Ugh... Comcast is awful

[Gunny]

Originally Posted by robj144

Thanks. Every time a tech has been here, he doesn't seem to know what he's doing.

Anyhow, the tech that came last never did any diagnostics at all to determine what the signal level was when he came. He just replaced the main cable coming in and replaced the old, single splitter, with a newer, single splitter. My incoming signal is fairly low to begin with... I began testing it last week.

That's odd. Our in-house techs MUST complete a home certification and submit it when closing a work order. It's a DOCSIS test. Even the contractors in my area are required to do so. Can't speak for other regions, but it would seem to be a common standard. I'm glad you were able to address the issue.

[robj144]

Originally Posted by BigMo66

That's odd. Our in-house techs MUST complete a home certification and submit it when closing a work order. It's a DOCSIS test. Even the contractors in my area are required to do so. Can't speak for other regions, but it would seem to be a common standard. I'm glad you were able to address the issue.

Thanks. In my area, anecdotally, they seem to not know much.

Anyhow, you can probably answer this... before I switched my splitter setup recently, I had one upstream bonded channel active. Now I have three bonded channels active. Is that due to the incoming signal being stronger now?

[Gunny]

Originally Posted by robj144

Thanks. In my area, anecdotally, they seem to not know much.

Anyhow, you can probably answer this... before I switched my splitter setup recently, I had one upstream bonded channel active. Now I have three bonded channels active. Is that due to the incoming signal being stronger now?

Not likely as the carriers are either there or not even if degraded. If a carrier is missing, it would most likely be an active piece of equipment. Never know though as I've seen some weird stuff. Our system is at 36 downstream channels and 4 upstream carriers. When I started it was one & one at barely a megabit and now we are at 2 gigs.

[AX17609]

Originally Posted by robj144

Thanks. In my area, anecdotally, they seem to not know much.

I agree with this. In my area (mid-Maryland), if you can get an actual Comcast tech to look at your problem, you're good to go. The contractors, however, are terrible.

[robj144]

Originally Posted by BigMo66

Not likely as the carriers are either there or not even if degraded. If a carrier is missing, it would most likely be an active piece of equipment. Never know though as I've seen some weird stuff. Our system is at 36 downstream channels and 4 upstream carriers. When I started it was one & one at barely a megabit and now we are at 2 gigs.

All I did was add a splitter. Same modem and nothing else changed. I measured the signals about twenty minutes apart.

[CoffeeFan]

Originally Posted by robj144

If anyone works for Comcast, here, move to another thread. I'm sure there are some competent folks who work there, but I think they're the exception.

I'll try to make this short. I buy my own cable modems instead of renting. They usually only last about a year (buying one every or so is still cheaper than renting), but it's annoying to have them begin to fail (where the internet randomly goes out) and then fail completely.

I was thinking that's how things are made these days and asked around to get data how long my friend's modems lasted. Most said years and years or that they haven't even replaced it yet.

I figured maybe it's more than the modems. So, I did some diagnostics on my modem and it is getting too low a signal. My cable is split 3 ways and it was setup (by Comcast) with one splitter. If you need to split more than two ways, you need to get a two way splitter, with one out going to the modem, and then another going to another splitter instead of a single splitter. I just did that tonight, and on my God, are the results night and day different according to the diagnostics. It's a much stronger signal and even opened upstream channels that were never there before.

I think what was happening is that the modem was outputting too great of a signal to compensate for the low signal coming in and it was being overworked and getting hotter. Thus, dying quicker.

A couple years ago, my main cable was cut by landscapers and Comcast tech came out to replace and check out my setup. He never mentioned that one splitter is a bad idea and in fact replaced that one splitter with another single splitter. Never did any diagnostics either.

So, this entire time it's been setup incorrectly.

So, one guy screws something up and that equates to "I'm sure there are some competent folks who work there, but I think they're the exception"??

That doesn't make any sense.

[robj144]

Originally Posted by CoffeeFan

So, one guy screws something up and that equates to "I'm sure there are some competent folks who work there, but I think they're the exception"??

That doesn't make any sense.

No, I didn't list all the incidents here. I'm 0 for 5 with Comcast actually.

[imwjl]

This works well in most places but you have to have documentation and behave well with it.

The cable companies typically have a local monopoly and most local government units have someone who is the regulator or taker of complaints. There are LEC or local exchange phone companies that also have last mile monopolies.

If they are truly not doing their job, you have it documented, and you behave well with it you can point out they're not meeting or deserving the term of their local monopoly. If you reach a supervisor you can point this out and ask if you have to go to your regulator or if they will fix it. It the monopolist truly has a junk show you should get resolution.

You can also ask nicely what exactly the field technician i doing. If they say they'll add a splitter or make a change ask about any dependencies or unintended outcomes.

These things I have to do in my day job have worked at home but it took a reasonable "How can I help you solve this?" manner with the vendors and in one case the city regulator's office. With cable, phone and airline companies I find putting on a smile and the right mood helps. You might not be happy about your circumstance but the wrong way only creates a threat response in the other person.

[mr. beaumont]

Timely thread, switching to "Wow" right as we speak.

Gonna cut the bill in half.

Also, finally joining 2019 and ditching the landline we haven't used in years.

[CoffeeFan]

Originally Posted by robj144

No, I didn't list all the incidents here. I'm 0 for 5 with Comcast actually.

Well, given what you presented, your conclusion made no sense.

[CoffeeFan]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Also, finally joining 2019 and ditching the landline we haven't used in years.

I haven't had a land line since November of 2012.