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GABarber Author

Level 1

27 points

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 Unfortunalely the number they gave was no longer valid.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

483 replies

Dec 23, 2016 11:58 PM in response to askin6305B

I read all 33 pages. Not sure if my WiFi problem is the same as most of those who posted or not.

My AEBS purchased 2014 has Slow D/L but fast U/L. Software v. 7.7.8 Just updated but had exact same issue with 7.7.7

Motorola SurfBoard SB6121 DOCSIS 3.0 modem. Probably has always been very slow D/L. I rarely use the WiFi.

Cox Preferred Internet; 50 Mbps D/L & 5Mbps U/L My new late 2015 iMac is connected direct via ethernet & I just tested speed :

Soft

Speedtest,net (Beta) site

59.24 Mbps D/L

6.72 U/L

Ping 22 ms

Great!

My WiFi clients are:

TiVo

Oppo DVR

Samsung Galaxy S7edge phone (new)

Kindle

Phone WiFi speed (using Speedtest app) while holding phone 1 foot away from AEBS.

0.34 Mbps D/L

6.50 U/L

Ping 23 ms

As you see, D/L is extremely slow.

Phone WiFi speed using someone else’s WiFi:

D/L 9.67 Mbps

U/L 6.49 Mbps

ping 22 ms

I have tried changing channels used by AEBS from Automatic for both 2.4 GHz & 5 GHz. Phone same & TiVo was worse.

Restarting modem & router, Mac… no help.

From this thread:

Apple recommended reply: “The only thing thus far that has worked is your solution listed above: Air Port Utility > Internet > Internet Options > Configure Ipv6 : Link-Local Only.”

I ck & Mine already set that way!

However the Mac Network setting was automatic, I changed it to Link-Local & restarted & no help.

Towards end of thread, general consensus seems to be that with the 7.7.7 firmware update “link-local” workaround is no longer needed and best to put it back to automatic so you can use IPv6. I did that, following the instructions exactly and not only was there no help at all in the extremely slow download speed from my phone but now my TiVo will not connect so, I actually made it worse.

When my router was configured to link– local only when I did the below two tests I got a score of zero. After I changed it my scores seemed OK.

Test:

http://www.test-ipv6.com/

9/10

Test

http://ipv6-test.com/

17/20

So, right now my phone D/L speed is a fraction of what it s/b. U/L remains normal. TiVo is marginal signal strength & will not connect to Network. Oppo dies not see my Network so cannot connect.

Yes, when I changed the router settings I unplugged both modem & router to reset & also restarted iMac.

Any suggestions?

I’m thinking of putting Router back to Link -Local & see if I can get TiVO back to 52-58% “Good” so can connect to Network. It is not great & phone still has horrible D/L speeds.

I’m tempted to junk the AEBS & buy another Linksys router but one person here had changed routers & had the same problems. Of course the “slow” speeds reported by those with problems were MUCH faster than my pathetic 0.34 Mbps D/L. As far as dropped connections, I do not know if I have those, probably do.

Forgot to add:Have not tried to switch from Cox's DNS servers to Google’s.

Jan 22, 2017 8:08 AM in response to iJedie24

This solution seems to have worked perfectly. I got a perfect score on the ipv6 test website you referenced. Thanks so much!!!!!!

AZPV

Level 1

4 points

May 17, 2017 8:30 AM in response to iJedie24

This seem to work for me. Let's see if it will be stable.

Airport Extreme and Cox Internet IPv6 Problem