High Speed Internet

[Brian]

Whatcha got?

 

We have Comcast but having problems and their service has been crap. A tech was suppose to come out and fix it and they no showed twice.

 

We will probably go to AT&T Advanced TV and their high speed soon. Comcast is raising prices for nothing.

 

Is high speed, like AT&T, that comes through the phone line, do you have to dial in everytime of is it constantly going through a modem and if need be, a router?

 

 

[Kyyle23]

i think i am the only person who hasnt had problems with Comcast

[knightni]

I haven't had major issues with their high speed; just router to internet issues early on.

 

Their Digital Voice system is substandard however.

[Brian]

Our problem with Comcast is the modem. It goes off sometimes for no reason. All a tech has to do is come out and fix it or change it and they no show twice.

 

I also see lower prices for high speed elsewhere. I mean is there much of a difference with the cable high speed and DSL? I'm not even totally sure what DSL is.

[DrunkBomber]

Our problem with Comcast is the modem. It goes off sometimes for no reason. All a tech has to do is come out and fix it or change it and they no show twice.

 

I also see lower prices for high speed elsewhere. I mean is there much of a difference with the cable high speed and DSL? I'm not even totally sure what DSL is.

It sounds like you might be having the exact same problem as me. About 3 weeks ago it started, my router will just reset every once in a while. Sometimes every hour and sometimes every minute where I have to sit there and keep refreshing.

 

My recent problem with Comcast was the only one Ive had and Ive used them for about 7 years. When the problem started I called and they said it was my modem and that I could go and exchange it at a store if I didnt want to wait for an appointment. It was a Saturday and I asked them if my local Elmhurst location was open and i was told it was, which it wasnt, no big deal though. Next I call back and they apologize and say to go to the Schaumburg location, about 20 minutes away. I get there, wait in line with my old modem, get to the counter, no problem she gets me a new modem. Messes with the CPU and takes it back saying they cant give me one there because it messes up their inventory. So I go in the parking lot and call and they apologize again. They say they cant come out for an appointment till the following Sunday, at this point its Saturday, but he lets me in on a little "secret." If I buy one from Best Buy and complain they will refund me and I wont have to rent theirs anymore. So I go and buy one for 70 bucks or so. Take it home, activate it, success. For about 2 hours, then the new one has the same problem. Call again and set up appointment for 8 days away. Take off work so I can be there for sure because I need the internet. Obviously they dont show up, they did however keep calling and saying they were on their way and actually entered into their computer that they finished the job.

 

Then, 2 days ago I pull into my driveway and see a Comcast van there. The guy gets out and yells at me, seriously. I didnt even have an appointment, then I figure, if hes here, let him fix it. Nope, hes late for his other job and we know how they dont like being late for other jobs. I checked my bill online and saw they charged me for not being there when they showed up and I talked to a supervisor on the phone and she hung up on me. Im moving soon, so I think I might have to find another company. I love the cable but Im not dealing with that s***.

[Brian]

It's definitely my modem. It goes on and off, not the router, unless the router causes it to go on and off.

[lostfan]

It's definitely my modem. It goes on and off, not the router, unless the router causes it to go on and off.

I doubt it. Are you using one of the black Motorola ones? Those are awesome and almost never drop out so I would be surprised if that's what it was. More than likely it's your signal strength that's the problem. Both times where I had my modem going in and out, that's what it was. Back at my old apartment complex, it kept dropping my signal every time I started using a lot of bandwidth, like playing a game or loading someone's Myspace that had music on it or something which obviously was annoying as hell. Eventually, after a couple of visits, I found that the problem was the wiring that needed to be upgraded. The place I was living in was built and wired for cable, but this was way before anybody had ever heard or thought of digital cable boxes and wireless internet, which used a lot of bandwidth. So underground, they had the older, thinner cables that would get taxed out at my 3 cable boxes and cable modem all asking for bandwidth at the same time. They upgraded the cables outside which took a while since they had to get a contractor to go underground, but at least they (Comcast) didn't charge me for the time I was using crappy internet. Now, you'd think Comcast would go upgrade all those at once so they don't have to deal with the problem, but I guess they're looking after their bottom line and that'd cost too much to do all at once.

 

Right now, I'm also using cable internet (not Comcast b/c of come contractual thing that I don't know much about) and I was having signal issues for a while, but it's because I was splitting my signal between this computer and the TV behind me. I had to disconnect it from a TV, it didn't work with better splitters. I guess my cable runs too long for it to do that so I'm gonna buy a signal booster and see how that works out.

[DrunkBomber]

It's definitely my modem. It goes on and off, not the router, unless the router causes it to go on and off.

Mines doing the exact same thing and when I got a new modem it kept doing the same thing. Im assuming it has to be something with the service. Ive tried everything and even when I unhooked the router and ran the internet directly through the modem it did the same thing. Its pretty damn annoying.

[DrunkBomber]

I doubt it. Are you using one of the black Motorola ones? Those are awesome and almost never drop out so I would be surprised if that's what it was. More than likely it's your signal strength that's the problem. Both times where I had my modem going in and out, that's what it was. Back at my old apartment complex, it kept dropping my signal every time I started using a lot of bandwidth, like playing a game or loading someone's Myspace that had music on it or something which obviously was annoying as hell. Eventually, after a couple of visits, I found that the problem was the wiring that needed to be upgraded. The place I was living in was built and wired for cable, but this was way before anybody had ever heard or thought of digital cable boxes and wireless internet, which used a lot of bandwidth. So underground, they had the older, thinner cables that would get taxed out at my 3 cable boxes and cable modem all asking for bandwidth at the same time. They upgraded the cables outside which took a while since they had to get a contractor to go underground, but at least they (Comcast) didn't charge me for the time I was using crappy internet. Now, you'd think Comcast would go upgrade all those at once so they don't have to deal with the problem, but I guess they're looking after their bottom line and that'd cost too much to do all at once.

 

Right now, I'm also using cable internet (not Comcast b/c of come contractual thing that I don't know much about) and I was having signal issues for a while, but it's because I was splitting my signal between this computer and the TV behind me. I had to disconnect it from a TV, it didn't work with better splitters. I guess my cable runs too long for it to do that so I'm gonna buy a signal booster and see how that works out.

That sounds exactly like what it might be for me. I dont have the black modem but I bought a different one and had the same results. I notice that if Im on AIM and have my SlingBox going or on certain pages is when it has the problems.

[lostfan]

That sounds exactly like what it might be for me. I dont have the black modem but I bought a different one and had the same results. I notice that if Im on AIM and have my SlingBox going or on certain pages is when it has the problems.

I would venture to guess if you switched out your modem, it'd be doing the exact same thing.

[justBLAZE]

Comcast here, cannot complain.

[southsider2k5]

ATT DSL, we will upgrade once we get a new computer.

[JorgeFabregas]

That sounds exactly like what it might be for me. I dont have the black modem but I bought a different one and had the same results. I notice that if Im on AIM and have my SlingBox going or on certain pages is when it has the problems.

If it only happens when you're using slingbox, then it's possible that they're throttling your bandwidth. AT&T doesn't do that -- yet.

[SoxFan562004]

i think i am the only person who hasnt had problems with Comcast

I haven't had any problems with it either

[vandy125]

Here is a nice little article that goes through the differences between Cable and DSL.

 

Cable vs DSL

 

The main thing that affects speed for Cable internet is how many people are using it in your area. The main thing that affects speed for DSL is the distance you are from the hub.

 

I have DSL at home, and it works out great. I would bet that Cable would probably be faster in my area, but I would be paying a much higher price for it.

[lostfan]

Even when a lot of people are on the same node for cable, it's still much faster than DSL ever gets, but it's also more expensive. I've had both. For someone like me the difference is noticeable.

[southsideirish71]

Here is a nice little article that goes through the differences between Cable and DSL.

 

Cable vs DSL

 

The main thing that affects speed for Cable internet is how many people are using it in your area. The main thing that affects speed for DSL is the distance you are from the hub.

 

I have DSL at home, and it works out great. I would bet that Cable would probably be faster in my area, but I would be paying a much higher price for it.

 

I have a cable modem and use comcast. My service runs real fast and I dont have any issues. Comcast has deployed some bandwidth shaping tools that can affect some of your performance. Say if you are using bit torrent. Their appliance will detect it and send whats called a RST packet to your machine. This basically is the equivalent of hanging up your conversation mid stream. So its not just speed people, its infrastructure, stabillity of the transport network.

 

Docis 3.0 is coming out soon for Cable. This gives capability of 100 Mbit/s to 150 Mbit/s for downloads is what Comcast has tested. The assymetrical tilt from download to upload might be a 95/5 split in the beginning from what I am seeing from my friends in the cable industry

 

Theoretical limits on DOCIS 3.0

 

Download Upload

 

3.0 4channel +171.52 (+152) Mbit/s +122.88 (+108) Mbit/s

3.0 8channel +343.04 (+304) Mbit/s +122.88 (+108) Mbit/s

 

In the US DSL is still kind of limited from distance limits, crappy infrastructure of run cable, and other technical issues. This is why some of the bells are running FIOS type services. In this way they can run VDSL or other protocols underneath the hood and get the high speed downloads, while using known protocols that are and have been working overseas for a while. My London office has a 20 meg VDSL circuit. We are deploying VDSL based services all over Europe right now.

 

The next thing to look at is WiMax as well. We use a pre-Wimax circuit for disaster recovery. Our node is 2 miles away from the signal tower and the service is very very reliable. In fact I have ported over my primary internet traffic to give my primary circuit cluster a break. We have not had any drops in services. This is the easiest way to deploy high density services on the cheap. We have a 45 meg circuit for the same price of a 10 meg traditional circuit.

 

 

[Brian]

Do you have to dial in for DSL or does it continuously run through the line like cable?

[DrunkBomber]

If it only happens when you're using slingbox, then it's possible that they're throttling your bandwidth. AT&T doesn't do that -- yet.

It just happens randomly. Actually, the Sling Box is the only thing that will always connect, even if it says Im not connected.

[southsideirish71]

Do you have to dial in for DSL or does it continuously run through the line like cable?

 

You can run DSL a few different ways. But in short, you dont need to dial up. You can either use your phone line for DSL transport, which will use either splitters or filters to isolate and split the phone and DSL connections. Or you can get a dedicated phone line and run the DSL over it. This is called Naked DSL in most parts of the earth.

 

 

[DrunkBomber]

So because of my ongoing dispute with Comcast I told them I wasnt going to pay my bill (my part of the deal) until they got my internet to work (their part of the deal). So obviously being the great company they are ran by minimum wage people who get so flustered when something is presented to them that isnt directly in front of them on a computer to read that they have to put you on hold, they shut off my service. When I called to complain they told me if it is indeed an issue like we discussed in this thread than there is nothing they can do immediately and I have to be patient. Since I have a tenant I had to get the service turned back on for the minimal internet use and cable I paid the balance on my bill. Upon my service being restored my internet has now worked for about 12 hours perfectly. Im sure I just jinxed it and now it will immediately stop working. So this basically leads me to believe my internet hasnt been working for about 3 weeks and all that needed to be done to fix it was something they could have done sitting at a computer.