Comcast Intermittent Connection Issues

[mapes]

What is the Uptime on DSL? Because Comcast doesn't seem to go down THAT often. Anyone has experience with both connection types? My friend has a lame DSL connection and he downloads at 2MB/s which is pretty sick if you ask me.

I've had both. I've had ATT DSL for 8 years and then I went with Dslextreme for another 7 years (which was DSL over ATT lines). When we moved a year and a half ago the rates for DSL at the new sucked bad. So I went with Comcast business. I needed a static IP and better upload since I run a server in my house. Any event Comcast business has been great. I had only one issue which was promptly resolved. DSL at the old place was great as well. So really I think either is fine.

[Evil_T0NY {CLR}]

Actually, the splitter I have was replaced by a tech.

It is news to me that neighbors with bad splitters and devices could cause ME problems.....no??

Well not to long ago I had some crazy cable internet issues. Instead of getting my 15 megs down I was getting barely one meg down. I had techs come to my house 7 or 8 times before it was resolved. They replaced all the cable and connections in my house. They replaced the line that led to the street, they even replaced the connections in the road. They swapped out three modems before it was fixed. Turned out it was a modem issue, two out of the three were bad. Now I get 15-16 megs down solid. What mapes said was true. If you have bad connections or a bad splitter, frequency interference will affect your service. Splitters do go bad, always use splitters provided by your service provider, aftermarket can cause problems.

[Devilguns]

Cable signals can be affected by line noise, they work by frequency. With cable you do not have a direct line to your house to your provider. It goes from your house to the main line where hundreds other users are filtering through.

A co worker of mine had many tvs in his house and installed an aftermarket splitter that also had a signal amplifier on it. One day Cablevision showed up at his house with the police who had warrant to look at just the cable equipment in his house. Turns out his splitter was interfering with the cable service of other users in the area and they traced the source to his house.

[Evil_T0NY {CLR}]

I wonder if it could be my NIC card?

[Infamous]

Cable signals can be affected by line noise, they work by frequency. With cable you do not have a direct line to your house to your provider. It goes from your house to the main line where hundreds other users are filtering through.

A co worker of mine had many tvs in his house and installed an aftermarket splitter that also had a signal amplifier on it. One day Cablevision showed up at his house with the police who had warrant to look at just the cable equipment in his house. Turns out his splitter was interfering with the cable service of other users in the area and they traced the source to his house.

big brother, 1984, " the man" .... creepy.

[Evil_T0NY {CLR}]

The Splitter Setup is not satisfactory

Well, turns out, that their ONLY solution to this WHOLE ordeal is to take my computer completely off a splitter and run a DEDICATED line to my computer, otherwise they will not come out to troubleshoot anything, unless I agree to do this.

APparently, there's signal degradation or having a splitter doesn't really guarantee a stable connection, where as getting a ded line will?

[Rand{CLR}]

Just don't let them try to charge you for a second line. I think they will the way you describe this. That's bogus--do not accept that.

-Rand

[Evil_T0NY {CLR}]

Just don't let them try to charge you for a second line. I think they will the way you describe this. That's bogus--do not accept that.

-Rand

The supervisor told me "that's just the way it is, there's no other way around it." They said they will NO longer return to the residence to troubleshoot because they've exhausted all their options, including even working on the main trunk.

I was told that splitters can degrade signals, in fact, that's part of Comcast's troubleshooting process.

That's one of the first questions they ask is "Do you have a splitter?" If so, change the splitter, if that doesn't work, run a new line."

They're basically saying, "Too bad, so sad, that's how it is."

[mapes]

The supervisor told me "that's just the way it is, there's no other way around it." They said they will NO longer return to the residence to troubleshoot because they've exhausted all their options, including even working on the main trunk.

I was told that splitters can degrade signals, in fact, that's part of Comcast's troubleshooting process.

That's one of the first questions they ask is "Do you have a splitter?" If so, change the splitter, if that doesn't work, run a new line."

They're basically saying, "Too bad, so sad, that's how it is."

Can't you just unhook all the spliters and settop boxes and plug your modem into a line and try?

[Devilguns]

Can't you just unhook all the spliters and settop boxes and plug your modem into a line and try?

I second that!

I would hope this was already done as part of the trouble shooting that was done so far. Should have been the first thing. Thank god my Cable service is top notch.

[Rand{CLR}]

Tony, that's not how it is and that's not the end. Go to HIS supervisor. File a complaint with your local Better Business Bureau--and TELL them you're doing so. Get to your local news reporter dude who's saddled with those complaint stories that appear every week, and get on tv.

Nobody, nobody out there has to accept a monopoly like Comcast telling them they're forced to pay for two separate lines for cable and internet. It's utterly bogus and you should not stand for it.

-Rand

[Evil_T0NY {CLR}]

This might sound like a stupid question, but isn't a "dedicated line" not actually dedicated, a splitter is STILL used , even at the pole, right?

So, in actuality, some kind of "splitting" HAS to be done at some part of the cable run, just further back towards the telephone pole that's all.

So, it's not really a TRUE dedicated connection, right?

[Devilguns]

Tony, what brand of Cable modem did they give you?

[Evil_T0NY {CLR}]

Tony, what brand of Cable modem did they give you?

An Ubee modem, brand spankin' new from the Cable Building

I actually took a picture of the set up, now why do they have TWO splitters piggy backing?

The one in the far upper right corner is some kind of 2-way "Digital" Splitter....that is hooked into a standard splitter that says "Broadband" on it (3-way)

The WHITE cable going down off camera to the far left bottom corner is going into my room with my internet/computer.

Then they got that little short white coax going into the regular 3-way, what's up with that?



PS - the wire going straight up off camera (upper right) is going to the outside cable connection outside of the house, the 3 black coax coming off the 3-way are all going to TV's

[Rand{CLR}]

They have to run two splitters from this sort of setup. You've got 3 tvs, and to serve them they have to split. Ignore what the labels say. You just need to make sure both splitters have at least 1 Ghz of capacity and low loss levels. Don't worry about that last part right now--at this point they probably aren't checking your levels on the tvs, just the line running to the modem.

This is the right setup for them from a single trunk line entering your house.

What they're telling you is that this still isn't working, so they need to run a second trunk line from the cable hub outside your house to your computer. This is the part that's bogus. There is no reason why they should have to do this, and no reason at all you should pay for a second line--and they will likely try to charge you monthly fees in addition to installation fees.

How far are you from civilization if this is your only option? It could be that they simply don't have the capacity as a cable system where you live to handle your area any more.

-Rand