Basic Internet Connectivity And Modem Help

[Sinnin]

Anyone ever call this number in Philly?

Any input is appreciated.

[Jason1]

PK52482,

What have you done to troubleshoot your issue so far? I see from your one post prior to this one that you've had one tech come out to investigate. But from this side, I am showing signs of signal issues:

Upstream Transmit Power 53.1 dBmV
Downstream Receive Power 3.8 dBmV
Downstream Signal to Noise Ratio 33.5 dB

The downstream power is ok but your upstream power should be in the 30-50dBmV range. Between 50 and 60dBmV your modem can start to reboot like you mention (especially if this value approaches 60). Also, the downstream SNR is ok (33dB is the lowest that you want this to be) but could be improved to about 35 to leave some room for typical signal fluctuations.

Anyway, the executive complaint center will refer you to start the troubleshooting by contacting Comcast support and trying to work the issue from there. You can then be escalated to the ESL center if your issue is not being handled in a reasonable amount of time or after you have made a concerted effort to work the issue through normal means.

If you have made every effort possible to troubleshoot this issue through the normal tech support lines, then you can generally call Comcast and ask to be transferred to a supervisor or the ESL team who can sometimes help to expedite any issues that are not getting completed.

[Sinnin]

Thank you Jason for the reply.

My third tech came out today. Said there have been many problems in the area. The tech who came out Saturday said that two customers on neigboring streets have had the same issue (modem disconnects and reconnects just as fast) that started around the same time...March 23. The first tech who came out changed some fittings on the outside of the house.

All three techs agree that everything is fine on my end and that is is a problem on the outside. I saw a bucket truck in the area Monday. My local dispatch says a line engineer is due out today before 7 PM.

And BTW I have tried 3 modems and have had the same results. Bypassed the router, etc etc etc. Have had the people on the phone say that everything looks to be ok with my modem.

[CD]

If these techs say that the problem is outside - did you have them contact dispatch for them to create a case about the issue. They should be giving you a number to use to provide to Comcast over the phone for updates. Also asking the tech to call dispatch for the number would assure you that the work is scheduled to be done.

[Sinnin]

Jason one more thing, the signal issues....is that something that is handled on the Comcast end through the lines or is that an inside issue? Like I said, three modems have been used with the same result.

Thanks.

PK

[Sinnin]

CD thanks for the reply. Yea we have reference numbers that we use when we call. I will just hope that a problem can be found.

Having three people come inside the house and then be told everything is ok in there is frustrating not to mention not very convenient.

Two years of zero problems and then all of a sudden wham-o!

[CD]

The CR# is nice to have after a call but if a tech refers to a line tech then I believe they either provide you with an ND# on a printout/handwritten work order or they have to call in to their dispatch for that number. Its that number that should contain the update notes about what the line tech does. The tech that arrives to your home gets whatever readings he/she can get then passes them to the line tech.

- Well.. I believe this is how it works. Maybe a mod can explain this better.

[Sinnin]

CD


The tech this morning said that he was going to request a line engineer come out to find and fix the problem. I called and Comcast confirmed this with my local dispatch that someone is due out today before 7 PM.

Two weeks of calls, visits, chats, etc etc etc. I just want this fixed. Frustrating to say the least.

[CD]

Oh.. good! At least you know that there is a request made and its booked too. Glad to hear it! I hope it all works out for you. Be sure to let us know of the outcome.

[Sinnin]

Thanks CD, my fingers are crossed!

[jdholloway]

Where do I find that number?

[Sinnin]

removed
Message was edited by: Jason1

[Jason1]

PK52482,

Please do not post the phone number here in the forums. The ESL team is here to help out when needed but posting the number here in the forums causes customers to try and bypass the normal troubleshooting methods which must be tried first. If one is not getting an issue resolved, they can call the normal Comcast support and request to be escalated if necessary.

Thanks

[jdholloway]

Thanks.

I noticed Jason removed the number.

Jason,
Can i get some feedback on my posts? I'm not quite sure how the process works for which posts to reply to and which not?

Something I said?

[Jason1]

PK,

The signal issues can be caused by either end of the connection. For instance, corroded connectors or cables that are nicked may cause signal issues from your end. But if 3 techs have already been out to verify that everything is in good shape from your home, then the issue is likely being caused by either a stretch of cable between your home and the Comcast head end or it may be part of the equipment at the headend.

From your description above, this appears to be an intermittent issue located between the outside of your house and the Comcast head end. This is sometimes several miles of cable and several pieces of equipment which must be investigated. Needless to say, this is often often like finding a needle in a haystack to resolve. We can definately understand that it is frustrating but since you have received confirmation that a line tech will be coming out by this evening, please keep us updated on the status of this. If it persists and you are not given a call-back with an update, let us know and we'll see if we can help out from this end.

[Sinnin]

Thanks Jason.

I will.

[Sinnin]

Looks like i will be dialing this number tomorrow. I am tired of techs coming to the house and doing the SAME EXACT THING each time, tired of being told line testing will be done and then find out it HAS NOT or that people have no idea what I am talking about, tired of calling 1-800-COMCAST and getting a different answer each and every time.

$42 a month for this?

What a joke. Monopolies suck.

[Sinnin]

Does this stuff mean anything?

Tracing route to www.l.GOOGLE.COM
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.0.1
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 7 ms 9 ms 9 ms ge-2-1-ur01.avenel.nj.panjde.comcast.net
4 8 ms 9 ms 8 ms po10-ur02.avenel.nj.panjde.comcast.net
5 8 ms 8 ms 9 ms po10-ur01.union.nj.panjde.comcast.net
6 8 ms 9 ms 9 ms po10-ur02.union.nj.panjde.comcast.net
7 8 ms 11 ms 9 ms po10-ur01.jerseycity.nj.panjde.comcast.net
8 9 ms 9 ms 9 ms po10-ur02.jerseycity.nj.panjde.comcast.net
9 10 ms 8 ms 9 ms po10-ur01.narlington.nj.panjde.comcast.net
10 11 ms 9 ms 9 ms po70-ar01.verona.nj.panjde.comcast.net
11 11 ms 11 ms 9 ms ar01.plainfield.nj.panjde.comcast.net
12 11 ms 9 ms 9 ms 68.86.211.2
13 11 ms 11 ms 11 ms 12.118.102.21
14 15 ms 11 ms 15 ms tbr1-p010101.n54ny.ip.att.net
15 10 ms 12 ms 11 ms ggr2-p300.n54ny.ip.att.net
16 11 ms 11 ms 11 ms so-8-0-0.car3.NewYork1.Level3.net

17 20 ms 11 ms 20 ms ae-21-54.car1.NewYork1.Level3.net

18 12 ms 11 ms 11 ms 4.78.164.218
19 11 ms 11 ms 11 ms 72.14.236.215
20 266 ms 282 ms 261 ms 72.14.233.113
21 261 ms 261 ms 266 ms 66.249.94.96
22 261 ms 265 ms 274 ms 72.14.232.62
23 261 ms 262 ms 257 ms 72.14.205.104

Trace complete.

[EarlyOut]

> Does this stuff mean anything?

Yup. It means that Google has a seriously overloaded node out there. Hop 20, where the times suddenly climb into outer space (jumping from 11ms to 266ms), belongs to them. Of course, they're in California, so one would expect to see a slower reponse from NJ, like maybe 70ms or 80ms, but not 266ms.

Up until that point, everything looks fine - in fact, great! So, it doesn't really shed any light on the intermittent problems you've been having, which sound like they're much closer to home.

[Sinnin]

Well my good times with my two week disconnect problem continue! Yesterday we were told a line team was due out by 7 pm. We call our local office this morning and find that nobody came and nobody is scheduled to come. And that if it is needed could take up to two weeks for someone to come out. She then went through the same troubleshootings I have done and the three techs who came into my house have done. The last two techs requested line people come out.

Nothing has been done for me in these last two wweks, nothing.

Giving this "Executive Complaint Center" a call now.........

[Sinnin]

Ok I called the complaint center at the Comcast executive location in Philadelphia.

Spoke with a very nice woman who fullu understanded my situation and totally agreed that something should have been done or communicated to me by now.

She took down all of my information and details about the problem from it's start to today. This information was sent to my local area offices where it will get addressed today and I will receive a phone call with an update.

This has been the most positive thing to happen since my problems started two weeks ago today.

[Sinnin]

Wow I got a call back already from someone at my local office, I got his extension and everything.

Wants to get my problem fixed ASAP.

He's working on gathering info and will get back to me after lunch.

[CD]

All within nearly an hour. Impressive! Keep us posted!

[Sinnin]

He had someout testing lines right away, something I could not get done in two weks of calls, visits, etc.

[Sinnin]

Fella came to my house out of no where last night around 6, he was a lead tech/super......extremely knowledgable and much more competent than the 3 previous techs who came out. He recognized the same problem with other users in the neighborhood. He was inside doing some tests on my pc, running various websites, logging into a Comcast tech only speed test page.

He's going to be back on the problem today.

[Sinnin]

I got another call back today that it looks like a node problem.

Thank goodness I called the executve offices or else I'd still have people at 1-800-COMCAST telling me to reset my modem, check splitters and how channel 2 looks.

2 weeks and 1 day now......hoping it gets fixed up soon.

[kidqwik]

Highly doubtful it'll be fixed anytime soon. I've had them come to the house 4 times. The last time was the lead tech cause I was tired of them telling me nothing was wrong with the connection(even though they thought my modem was messed up so I had a new one sent, even the newer version and it has the same EXACT problems) even though it keeps dropping connection here and there and then recycling. The head tech couldn't detect the problem either and it wasn't dropping connection while he was here (of course not). Next day I had like the head tech's boss call me telling me they were going to monitor the equipment on their side overnight to see if they saw anything. He asked me to write down the times and dates when the connection was lost and he'd call me back to check on things. He hasn't called back... And I left a message yesterday with still no response. It's a Comcast issue and as much as I kept tellinig the last guy who came to the house that this all started when they rolled out their VoIP service(which I don't have) and by reading the forum, many other people are having the same problem he seemed to disregard what I've said. They really need to fix this already. It really sux when you're playing MMoGs and losing connection while in missions and losing xp.

[cnikkicrez]

I'm having this same problem and I live in CT it started at the beginning of the week and its all my PCs comcast always try's to blame the customers end I know Been there done that its crazy calling a customer service that you know really doesn't know what they are doing because they troubleshoot right out of a book keep complaining its terrible that this company rapes you on everything they offer and they don't even have their s...hit together , I hear the telephone company's are switching over to fiber and it's supposed to better or at least I hope. because comcast has no competition, they really seem not to care about the customers

[cnikkicrez]

Oh yeah that's another thing I notice that co service does not for this recent issue but one alike when I had to call they acted like know one else is having the same problem when come to find out from another broadband forum tons of people up and down the east coast they had the same problem well I guess my call will likely get me no where

[CMGuy]

Hate to say it but I got / have had / am having the same thing here on the west coast. I've been having rather consistent connection problems here for going on 3 months now and not one thing has been done that has resolved the issue. I've had 3 different modems (yes, 3); my splitter and cable from the wall drop to my modem replaced, reformatted and reinstalled Windows, scanned numerous times for spyware / adware / viruses / etc.; and yet I still have the same (beep)ing problem.

No matter what I do, my speed tends to drop off after about 10 minutes or so of constant downloading or uploading. It starts off by dropping about 10% from my normal; then at times after that it gets to be as low as 25% of normal >_< . I also get dropped hops on traceroutes (I can tell this by all the stars that I see instead of numbers); however ping tests are normally fine.

The last tech I had out here wanted to blame everything on me and my equipment, no matter what. The dude said that he was surfing off my internet (I guessw it's possible since I have a wireless router) and that everything was fine on his laptop. And that if he came in to attempt diagnosis that it would cost me $49.95. I mean, friggin hello, I got all the proof I need right here (my computer) to show that I have connection issues, and he flat out REFUSED to help me. *angry face*

I hav traceroute and ping test results, speed test results, tech notes, other visual aids, etc.; all as proof that this problem is real. It still exists to this day, right as I type.

And the worst part is that this guy is blaming the stars on my traceroutes on firewalls. Not when ity's only one result out of 3 per hop, buddy.

[Sinnin]

Apparantley the problem is with node 144 in the neighborhood, lots of problems from many different customers. Fix *should* be soon.
Message was edited by: PK52482

[Sinnin]

Update:

Work was done on the node yesterday. I was asked by my contact to test the connection last night and this morning. I unfortunatley experienced several disconnects. I called him back and gave him the bad news. He soon followed up with the news that a handful orf other customers were still reporting problems in the area and that the node was going to be serviced once again today.

[EG]

Six year old thread closed.