Comcast cable internet problem

NSCTripleAgent

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 2, 2007
Messages
381
Ok, had old Webstar modem, Linksys wired router serving my desktop, roommate's laptop, and my Xbox 360. Starting about a month ago, the connection would cut off after about an hour. Worked perfectly the 2 or 3 months we had the service prior. Three techs have been out, blaming everything on our end, the wiring, the splitters, the router, the modem. Everything has been replaced to their spec (wire, splitters, Moto 5120 modem) except the router, but it acts the same with or without it. It works again after powercycling the modem, and cuts back off in something like an hour.
The last tech let it slip that there's about 5 people in our area with this sort of issue. Obviously, it's on their end, but does anyone here have a good hypothesis on what exactly is the issue, and what it'll take them to do to fix it? I ask because, after bitching them out to get my bill credited, I'm faced with waiting for them to fix the service, which was awesome when it worked, or go to DSL, which here in Baltimore is very mediocre. Thanks in advance.
 
Well sayign there are 5 people in your area seeing the same thing does not mean a whole lot. However if this does the same thing with or with out a router i would suspect it is their equipment and not your home.

There is not alot you cna do to toruble shoot this. They need to address the issue. it could be rnadom voltage on the lines killgin yoru connection or noise or some possibly some kind cable problem causing packet loss.

This is what i woudl do. I would set up ping plotter www.pingplotter.com and set up a continuous trace to some known good source, maybe your DNS server. This will show you exaclty what hop is getting loss if any. Make sure you try to make it a on network place you are pinging, like a DNS server or mail server. then take a screen shot and send it to them. Its pretty hard to deny a issue if you can prove it is there.
 
Excellent, this is the type of thing I am trying to do. I will set that up as soon as I get home. Thanks. Any other suggestions?
 
I have had an issue like this in the past. What all has Comcast done? It could be a signal issue with bad coax running in your house. I ended up have to have my house rewired from the hub due to bad coax. Tell me what the technicians did when they came out and I can advise you better.
 
I was a network ananlyst for a cable based ISP. Run the test i gave you.


What its gonan tell you is this. If on the first hop from your modem to the router

if there is loss there then it is something probably locally in your home or off of your neighborhood some where.

If the loss is between the next two hops, probably two routers owned by your ISP, then they are having larger issues that are not at your home or neighborhood. Either way if there is loss then they need to address it. even less than 1% loss can affect your connection, especially if you use any kind of VOIP.


Edit: Also if once you have the screen shot feel free to post it on this thread and ill look at it and tell you exactly where the loss is and how you can have it addressed with your ISP. Ill set up email notification on this thread. Also set up your trace frequnency to every 1 seconds. i think default is 4 or something like that.
 
I have had an issue like this in the past. What all has Comcast done? It could be a signal issue with bad coax running in your house. I ended up have to have my house rewired from the hub due to bad coax. Tell me what the technicians did when they came out and I can advise you better.


Visit 1: Blamed the way the cable was split (wall, split to each bedrrom, split to modem and tv in one room, tv in other). I reconfigured it so that the modem got it's own split from the wall, no change.

Visit 2: Blamed the splitters I was using (Radio Shack, whatever). Gave us "special", "data" 3-way splitter. No change.

Visit 3: (This morning, roommate there) Blamed router, and some garbage about the IP (roommate doesn't know networking at all ["tech" doesn't either really], all bs). Hooked modem directly to roommate's laptop. No change. Net died 45 minutes after he left. "Tech" wants me to call after work so he can try again. :rolleyes:
 
Visit 1: Blamed the way the cable was split (wall, split to each bedrrom, split to modem and tv in one room, tv in other). I reconfigured it so that the modem got it's own split from the wall, no change.

Visit 2: Blamed the splitters I was using (Radio Shack, whatever). Gave us "special", "data" 3-way splitter. No change.

Visit 3: (This morning, roommate there) Blamed router, and some garbage about the IP (roommate doesn't know networking at all ["tech" doesn't either really], all bs). Hooked modem directly to roommate's laptop. No change. Net died 45 minutes after he left. "Tech" wants me to call after work so he can try again. :rolleyes:

Sounds like you need to start complaining after it's all fixed up so that you can get some compensation for your headaches.:D
 
Sounds like you need to start complaining after it's all fixed up so that you can get some compensation for your headaches.:D

if it turns out to be there fault you should ask for credit for every day it was jacked up. That means from the first time you reported it to the time they fix it. thats assuming you can prove its their issue.
 
Comcast cable and their internet sucks for me too in the last month. Been 3 weeks without any cable and internet drops out after 2hrs connected. I did the same thing as you where they blamed everything I had (even though I actually researched and bought spec connectors/splitters etc) Eventually they ended up moving some switches around and actually pumped more power through where the cable internet came in through the outside. This helped but the damn thing still drops out every 2 days or so now and requires the cable modem to be reset. Once it is all said and done go ahead and def call for compensation or go ahead and keep complaining now so they have records of your complaints. You really just have to call and call and call and one day it may be sorted is what I have figured. I did finally get it fixed by not allowing the tech to leave my house until the internet and cable were working for 2hrs straight after he left.

That call to comcast was so satisfying. I politely said that the tech is just gonna have to sit at my house between the hours of 1030 and 1 like they have had me wait for weeks for their techs or else shit comes raining down.
 
Comcast cable and their internet sucks for me too in the last month. Been 3 weeks without any cable and internet drops out after 2hrs connected. I did the same thing as you where they blamed everything I had (even though I actually researched and bought spec connectors/splitters etc) Eventually they ended up moving some switches around and actually pumped more power through where the cable internet came in through the outside. This helped but the damn thing still drops out every 2 days or so now and requires the cable modem to be reset. Once it is all said and done go ahead and def call for compensation or go ahead and keep complaining now so they have records of your complaints. You really just have to call and call and call and one day it may be sorted is what I have figured. I did finally get it fixed by not allowing the tech to leave my house until the internet and cable were working for 2hrs straight after he left.

That call to comcast was so satisfying. I politely said that the tech is just gonna have to sit at my house between the hours of 1030 and 1 like they have had me wait for weeks for their techs or else shit comes raining down.

I get the level of frustration here i do but i caution any one about being rude or abbusive to your cable company. Making a demand that says your tech has to hang at my hosue for a 4 hour window until i arrive will get you no where. It may have worked in this instance but its not the norm. More flys with honey than vinagar as the saying goes.

I would bend over backwards for people who where understanding and most reps will try to dodge you if they know you are only going to berade them.

On the other hand get the evidence and approach the situation with a calm head and a reasonable mind set and i bet you they will work with you to resolve the problem. it is in their best interest to fix the problem. I think a truck roll cost them like 100 bucks total so them to keep coming out is not a worth wild proposal.
 
I'm definately caling for a credit after the guy leaves today. I'm pushing for a rewire also. My 360 is collecting dust. Too depressing to try to game and lose connection at exactly the wrong time.
 
I get the level of frustration here i do but i caution any one about being rude or abbusive to your cable company. Making a demand that says your tech has to hang at my hosue for a 4 hour window until i arrive will get you no where. It may have worked in this instance but its not the norm. More flys with honey than vinagar as the saying goes.

I would bend over backwards for people who where understanding and most reps will try to dodge you if they know you are only going to berade them.

On the other hand get the evidence and approach the situation with a calm head and a reasonable mind set and i bet you they will work with you to resolve the problem. it is in their best interest to fix the problem. I think a truck roll cost them like 100 bucks total so them to keep coming out is not a worth wild proposal.


delemorte - I have worked service/retail for 8+yrs now and just got out of working for verizon for 3 years. I have never treated any rep with bad language and so on. I rarely ask for supervisors as the guy that picks up the phone does that job better than most sups sometimes. I only escalate when really necessary as call centers do track their reps stats. In that regard, my internet and cable would magically work when the tech showed up and would stop after an hour after he left. This happened 3 times in a row. All I said was that the tech needed to fix the problem and then hang out till I made sure the problem would not come back right after. I told them the tech could go work somewhere else and come back even. They refused as that is not normal operating procedure. But neither is the problems I was having and as a company they needed to either fix it now or else tell me to go somewhere else as they cannot provide me the proper service. In this day and age there really are very few excuses for taking a month to fix a problem.

As an end note, what we found out was that when the tech came and reset everything it would work fine. However somewhere along the line the rep the tech would talk to about the account would always forget a couple of line items/features that needed to be added to make the account stay working. This would have never been fixed unless I took the steps I did. At a certain point you need to voice yourself as a consumer. If not then guess what we get? You can't buy a regular cellphone plan without signing a contract even if you don't take the equipment subsidy. The carriers state that the contract is for that subsidy though??? You can force the change as a consumer.
 
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When messed up.


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After powercycling.
 
you need to run the test consecutive for 24-48 hours. I knwo what it looks liek when its down but we need to see what happnes before it does. Let itrun and you should be able to adjsut the time frame shown to sho from 60 seconds up to 1 week.
 
Also if you are getting a constant 22% los son hop 8 thats no good but this test only ran for a couple of minutes. Let it run longer. It wont be odd to see a litle bit of loss from infrestructure routers as they Qos packets and if a packet got dropped that would not be to shocking.

Also change your interval trace to 1 second instead of 5 seconds.


Also change your loss trackgin from 30% to 1 %
 
delemorte - I have worked service/retail for 8+yrs now and just got out of working for verizon for 3 years. I have never treated any rep with bad language and so on. I rarely ask for supervisors as the guy that picks up the phone does that job better than most sups sometimes. I only escalate when really necessary as call centers do track their reps stats. In that regard, my internet and cable would magically work when the tech showed up and would stop after an hour after he left. This happened 3 times in a row. All I said was that the tech needed to fix the problem and then hang out till I made sure the problem would not come back right after. I told them the tech could go work somewhere else and come back even. They refused as that is not normal operating procedure. But neither is the problems I was having and as a company they needed to either fix it now or else tell me to go somewhere else as they cannot provide me the proper service. In this day and age there really are very few excuses for taking a month to fix a problem.

As an end note, what we found out was that when the tech came and reset everything it would work fine. However somewhere along the line the rep the tech would talk to about the account would always forget a couple of line items/features that needed to be added to make the account stay working. This would have never been fixed unless I took the steps I did. At a certain point you need to voice yourself as a consumer. If not then guess what we get? You can't buy a regular cellphone plan without signing a contract even if you don't take the equipment subsidy. The carriers state that the contract is for that subsidy though??? You can force the change as a consumer.


I never said you where out of line however lots of people will take your story and ramp it up 8000 times. if you have worked tech support then you know how consumers can be. it was simply a cautionary suggestion to anyone who seriously needs help with an issue.
 
Also if you are getting a constant 22% los son hop 8 thats no good but this test only ran for a couple of minutes. Let it run longer. It wont be odd to see a litle bit of loss from infrestructure routers as they Qos packets and if a packet got dropped that would not be to shocking.

Also change your interval trace to 1 second instead of 5 seconds.


Also change your loss trackgin from 30% to 1 %

I got it, I will powercycle, do my usual (as much as possible before it breaks, and let it log the whole night. I will make the other adjustments also. Thanks again.
 
Buy a wireless router and use your neighbors.

In all seriousness though, I have about 135 stores that we are forced to use DSL or Cable because Frame or Fiber are not available. When these sites go down, I know that I am in for a real treat as I speak to the small phone and cable techs and tech support who really don't give a rats ass about you and think they know everything. 99.9% of the time the issue just "dissapears" after our call and we make a tech role out. SBC is notorious for sucking.
 
I got it, I will powercycle, do my usual (as much as possible before it breaks, and let it log the whole night. I will make the other adjustments also. Thanks again.

Cool the longer then better. If you can see a constant source of packet loss that eventually forces your modem to unsync from its connection then that would definately prove with out a doubt that there is some sort of issue on the lines. If there is no packet loss and you all of a sudden you drop connection then further trouble shooting would be required.

but we will hit that bridge when we come to it. Not saying its still not a ISP issue but there are some things you can do to try and figure it out.
 
you should power cycle the modem if you loose connection and only if you loose connection.
 
I had issues with comcast for several months that every day my connection would drop, sometimes serveral times a day. I had about 8 visits, and probably 30+ calls in 1 month. What i ended up doing is contacting comcasts "executive office" and informed them that i have been having issues for a like 2 months and im not getting any results from my local office. Needless to say I got a call later that day from someone at their executive office, about 3hrs later i got a call from the local office's line technician supervisor, and then in about a week i had no more problems.

Now my problem is i've moved and now because i have 5 TV's + a cable modem I had to buy a signal amplifier and my speed kinda sucks now, and was told that its because i have soo many outlets.

I got the number for their office fro dsl reports.
 
This is the one I pulled from this morning,




Does this tell you anything? I fell asleep, so I only powercycled once. I can also give you the pp2 file if that would help. Thanks again.
 
Ok here is my 2 cents.

This does not appear to be RF related and here is why. It’s obvious that you are dropping offline but prior to that you don’t so much as loose one packet. In most cases when a subscriber’s service becomes intermittent you will have fluctuations of packet loss throughout the day until they become so bad that the modem looses sync with the signal.

In your case you have a solid connection with Pings not higher than 28 MS with no loss at all and all of a sudden it drops. According to your previous statements you said you can power cycle the modem and it picks right back up until it drops again.

What do I think it is? Well I would start by checking my equipment as in the modem. I don’t think it’s your router or computer; however it could have been, but by simply bypassing the router you have eliminated that possibility. If it would happen on one and not the other I would have pointed at that but as you have stated it happens on both.

Here are a few questions you should ask your self.

1. When was my modem replaced?
a. Did this happen before the modem swap?
b. Did this start happening after any certain event? (work on the house a major storm etc)
c. If they haven’t swapped my modem have I asked that they do so?
(I ask this because I know with my company we had a batch of modems that were not shielded. It is rare that the modem is the issue but it is known to happen)
d. If they won’t come out to swap my modem am I willing to go to their office and swap it there? Or even buy a new one? (Buying one is last resort)

2. What kind of power is my modem hooked up to?
a. Have you tried a different power strip?
b. Could my power outlet have a short in it?
c. Have I tried a different power outlet?

3. Do I have any possible sources or EMI sources by my modem?
a. Wireless routers?
b. Cordless phones?
c. Exposed power cords?
d. Bad home electrical wiring?
e. Does my neighbor have a ham radio set up in his backyard? (un-likely but I thought I would add it. I have seen it before)

4. Did they check the power on my cable line coming into my home?
a. Was there any voltage on the line that should not have been there?
b. Did they properly test the ground to make sure it is correctly set on my home?
c. Did they test the “TAP” on the main cable line outside my house to make sure it was properly terminated and that no power was leaking onto my drop to the house?
d. Is the ground Block on my house wired to anything it should not be?

5. Does any of my other equipment feed back on the lines with static or feed back?
a. Have I removed all splitters from the line supplying my cable modem?
b. Do I have a direct line from the wall to the cable mode?
c. Is the cable in good shape with no worn spots or krinks?
d. Do all the ends seem nice and secure (this sounds like the cable guy would check but I have seen easier things missed)
 
Ok here is my 2 cents.

This does not appear to be RF related and here is why. It’s obvious that you are dropping offline but prior to that you don’t so much as loose one packet. In most cases when a subscriber’s service becomes intermittent you will have fluctuations of packet loss throughout the day until they become so bad that the modem looses sync with the signal.

In your case you have a solid connection with Pings not higher than 28 MS with no loss at all and all of a sudden it drops. According to your previous statements you said you can power cycle the modem and it picks right back up until it drops again.

What do I think it is? Well I would start by checking my equipment as in the modem. I don’t think it’s your router or computer; however it could have been, but by simply bypassing the router you have eliminated that possibility. If it would happen on one and not the other I would have pointed at that but as you have stated it happens on both.

Here are a few questions you should ask your self.

1. When was my modem replaced? 3 weeks ago
a. Did this happen before the modem swap? yes
b. Did this start happening after any certain event? storms, but nothing major AFAIK(work on the house a major storm etc)
c. If they haven’t swapped my modem have I asked that they do so? no
(I ask this because I know with my company we had a batch of modems that were not shielded. It is rare that the modem is the issue but it is known to happen)
d. If they won’t come out to swap my modem am I willing to go to their office and swap it there? Or even buy a new one? (Buying one is last resort) I was planning to buy one anyway, just want to get the service good first

2. What kind of power is my modem hooked up to? Generic power strip
a. Have you tried a different power strip? not yet, will do
b. Could my power outlet have a short in it? doubtful, everything else works fine
c. Have I tried a different power outlet?

3. Do I have any possible sources or EMI sources by my modem? no
a. Wireless routers? no
b. Cordless phones? no
c. Exposed power cords? no
d. Bad home electrical wiring? apt. building, possible, don't think so
e. Does my neighbor have a ham radio set up in his backyard? (un-likely but I thought I would add it. I have seen it before) this is the hood, they probably never heard of ham radio, lol

4. Did they check the power on my cable line coming into my home? allegedly, but I assume it was not or it was half-assed
a. Was there any voltage on the line that should not have been there? see above
b. Did they properly test the ground to make sure it is correctly set on my home? see above
c. Did they test the “TAP” on the main cable line outside my house to make sure it was properly terminated and that no power was leaking onto my drop to the house? doubt it
d. Is the ground Block on my house wired to anything it should not be? see above

5. Does any of my other equipment feed back on the lines with static or feed back? doubt it, very basic setup
a. Have I removed all splitters from the line supplying my cable modem? tried, made no difference, but it needs to work with the TV, or the roommate will flip
b. Do I have a direct line from the wall to the cable mode? see above
c. Is the cable in good shape with no worn spots or krinks? yes
d. Do all the ends seem nice and secure yes(this sounds like the cable guy would check but I have seen easier things missed)


We are trying to get the tech to come by with his supervisor to do some serious testing and I will refer this info to them as well as make him rewire and tack the cables properly to the wall (I set it all up, it's not too neat). Also, how do I present the Ping Plotter info in English for these guys? From me looking at it, I glean that there is occasional packet loss from 3 or 4 hops, is this abnormal, and was there anything else relevant I should force them to look at?
 
Seeing a packet or 2 lost between hops is not unheard of. As i said before those "Backbone" or infrustruture routers have Qos and a ICMP packet is of low priority and may be dropped for a more important packet.

What i would focus on is how when the modem works you dont drop one single packet between your modem and your first hop (Probably the first router you see in the hub site).

Then all of a sudden your modem kicks off and you need to power cycle. However it always comes back once you power cycle so its not like the signal strenght on the lines was bad or you were part of some outage.

There is something ther in your home or on your property causing this issue. it could be any where from the Tap to the modem or any other device that is hooked up to your cable. As i expalined earlier that if a device is hooked up to your cable in your house and is feeding back current onto the line that current could be what is knocking off the modem.


However i suspect it more likely to be something more closley related to the modem and its imidiate suroundings. But the tech and his supervisor are going to have to trouble shoot the issue.

As far as rewiring your home? that would include a new "Drop" ( a wire from the tap on the main line to the "ground block" on your home. then a new "ground block" and finally a dedicated "home run" line from the ground block to your modem. However since you dont see any packet loss when the modem works i doubt there is any problem with the actual wiring as if there was you would see packet loss.

I think it is more likely a electrcial problem either with the modem or static buildup on the line causing the modem to kick off. and by reseting the modem you are discharging the static build up on the cable line or the power line. thats why i suggest checking the ground as the ground on the wire should allow electrical to not get to the modem.

Edit: I would test a better power strip to make sure its not causing any issues: they do go bad as well as test a different power jack (you never know)
Remove any splitters to remove any possiblity of issues. it should be able to work with a splitter but its not ideal.

Especialy simple devices could be feeding back some electrical charge. by removing that kind of stuff it allows you to eliminate possible problems, im not suggesting leaving them off perminately (same as splitters).

If this is an apartment good luck on a rewire as that is up to your apartment complex not your ISP. Comcast is responsible from their hub site to the beast box on the side of your apartment thats about it.


If the modem has been replaced (odds of two modems doign same thing astronomical) its probably not the modem it self rather one of the other things i have mentioned with what is around the modem.
 
Update: The "seasoned tech" (their word, not mine for Tier 2 support, lol) is coming in tomorrow to sort this mess. Fortunately I don't work on Saturday so I can stand over his shoulder and make sure he's thorough. I will make sure he checks the ground and the other things you've mentioned. I will also probably have him swap the modem and still push for a rewire. I will also push for a separate data line. I found out the first major hub is only a few blocks from here, so I'm going to try to get him to really dig.
 
to be honest the hub sites location is of no concern to you. They re-amp the signal every so often to account for any loss of distance. What could matter is how far from the closest amp you may be but its unlikely they would construct plant outside the range of your home.

And if this is an apartment good luck on the re-wire. Did you try the other things i suggested like power strips and different power plugs?
 
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