# No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out



## athrowaway (Oct 29, 2010)

Wall of text incoming.

We recently moved into a new apartment and signed up with Cox Communications as our ISP. Whenever we run any sort of high-throughput application, such as a torrent-based updater or an online game, every so often our connection slows to a crawl, on the order of a few kbps a second. These are accompanied in the cable modem log by the following error: "No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out (US #)", where # might be 1 or 2. The interruption only occurs for a brief moment, which is no big deal for downloads, but doesn't work out for online gaming.

We went through the usual ISP song-and-dance (despite having the exact same configuration at another home with the same ISP) simplifying our network setup to a connection between the wall outlet, Motorola SB4101U cable modem, and the NIC on a variety of our computers. They remotely verified what I already know, that our signal-to-noise ratio and downstream/upstream power levels are within acceptable bounds (thank you, Google), but that upstream occasionally spikes, coinciding with the interruptions.

So, they agreed to send out a technical support guy, whose only solution to everything was to tighten and replace cables. Apparently I'm pants-on-head stupid, because I thought I'd already done that. Admittedly, it improved the signal-to-noise marginally, since he replaced one at one of the magical boxes outside, but the issue persists.

Additionally, I have two friends in the same complex, with the same cable modem, who willingly use the ultra-simplified network setup, with the same amount or more of the T3 errors previously mentioned in their logs. One is in my building, another at least two blocks away.

So, tl;dr, three people in different apartments in the same complex, with identical network setups (aside from their NICs), all have the same "No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out (US #)" over and over in their cable modem log. This is, without a doubt, on the ISP's end, right? And what causes this sort of thing? Usually, my Google-fu is strong, but there's a lot of noise on this one.


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## Rivendale (Sep 17, 2010)

that error is almost surely bad cable hardware/connection somewhere, that can be hard to find on a cable network, the ISP hates to even think about it, expensive to find, more expensive to fix 

don't support any *P2P *apps here, but if that's not the problem then post the full modem log for us to have a look, could be more info there

your modem may not hear the isp send signal, so you are gettingt the T3 timeouts.

what comes before the *No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out * for example?

any SYNC or timing errors etc?

also cable is prone to interference with other media on the cable, i guess they replaced a splitter?


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## athrowaway (Oct 29, 2010)

Thank you for your response.

Firstly, just so you know, I'm not talking illegal P2P, just patches for games. A lot of companies like to use your bandwidth to serve up their patches now. Hell, Starcraft II doesn't even give you an option. In any case, it's not just the torrents, any sort of serious traffic will do it.

The only relevant errors are the aforementioned ones, preceded by "Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - T3 time-out". Everything else is just what you'd expect when cycling the modem.

And, yup, he tried a different splitter as well. Not that he thought the signal was any different with the new one.

With this many people in the complex having the same problem, I have to figure it's on their end. Just wanted some assurance before I railed at the poor tech that comes here.


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## Rivendale (Sep 17, 2010)

hello, yup i did assume all was on the up and up, benefit of the doubt is my rule

there is nothing illegal about P2P, it's just a policy we have since there are some illegal uses of it, but the same could be said for anything 

it's a controversial issue, but will not stop us from solving problems :!~

yes, if the problem is happening to other people on the same network within a 2 block radius, then it's not your issue 

that is good news and bad, might be easier to get fixed if it was your setup 

i would say either they have bad cables (very possible) or they have condensed the lines to the point where they are saturated with noise

in any case be nice to the tech, you need him on your side, he won't tell you the inside story if he thinks he is going to get into trouble for it


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