StarDestroyer.Net BBS

This is going to be short and sweet. I want to know what in the bloody bleeding hell could cause 1.3 kB/s download speeds and 20% packet loss consistently on a Dlink DCM202 modem. I USED to get good connection speeds. Not stellar, but hey, at least I didn't have to wait 15 minutes to download a 271KB update to AVG.

Some information:

When I touch the splitter that connects my modem and TV, I can feel electrical current in my fingers. I disconnected the main line coming from the wall, and the current is actually being pumped out by that wall line. it's not a painful amount of current, but enough so it makes my hand tingle.

It takes my modem about 5 minutes after powerup to find a connection. I get a flashing amber light for anywhere from 2-5 minutes, then a flashing green status light for an equal time, then solid lights indicating a good connection.

That's really all I can think of....thoughts?

I'm guessing this is a ground issue. Check where the cable comes into your house, and see if the ground line is still attached, and then follow it around and see if runs into the ground, or is attached to your power meter box.

Call Comcast every hour on the hour until they get someone out there to fix your wiring. Or every 30 minutes. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Alferd Packer wrote:Call Comcast every hour on the hour until they get someone out there to fix your wiring. Or every 30 minutes. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Well, I did give em a call, they pinged the modem and got the 20% packet loss on the thing. They said my D/L speed looked fine, and I was telling them "fine is not 1.3kB/s"


they said they'll be out next thursday between 5 PM and 8 PM. Until then, I can't even get to my email from home. I was hoping maybe someone here might be able to suggest a sort of...temporary fix...or some trouble shooting methods.

Chardok wrote: they said they'll be out next thursday between 5 PM and 8 PM. Until then, I can't even get to my email from home. I was hoping maybe someone here might be able to suggest a sort of...temporary fix...or some trouble shooting methods.

Afraid there's really not much you can do given it's a hardware difficulty, aside from some (rather illegal I may add) ways of mulcting connection off your neighbors. As said earlier, keep callin' them...

Hmm, sounds like it's time to escalate.

Assuming you have a couple hours to kill, call back and immediately ask to speak to a supervisor. Explain that you can't browse the internet at all and you're very upset, yadda yadda, and demand that you not be charged for your internet service from this moment on until the time it's fixed. If you get the run-around, demand to speak to HIS supervisor, and so on. Make sure you write down names of people you talk to (ask for full names), in case you get disconnected. Be prepared to explain your situation to each new person you talk to. If you out-and-out ruin enough people's days by being a pest, they're going to take the path of least resistance and figure out that it'll be quicker to shut you up by getting someone out your way to fix it.

Alferd Packer wrote:Hmm, sounds like it's time to escalate.

Assuming you have a couple hours to kill, call back and immediately ask to speak to a supervisor. Explain that you can't browse the internet at all and you're very upset, yadda yadda, and demand that you not be charged for your internet service from this moment on until the time it's fixed. If you get the run-around, demand to speak to HIS supervisor, and so on. Make sure you write down names of people you talk to (ask for full names), in case you get disconnected. Be prepared to explain your situation to each new person you talk to. If you out-and-out ruin enough people's days by being a pest, they're going to take the path of least resistance and figure out that it'll be quicker to shut you up by getting someone out your way to fix it.

And if you still get resistance, threaten to switch to DSL/Satellite.

*caution: business-related rant ahead*

This issue really symbolizes the fundamental lethargy of the cable operators compared to their telecom breathren (who are, I must regretfully add, increasingly heading in the same slovenly direction). The ex-AT&T portions of the US telephone system have six sigma reliability, and are meticulously engineered triumphs, carefully designed to conform to exacting specifications. The cable industry never bothered to even try to achieve AT&T-style network reliability, which was fine, back in the day when all that travelled over their network was television programming of dubious importance. However, now that the cable operators have moved into the same territory once reserved for the phone system, with VoIP and data services, the quality of service they are accustomed to providing is absolutely unacceptable. Making this even worse is the fact that the telecoms, driven by cost pressures, appear to be headed in the same direction, especially with their landline phones, which by virtue of being a dying business, are unlikely to see much in the way of plant replacement.

*end of rant*

how but getting DSL cause comcast sucks ASS.

Dennis Toy wrote:how but getting DSL cause comcast sucks ASS.

Really? When downloading patches for games, and just about any file, I get a download rate of 850 KB/s, and I've got Comcast. On more than one occasion, I've gotten speeds above a meg/s.

Same problems w/ Cox, but they have a monopoly on broadband here.

Chardok wrote:This is going to be short and sweet. I want to know what in the bloody bleeding hell could cause 1.3 kB/s download speeds and 20% packet loss consistently on a Dlink DCM202 modem. I USED to get good connection speeds. Not stellar, but hey, at least I didn't have to wait 15 minutes to download a 271KB update to AVG.

Some information:

When I touch the splitter that connects my modem and TV, I can feel electrical current in my fingers. I disconnected the main line coming from the wall, and the current is actually being pumped out by that wall line. it's not a painful amount of current, but enough so it makes my hand tingle.

It takes my modem about 5 minutes after powerup to find a connection. I get a flashing amber light for anywhere from 2-5 minutes, then a flashing green status light for an equal time, then solid lights indicating a good connection.

That's really all I can think of....thoughts?

Find the writer for the technology column at your local paper. Detail your experience, step by step, with Comcast's tech support and your Internet service. Give the writer your name. If the writer is interested, he'll contact Comcast's marketing people and tell them "A customer named Chardok Van Chardok has had this experience with your service, and I think it's worth writing about."

You'll have a phone call waiting for you the next day. Back when TCI Broadband (before they were bought by AT&T ... before they were bought by Comcast) was first installing cable Internet in my area, we were getting the shaft because our lines were fucked. Comcast kept giving us the run-around with endless tech support nonsense, when the problem was obviously with our lines. We'd literally had the modem installed for three weeks without being able to connect. My dad got the e-mail address of the Chicago Tribune's technology columnist, who was writing an article on broadband Internet. He e-mailed the guy a detailed chronology of our experience with TCI. Literally the next morning, my dad had a message waiting for him at his work number. They were more than willing to kiss our asses, and the problem was resolved the next day.

Don't buy this wait-list shit. These people have the resources to fix pretty much any problem. You just have to make yourself a priority to cut past all their red tape nonsense.

When I touch the splitter that connects my modem and TV,

WTF??
On my cable install, the installer put a filter in that blocks TV signals from the line that connects to the modem.
And you certainly shouldn't be able to feel voltage through either line.

My guess is that the E-MTA on the outside of your house (look for a gray box that says 'ARRIS') is fucked up, as it's powered by voltage coming off the pole but it shouldn't pass that 50 volt current on to your TV and modem.

Edit: Isn't it amazing what you pick up from talking to the CATV installer while he's fixing your fucked up service?