I have been fighting to get working internet for almost a year now. I have done all of the stuff they have you do several times. Checked and replaced or tested with an alternative: computer, wireless, cat5 cable, router, modem, coax to wall, cabling within the wall, wall connection, cables in the box outside, connectors in the box outside, and more. I know guys. It is frustrating. Like many of you I didn't want to be a complainer, so I didn't call them with every drop. If I had, I would have been on the phone with them daily instead of monthly! Side note, with only a Skype call running on my network to tech support, they complained that we had a bad connection. I told them that it was VOIP and the only thing running. Finally, after all of the time, and the patience, and the re-re-re-escalations, I have had enough. I explained to them what I suspect the problem to be, and I have given them another opportunity to complete repairs. They tried to stall, but I explained that they had been allowed almost a year of time to fix it. During that time, I was paying for a service that was not being provided. They agree, if it is not resolved before the tech(s) leave, Wednesday, February 22, 2012, both they and I will escalate this beyond customer support. I hope it doesn't come to that. However, if you also find yourself at the limit of whatever is keeping you calm right now, here are some things we may be able to do. If Comcast customer service has not succeeded in resolving our issues, we can attempt to contact whatever regional manager or VP we can reach. We KNOW they care. At least, we hope they do. If not, we will still have legal options. The last thing they want is for us to file claims with the Better Business Bureau. In addition, we could also take them to court and seek damages for money we have paid them for services that were not rendered. If incurred, we may also be able include in a suit, reparations including, but not limited to: legal fees, court costs, per diem for every one of the frequent tech visits, when we could and should have been working, and the stress and emotional hardship each of our ordeals has caused us. I don't think any of us wants to go through all of that, just to do honest business.
Whether or not I am successful, I want you all to have this information. We all probably ended up here because we were looking for answers or help. I don’t want to be a helpless victim, or a cooperative hostage. I want to be free from this trap, without losing an arm and a leg for nothing. At first I mistook misdirection for conscientiousness, believing that after they finally fix it, I would be compensated in some way. Do you know any other utility, service, or product that you only have a "chance" of getting what you pay for? What if this was the power company? Water? Would we be as understanding and patient then? I will update this daily until it is resolved.
Ok, the next three quoted posts are in a thread much like this, but more about general disconnects. I bet you what they are describing is exactly what is going on with you connection. A link to the thread is at the bottom. It is about more than one ISP, but most of them are having the same issues we are.
ellis056 09-17-2009 at 03:01:23 PM
- 3 +
Ok, I hope to shed some light on everyone's issues and pull the curtain back a little. I WAS a Charter Communications Senior System Tech. I was responsible for maintaining and repairing all mainline issues. The problem that you guys are having is, i repeat, IS a problem with your cable companies hardline distribution plant. In other words, don't waste your time or money replacing modems and or routers. If you are experiencing problems at certain times of the day, it is related to temperature. I know that sounds crazy, but hardline cable is metal. It expands and contracts with hot and cold temperatures just like any other metal substance. When this happens, the metal is either less dense(when hot) or more dense(when cold). Therefore, the signal passes differently depending on the temperature. Causing higher or lower signals when the sun comes up or goes down. Now, to battle this phenomenon, the amplifiers hanging on the lines are designed to automatically adjust the Gain (signal boost) accordingly. Now, these have to be adjusted and set up properly at least a couple times a year. Mainly due to the changing of the seasons. They can only handle so much temperature change before they start to cause serious errors. Thus your problem begins. Now keep in mind, that most newby service techs for most cable companies are clueless about anything to do with mainline issues. They are only trained to diagnose problems inside your house, and depending on their training(which usually isn't much) they probably won't even know any of this. Also, in most areas, the service techs are scared to put in a "Line Problem" because if they have missed any problems inside your house that could be causing the problem, then they are given a hard time by the system techs (who will find it). So, you should definitely insist that a line problem be put in. Also, talk with any of your neighbors and see if they are having the same issues at the same time. This will help you in your request for a line problem.
Hope this helps
Justin
pica67 04-19-2010 at 07:54:03 AM
- 0 +
Not 100% sure if this is the culprit, but I had a charter tech which took 2 hours at my house tracking down the problem once..
He changed the house line, modem , house to pole, then started backtracking to the C/O.
He found a bad line amplifier on a pole about 5 houses down.....
His explanation: Within the line amp, there are circuits which measure the resistance down the line to the next amplifier. The resistance of the line changes 24/7 due to "thermal expansion/contraction (temperature variance)", there are internal compensation amplifiers which will increase or decrease output down the line to attempt to maintain X dbmv output down the line. The circuits can and do wear/ burn out over time. If this is outage occurring consistently in mornings / evenings / both times, the amplifier may have reached the limit of its adjustment. Then the expensive and quantitative option of the cable co. is "the number of subscribers from that point to end of line" worth the cost of running a new line because thermal cycling has prevented the run to stay in specifications for internet / cable.
Simply you become a $ value...
Reply to pica67
stubby from Iowa 05-13-2009 at 05:33:23 AM
- 1 +
believe it or not but it is on the isp side. I have been having the very same types of problems. What the fix is, a very good line person or a tech who will take the time to check all connections down the line till they find the problem. What it is, your modem can not hear the isp send signal from the headend. That is why you are gettingt the T3 timeouts. If the modem can not get or hear the signal it will shutdown cause it thinks there is a problem with the headend. I always switched out modems and routers because I was always told that it was on my end. I asked how many times in a year I am supposed to have new cable and ends replaced before they would finally believe it was on their end. Anyways, I got really mad and contacted a VP in the cable company home office and asked for his help. All I know I got the problem fixed and several techs oin the support center back taking remidial training on how to listion to customers and field techs who finally took the time to look at everything to find the problem. It was a connection 5 blocks from me that was giving trouble.
Reply to stubby from Iowa
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/21085-42-cable-internet-connection-constantly-timing
That is the thread about the disconnects. Below is something you might find interesting and/or useful.
http://www.dslreports.com/r3/smokeping.cgi?target=network.8223e007a4247091260be67cccb0fd29
That is my running smokeping for one day. It is obvious something is wrong, but this will probably not catch the disconnects unless it is really lucky. However, recently my modem doesn't just lag or drop briefly, it resets. Like alot of people with the new firmware. Because of that, one of them might catch it.
You can run one on yours, who knows it may help you convince someone, or just let you feel justified for complaining about a problem that always happens in the middle of something important, but the techs miss it so they think you are full of it. Update 2-23-12 After two techs, I was able to show the disconnects, dropped packets, outrageous latency, that is exacerbated at the slightest hint of data transmission. At a loss, the tech not only put in the line call, but the area supervisor and line tech are going to be coming to my home. It isn't the resolution I had hoped to find at the end of the day, but they promised to keep in daily contact until this is resolved.
