottmvegas,

    scottmvegas scottmvegas Jul 18, 2016 4:56 PM in response to askin6305B
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Jul 18, 2016 4:56 PM in response to askin6305B

    Hey Askin -- since you seem to be really dialed in to this issue, I thought maybe I'd try reaching out.

     

    Have an SB6141 and a new, latest gen, Airport Extreme on 7.7.7 in Nevada and my CM-MAC is 8c:7f:3b:90:10:14.  I just upgraded from an older Time Capsule which was running 7.6.7 (and set to both link-local and auto ipv6 at various times), and was also plagued by frequent disconnects, even after your June 17th system wide changes.  After several disconnects per day with the new router, I switched back to Link-Local-Only for the last few days, and had my first "router disconnect" about two hours ago.  I tried to connect out from multiple devices, all of which failed.  (Interestingly, during the "outage," my VOIP TA from Ooma would still ring for incoming calls, but couldn't pick up or make outgoing calls, so the modem & router appear to have been working, in so far as is necessary to allow some WAN SIP packets through?!)

     

    I don't know if there's anything you can see on your side, or if you have any intel about my area, although the modem logs look generally benign and typical, and it reports itself operational even during the disconnects, with no logs specific to the event.  So, I'm thinking it must be the airport/cox/ipv6  issue.  Out of curiosity, when did Cox enable ipv6 in Vegas?

     

    I've just switched ipv6 back to Auto, and get 10/10 on test-ipv6.com.  Would this occur regardless of modem?  Would moving to another brand router also prevent this issue, say Linksys?

     

    Genuinely, thank you for all your attention to this issue, and going so far to hang out in the Apple forums --  you've, by far, had the most definitive info about why this is happening, that I've read -- and I've been reading hundreds of pages.  =)

  • by scottmvegas,

    scottmvegas scottmvegas Jul 19, 2016 8:12 PM in response to scottmvegas
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Jul 19, 2016 8:12 PM in response to scottmvegas

    Hmm.  In frustration, today I replaced my one week old Airport Extreme with a new Linksys EA9500, and it worked great for a few hours, until the exact same thing happened.  Internet goes down, but SB6141 reports that it is "operational" and connected, with nothing new in the modem logs, but, no packets from the router seem to get in or out.  Interestingly, the modem intermittently failed to receive/reply to pings during the "outage," which is different behavior than I saw with the Airport Extreme, where the modem continually responded to pings during disconnects.  It's the second SB6141 I've tried, too.

     

    I could maybe try another model modem, I guess.  Any recommendations?

     

    I feel like I've accounted for every variable I can except Cox.

  • by I_Dont_Want_A_Username,

    I_Dont_Want_A_Username I_Dont_Want_A_Username Jul 19, 2016 8:19 PM in response to scottmvegas
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jul 19, 2016 8:19 PM in response to scottmvegas

    Something strange is going on (here in Santa Barbara, CA area).  ipv6-test.com shows 4/20 with no IPv6 supported and IPv6 DNS unreachable.  test-ipv6.com shows 0/10, with no IPv6 address detected.  Yet my router shows an IPv6 address assigned, and is pointing to Google's IPv6 DNS addresses.

     

    I notice in Chrome that there's a "Resolving Host" delay every time I go to a new site.

     

    Something weird in CoxLand.

  • by YatBob,

    YatBob YatBob Jul 20, 2016 7:04 AM in response to I_Dont_Want_A_Username
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Jul 20, 2016 7:04 AM in response to I_Dont_Want_A_Username

    I agree that there is something something going on in Cox land, all indications including my AE and running iNetwork scanner indicate i have ipv6 yet I keep failing all the tests, rebooting there AE allows passing the test for a few hours then test failure again.

  • by askin6305B,

    askin6305B askin6305B Jul 20, 2016 9:30 AM in response to scottmvegas
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jul 20, 2016 9:30 AM in response to scottmvegas

    scottmvegas - I took a look and don't see anything out of the ordinary on your connection.  Levels and SNR are fine, and as you said the logs look pretty benign.  I don't think you're hitting the v6 issues that is the subject of this thread.  Previous posters had near-100% success using the "link-local-only" workaround, plus the new Apple code has fixed their IPv6-to-v4 fallback behavior.  I think your best best is to call support next time you're in this failure state and have someone troubleshoot with you.

     

    BTW - I also use Ooma at home and find the quality and reliability to be very good, but the latency is about 1000ms which makes interactive conversations very difficult. Wonder if you find that too.  I wish these forums had PM functionality... sigh.

  • by bienvenido3,

    bienvenido3 bienvenido3 Aug 5, 2016 8:40 AM in response to askin6305B
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Wireless
    Aug 5, 2016 8:40 AM in response to askin6305B

    Hey there. I've been struggling with this exact same problem and it's been infuriating to try to get Cox to make it happen.

     

    I'm rocking what I assume a lot of people here are - Cox in Florida, an SB6141 (I checked and it says it's running exclusively in IPv4 mode), and a Time Capsule running 7.7.7. After rebooting everything, it's still exhibiting the same exact problems.

     

    I'll be searching these comments for help - but any specific steps you'd recommend would be great.

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