Strategy for dealing with Comcast

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panfist

Gawd
Joined
May 1, 2008
Messages
636
OK this post got really long, so here's the tl;dr version: I'm not getting the connection speed they promised, and they're insisting it's my problem, when I'm 100% sure it's not.


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So I just moved into a new home and signed up for Comcast a couple of weeks ago. Signing up was a pain in the balls. At first, when I called them, they couldn't match the deal they showed on their website because I "wasn't in the area." Riiiiight, so I said "No thanks, I'll call Verizon."

I called Verizon and their reps were much nicer and more consistent. Every time I called them, I got the same rates, and it was actually pretty good, although Comcast cable was much faster. Apparently, I'm a couple of miles outside the zone for FIOS.

Anyway, back to Comcast, I called them several times and, literally, every time I called them I got a different story. $70 for basic internet. $50 for basic internet. You can't get internet without cable. $80 for internet and cable. It was total bullshit and I was getting fed up to the point of saying fuck it, I'll take the slower speed at Verizon. It's like choosing between the least crappy of two crappy evil empires.

The last time I called Comcast, however, I got a great deal. The rep said, "I know you only want internet, but we're doing a promotion where if you get basic cable for $40, you can add internet for $10, and a speed boost for $10 more. You have no contract and these prices are good for one year. Installation's free." I couldn't believe what I was hearing, so I said "Sign me up!" I also asked if I could see those terms in writing before the installation, and the rep said that was no problem, I'd get a confirmation email.

The confirmation email never came. I called them twice on it before the installation, and both times the rep said, "That's not our policy." When I shot back that the rep I spoke to promised an email, they said, "Yes, now I see a note on your account. We'll send the email right away."

It never came.

The installer comes by and he says that there is no cable television on the work order. Now I'm starting to get really fucking irritated. I don't even want cable, but if I'm paying for it then I'm going to get my fucking service. He says he'll install it anyway. Whatever. The installer sucked, he forgot his line tester so he tried three modems before running another line and it turned out the line from the curb was initially bad. He dropped the stinkiest shit I have ever smelled in our bathroom...shit lingered for more than a day! This is besides the point.

Finally, getting to the point, I'm only getting 6/1 Mbps when I paid for 16/2 Mbps, and their customer service is giving me the run around. They say everything looks good on their end, and the "speed tests" that they send me on also are showing that my connection is approximately 20/20Mbps. These tests are quite obviously bullshit because, practically speaking, my connection speeds is pegged at 700KBps down and 125KBps up, which is fucking suspiciously fucking close to 6/1Mbps. In fact it's dead fucking on. The last house I was at, the in-laws, had the same 16/2 Comcast connection which I would routinely max out to the promised 16/2. I was using the same network path: same patch cables, same router, same NIC, same everything. I rely on my fast connection not only for fun, but also for work purposes.

I've spend hours with customer service chat, I've spent a couple of hours on the phone, and they're giving me the run around.

I'm not sure what to do. On my bill I see that there's a municipal complaint officer I can contact, but I'm not sure if I should do so, yet. Is it enough to threaten to contact the complaint officer? Is this the type of complaint they handle? Will they even care?
 
call the BBB company's dont like when someone calls the BBB on them. after you call the BBB the company will call you and have everything fixed. i have had to do this with blizzard and a few other company's and it has worked wonder's
 
Id hate to call user error, but it may be partially your fault. the billing thing im sure is all comcasts fault. they have many different promo's, so im sure every time you call, someone offers a different promo, but once you get offered one, if you remember the details (write them down) if you call back you can request that particular promo and Im sure they would be able to find it.

As far as the speed, there are many speed test sites out there. these are not comcast bandwidth sites, they are third party.

www.speakeasy.net/speedtest

www.speedtest.net

if you are getting full bandwidth on these sites, your connection is fine. You have to realize that most of the internet doesnt run at 16mbit. Also, for you to download at 16mbit that means what ever server you are connected to has to be able to upload at 16mbit. A T-1 line can only upload at 1.5mbit a T-3 uploads at 45mbit. Now those are peaks. You have to realize, if there is load (I highly doubt your the only person using the internet, or that sites services) you arnt going to have 45mbit dedicated to you. if only 3 users are using that site at the same time as you, your now limited to 15mbit from them.

Now if your speed testing at 6mbit, then ya, they have your ifno messed up on their end, and need to fix it.

also, you better not be behind wireless, because if you are, its your fault, and im not even going to go there. also if you have bittorent open or more then 1 PC, and other people are using those PC's its probably your fault too.
 
If you only want internet from comcast and you're willing to pay for it, get a comcast business account, you won't have to deal with all this BS.
 
Sounds about right. Comcast is the worst company I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with.
 
Its also most likely 16/2 when Power boost is on, and prob the 6/1 after it turns off. I know my Cox cable I sit at around 10/2 normally, and can burst @ 20 for a minute or so.
 
Xenozx said:
You have to realize that most of the internet doesnt run at 16mbit.

Now if your speed testing at 6mbit, then ya, they have your ifno messed up on their end, and need to fix it.

also, you better not be behind wireless, because if you are, its your fault...
Click to expand...

I'm testing from my company's office, which has 100/100Mbps FiOS, a T3, and a T1. I'm one of the two guys responsible for maintaining the gateway and firewall. If you give me a target that can handle it, I can blast you data at over 100Mbps. But for some reason I can only send 6Mbps to my house.

Also, my bittorrent box in the DMZ is getting exactly 6Mbps down and 1Mbps. If I run the same exact torrents at work, I could easily get 100/100Mbps.

I'm definitely not using wireless...I just ran Cat6 throughout the house and I'm getting 70-80MB/s transfer speeds on the LAN.

ND40oz said:
If you only want internet from comcast and you're willing to pay for it, get a comcast business account, you won't have to deal with all this BS.
Click to expand...

All I want is internet, but I'm not really willing to pay for it if it's offered cheaper somewhere else. There is no way in hell am I going to support those inflated prices; I would rather get my internet via carrier pigeon than pay more to get less. I just want to get what they promised.
 
kenpomasta said:
Its also most likely 16/2 when Power boost is on, and prob the 6/1 after it turns off. I know my Cox cable I sit at around 10/2 normally, and can burst @ 20 for a minute or so.
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I have no idea how "Power boost" works, but when I had something similar from Time Warner in Rochester, NY last year, it was an "always on" feature.
 
Some small info about Comcast..... I used to work for em, happy I dont anymore

There connection they guarentee to you is not actually the speed on the internet itself. They guarentee you that the speed your offered, your 16/2 is obtained to their primary server located in whatever larger city is nearest you and than from there it can vary.

Do not forget that powerboost may also be a part of your #, and your actual supposed speed may only be 12/1.5 or even 10/1

They use Speedtest.net as there SECONARY speedtest program, and they only check the server that is recommended by speedtest.net for the actual test.
There primary speedtest system is an internet comcast speedtest program (you can get the information if you ask for it, but they may not just give you that). This again only tests the speed directly to the primary comcast server in your nearest large city comcast provider, this is also the same program that the reps over the phone use, however 90% of the time you get someone who will fudge the numbers anyway just to make it seem like its your problem and to have a tech come to your house which costs you money.
Check your internet IP for the modem, depending on the modem you recieve. All modems except for the Terrayon modems work with this. Check 192.168.1.100
If your FDC, foward data carrier is between -1 to 10dB your connection is stable, if its below the -1 mark, than your signal on freq. 500mhz +/- may be on the low side and needs to be repaired, and this could be anything from the actual cable connection outside the house to internal coax cables in the house.
If your power level is above 50 or below 37.5 you may have a problem as well.
If its below 37.5 you may have again a bad signal from the outside and its not drawing enough for return power, which is a comcast issue. If its above 50, this can be, again from the signal outside being given to much return power, or one of your internal lines to the house and inside the house can be bad.

Do some research prior to claiming it was a companies fault, and if you had done the research, you should have posted the results :)

As for myself, I dont like comcast, but I did work for them, I know the insides and outs of this company and know that, yes, they have idiots that work there too, but they also have alot of reasonable people as well, all companies have these. I still have the internet with them though..... LOL but only because we dont have verizon here AT ALL as a provider, and the U-verse from AT&T hasnt fully deployed here either.

Anywho, good luck on your problem and if you happen to check the ip, post the results, lets see whats going on! :) Maybe I can give you some more ideas too on whats going on.
 
panfist said:
All I want is internet, but I'm not really willing to pay for it if it's offered cheaper somewhere else. There is no way in hell am I going to support those inflated prices; I would rather get my internet via carrier pigeon than pay more to get less. I just want to get what they promised.
Click to expand...

You won't get less, you'll get their top tier service, static ips and business support. Just go with their preferred plan, it's $90 a month, but you can get money off when you call. And you'll never have to deal with comcast consumer customer service again. Price is worth that alone.
 
then it sounds like they have your modem provisioned incorrectly. probably have a rate code on the account that drives the 6/1.

Powerboost is not an always on thing. If you have 16mbit internet. You get 16mbit + power boost on top, which will allow you to hit 30 mbit down usually. it is temporary, it lasts about 15 seconds, and then goes back to 15. then about 15 seconds later the boost hits again, and you go back to 30. So for example, if your grabbing a quick file, or surfing the web, you get power boost pretty much 24/7. If your using bittorent that is constant stream of data, then it will be off and on for you.

My powerboost seems to be pretty good :)

speedtest.JPG




also, just to go onto what freaky said, yes, Comcast states UP TO 16/2. Doesnt mean that if you dont get 16/2 that they will consider it an issue, and try to fix it. if your getting above 10/1 they will consider that the norm im sure. if your getting 3/722 then im sure they would send a tech or something, or trouble shoot your PC as a possible cause.

Every company says UP TO. I dont know of any residential service that guarentee's bandwidth.
 
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FrEaKy said:
Check your internet IP for the modem, depending on the modem you recieve. All modems except for the Terrayon modems work with this. Check 192.168.1.100
If your FDC, foward data carrier is between -1 to 10dB your connection is stable, if its below the -1 mark, than your signal on freq. 500mhz +/- may be on the low side and needs to be repaired, and this could be anything from the actual cable connection outside the house to internal coax cables in the house.
If your power level is above 50 or below 37.5 you may have a problem as well.
If its below 37.5 you may have again a bad signal from the outside and its not drawing enough for return power, which is a comcast issue. If its above 50, this can be, again from the signal outside being given to much return power, or one of your internal lines to the house and inside the house can be bad.
Click to expand...

This is awesome information. I'm checking up on this right now...I may not be able to access this from work.
 
My comcast is fine, I'm pulling 21Mbps down and 9Mbps up with the 20Mbps plan. I even went as far as to only sign up for a month at $30 per month, and cancel after only one month of usage, and it was no problem. FYI I only canceled because I'm living where I'm at temporarily for an internship, in a few days I head back to school.
 
Just remember too that if the FDC is fine, doesnt mean the return power (also called return data carrier, RDC) is okay.
Other things to think about too, if the levels are bad, make sure you dont have crimp on connectors, you'd be amazed how many times I fixed internet issues and it was a gold or crap silver crimp on or twist on connector behind a wall plate..... lol
 
If you want only Internet without cable from Comcast, expect to pay up more than a regular price. IIRC, when i had it, it was like 45 bucks with cable, without cable it'll go for 20-30 bucks more.
As for their service, i feel your pain man, i went from their cable internet to AT&T DSL, just so i don't have to deal with them anymore. My internet would just stop working every 2-3 days, and like you said every time i called them up they would give me different BS, and every week i would hear different explanation from technicians they would send to fix it. I asked them several times just to change the damn cable leading up to my unit, and get it over with, but they ignored it so i dropped them. They kept charging me for months for "unreturned" modem, which i of course returned i had the paperwork to prove it, so they kept reimbursing me, because it was "easier" then just take it off the bill for good. It took me about 3-4 calls to fix that. Too bad i live in AT&T country so Verizon FIOS can't get their foot in the door, otherwise that would be way to go. When Comcast worked, it was really nice, but if you have a problem and you need to deal with them God help you.
 
FrEaKy said:
Just remember too that if the FDC is fine, doesnt mean the return power (also called return data carrier, RDC) is okay.
Other things to think about too, if the levels are bad, make sure you dont have crimp on connectors, you'd be amazed how many times I fixed internet issues and it was a gold or crap silver crimp on or twist on connector behind a wall plate..... lol
Click to expand...

also remember each splitter adds x ammount of loss, so if your cable modem is sitting behind 3 splitters, your signals are going to be crappy. Idealy, comcast internet should run as follows.

Comcast cable comes into home and goes into a 2 way 1000mhz + splitter. 1 leg of said splitter runs directly to cable modem. 2nd Leg runs to another splitter, that then splits to all TV's. This will provide the best signal to your Modem as possible.

Also, if you have any splitters w/ no caps on the end (aka they are not in use and have now cable or RF cap on the end, you are leaking RF, which will degrade your signal as well.

Crappy or old wiring wiring will cause bad signal issues as well, and make sure you have screw on cables only, the push on cables are crap, and cause RF loss as well.
 
a 2-way is 3.5db loss and 3.5db gain on the return path
a 3-way is 3.5db on 1 leg and 7db on the other two
a 4-way is 7db loss legs
a 6-way is a special product actually that has a 6db loss on a signal leg for data/modems and 11db loss on other other 5
a 8-way is 11db loss on all legs

and of corse those loss' are respective towards gain as well for the RDC. Again, a number above 50 is bad.

They use anything from Regal to Antronix splitters..... Dont spend your money and buy a radio shack or even a monster splitter, these cause problems too (although the monster splitters are extremely high quality, but just not "covered" by Comcast)
 
FrEaKy said:
a 2-way is 3.5db loss and 3.5db gain on the return path
a 3-way is 3.5db on 1 leg and 7db on the other two
a 4-way is 7db loss legs
a 6-way is a special product actually that has a 6db loss on a signal leg for data/modems and 11db loss on other other 5
a 8-way is 11db loss on all legs

and of corse those loss' are respective towards gain as well for the RDC. Again, a number above 50 is bad.

They use anything from Regal to Antronix splitters..... Dont spend your money and buy a radio shack or even a monster splitter, these cause problems too (although the monster splitters are extremely high quality, but just not "covered" by Comcast)
Click to expand...

as far as the 3 way, depends on the type of 3 way. there are 3.5 7 7 and 5.7 5.7 5.7 i believe.
 
Also a side note, remember attenuation losses for cable
at 100ft, RG-6 will lose anywhere from 4.5-6.5db
at 100ft, RG-59 will lose a CRAP LOAD at about 9-10db
at 100ft, RG-11 (the good stuff) will lose about 2.5-4db

This is at 800mhz or higher freq. btw!

You can tell if its RG-6 or 59 easily, 59 is thin, like ethernet cable thin and the actual copper inside (which isnt really a copper wire, its just copper clad, or covered) will be smaller than a paper-clip. 6 is about as big a paper clip inside wire wise.
11 is just big wire easy to spot. 11 will not be inside the house, its to big and cannot bend much at all cause you can snap the wire inside. The same with 6 and 59, if you bend it, it does break. Thats why we tried to make sure they never KINKED when installing wire, cause if it breaks, you wont know it till your done and gone.
 
Xenozx said:
as far as the 3 way, depends on the type of 3 way. there are 3.5 7 7 and 5.7 5.7 5.7 i believe.
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That is true, there are 5.7 5.7 5.7, but comcast is not suppost to use those
they are limited to the regal or the antronix which are 3.5 7 7

Whoops, forgot theres another company they use too, cant remember the name, but they have the same rules too, so 3.5 7 7
 
I'm having trouble checking the information you pointed me to, Freaky.

From a machine that's behind my router, I can't get to the modem because my local network is also 192.168.1. and I actually have a machine sitting on .100 right now. I believe it's a Samsung modem.

As far as splitters go, the signal is split once and one leg goes straight into the modem. The other leg is disconnected, for now. It doesn't leak any more signal than it does if it's plugged in, does it?
 
plug the modem straight into your computer, bypass your router and try again.

It still leaks a little signal if nothings plugged in, nothing the FCC will care about, but if you had a wire stuck in it and it was just exposed, sheesh, dont cause a 50db leak per 10'. GOD!
 
Only going to mention this because I've done it before, accidentally. If you use a decent router w/ QoS built in, check to make sure the settings are high enough for your connection. I say this b/c I use a wrt-610n w/ ddwrt on it and it's glitchy. I had turned on QoS and turned it back off, saved and applied and it didn't "take" so to speak -- I had to turn it on and off again and reapply and it worked. It's a long shot, though. Figuring it out drove me nuts for 2 days. Incidentally, I blamed Comcast too.
 
haha, yeah thats happened to alot of people too...
Comcast doesnt support your routers btw, they only support the modem directly to your PC
The only router they support are the netgear ones THEY supply and only if its one of comcast netgear routers, kinda silly
 
just to expand on kinked or bent wires = no no. Think of it as a highway w/ a 90 degree angle. I dont think you going to take a _| @ 70 MPH, your gonna have to slow down to make a turn like that. Same thing when dealing with co-ax and RF flow. the analogy, isnt perfect, but it brings it down to laymans terms. You never want to put a bend in a wire, even ethernet. if it gets bent, it can cause problems and should be replaced.
 
FrEaKy said:
plug the modem straight into your computer, bypass your router and try again.
Click to expand...

amromousa said:
Only going to mention this because I've done it before, accidentally. If you use a decent router w/ QoS built in, check to make sure the settings are high enough for your connection. I say this b/c I use a wrt-610n w/ ddwrt on it and it's glitchy. I had turned on QoS and turned it back off, saved and applied and it didn't "take" so to speak -- I had to turn it on and off again and reapply and it worked. It's a long shot, though. Figuring it out drove me nuts for 2 days. Incidentally, I blamed Comcast too.
Click to expand...

I think I've done all I can from work. I will try this when I get home. If none of this works, then I guess I'm making a phone call to the BBB.
 
panfist said:
I'm having trouble checking the information you pointed me to, Freaky.

From a machine that's behind my router, I can't get to the modem because my local network is also 192.168.1. and I actually have a machine sitting on .100 right now. I believe it's a Samsung modem.

As far as splitters go, the signal is split once and one leg goes straight into the modem. The other leg is disconnected, for now. It doesn't leak any more signal than it does if it's plugged in, does it?
Click to expand...

yes, this is bad. You need to cap the end, or put a wire on it( that plugs into a TV/VCR/DVD player or something. Another analogy, think of the RF as if it was running water. Right now you have water pouring all over your basement instead of it all going to your cable modem. I dont know if this is enough to cause your speed problems, but if your having signal issues, just fixing this would definately help them level out.
 
FrEaKy said:
haha, yeah thats happened to alot of people too...
Comcast doesnt support your routers btw, they only support the modem directly to your PC
The only router they support are the netgear ones THEY supply and only if its one of comcast netgear routers, kinda silly
Click to expand...

I think it's reasonable that they only support their routers. It'd be a nightmare for them to have to know how to configure every kind of router, including flavors of OpenWRT, BSD, etc...

Not that I'm opposed to sharing some of my nightmare with Comcast...

ND40oz said:
You won't get less
Click to expand...

I won't get cable...which I never really wanted, but the wife is happy to get HGTV.

You do raise some very valid points, especially about never having to deal with consumer support.

Xenozx said:
Every company says UP TO. I dont know of any residential service that guarentee's bandwidth.

just to expand on kinked or bent wires = no no.

You need to cap the end, or put a wire on it( that plugs into a TV/VCR/DVD player or something. I dont know if this is enough to cause your speed problems, but if your having signal issues, just fixing this would definately help them level out.
Click to expand...

I know it's only "up to" 16/2, but if I'm getting "up to" the tier below, then I shouldn't be paying for the tier up.

No bent wires. I don't know much about what's coming down the tubes from Comcast, like FDC, RDC, whatever, but I do know that bent wires are bad, and I watched the installer like a hawk to make sure there were no bends in the line.

I will plug the hanging leg in to my TV when I get home.
 
heh, good there.
When you get home try the router direct to the computer than try 192.168.1.100 and get your #'s than.
 
I have Comcasts 22/5 service. After I first got this setup, my speeds were capped at 6/1. Took me a while to figure it out, but once I turned off QOS in my router and rebooted it, I got better than my advertised speeds. I am using a D-link DIR-655.
 
The typical cable modem IP access is 192.168.100.1, not 1.100

OP please go here http://www.dslreports.com/forum/comcastdirect

It's the comcast direct support forum. They are 100000000% easier to deal with and are far quicker in getting issues resolved then the joke that is comcast customer care.
 
bah, I get it backwards once in a while, thats why im not super-human, lol! :)
 
panfist said:
This is awesome information. I'm checking up on this right now...I may not be able to access this from work.
Click to expand...

I used to work level 3 tech support for roadrunner and can confirm this information is accurate. This is pretty much standard for cable companies using docsis standard. Also, if your signal to noise ratio is LOW then you may have a dirty signal. Bad splitter, bad coax connector, water in a line so on. Hope this helps.
 
panfist said:
This is awesome information. I'm checking up on this right now...I may not be able to access this from work.
Click to expand...

Xenozx said:
also remember each splitter adds x ammount of loss, so if your cable modem is sitting behind 3 splitters, your signals are going to be crappy. Idealy, comcast internet should run as follows.

Comcast cable comes into home and goes into a 2 way 1000mhz + splitter. 1 leg of said splitter runs directly to cable modem. 2nd Leg runs to another splitter, that then splits to all TV's. This will provide the best signal to your Modem as possible.

Also, if you have any splitters w/ no caps on the end (aka they are not in use and have now cable or RF cap on the end, you are leaking RF, which will degrade your signal as well.

Crappy or old wiring wiring will cause bad signal issues as well, and make sure you have screw on cables only, the push on cables are crap, and cause RF loss as well.
Click to expand...

I forget the name of it, it's been a few years since I worked for roadrunner, but timewarner used a special splitter when installing Internet. One side of the splitter was for tv and the other was for Internet. What the internet side of the splitter did was pad the incoming signal so the signal levels were in the optimal range for the modem. There were different splitters depending on how much the signal had to be padded down. Don't know if comcast uses these.
 
I assume my Comcast quotes to be in the best of times. They claim that they will give me 22 Mbps download and 2 Mbps upload sustained. In off-peak hours, I get 24 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload sustained. I'm pretty happy with that...they don't fuck everyone over. Comcast has been good to me so far without any bitching, so maybe just stay up to date on where they are developing and see if they are rolling fiber out to you too. In the end, it's the only connection they'll have, so just see if you can get fiber rolled out to your node sooner rather than later. It speeds everything up...
 
I know what you mean about calling them and getting conflicting info on deals and packages. Its almost impossible to actually get a firm answer.

Online says 6/2 internet is $30 a month. Call them and say only if you get it with a tv package. Otherwise its $60. Call back and person says its $45... rinse and repeat. Only competition in my area is Verizon DSL and those speeds were just too slow. I finally relented and got comcast blast (16/2) for $70. I get the advertised speeds though... 2MB/s is nice.

I am planning on calling them to see if they can lower it a bit. I would be happy even paying $10 less a month.

OTH I do get access to their cable channels... my tv gets about 60 analog channels. TV tuners with QAM pick up about 100 channels with 15 of those being HD and another 40 being digital and the rest analog so its not all bad with them. I hate dealing with shitty STB's and 90's style menu's. Windows 7 media center does a great job for that purpose. Looks sleek and performs sooo much better then any STB and my recordings are only limited to my how many hard drives I have. Right now 4TB's seem to be enough to record anything at will.
 
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