Comcast Troubles--reall bad

[inflames988]

Thank god im finally able to get online long enough to open up this thread. Ive been going on and off all day. lucky to get one post up earlier, pics of my build in the custom case work thread, as i had no internet all day and decided to take some digital pics since i had a camera to use. Anyway my problem is as follows:

Last night: kicked on and off a couple times....Restarted my computer, still couldnt get on, then finally got back on (AIM), then kicked off. Went to check out the modem, it was blinking at the "send" LED and the "online" LED wouldnt light up at all. I knew it wouldnt work unless all lights were on, and it didnt come back on at all. Went out to the movies, came back and the LEDs were on. Internet worked for a short while

Today: on and off all day. Sometimes for up to 15 minutes, no longer than that though. It seems to be getting worse as ive been on a few minutes here and there but cant stay on for any significant period of time. Now the lights are on alot but i still get kicked on and off--sometimes the modem lights are even still on after i get booted. I called comcast last night when the lights on modem wouldnt come up. Guy went thru the usual unplug ur modem crap, then set up a time for comcast to check it out tommorow. He said he "couldnt tell" if there were any outages in my area (either there is, or there isnt...he listed other places that were out, but had no idea about me) anyway a few calls to neighbors tells me that nothings out of the ordinary for the rest of the comcast users (pretty much my whole neighborhood).

Any ideas what could be wrong? Its drivng me crazy here. Anyway this happened exactly before when i first set up my cable...same for my friend. We both got the comcast techs to come out and change the splitters on the cable line. Since we both had a few tv's we already had a few splitters (and my friend had 7 TVs, though originally there were only a few cable ports in the house) they put different ones in to give the area where the cable internet was hooked up a little more power. After that it worked fine--why am i having problems now? As far as i can think of, its gotta be something with wires somewhere, but wouldnt the connection either be broken or not broken? why can i get online sometimes but not allways?

[kstatefan40]

Man, do I ever feel your pain. I'm on Cox (which is basically comcast) and have had the same exact problems off and on ever since they jacked the speeds up to 4mbps. What they did was jack the stability up, and the speed gain was barely noticable, here at least. They've replaced every line that goes to the modem, to the box outside, to the box on our block... still nothing. I don't know whats up, but every tech out here says something different.

I believe the problem is on their end, and they don't know how to fix it/identify it.

[als814]

I had a problem similar to what you are describing earlier this year. My internet would work very randomly. Some sites would work and some wouldn't. Some of the sites that would work sometimes wouldn't even work at some point. The only thing I was able to do was use was AOL, and for some reason then it would work okay. IE and Firefox wouldn't work right. I had two computers with the same problem.

I had a friend come over who graduated this year with a degree in IST, and he spent over an hour checking all sorts of things I had no idea I could even look at. He still couldn't figure out what the problem was, but suggested that it could be a problem with the router. We decided that my dad was getting a laptop soon, so I might as well just upgrade to a wireless router since I was going to have to at some point anyway. He set up the new Linksys, and screwed around with some configurations and it finally worked. To this day, none of us knew what the problem actually was. I did have a d-link 604 beforehand which is a router I do not recommend.

I don't know if this will actually fix your problem, but if the store you can get a router from has a good return policy for if it doesn't help, it is something you can try out.

[azscary]

Regardless of what else is happening, bottom line is this:

If all of the modem lights are not on, that is a Comcast issue. Maybe the modem has gone South. Could be bad cable from their demark to your house or bad cable in the house.

Again, if the lights are not all on solid, ecept for the trafic light, then Comcast has an issue not your PC.

[Ob1]

Originally Posted by muskie88 Thank god im finally able to get online long enough to open up this thread. Ive been going on and off all day. lucky to get one post up earlier, pics of my build in the custom case work thread, as i had no internet all day and decided to take some digital pics since i had a camera to use. Anyway my problem is as follows: Last night: kicked on and off a couple times....Restarted my computer, still couldnt get on, then finally got back on (AIM), then kicked off. Went to check out the modem, it was blinking at the "send" LED and the "online" LED wouldnt light up at all. I knew it wouldnt work unless all lights were on, and it didnt come back on at all. Went out to the movies, came back and the LEDs were on. Internet worked for a short while Today: on and off all day. Sometimes for up to 15 minutes, no longer than that though. It seems to be getting worse as ive been on a few minutes here and there but cant stay on for any significant period of time. Now the lights are on alot but i still get kicked on and off--sometimes the modem lights are even still on after i get booted. I called comcast last night when the lights on modem wouldnt come up. Guy went thru the usual unplug ur modem crap, then set up a time for comcast to check it out tommorow. He said he "couldnt tell" if there were any outages in my area (either there is, or there isnt...he listed other places that were out, but had no idea about me) anyway a few calls to neighbors tells me that nothings out of the ordinary for the rest of the comcast users (pretty much my whole neighborhood). Any ideas what could be wrong? Its drivng me crazy here. Anyway this happened exactly before when i first set up my cable...same for my friend. We both got the comcast techs to come out and change the splitters on the cable line. Since we both had a few tv's we already had a few splitters (and my friend had 7 TVs, though originally there were only a few cable ports in the house) they put different ones in to give the area where the cable internet was hooked up a little more power. After that it worked fine--why am i having problems now? As far as i can think of, its gotta be something with wires somewhere, but wouldnt the connection either be broken or not broken? why can i get online sometimes but not allways?

could be a bad amp or trap outside the home. could be a bad splitter or bad cable line. how many splitters do you have on the cable line where your modem is located? i have seen people have 4 splitters on the same line and wonder y there connection is bad. sounds like you have a weak signal if it keeps going in and out on you. the problem is that when you call tech support when the modem is not working, the tech cant see what the RF levels are on the modem because its offline.and his only option is schedule a trouble call or tell you there is an outage. i would say call when its back up and have them check the levels. or better yet here is what you can do if you have a motorola modem, when the modem is online you can log into the modem (192.168.100.1) and check the RF Levels. here are the levels your modem should be between.

Signal to noise: 30 or higher
upstream power level (aka reverse) 42 to 54
downstream power level (aka forward) -15 to 15

usually when you have a weak signal either the forward is above the spec range, or the reverse is beyond 54 ie:58. a S/N below 30 will usually mean there is noise on the line which can cause slow speed.

hope this helps. good luck with comcast. btw...the tech you spoke with is an idiot. all he had to do to see if there was an outage find out what node your on, then check the whole network to see if there is an outage on that and any other additional nodes.

[cmillar6]

I had this problem with Comcast as well. The more splitters your line runs through, the more problems you are going to have. The only way to eliminate the problem is to have Comcast run a separate direct line to your modem. They did this for me and the problems disappeared.

[mbossman2]

the point is: sometimes its not your gear, it is the ISP's...consistent troubles overtime, especially when you have made no changes to your PC, necessitate a call to the ISP for resolution.

[ffreeloader]

I'm not a Comcast user, but have had similar problems with my ISP. I've traced it down to a bad splitter twice, and a bad cable modem a bunch of times. I go through modems at least 3 times a year, and have been doing so for 5 years. Don't ask me why, but that's what happens. I'll have increasingly erratic service with the modems showing they are connected but not being able to connect to the internet. Resetting the modem will work for a while and then the same thing again. I put up with it until I'm having to reset my modem once a day or so, and then I take my modem back to the ISP and ask for a new one. This has happened so many times now they don't even question it anymore. They just hand me a new modem and away I go.

I've also experienced the situation where modem failure means it will not lock in even though I have connectivity.

Call your ISP's tech support and have them do some online diagnostics on your modem and line.

[inflames988]

This one goes out to comcast. Thanks for sending a completely ignorant and rude person to fix my internet. I see the guy outside pull up, and immediately go to work kicking the green box outside my house until it opened. He messed around there and came in, checked some stuff out, did some tests, told me something about my line to the modem was -13 when it should be -5 or something....blah blah blah. He tells me that no longer can i have my cable modem there, i need to hook it up in the basement. He hacks apart some wires and puts a new splitter in so that the main cable line to my house splits into the modem, then another splitter which sends it to the rest of the house. Now my router has to be down the basement...Why after 2 years of working up there does it no longer work? He couldnt provide an answer just rude explanations. Im getting less then half wireless signal up here. Its definetely a problem on their part, yet the guy just did what was easiest for him. Im wondering why i still am gona use comcast if the wireless signal isnt centered in the middle of the house (as it used to be) and if it costs more and is slower then fiber optic? The stupid repair guy didnt help either. Somehow i get the feeling that this problem is outside of my house...All my splitters were set up correctly to provide enough strength to the modem, and now everything just falls apart? I dont think so.

[Panama Red]

The ideal configuration (as I understand it) is to split the cable coming into your house immediatly after the entry point. One cable then goes to provide TV service, with as many splitters as you choose without degrading the signal. The other side of the splitter goes directly to your cable modem. The modem does NOT have to be in close proximity to this first splitter. It just needs to be on a dedicated line FROM the first splitter. Locating it "upstairs" is fine as long as it is on that dedicated line.

[Ob1]

the -13 when it should be -5 he is talking about the forward RF signal. sounds like he didnt know what he was talking about, since the range is between -15 to 15. he should be able to boost the signal at the amp to give it enough signal strength to be in your previous location, or you always have the option to run a dedicated line to the modem (if your parents approve, or your landlord gives you and the comcast tech the ok if you live in the apt building)

[inflames988]

Well quite honestly i think ive got a prety easy solution for this. One of the problems he said was that the coax we have running around is 59, when the newer type (the thick white kind that comcast uses) is 56 and much better...I KNOW that it worked fine for a while on the old wire, so how about this: Wire coming into the house gets split in two. One of them goes to the old location in house, other goes to the other splitter which sends signal out to the TV's...i would still have to split the one going to the old location so the TV would be used, but it would be better, right? The real solution to the problem here is wired networking, but honestly there is NO WAY for me to get cables run through the walls! i just dont think it can be done. A friend told me to use the vents...while it could work with enough length of ethernet cable, im not quite sure if its a good idea.

thanks everyone for the tech stuff, had to read thru it a few times but ive got a better understanding now.

[kstatefan40]

I'm pretty sure wiring through the vents would violate fire code in your area - but you'll have to check on that. They told me that "6" wiring was what I needed too, and replaced all the 59.... still not fixed, so thats crap. Just keep calling em 'til it gets fixed!

[Panama Red]

Originally Posted by muskie88 Well quite honestly i think ive got a prety easy solution for this. One of the problems he said was that the coax we have running around is 59, when the newer type (the thick white kind that comcast uses) is 56 and much better...I KNOW that it worked fine for a while on the old wire, so how about this: Wire coming into the house gets split in two. One of them goes to the old location in house, other goes to the other splitter which sends signal out to the TV's...i would still have to split the one going to the old location so the TV would be used, but it would be better, right? The real solution to the problem here is wired networking, but honestly there is NO WAY for me to get cables run through the walls! i just dont think it can be done. A friend told me to use the vents...while it could work with enough length of ethernet cable, im not quite sure if its a good idea. thanks everyone for the tech stuff, had to read thru it a few times but ive got a better understanding now.

I don't follow what you mean by "old location". As I stated earlier, for optimum performance the cable modem needs to be on a dedicated line coming from the first splitter after entry to the house. Any other splitters in THAT LINE will degrade the signal. Run the TV's off the other side of that first splitter. New wire - old wire, shouldn't make a difference.

[kstatefan40]

Originally Posted by Panama Red New wire - old wire, shouldn't make a difference.

That's what I said to my cox guy too! Like I said, it didn't help. But, I do agree with you that he needs a dedicated line from the first splitter, ideally, a dedicated line with NO splitter. Have you tried bypassing the splitter altogether?

[Ob1]

Originally Posted by kstatefan40 Just keep calling em 'til it gets fixed!

you can keep calling and putting up with it till they fix it, or try running a dedicated line only for the modem connection, which should be around $25-50, or switch isp providers

[tigstah]

if you are calling the 1-800-comcast dont call them anymore. the folks in their call center can only do so much. they are not trained field wise, they only authorize equipment.....
call the local office. be firm but not rude and ask to speak to a technical supervisor. explain that you are still having problems with your service, problem is still there after service call. and you would like someone to take of your problem. hth