Comcast lies

[lowrider69]

How long did the outages last?

Lets say that the cable company was replacing an amplifier on the main line, that would take about 10 - 15 minutes.

On a lot of the amps, there are 4 bolts holding it in. Use a nut driver or a socket and ratchet to take the bolts out, pull the amp out of the housing, move the jumpers from the old amp to the new amp, put new amp in place.

But if the company is replacing a section of truck line, that can take a little while to do.

Replace a tap on the main line, that takes like 15 - 20 seconds. Couple of bolts hold the tap in. Take those bolts out, pop the old tap out of the housing, put the new tap in place, simple. I use to carry spare taps with me all the time. If one had some broken ports, just swap it out with a new tap.

This is a tap

The main line goes in and out through the bottom, or the sides.

I would do a tracert and there were issues down the line and I would call them, I would post the reports on their forums. It got old like I said.

Anyway, I'm familiar with taps, amplifiers, etc...thanks for the info though. Some days in that two week span their network would be down for a full day here a half day there, other days their DNS servers weren't resolving or were slow as shit. Actually, their DNS servers were always having random issues all year round from what I recall, I just switched to a level 3 DNS server and fixed that problem. As mentioned their shit wasn't contained to just those two weeks, there were minor outages throughout the year, every year I was there. It wasn't reliable as far as i'm concerned.

 

[chihlidog]

I had comcast cable, and for a long time the service was great. Then I noticed it degenerating and the tech replaced the box outside that they had previously installed at their cost. It was good for another few months. They said I had outdated hardware out there. Cool.

A few months later I started having pretty serious issues, just random disconnects, slow speeds, high ping, etc. etc. It was never resolved. THey wanted to replace my modem, they wanted $80 dollars to do so meanwhile I paid a small charge every month to rent this thing from them. After probably 2 dozen calls and no resolution, we finally dropped them for Fios and I dont regret the switch one bit.

Ive never had to call fios tech support. Ever. It just plain works.

 

[VirtualLarry]

THey wanted to replace my modem, they wanted $80 dollars to do so meanwhile I paid a small charge every month to rent this thing from them.

They wanted 80 bucks to swap out a modem, that they were renting you? You could have bought your own for the price. Something doesn't jive there.

 

[darkamulets]

I had similar problems, older home with all the runs on the exterior. Some crappy job from a directv guy from the previous owners. Before comcast came out I pulled all the wires out so they would need to rerun it all. When comcast came out to do the install they re-ran everything for free (part of the waived install fee)!

It was fine for about 2-3 weeks. Then I would get channels with tearing or cubing. Then the modem would loose sync for hours. After calling (adding the $3/month service) and escalating I got a few tech visits. They re-ran the line from the tap to the house (80 ft.) for free but it didn't resolve the issue. Eventually it was discovered the port on the tap had problems.

I suggest you just talk to the tech, give him the run down and ask him to check if their is noise in the line (usually they'll run a test from an outlet and from outside). Also ask him for his card & supervisor's number, if the guy doesn't fix it call up his boss and escalate. Keep pushing the problem uphill and eventually you can get it fixed. I fought for a week and haven't had issues since (7+ months). The big thing is to catch a non-contractor, I specifically requested a comcast tech and not an install contractor with the phone support supervisor.

 

[Texashiker]

It was fine for about 2-3 weeks. Then I would get channels with tearing or cubing. Then the modem would loose sync for hours.

If the digital cable will not work, the internet probably will not work. Unless, there are a lot of splitters in the attic.

The cable modem is usually put on the first splitter, that way the modem only loses 3.5 decibels. The rest of the house usually runs off the other side of the 2 way splitter. If the signal drops too much, you can install a signal amp, but the modem should never be behind a signal amp in the attic.

I suggest you just talk to the tech, give him the run down and ask him to check if their is noise in the line (usually they'll run a test from an outlet and from outside).

Usually, unless times have changed, it takes a specialized meter to test the signal to noise ratio.

The standard meter that most techs are issued, it just test signal strength.

 

[chihlidog]

They wanted 80 bucks to swap out a modem, that they were renting you? You could have bought your own for the price. Something doesn't jive there.

I felt the same way, I couldnt understand why it was MY responsibility to replace the faulty equipment. (Which Im not so sure was faulty, to be honest). The service I got from them deteriorated consistently over the years they were my ISP.

Like I said, I couldnt be happier with fios. No bandwidth cap, consistent speed, service ALWAYS works, and built-in wireless. So long as the service remains this way, I will be a fios customer for life.