Dropping Comcast cable for Bellsouth DSL...

[Syrch]

Bellsouth told me that the fiber line that they ran from my phone box to the back of my PC does not support anything above 1.5mbs. That with all the random disconnects and frustrations that go with bellsouth made me decide on comcast when i move. And yes for those that don't know...fiber optic cable can run speeds much faster than 1.5mbs

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: Nik

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
Bahh, not a jerk at all...just Nik 😉

There is no certain time that it drops out. It's usually out during the mornings (I can tell since I always use RDP to connect from work), but some days it works all day. It's usually out most of the day on Saturday, but it always just starts working again on it's on.

Believe me, I've tried everything....modem cycles or IP renewals does nothing.

Combine that with the fact that this neighborhood has frequent Comcast outages means I don't have a clue what the problem could be.

Bingo. You just skipped a sh|tload of steps and jumped to the real issue. The problem ain't at your leaf, it's deeper into the tree. 🙂

Honestly, I'm skeptical that the line replacement is the cause of the problems. It worked GREAT for a month back in May....would the line deteriorate so much that it would drop nearly everyday?

I'm just frustrated...my cable video signal is poor and my Internet is down more than it's up....and for all this, I'm paying $105 per month.

*bends over*

I think I'm gonna get Comcast to replace the line. It's free, and their connection speed is hard to beat when it's working. 🙂

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel

Originally posted by: Nik

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
Bahh, not a jerk at all...just Nik 😉

There is no certain time that it drops out. It's usually out during the mornings (I can tell since I always use RDP to connect from work), but some days it works all day. It's usually out most of the day on Saturday, but it always just starts working again on it's on.

Believe me, I've tried everything....modem cycles or IP renewals does nothing.

Combine that with the fact that this neighborhood has frequent Comcast outages means I don't have a clue what the problem could be.

Bingo. You just skipped a sh|tload of steps and jumped to the real issue. The problem ain't at your leaf, it's deeper into the tree. 🙂

Honestly, I'm skeptical that the line replacement is the cause of the problems. It worked GREAT for a month back in May....would the line deteriorate so much that it would drop nearly everyday?

I'm just frustrated...my cable video signal is poor and my Internet is down more than it's up....and for all this, I'm paying $105 per month.

*bends over*

I think I'm gonna get Comcast to replace the line. It's free, and their connection speed is hard to beat when it's working. 🙂

You do realize that your internet connection does not consist completely of a billion mile Coax cable connecting from your cable modem to this big cloud in the sky with the words "INTARWEB" floating above it, right?

There's a lot of hardware involved. A lot of that hardware has operational software and we all know how quirky and buggy software can be. Maybe it's a main pole somewhere that's got power fluxuation issues. Maybe birds are nesting in the regional data center. Who knows 😛 The point is that if it's happening to the entire neighborhood and happening frequently, then it's not a problem at your house and can't be fixed from there.

 

[ncl]

I agree with Nik for the most part except for the last part of his statement "The point is that if it's happening to the entire neighborhood and happening frequently, then it's not a problem at your house and can't be fixed from there. "

He is most likely correct...but look at this scenario.

Let's say the drop burried in his yard is damaged. This damage allows ingress (RF noise) on the cable. This noise is at ~33 MHz, the same frequnecy that the upstream DOCSIS channel uses (this is an example - I don't know specifics for his cable system). Now, that noise is enough to knock his modem off. But......this noise it is also interfering with the upstrem DOCSIS carrier back thru the plant up to the node. Depending on how the return combining is handled and how bad the noise is, this could take out service for multiple nodes. Boom - entire neighborhood's service is out

This is not very likely - but can happen. I've had Illegal CB amplification and a damaged cable take out service to several nodes at a time.

My $0.02 - let them come fix it.

Nicholaus - and yes I am an Engineer responsible for HSD service over a multiple state area at one of the top 5 cable companies in the U.S. (not comcast).

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Not very likely? That's about as likely as drinking poison, dousing yourself with gasoline, putting a nuisse (spelling?) around your neck, lighting yourself on fire, jumping off a sea-side cliff, becoming so scared of the fall that you sh|t your pants and throw up the poison, having the fire burn the rope so you don't hang yourself, falling into the sea water below becoming so cold that you die of hypothermia.

😛

 

[exilera]

Originally posted by: Nik
Not very likely? That's about as likely as drinking poison, dousing yourself with gasoline, putting a nuisse (spelling?) around your neck, lighting yourself on fire, jumping off a sea-side cliff, becoming so scared of the fall that you sh|t your pants and throw up the poison, having the fire burn the rope so you don't hang yourself, falling into the sea water below becoming so cold that you die of hypothermia.

😛

Whoa man, what are the odds!

 

[ncl]

Originally posted by: Nik
Not very likely? That's about as likely as drinking poison, dousing yourself with gasoline, putting a nuisse (spelling?) around your neck, lighting yourself on fire, jumping off a sea-side cliff, becoming so scared of the fall that you sh|t your pants and throw up the poison, having the fire burn the rope so you don't hang yourself, falling into the sea water below becoming so cold that you die of hypothermia.

😛

Ever spend time looking at a Spectrum Analyzer? Ever closely studied the effects of impulse and/or ingress on the upstream port at the CMTS? Ever worked with the QPSK or QAM modulation used on most cable plants - looking at constellations, MER's, BER's? You would be suprised how often issues like this show their ugly head and create headaches. I'll leave this argument alone - but your estimation of likelihood is off, one bad drop can create plenty of larger scale headaches.

Nicholaus

 

[SleepWalkerX]

voted for bellsouth line because i've only been disconnected a few times in the past two years or so i've had them. and that was because of storms. plus bellsouth offers free unlimited newsgroup access! 😀 doesn't comcast have some kind of restriction? i love bellsouth.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Originally posted by: ncl

Originally posted by: Nik
Not very likely? That's about as likely as drinking poison, dousing yourself with gasoline, putting a nuisse (spelling?) around your neck, lighting yourself on fire, jumping off a sea-side cliff, becoming so scared of the fall that you sh|t your pants and throw up the poison, having the fire burn the rope so you don't hang yourself, falling into the sea water below becoming so cold that you die of hypothermia.

😛

Ever spend time looking at a Spectrum Analyzer? Ever closely studied the effects of impulse and/or ingress on the upstream port at the CMTS? Ever worked with the QPSK or QAM modulation used on most cable plants - looking at constellations, MER's, BER's? You would be suprised how often issues like this show their ugly head and create headaches. I'll leave this argument alone - but your estimation of likelihood is off, one bad drop can create plenty of larger scale headaches.

Nicholaus

oh yeah? well um

...uh

..well, guhYOUSPELLYOURNAMEFUNNY!

HAHA EVERYBODY LOOK AT THE FUNNY NAME SPELLER HAHA HA

..hhh..




*ahem*



😉

 

[MDE]

Call Comcast and threaten to cancel because of the issues, they'll give you a month or two either discounted or free.

 

[MithShrike]

Originally posted by: Nik
I'm sorry if I come across as a jerk. I worked in a call center for two years taking calls for @Home (when they were still around), AT&T BI, Comcast, Cox, Media One, blah blah blah. I know many of the things that get done, need to get done, and frequently missed. It used to irk me a customer would call in for the billionth time with a connection that would drop some days but be fine other days. When I checked their account history and questioned the customer as to frequency or paterns in their connection loss, I hated seeing dumbass techs who would schedule techs on days that, according to the customer's described patern, would be a day that the signal would be fine. Otherwise I just felt bad for the customer that the numerous times techs were scheduled, their service was working -then I'd see a call the very next day, after the tech showed up, with a complaint that their service wasn't working again. 🙁 It drove me crazy. That's what turned me into a giant asshole. That damned call center. Grr...

Anyway.

I'm not sure about that whole "overheating" thing. That's more of an engineering issue and I highly doubt some dumbass tech over the phone has an engineering degree to properly diagnose the issue over the phone. I'd say it's possible because all materials react to heat including electricity. That question is one of those way-out-there questions, though. It's not up to the tech over the phone to diagnose that kind of a problem. It's the tech's job to assign someone with *real* tools to show up and check.

One thing that's curious is that it always drops at a certain time. What time does it come back? Does it just *poof* start working again or do you have to cycle the modem? Can you just release/renew your IP to get it to work again? Does this happen every single day? Only certain days of the week or only a few days in a row followed by a few days of flawless service? When you think back, can you determine a patern in dates?

I currently work at a call center for a certain DSL company. OMG I swear their infrastructure is sooo horrible. At least with the line tests I run I can tell exactly why a modem isn't syncing. Although the relcap policy really pisses me off. If a customer has 85% or lower of their line being eaten up just to keep the modem in sync it's still considered acceptable. The company is also rolling out FTTP in certain regions but still capping the speeds at 3mbps. Stupid policies throughout this freaking company. Oh, and don't get me started on the techs from Manila or Bangalore.

 

[Steve]

Originally posted by: Nik

Originally posted by: ncl

Originally posted by: Nik
Not very likely? That's about as likely as drinking poison, dousing yourself with gasoline, putting a nuisse (spelling?) around your neck, lighting yourself on fire, jumping off a sea-side cliff, becoming so scared of the fall that you sh|t your pants and throw up the poison, having the fire burn the rope so you don't hang yourself, falling into the sea water below becoming so cold that you die of hypothermia.

😛

Ever spend time looking at a Spectrum Analyzer? Ever closely studied the effects of impulse and/or ingress on the upstream port at the CMTS? Ever worked with the QPSK or QAM modulation used on most cable plants - looking at constellations, MER's, BER's? You would be suprised how often issues like this show their ugly head and create headaches. I'll leave this argument alone - but your estimation of likelihood is off, one bad drop can create plenty of larger scale headaches.

Nicholaus

oh yeah? well um

...uh

..I got nothin'


*ahem*


<crickets>


😉

Fixed 😀

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Originally posted by: sm8000

Originally posted by: Nik
oh yeah? well um

...uh

..I got nothin'


*ahem*


<crickets>


😉

Fixed 😀

Way to reinvent the wheel. 😉

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
I moved into my new house back in May. I've used Comcast cable since November 2003, and it worked great for the first month in the new house.

Since then, it frequently drops out at least once a day, usually early in the morning until mid-afternoon. We've had a technician come out several times, and he's boosted the signal with no luck. He claims the my cable service leading to my house has deteriorated and he recommends a new cable be installed. They'd dig up a small portion of my yard, but Comcast would do it for free.

On top of that, the signal of my Comcast digital cable is less than perfect. I'm thinking this problem is related to the Internet problem described above, but there's no way to tell.

Comcast has been less than helpful through this whole thing, IMHO.

The other option is getting Bellsouth DSL. I used Bellsouth DSL briefly a few years ago and was very happy with the service.

I can get 3Mbit Bellsouth DSL for the exact same price I'm paying for 4Mbit Comcast cable.

Would you drop the Comcast service and go with DSL? Or take the chances with the repair and hope that fixes the problem?

I'm thinking drop Comcast totally and go with DSL and DirectTV. 🙂

I just dropped Charter cable Internet and went with BellSouth DSL.

Charter refused to fix the lousy signal level.

Now have perfect 3 meg down/384K Up and 100% uptime with DSL.

 

[laketrout]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
I just dropped Charter cable Internet and went with BellSouth DSL.

Charter refused to fix the lousy signal level.

Now have perfect 3 meg down/384K Up and 100% uptime with DSL.

Charter
Have your rates for Charter been raised or were they going to be raised? I was reading some stuff about them doing weird $$ stuff.

Comcast
1. Parents Fixed - my parents had the same problem you are describing up to the whole neighborhood also having a problem. They had the line repaired and theres works now a lot better.

2. Mine Broken - My comcast connection has been shotty lately and they told me the same thing, let us repair the line. But after 5 visits and 2 no-shows they never did it. They showed up the last time and said, "We can't do that, we'll send someone else out. But while we are here we'll check it again." They plugged it in and it works. I am just waiting to go through the whole ordeal again. Plus I wasted like 3-4 work days waiting around for these guys who always send out the wrong people.

DirecTV
I enjoyed there service and never had problems so for them I vote do it. Plus you get the NFL package!