After four years, I left the cable company. Ask me questions

[z1ggy]

It may come right out of the wall but there may be numerous splits between there and the junction box on the outside of your house.

Just checked it... It actually does come from a 1 to 2 splitter before my modem. There isn't much I can do because I need a cable for my modem and a cable for my DVR box in this room as far as that goes.

Any other suggestions?? New modem maybe?

 

[alkemyst]

My house was a disaster. First when Comcast redid the home run they just spliced the RG6 into the RG59 at the roof ingress. I was hoping the new home run would solve my problems without a trip into the attic.

When that didn't fix things I went up. I don't remember the exact break down, but I had 8 outlets being served by no less than 5 splitters.

I remember it was the main jack into a 10 way splitter and then into a two way splitter to just run to my one internet feed. I have no idea why he just didn't come off the 10 way directly other than he had not enough pre-made cable to go direct.

Then the 10 way was split into one 8 way and I think two 4 ways and a 2 way.

Plus none of it was high bandwidth stuff.

I went from the main line into a 2 way with one running direct to my modem and the other into a 4 way to service my 3 bedrooms and my family room.

That's when I found there was still RG59 coming into the main split. I pulled the cable back out and found the splice they did.

Worked perfect after that. I even capped off my unused 3rd bedroom feed with a terminator. I bought the compression fitting tool, some ends and a spool of RG6.

 

[rudeguy]

RudeGuy I hope you answer this question because I don't want to call Comcast to ask-

MY internet connection is ALWAYS cutting out while I game. Is my service where I live that terrible? Or is it a bad modem? I always need to hard reboot the modem by pressing in the little button on the back. I don't think it's my router, but it could be. It's pretty old, but when I look at the green lights blinking, a lot of the time the one that says LINK will stop (meaning a signal to the router is broken).

What say you?

90% of the time is a signal issue. The Rep can pull up your modem and is history to see the signal and drops. Signal issues are the worst to figure out because there are 145 places for the signal to go bad. The most common is a bad splitter somewhere in your house. Also the one on the outside of your house goes bad a lot. Then there are the splitters at the pedestal and the pedestal itself. It's common for water to collect and rust things out. Or a squirrel might have chewed on a wire somewhere. Those furry bastards love to chew on cable.

But it also could be your modem. It could also be your router. It could even be that your neighbor has a microwave from 1963 that is leaking and cock blocking your signal.

In short, call them. Without looking at your signals and history I am just guessing.

One thing: house or apartment?

 

[rudeguy]

call the cable company and schedule a trouble call. anything else is pretty useless.



the downstream power window for a docsis modem is -10dB to +10dB, the upstream window is +35dB to +50dB, and the upstream SNR minimum is 37dB.



technically yes, practically no.

Right and the big thing is history. What your signal is now probably isn't what it was 15 minutes ago. The companies spend a lot of money on software to measure that stuff. Let them use it.

 

[alkemyst]

90% of the time is a signal issue. The Rep can pull up your modem and is history to see the signal and drops. Signal issues are the worst to figure out because there are 145 places for the signal to go bad. The most common is a bad splitter somewhere in your house. Also the one on the outside of your house goes bad a lot. Then there are the splitters at the pedestal and the pedestal itself. It's common for water to collect and rust things out. Or a squirrel might have chewed on a wire somewhere. Those furry bastards love to chew on cable.

But it also could be your modem. It could also be your router. It could even be that your neighbor has a microwave from 1963 that is leaking and cock blocking your signal.

In short, call them. Without looking at your signals and history I am just guessing.

One thing: house or apartment?

on my modem I can go to 192.168.100.1 and see the signals. It's easy to find what they should be on DSLReports and the like.

 

[Ns1]

Rudeguy - is there a particular season where there are incredible deals?

getting a lot of fliers in my mail for super cheap cable rates. Just wanted to know if this is "as low as it gets" or if they'll be cheaper around Superbowl or someshit.

 

[rudeguy]

Rudeguy - is there a particular season where there are incredible deals?

getting a lot of fliers in my mail for super cheap cable rates. Just wanted to know if this is "as low as it gets" or if they'll be cheaper around Superbowl or someshit.

Historically I saw the best deals in the fall. Especially if you "are" a college student. If you live in a college town or near a campus, there may be special deals. But keep in mine the best deals are only $10-20 less than the normal deals.

IIRC, you live in an overbuild area where there are multiple providers. You would normally be eligible for better deals at any given time than other areas.

But I could be wrong...deals are not predictable.

 

[John Connor]

Okay, I have a question or two. Tonight my TV went out, in fact all the TVs went out and I called Comcast and she told me the BS of unplugging the cable box and plugging it back in. When I told her it didn't work and I still have a message that says "one moment please" she told me to read the SN number from the box so that she can reset it. Well, she ended up resetting the whole fucking thing. I lost my phone connection and Internet. Eventually the Internet came back and so did the phone, but cable TV was still off line. Now this happens like every four to six months. Either the Internet goes out or the TV. If the Internet goes out I simply change IP addresses with the MAC clone feture in the router and that gives me a new IP address (I shun to think about the poor bastards that don't know that) But the TV I can't do anything about. All I can do is unplug the cable box and plug it back in. That NEVER fixes the problem and I have a basic box downstairs and that thing will loss a signal more often.

So my question is is cable TV delivered via a server? Can't it just be reset? Why doesn't customer support have this info. to tell customers who have no service?

When I called Comcast for the second time tonight about my cable TV not working there was a recorded message that said in my area they were experiencing phone issues. Well how does that compare with cable TV? Is everything like on the same server or what?

 

[sze5003]

They were most likely having an outage or issue in your area. Many times it depends on service could work and the other won't. Usually with those bundles if you loose one service the others won't function either. Although it depends what type of problems they are having. One point I lost tv but then the internet was fine, it was coming into my apartment from a different line. When I used to live with my parents if we lost tv, usually the internet was not working either.

 

[John Connor]

It went out again for three and a half hours. Internet to me is like electricity, once it's gone you go nuts! I'm getting sick of this shit!

 

[Smoblikat]

How much information is collected and stored/sent out to the NSA?

 

[Ichinisan]

How much information is collected and stored/sent out to the NSA?

All of it.

 

[rudeguy]

It went out again for three and a half hours. Internet to me is like electricity, once it's gone you go nuts! I'm getting sick of this shit!

then why didn't you change your ip address and fix it?

 

[Ichinisan]

Okay, I have a question or two. Tonight my TV went out, in fact all the TVs went out and I called Comcast and she told me the BS of unplugging the cable box and plugging it back in. When I told her it didn't work and I still have a message that says "one moment please" she told me to read the SN number from the box so that she can reset it. Well, she ended up resetting the whole fucking thing. I lost my phone connection and Internet. Eventually the Internet came back and so did the phone, but cable TV was still off line. Now this happens like every four to six months. Either the Internet goes out or the TV. If the Internet goes out I simply change IP addresses with the MAC clone feture in the router and that gives me a new IP address (I shun to think about the poor bastards that don't know that) But the TV I can't do anything about. All I can do is unplug the cable box and plug it back in. That NEVER fixes the problem and I have a basic box downstairs and that thing will loss a signal more often.

So my question is is cable TV delivered via a server? Can't it just be reset? Why doesn't customer support have this info. to tell customers who have no service?

When I called Comcast for the second time tonight about my cable TV not working there was a recorded message that said in my area they were experiencing phone issues. Well how does that compare with cable TV? Is everything like on the same server or what?

Channel delivery can be linear or switched. Switched digital video (SDV) is currently not possible without some kind of device from the provider that signals them whenever you change channels.

Linear channels can usually be delivered to a TV with no converter or tuning adapter, as long as it has the right kind of tuner.

The Internet connection is usually really sensitive to the quality of the connection. If Internet access worked while you had no TV, you might want to make sure the house amplifier (booster) is getting power (assuming there is an amp installed). The cable modem is usually wired to an outlet that bypasses the house amp.

 

[weadjust]

After dropping Comcast TV and keeping internet only 5 months ago. Comcast decided they owned my modem and would charge me $7.00 a month to rent my owned modem to myself. I called Comcast the first 3 months and each month they corrected the bill. Month 4 I went in person and got the bill corrected. It's now month 5 and my bill says I owe $7.00 for last month modem rental and an additional $7.00 for this month modem rental. Who do talk to or beat the crap out of to get this corrected permanently.

 

[sze5003]

After dropping Comcast TV and keeping internet only 5 months ago. Comcast decided they owned my modem and would charge me $7.00 a month to rent my owned modem to myself. I called Comcast the first 3 months and each month they corrected the bill. Month 4 I went in person and got the bill corrected. It's now month 5 and my bill says I owe $7.00 for last month modem rental and an additional $7.00 for this month modem rental. Who do talk to or beat the crap out of to get this corrected permanently.

Make sure you keep the receipt they give you when you returned their modem. That will be needed proof to let them know you should not be charged any more.

 

[John Connor]

then why didn't you change your ip address and fix it?

Everything went out! TV, telephone and Internet. I knew a IP change wasn't necessary. What the fuck are they doing!!!???

 

[T9D]

After dropping Comcast TV and keeping internet only 5 months ago. Comcast decided they owned my modem and would charge me $7.00 a month to rent my owned modem to myself. I called Comcast the first 3 months and each month they corrected the bill. Month 4 I went in person and got the bill corrected. It's now month 5 and my bill says I owe $7.00 for last month modem rental and an additional $7.00 for this month modem rental. Who do talk to or beat the crap out of to get this corrected permanently.

They used to do that to me EVERY FREAKING TIME.

This is what I came up with. It isn't a mistake. They purposely do it. It's more BS from stockholders. Like everything they calculate what they can get away with and what the overall cost or the cost of fines would be. So they go ahead with underhanded sneaky tactics to wring every last cent out of people so their stock goes up.

 

[rudeguy]

Everything went out! TV, telephone and Internet. I knew a IP change wasn't necessary. What the fuck are they doing!!!???

if its multiple services, a line was damaged. Or a splitter. Something physical with the network.

The phone, internet and tv do work off different servers and its not like Uverse where one gateway controls everything either. You have 3 different things on your end controlling the signal.

When you called in, their system told you that you were in an outage. 3+ (depending on the area) trouble calls equals an outage. If everyone in your area has the problem, they don't need to speak to you about it.

But since you are having so many issues, its likely a signal problem. Changing your IP resets your modem, which temporarily fixes your issue. Your super secret router fix could be done just by unplugging and plugging in your modem. Since you have multiple services, you have multiple failure points. Or your area could have an issue. Do you live in an apartment or some other multi dwelling unit?

The short answer is to not have a god complex when you call in. Tell them calmly that you are having problems and ask for help. Believe it or not...they do actually know more than you.

 

[weadjust]

Make sure you keep the receipt they give you when you returned their modem. That will be needed proof to let them know you should not be charged any more.

I have never ever ever possessed a modem owned or issued to me by Comcast. I have owned my own modem since high speed internet was offered in my area. My current modem is a Motorola Surfboard DOCSIS 2.0 that I paid for with cold hard plastic cash.

 

[sze5003]

I have never ever ever possessed a modem owned or issued to me by Comcast. I have owned my own modem since high speed internet was offered in my area. My current modem is a Motorola Surfboard DOCSIS 2.0 that I paid for with cold hard plastic cash.

Go in to the local office and bring proof of your purchased modem. Infact bring the modem so they can do a lookup of the modem serial in their inventory.

 

[slugg]

I have phone, TV, and internet. My phone line costs $30 out of the entire bill. I've literally never used the phone, ever - I don't even have a phone. When I called to cancel the phone line, they told me my bill would not go down. How is this possible?

I mean yes, I have some kind of "bundle" price, but it doesn't make any sense that by canceling one roughly third of my bill, that I'd endure the same monthly rape. Is there anything I can tell the retention people to cancel the phone line and lower my bill?

Thanks

 

[John Connor]

Believe it or not...they do actually know more than you.

No, they don't! LOL

I called when the TV went out the first time and she told me the obvious of unpluging the AC and the cable connector. Well, ALL THE FUCKING CABLE BOXES HAD NO SIGNAL! I told her that constantly. Then all of a sudden I lost all three services.

I think they were updating the system when everything went out for two nights in a row. Pushing something to the servers would more than likely do that. We got a letter in the mail stating that the channel line up for some channels would change. So I assume this is what's going on here.

No, I don't live in an apartment and the tap is located in our yard. You can't open it without a special tool.

 

[rudeguy]

Then you should be able to open it just fine.

 

[imagoon]

The one in my yard has been hanging open for 3+ years so... I see most of the guys use a needle nose to pop it open.