Basic Internet Connectivity And Modem Help

[Croaker24]

For a long while - Comcast was rock solid.   Starting about 6 weeks ago - I started experiencing these quick drops - where I would lose connectivity for about 10-20 seconds and then right back on.    In addition, I get much more frequent lease renewals - sometimes every hour or so for a short period of time before it settles down - perhaps the two are tied together?

Looking at ipconfig/all - I see my new leases are good for only 24 hours.    At first - I thought I was having hardware issues - but now I think may be Comcast as the pattern have been made clear:   the drops starts occuring between 4-5pm daily and happens relatively frequently until 11:00pm or so.

I've noted that the problems very rarely occur very late at night overnight or early in the morning.  The other night I had to work overnight and did not experience one drop.     

Any ideas?   I

Thanks

Jeff

[EG]

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Croaker24 wrote:

Looking at ipconfig/all - I see my new leases are good for only 24 hours.    Thanks

Jeff

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This typically means that maintenance work/upgrades are being done in you local area. Post your modem's signal stats just for the halibut. They can be gotten by pointing your browser to http://192.168.100.1

You may have to just wait it out..

Message Edited by EG on 11-01-2009 07:07 PM

[Croaker24]

Just dropped again.    This is very aggravating.     Six weeks of maintenance??       

Also - starting during this time frame - I see Zonealarm blocking pings from 68.87.72.130 constantly - that never used to happen.

[Croaker24]

Thanks for the reply BTW - but I cannot seem to pull my modem stats at that address.  

[EG]

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Croaker24 wrote:

Six weeks of maintenance??       

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YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary)

What is the make & model number of your modem ? That was a clickable link. Did you click on it or type the addy into your browser's address bar ?

[Croaker24]

I tried both the link and typing it in - blank page.   Modem is a Toshiba PCX2600 tied to a Netgear WGR614 router.   

[Jim__]

I will note I have seen the Windows TCPIP stack mess up the renewal. I use a router so this has nothing to do with Comcast. Windows doesn't aways renew with the with router correctly and then reports that the connection has dropped.

[Croaker24]

Thanks Jim.   What do you do about the TCP stack - drop it and rebuild it?     Shouldn't the lease be longer?

Everytime it's renewed - ipconfig/all shows it at 24 hours before expiry.

[Jim__]

I ignore the errors. They don't occur that frequently when I am on the machine. I had set my router to give 24 hour leases for another reason and have never set it back. My point was the Windows TCPIP stack doesn't always seem to get the renew correct and it has nothing to do with Comcast. It is true that the shorter the lease the more likely it is that you will see a problem but if Comcast chooses for its own reasons to give out short leases they have a reasonable expectation that systems that use DHCP actually do it correctly.

[EG]

Hmmm.. W.I.W., I, personally, have never had a problem with any of the flavors of Windows O.S. stacks that I've had. It's usually a router firmware issue.

Message Edited by EG on 11-03-2009 08:15 PM

[Croaker24]

I now believe this is a Comcast issue where there simply is too much traffic / bandwidth saturation in my area.  The problems almost always occurs between 4:00pm to 11:00pm daily.   I've had a few late night sessions due to my job where I was online overnight and after say, 11:00pm or so, had  NO issues.   It's also stable during those times - like Sunday mornings where you would expect traffic to be less.    

No much Comcast can do IMHO - either they give me a discount for using their less than robust service, so I'm off to DSL-land.

[EG]

If it is indeed a local capacity/congestion issue, and If you and enough other people in your neighborhood/on your segment complain, it will increase the likelihood that they will split the node in order to alleviate the problem.

[Croaker24]

EG -

What is the most effective way to complain?     

[EG]

By telephone and try to get supervisor intervention or get this escalated by a forum moderator right here or even post in the Comcast Direct Forum over at the DLSR/BBR Forums.

[EDIT]

I have bought this thread to the attention of a Forum Moderator and requested escalation on your behalf. Be advised that it may not be until Monday (or Tuesday because of the holiday) that they see this thread and respond.  

Message Edited by EG on 11-08-2009 06:39 PM

[Croaker24]

Thanks EG.

Did not have one issue all day today until this evening.   

Got disconnected even though no one was using the internet at that time.

[ComcastBillG]

I see a few things wrong.  One we need to upgrade your modem to at least a Docsis 2 modem and second the signals could use an adjustment.  Let e know if you would like me to schedule a time for a tech to come out.

thank you,

[Croaker24]

Bill -

I own my modem actually.    I would appreciate suggestions on a new one.  

As for the signal adjustment, what exactly does that entail?   

Thanks for the reply!

Jeff

[Croaker24]

Bill?

Performance is absolutely terrible tonight and I'm extremely frustrated.   We had good peformance for 3 or 4 days but tonight it is absysmal.     Timeouts up the wazoo.    It started around 5:30 or so and has been ongoing for 2 hours.  

How do we set up for comcast to come out?   Tentatively, next Thursday would be a good day - I can purchase a new modem and have the technician work on the line and contact Support to update the MAC.

Thanks,

Jeff

[Croaker24]

First appearances seems to be the problem is solved.   Not noticed any issues all day since the technican departed.

Bill set up an appt for a technician to come out and he showed up during the window defined.    The tech noticed right away on the initial testing that were were issues.     According to the receipt:  intermittent blck sync....     Whatever that is, probably just a bad line and inconsistent signal.

The tech ended up replacing the line outside of the house and also put in a new splitter and something about swapping the mdm?    At any rate - the tech was very responsive and made an honest effort to resolve the problem.  Just waiting for someone to come by next and bury the new line.

Thanks to Bill for getting this resolved!   

Jeff