Airport Extreme and Cox Internet IPv6 Problem

I_Dont_Want_A_Username wrote:

Cox has already done what they can, and Apple's latest firmware release doesn't seem to address this issue.

See, I have a problem with this statement. Apple's Airport routers have absolutely no issues with any other ISP's implementation of IPv6. The only people having difficulty with Apple's routers are people on the Cox network.

The other thing that I find odd is that even if you essentially disable IPv6 by configuring the Apple router to Link-local people are still having connectivity issues and this only started after Cox enable IPv6 on their network.

Cox made a change when then implemented IPv6 that not only affects people's ability to use the new protocol with Apple's routers but also affects the ability to use Apple's routers in a configuration (Link-local) that was working perfectly fine before the implementation of IPv6.

I'm not saying you should not find another router that works for you but I think laying the blame for this particular problem strictly on Apple is unfair and probably wrong.

No, I agree with your statement and mis-stated mine. What I meant to say is that Cox has exhausted all their known remedies, and has no more suggestions that would allow me to use this older Apple TimeCapsule with their currently configured network. They've already made a physical visit, tested signal strength, did PM on cable connections, verified no signal splitter, replaced the connector at the pole, etc. They have no other remedies to offer other than to tell me to replace my customer premises equipment.

They are not blameless. They made changes a month or so ago that broke what had been working reliably for years. I'm just being realistic in not expecting them to do anything beyond the site visit and telling me to use "link local" and hope for the best. It is not Apple's fault, but Cox tech had told me that Apple was aware and that a firmware release was expected. He said the rumor was "Sept" but when it showed up earlier this week, I think we all hoped that it would fix the issue. It did not, for me, on this older Apple TC. But yes, Cox broke it and probably won't fix it.

Like probably most folks here, Cox has the monopoly in my area for high speed service. There really isn't any viable cost-effective alternative.

I just want to follow up with this posting from the Cox Forums from May 17 where this issue with Apple's routers are also a hot topic.

"Posted by kurt2112

17 May 2016 2:24 PM

Add me to the list of unhappy, frustrated SoCal internet Cox customers.

About a year ago, (mid 2015), I started having this problem: Modem blinking all normal lights, Apple Time Capsule (current gen, current firmware) losing internet connection (amber light). Modem was a few years old, never had issues with it before, worked in previous SoCal address with Cox service flawlessly.

After Cox sent two techs out (not Cox employees, but contractors working for a company named "Sunshine" who do NOT have the proper diagnostic tools, such as a laptop with an ethernet connection!), they advised me that my modem was rather old, and I should go purchase a DOCSYS 3.0 compatible modem. Reluctantly I did so. Got an Arris Surfboard SB6121, which is fully compatible with Cox as per Cox support site. Same problems kept happening, going offline every few days, several times a month.

So I considered maybe this was an Apple issue, saw lots of people on the forums (apple and cox) with Time Capsule and Airport Extreme issues with Cox, so I tried the link-local mode on the Time Capsule, tried disabling IPV6, nothing worked.

So I bought ANOTHER new piece of equipment, a new Linksys WRT1900ACS router. Was disappointed in the fact that I lost the ability to do wireless backups as the Linksys does not support Apple's Time Machine backup software, but was willing to try another router just to eliminate the idea that this is Apple's fault. Set it up in about 20 minutes, was working quite well for about 5 hours, then bam, went offline JUST LIKE THE APPLE ROUTER. I thought, well, maybe this is a fluke and unrelated to my main issue, so let's be patient. That was last week. It went offline again a couple days later.

I setup the Apple Time Capsule again (default settings), and called Cox to send a Supervisor this time.

Instead, they sent a guy from the same "Sunshine" company, who AGAIN did the same routine of checking connections. And within an hour of the tech leaving, it went offline again.

Hooked up the Linksys router again, default settings, went offline again yesterday. Cox said, we're so sorry, we will send a Supervisor to you house. So today, they sent 2 techs from Sunshine again (NOT supervisors), but they brought a NetGear Modem/Router all in one unit. It is currently setup, and now we are waiting to see how this device performs. At this stage, I am leaning towards my Surfboard 6121 modem being the culprit, but who knows.

I will update when this is all sorted out, good luck to all who are in the same boat."

You can read the post along with others here,

http://forums.cox.com/forum_home/internet_forum/f/5/t/11713.aspx?pi287=8

. . . It is not Apple's fault, but Cox tech had told me that Apple was aware and that a firmware release was expected. He said the rumor was "Sept" but when it showed up earlier this week, I think we all hoped that it would fix the issue. It did not, for me, on this older Apple TC. But yes, Cox broke it and probably won't fix it. . .

IMO the reason Apple's firmware fix apparently didn't address this issue is that their product isn't causing the problem. Consider, Cox only has a relatively small portion of the internet market in the U.S. while, for instance, Comcast has over half. I don't see a thread here about Airport Extremes not working with Comcast.

After initial disconnect problems three months ago here in Williamsburg, VA (when I joined this thread) my system has been working reliably with Cox default DNS and 1pv6 Auto for many weeks now. My conclusion is that Cox must be rolling out their 1pv6 implementation piecemeal in different areas. Some are now working OK, and others aren't yet. Gino_Cerullo has it right. Cox is causing the problem, and they are blaming Apple. My greatest fear is that they will do some other "fix" to our system here and I will be back complaining on this thread that mine won't work either.

It also looks like Apple is pulling AirPort devices from retail - possibly swapping with a retrofitted model with a different component?

CromeYellow wrote:

May we get a screen shot of your settings? Mine are as below, everything filled in including the DNS servers is filled in automatically, nothing is left blank except of course the IPv6 servers, and then no domain name, and no IPv6 address.

I have had them set as below for weeks now no loss of connectivity and no slow internet speeds. My iMac is connected to the Time Capsule with an ethernet cable and I am supposed to get 150/10 and I get pretty much around 165/12 every time I have tested never below. No issues at all. My Time Capsules and Airport Extremes are all the latest version.

Always green lights, and these three Airport Extremes are pretty far from each other.

P.S. Given that Apple OSX default screen shot and Grab are TIFF images, why doesn't this Apple website allow direct upload of TIFF images for forum posts? Why do we have to convert to JPG first?

Due to size constraints, if anyone can upload uncompressed files, the database would crash and pages will not load at all for users.

Gino_Cerullo wrote:

I_Dont_Want_A_Username wrote:

Cox has already done what they can, and Apple's latest firmware release doesn't seem to address this issue.

See, I have a problem with this statement. Apple's Airport routers have absolutely no issues with any other ISP's implementation of IPv6. The only people having difficulty with Apple's routers are people on the Cox network.

The other thing that I find odd is that even if you essentially disable IPv6 by configuring the Apple router to Link-local people are still having connectivity issues and this only started after Cox enable IPv6 on their network.

Cox made a change when then implemented IPv6 that not only affects people's ability to use the new protocol with Apple's routers but also affects the ability to use Apple's routers in a configuration (Link-local) that was working perfectly fine before the implementation of IPv6.

I'm not saying you should not find another router that works for you but I think laying the blame for this particular problem strictly on Apple is unfair and probably wrong.

Yes our home with Comcast has zero issues with Apple routers. all new AirPort time capsule's default settings getting over 150Mbps and our Cox service with the same gear AirPort TC + SB6190 modem with their 150Mbps service, get constant drop outs on IPv6 and with link-local. Its apparent when using VPN services or streaming services as well.

So yes I'd say this is a Cox issue. They have always had a hard time understanding that they cause a lot of their problems and Apple routers are not some weird new thing they've been around for over 15 years and were the first to introduce a Wireless router to mass consumers.

CromeYellow wrote:

P.S. Given that Apple OSX default screen shot and Grab are TIFF images, why doesn't this Apple website allow direct upload of TIFF images for forum posts? Why do we have to convert to JPG first?

Actually OS X built-in screenshots are Portable Network Graphics (PNG) files. Grab saves files in TIFF format only.

I always use the built-in screenshots and then annotate them in Preview so I can re-save them as PNG files that I can post here.

How to take a screenshot on your Mac - Apple Support

Mac Basics: Preview app views and edits images and PDFs - Apple Support

Here's the story..

http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/05/27/airport-extreme-time-capsule-pulled-fr om-us-apple-stores-

Interesting development.

Yes I use Grab because screen shots take a pic of, the whole screen. I don't generally need or want to post a pic of my entire screen.

Applexometa: TIFF is no more uncompressed than JPG?

I have Cox in one city and Comcast in another city. Both exact same equipment. Arris 6190 Cable Modem and latest Airport Extreme (firmware version 7.7.7). Cox has issues - not Apple. Airport Extreme with Cox has to be set to "local link only". Comcast do not need to set to local link. I also have access to senior Cox team - Cox aware of issue on their end. Also - Google DNS does NOT solve issue - nor does local link only settings impact speeds (only way to test is wired connection (as their are variables on Wi-Fi that may impact speed. Hope this helps - thanks to all for continued feedback!

dwmreg64, as the AppleInsider article states it could be for any number of reasons including but not limited to, constrained stock levels in the USA, preparations for the new model due to updated technology, updates to meet new FCC regulations that don't affect the rest of the world, etc.

CromeYellow wrote:

Yes I use Grab because screen shots take a pic of, the whole screen. I don't generally need or want to post a pic of my entire screen.

The reason I posted the link is because it shows you how to use the built-in screenshot facility to grab portions of the screen or just a particular window.

SoCal COX customer here with (1) Airport Extreme 802.11ac + (2) Airport Express 802.11n roaming network. Have all (3) units set to IPv6 link-local only for a month now working flawlessly. Also just confirmed with local Apple Store that Airport Extremes not avvailable in therir store anymore but available for shipping.

CromeYellow wrote:

Yes I use Grab because screen shots take a pic of, the whole screen. I don't generally need or want to post a pic of my entire screen.

Applexometa: TIFF is no more uncompressed than JPG?

They're generally larger than JPEGs and use different methods of compression, and i think JPGs compression is generally smaller and JPGs are more standard in database systems than say TIFF.

Supposedly, the 7.7.7 and 7.6.7 firmware updates contain IPv6 and DNS fixes. Cox has supposedly confirmed this with Apple. I think we all know Apple doesn't always state in their notes everything that an update includes. So, I guess it's possible there are fixes for these two areas.

DSLR Cox Employee: "7.6.7 and 7.7.7 are the same thing built for different platforms. And no, none of those notes mention the specific fixes that went in related to IPv6 and DNS but they are in there. We've confirmed this with Apple."

NOTE: I went back to IPv6 Configuration: Automatically, Enable IPv6 Connection Sharing and Block IPv6 Incoming Connections yesterday and unlike my last post, my current connection has been stable for 24 hours.

"I went back to IPv6 Configuration: Automatically, Enable IPv6 Connection Sharing and Block IPv6 Incoming Connections yesterday and unlike my last post, my current connection has been stable for 24 hours"

Did the same and has been stable for 60 hours