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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 Unfortunalely the number they gave was no longer valid.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 9:03 PM

Reply
483 replies

Apr 28, 2016 7:56 AM in response to Gino_Cerullo

About a week ago I changed my iPv4 & iPv6 settings to utilize the Google DNS, and all was working fine including when I ran the test iPv6 it came back a 10/10 score, today when for no reason than wasting time i ran the test and it comes back 0/10, no iiPv6 addresses detected, I have made no changes to any settings, just don't understand the new test results

Apr 28, 2016 8:20 AM in response to YatBob

Other than the failed test, is your connection stable? Do your devices and Apple router still have IPv6 addresses or have their addresses gone away?

There is another popular test site that tests both IPv4 and IPv6.


http://ipv6-test.com/

This is what a successful test looks like. My ISP has just started rolling out IPv6 so they haven't configured hostnames for their IPv6 addresses yet.


User uploaded file


After testing at the site noted above restart your modem and see if you test results come back positive. If not restart the Apple router and test again.

Apr 28, 2016 12:50 PM in response to GABarber

Hello,


Located in Cleveland and I have been having many of the above mentioned disconnect problems (once a day up to 5-6 times day) with Cox and Airport Extreme since the beginning of the year. Cox Preferred (50gb package). Cox technicians were out to the house a total of four times, filters, all new connectors, new line from the street etc. None of these actions did anything including my swapping the modem.


A few weeks ago a Cox technician had me implement the IPv6 Local Link fix. My experience with the Local Link was that it did basically nothing for me. Outages still happened on a infrequent no pattern basis.


Yesterday everything totally quit working. Determined that the modem had gone bad (no light sequence). Reinstalled the original modem but could not get a connection to Cox to switch the Mac number using a hard wire directly to the modem from the PC. Called Cox, the technician was able to make the switch and get everything working. The Cox technician was a good guy so I started talking about all of these issues we all have been experiencing. During this conversation he told me that a major IPv6 upgrade was performed on Tuesday night (4/26) in most Cox major markets (I remember, LA, Phoenix, VA, Cleveland, but there were more he rattled off).


After I hung up with him I spent the next 2 hours trying everything I knew to reconnect the AE to the working modem. The Apple AE app showed that every time the modem and AE were connected the internet connection would break. So finally I gave up and drove up to Best Buy and bought a new Netgear router.


When I got home I decided to try one more thing before installing the new router. I RESET THE MODEM TO FACTORY SPECIFICATIONS. Remarkably, everything started working and has not gone down at all in the last 20 hours. On top of that I'm in automatic IPV6 mode and have both IPv4 & IPv6 connections to Cox. Test-IPv6 reveals 10/10 tests passed. The best prior to this was 0/10 passed.


YMMV, but I thought I would share this info. I know everyone is thinking this will be fixed through a firmware upgrade, maybe it is worth your giving this a shot.

Apr 28, 2016 1:02 PM in response to dhlewis21

Thanks for the info....let us know how/if that (reset) works....also, did you set up with EXACT same configs?


Back in December, before I was aware of the Iv6 issue I purchased new Airport Extreme to replace my same version Airport Extreme thinking I had bad router - essentially same as a reset - worked for a few days, had issues, tried Google DNS, had issues, changed to local link only been working fine ever since - no speed issues - 300+down / 30+up.....(my config is Arris SB6190 and Airport Extreme)

Apr 28, 2016 1:12 PM in response to hipsterpdx

Yes, I will. Modem is Motorola SB6141.


My main point in posting is to point out that something Cox did during this recent upgrade may have changed the landscape. We all know that Cox is not going to inform us with a "Technical Bulletin". Maybe a factory reset does something that we don't see by just tweaking settings? I reset to the same Network name, password and security settings, otherwise left everything stock. Right now I'm not going to touch anything, just try to determine if it is really better.


Also, I failed to mention that I am seeing 60-65gbs speeds on my 50gbs service.

Apr 28, 2016 2:08 PM in response to dhlewis21

dhlewis21 I don't think you may know if whatever you have done "works" until it has held without disconnection or other issues for at least a couple days.


I have maintained my Time Capsule at the local link all week and have had no issues. As mentioned, my plan is the Cox Premier so I am supposed to get 150 down and 10 up, and via ethernet to the Time Capsule my iMac has consistently been getting 168-180 down and 12-15 up. I did have to install a new modem to get those speeds though, a DOCSIS 3.0 rated to 340 Mbps.


I don't see how ipv4 versus ipv6 could make any possible difference right now since there are no ipv6 connections yet.


I mean looky here

http://www.ipv6forum.com/ipv6_enabled/approval_list.php

a gang of ipv6 "enabled" sites dating back to 2009 and yet not one ipv6 connection anywhere yet.


I go with what works, and by the time ipv6 makes a difference I am sure Apple or Cox will have another solution.


If the Google DNS works for you, go with that, but if not local link is solid for me, and theoretically speaking, I don't see how it could make any difference until there are ipv6 connections.


I do appreciate all the help people are offering on here.

Apr 29, 2016 6:47 PM in response to CromeYellow

All continues to be well with the local link setting. No loss of connectivity all green lights on AirPort Utility.


Just tested ethernet connected iMac over 169 down / 12 up (Premier Cox plan supposed to get 150/10) and iPhone 6plus sitting right next to the iMac got exactly the same speeds via Wifi, if not a bit higher.


However WiFi speeds farther away from the Time Capsule do drop quite a bit as we go out a few hundred feet away, or go upstairs, with multiple intervening walls, even with 1 - 2 bridging Airport Extremes.

Airport Extreme and Cox Internet IPv6 Problem

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