Basic Internet Connectivity And Modem Help

[wjereb]

No it is not fixed as my meter is currently displaying 4GB of data usage for the month. I can assure you that is way too low. Especially considering that my hard drive failed over the weekend and I downloaded over 2GB of backed up data from Mozy onto my new drive yesterday. Plus new versions of Firefox, Norton, Thunderbird, etc. in addition to my regular data use for 23 days. 

Bill J

[scottgildner]

It's been so long since I've seen the meter, I don't even remember where to look to see if it's back.  I clicked on every possible tab and I still don't see it.  Amazing!  

[BethKatz]

scotgildner, I believe you were joking about not knowing where it look, but ...

From here, go to the Customers tab above and Manage My Account. Sign in to Customer Central with an account that has billing access to the account. The middle blue tab there is Users & Settings. The usage meter should appear in the area below the blue Help tab to the left of the Top 5 FAQs. Clicking View details below it should bring up the usage for the previous 3 months.

You need to use the primary account or a secondary account that has billing access. Just having unrestricted access is not enough. The primary needs to turn on billing access.

If you don't see the meter, try calling Comcast and asking that they roll your modem and then reprovision it. If that still doesn't work, post back here.

[ComcastLarry]

wjereb-

I sent you a Private Message about your issue.

-ComcastLarry-

[nirv]

I received about four phonecalls on 5/25/11 from Comcast who were escalating my issue of the Usage Meter disappearing.

After getting a call from Comcast a month ago regarding excessive usage, I decided to swap out both my cable modem and router and educate myself on wireless security. Since the swap, I've been unable to see the meter on any of my three computers or cellphone devices.

I went from an SB5120 from Comcast to an SB5101, then immediately to an SB6120 DOCSIS 3.0, and from a WRT54G v 2.2 router to a Cisco/Linksys E2000.

After two roll and reprovisions, it still isn't resolved, and the last two Comcast reps on the phone haven't been able to tell me my current usage, so I'm biting my nails over here wondering if I fixed the bandwidth issue or not.

[BethKatz]

nirv, please send Larry a personal message with your account info and a link to your post.

[omarejaz1237]

for the past several months, my usage has shown 0 usage.  (less than 1 gb).   it would be nice to have a working meter again!  thanks.

EDIT: if you send an email or PM me on here, it's a lot easier for to get back in touch Comcast. 

[CCCarole]

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omarejaz1237 wrote:

for the past several months, my usage has shown 0 usage.  (less than 1 gb).   it would be nice to have a working meter again!  thanks.

EDIT: if you send an email or PM me on here, it's a lot easier for to get back in touch Comcast. 

---

If you haven't already, call 1-800 comcast and tell them to Roll and reprovision your modem.  If that doesn't solve it, post back.

[gwolfe07]

Feburary Usage   39gb

March Usage        232gb

April Usage           307gb

May Usage sofar  245gb and rising

May 28 0:30 am        25gb left

May 28 12:00 am      20gb left

May 28 1:30 pm        Disconnected Roku, shut down computers (2) left for work...

May 28 11:00 pm      Cable modem lights still active before I fired up computer with only Linksys and Cable Modem powered, found only 11gb left, unpowered cable modem.

May 29 9:30am         Powered cable modem, lights still show activity, fired up computer and found only 5gb left

Anyway for me to monitor connections?  Can packets be sent to my setup even with modem off?

The Roku's last update was said to spike bandwith usage.  But Roku's websight said they aren't worried about breaking the 250gb limit "because of new technologies being more efficient".

Any possibility that the meter is more than 3 hours delayed.

I didn't even think of checking my usage because I've had an account for several years.  Got it when Adelphia was here.  And when I've checked it in the past, even with gaming and downloading, my usage has been negligable.

Only reading up on Roku's data usage did I even think of checking.

May 29 10:20am     Powered modem, 4gb left, unpowered modem

May 30 12:00am     Powered modem, 4gb left, unpowered modem

June 1  12:50am     Powered modem, no usage meter, must be resetting or not showing because of non-use, unpowered modem

Also planning to insert second network card into computer and running Roku thru it to measure traffic, will post results...

[BethKatz]

You don't automatically get cut off at 250GB. Comcast may contact you about your usage. But they may not. Their supposed goal is to cut back excessive users. I guess you saw that in April because you had 307GB of usage.

There's a delay in usage reporting, so you could have had several GB of usage (over the preceding 3 hours) right before you shut down the modem at 11pm May 28. That could have been registered while everything was powered down.

I gather any wireless you have is locked down securely so that the neighbors aren't using your connection.

[nirv]

My Usage Meter mysteriously just came back today on 6/1/11. I randomly logged in just now and found it, but all past usage has been wiped clear. Here's a screenshot:

6/1/11 Usage Meter Appeared

[dsanbo]

FYI.....The meter is usually reset at the start of a month.....or the very END of a month......

[Master_Wolfe]

I haven't seen my usage meter since I returned to Comcast on May 3rd after 3 months with another provider.. Spoke with a rep online this morning, and they weren't able to help. I have ( I believe) all the relevant plugins, and I've tried both IE9 and Firefox 4.02. I've tried compatibility mode with IE9, and tried FF with hardware acceleration disabled, all to no avail. In the past my usage was WELL within bounds, but I've been playing with Netflix and Hulu Plus on Tivo, and I want to get an idea how much bandwidth I'm using by doing so. Thanks.

[Ryoh]

Larry,

My meter worked for months.  Now it is gone.  No equipment has changed.  I have a ticket in.  CR247373354.  Would you be able to asist with getting my meter fixed?

[CCCarole]

---

Ryoh wrote:

Larry,

My meter worked for months.  Now it is gone.  No equipment has changed.  I have a ticket in.  CR247373354.  Would you be able to asist with getting my meter fixed?

---

Do you know if Comcast attempted to roll & reprovision your modem when you called?  The Meter can disappear near the end of the month, and returns after the beginning of the new month. Have you gone into Users & Settings today, to check for it?

[rfv07]

Does it take some time after you ask for the 'roll and reprovision' for the meter to show up?  I did that about an hour ago and I don't see it.

[rfv07]

Yep, it takes about 2 hours or so.  Working now! 

[Ryoh]

Someone called me back today.  They said they were going to contact billing to fix the issue and that it should be fixed tomorrow.  I have read in other forums "DSLREPORTS" that someone else had luck with getting their meter back after talking to someone in billing.  We will see.  If no luck, I will ROLL DUCK and COVER and REPROVISION.

[SEVENTWOONE]

Usage meter vanished within the past two or three days. I believe I saw it last on the first of the month.

I guess this means I have to call in to have someone roll and reprovision the modem....

[SEVENTWOONE]

OK, you should warn people what's going to happen when they ask for a "roll" and "reprovision."

I called tech support some time after 7 pm local. Around 8:30, my modem was reset remotely. I was kicked out of an online game and my web browser defaulted to XFINITY Self Activation. I had to enter my account number, and a progress bar indicated Comcast was "Retrieving Your Account." That progress bar filled slowly for ten minutes, did nothing for another ten minutes, and froze up before I manually refreshed the page. Now I'm "Activating Device."

Supposedly, the modem is now Active, and I'm supposed to click CLOSE to exit. There is no CLOSE button. The word CLOSE isn't a hyperlink. So what am I supposed to do? Close my browser?

Anyway, I still don't see the usage meter.

[SEVENTWOONE]

After closing my browser and trying to check again for that usage meter, I am greeted with this after attempting to log in:

"We're sorry; Comcast Customer Central is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later."

Swell.

Hopefully they get this stuff straightened out sometime soon.

[SEVENTWOONE]

Wow! I hope this doesn't happen to everyone with a vanishing usage meter!

At one point last night, the activation appeared to work. I was able to hit a couple web sites, but then the modem kicked me back into activation mode and would not budge. And activation would only go as far as the SOS....temporarily unavailable message.

I tried the online chat support. They reset my modem a couple times, had me reboot, but nothing fixed the problem.

This morning, I phoned tech support and a wonderful lady got me back online after several resets and a reboot.

I still don't have the usage meter, but the ticket was forwarded to Tier 2 support, and I'm able to access the Internet now.

Time to read the morning paper....

[SEVENTWOONE]

So how long can it take for the problem to be resolved after it's been escalated up to tier 2?

Anyone?

[davegreen]

I have been through the fix for their not ready for prime time meter software.

If I remember correctly it was a week or so to get it fixed. I received a call from a tech, and it was a couple of calls back and forth to get it fixed.

You can tell when they are looking into it, when you try to log on and can’t get in to your account. They have hosed your password doing testing. Happened twice, but the second time I knew what was going on. You can call and get the password reset, or reset it yourself if you have setup your secret question / answer.

Most likely you will lose all you meter history, and it will reset to some arbitrary usage number when they get around to fixing it.

Long, slow, waste of time process. About what I expect from anything they develop.

[SEVENTWOONE]

Oh. Well, Comcast has to have the meter, if they're going to call people out for exceding their bandwidth cap.

[Master_Wolfe]

I posted in the Comcast Direct forum on dslreports.com, and it was resolved within a day or 2.

[SEVENTWOONE]

Well, it's June 10th and still no meter. It's been down for 10 days.

[blackmagician]

My usage meter is working fine. Actually I didn't even now there was a cap until yesterday. Since I've never gotten an excessive use call from Comcast I'm assuming that I've never gone over the limit, but in the past six months or so I've brought a lot more internet enabled devices into my home (three Android smartphones, an iPod touch and most recently an iPad) and that's on top of the two desktop computers, one netbook and the Wii I already have. With all those devices I can't help but worry about exceeding the cap. especially since my use jumped from 33GB to 77GB in only a month. Now that I have an iPad I'd love to be able to sit out on my deck and watck On Demand or Netflix, but now I'm worried about going over the cap. And terminating your service after the first warning seems a little heavy handed to me. So much for my "unlimited" internet. So my question is this, how far over the cap do you have to go to get a call from Comcast, and if you do get the call, what happens then?

[SEVENTWOONE]

You go 1Mb over 250Gb, and you're toast. You can't pay an overage fee. You get one warning. The second time you go over, you lose your service.

It's how they deal with people using P2P, because you can do 250Gb in a couple weeks easily, with a P2P package running 24/7.

I'm not complaining, because 250Gb is a reasonable limit. We all have to share bandwidth.

My usage meter was turned back on yesterday, the 14th. So that's two weeks without.

[blackmagician]

Thanks for the clarification. It still sems heavyhanded to me, and in this age of Netflix streaming and online gaming, both of which take up a lot of data, I hope Comcast takes a sceond look at the cap.

[EG]

---

SEVENTWOONE wrote:

You go 1Mb over 250Gb, and you're toast.

That's not necessarily true across the board.. It depends on a few factors including how congested one's particular segment is.

[nguyen2508]

I just chang mew sb5120 modem, Internet works fine, but when I log in my acount then Usage Meter gone. I don't what happen? Please help me fix it!!!

[ET81]

I certainly hope that's the case, that they do sometimes show some leniency. Honestly the data cap might have worked well enough in 2008, but in this era of Netflix streaming, online gaming, and cloud computing it doesn't work so well anymore. I know that Comcast probably has a vested interest in getting people to put down the computer and pick up a remote, but in this age where people's bandwidth needs are on the increase something has to give. Either data cap's will kill the cloud or the cloud will kill data caps. And God forbid a Comcast customer buys one of those new Chromebooks, those things can probably chew through the 250GB monthly limit no problem.

[EG]

One can always choose their Business Class service to circumvent the cap.

[ET81]

True. How much more expensive is businss class compared to residential?

[jcoz1701]

I just found out about the usage meter and I have never had one.  We've had service with Comcast for the past 3 years at this address. 

[CCCarole]

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jcoz1701 wrote:

I just found out about the usage meter and I have never had one.  We've had service with Comcast for the past 3 years at this address. 

---

Have you verified that you don't have one by signing in with the Primary Username and password- Then click on My Account to get to Customer Central- And then click on the Users & Settings tab to look for it?

[jcoz1701]

Yes.

[SEVENTWOONE]

I just realized that I never mentioned my usage meter being restored on the 14th of this month. So it took two weeks, and when it was restored, my usage for the month was reset to zero.

I trust they'll get this ironed out that the meter is more reliable going forward.

I read online that your service was turned off if you went over 250Gb twice in a six-month period. Not that I'm willing to put that information to the test--I don't ever plan on exceeding 250Gb ever again for the rest of my life.

[scottharris]

our usage meter just disappeared from the website this month. how can we get it back?

[BethKatz]

Generally, if your usage meter is not appearing, something is not registered correctly between your modem, the measuring system, and the billing system.

Call Comcast and ask that they roll your modem and then reprovision it. If that doesn't work, ask them to carefully check that the modem you have matches what they think you have. Insist that they open a ticket to investigate.

[bkInATL]

Well all this BW Cap issue is concerning us all especially since many new devices have introduced very exciting apps. What is alarming to me though is I have no way to validate if Comcast is accurate in it's records.

I do not do P2P, we do stream video services like NetFlix or YouTube however, I've noticed that the usage meter seems to be higher even though the utilization styles haven't changed much. The uptick is concerning since I value our service since I use it often when I WFH. Plus now with AppleTV, etc. Really enjoy those applications.

SO the question to Comcast, how to I get records so I can compare month over month my usage. The meter is nice but it is a bit high level. Are there logs or some method that I can see what you believe I am doing? I can block sites at certain times so my children for instance do not stay up all night streaming, that kind of thing.

Thanks for your help. I'm close this month but I think we won't go over.

[Boones_PDX]

The meter is missing as of this morning.

I check the meter several times throughout the month to make sure I say under the limit. With the meter missing I don't know where I stand. It's like a car without a speedometer, one can only guess their speed. How can comcast hold someone to a usage limit and not provide a functioning method of determining their usage????

[OCSMITH]

My Usage Meter is gone too!!! At happens at the end of the month but a woman named "Andy" @ comcast tells me I have 140 gig left and they go by the billing day which is the 15th not the first day of the month to reset? I was thinking it was the 1st the month, I seem to remember reading somewhere on this site it was the first not the billing day???????

[commanguy]

I read the same thing. Also sometimes the meter apparently disappears earlier. Noticed mine is gone tonight also. Don't check it daily so not sure when it went off but had to be recently since I checked last Friday.

I expect it back shortly after the 1st.

[Boones_PDX]

CSR "Andy" does not know what's she's talking about. The meter resets on the 1st of the month NOT on the first day of your billing cycle. I have little faith in most of Comcast's customer service reps....they make stuff up and spread lies that they hear other reps saying. They just try to say something that sounds good and get you off the phone...and comcast does not care...otherwise they would be moderating this post and responding to people.

[smileylich]

My usage meter has been "stuck" (not updating) at 221G for two days now.  I download a bit (an amount that I know is over 1G), and the meter doesn't update.  Even after half a day.  I've done this several times, and no change in the meter. Guess I'll stop downloading, to avoid the meter suddenly exploding upward to near (or accidentally over!) the 250G cap.  Anyone else experience this?

Thanks

Don

[davegreen]

Mine is stuck also, hasn’t changed since yesterday morning. If I click “View details” there is a note;

“We apologize for any inconvenience, but a recent update of your data usage was not available. Please try again later.”

Glad this beta test software isn’t used for billing purposes.

[skek64]

I am in the Newburyport area, 01969.

My meter has also frozen at 226 gig as of Wednesday morning, June 29 and get that same error message.

At this point, I don't really care anymore.

If Comcast can't keep their usage meter running correctly, I am going to consider the 250 gig data cap to be null-and-void!

If you buy gasoline, the meter on the pump is validated yearly.

...go to the store and buy a pound of apples, the scale has to be inspected.

Comcast sells internet usage that is capped at 250 gigs.

...no meter, no cap!!!

[blackmagician]

Well this isn't good. My total usage went from 2GB to 5GB in less then 24 hours. The meter normally doesn't go up that fast, and I'm not doing anything doffrent then I normally do except that I've been signed into Google all day trying to get into Google+. Could my meter be broken or is something going on on my end?