Cable ISP problem

[J_Tweedy]

Just joined cable internet (the only supposedly good service here in NZ because of monopolised ADSL). I signed up for the 10mb plan, and at no stage whatsoever (except the very first day I got it) was I getting anywhere near this speed (from any IP).

My question is, does a cable modem cause slowdowns and spiking pings if it is faulty? Or is it more likely to either just work fully or not at all?
I got the cable modem from the ISP, its a Motorola Surfboard.

If it isnt the modem, then a connection either in the area or to our house is faulty. Are there any other suggestions you guys might have for such a slow cable connection?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Asus]

Normally Motorola Surfboards are good modems. Is your modem running hot?

Bandwidth Test There are a number of bandwidth testers on the net but of the few I just tried this one gets the closest to what my actual connection is.
Only US servers to choose from there though.

Or it could be something in the line between your house and the local box. My friend had an issue where the line was messed up from the box to his house. He had them check out the line from the box to the ISP and everything was fine there. Also, you could just be in a saturated neighborhood for cable internet since cable is 'shared'.

 

[J_Tweedy]

OK I have a similar test for NZ servers (which is more the one I would want to use), and atm im getting 1963kbps down and 1145kbps up. (would expect far more even at peak usage time like it is atm)

The thing is, I use this mainly for gaming, and the instability of this connection is the biggest worry. Because the ping spikes make it unplayable.

Edit: PS: The modem is barely warm to the touch.

 

[Asus]

You get ping spikes even when it's going at 2mbps? That is still plenty of bandwidth for gaming but that does say that there must be something wrong. I would think anyway. Maybe call them up and see if they can do some tests. Maybe have them switch out your modem. That is very low for a 10mbps line. hehe

Have you changed anything on your end since the 1st day when it was working correctly?

 

[J_Tweedy]

Haha I reckon- its a shocker. I have called them numerous times, with a few different answers. Their tests do show extreme spikes and bad speeds, so they have said to me so far its either the modem (which will be replaced by thursday but I just wanted to find out anyway) or an 'area problem.' If its the latter im unlikely to stay with them, they are not showing any signs that they intend to fix it. I must be the only gamer in my suburb if they haven't had previous complaints.