On Thursday, June 11, 2020 at 12:25:54 PM UTC-4, RCE wrote:
On 6/11/2020 12:05 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 11 Jun 2020 10:25:02 -0400, RCE wrote:

On 6/10/2020 7:25 PM, Alex wrote:


RCE wrote:
On 6/10/2020 8:15 AM, Justan Ohlphart wrote:

RCE Wrote in message:
Thunderbird crashed.Â* Testing setup.-- This email has been checked
for viruses by AVG.https://www.avg.com

Ok
JO ??



Had setup email and newsgroups again.Â* Don't know what happened but
seems to be ok now.Â* First time I ever had a problem with Thunderbird.

Computers bug me sometimes.



At least you aren't honoring Krause with the name he gave you!


Alex, you are familiar with this stuff, so I thought you'd get a
kick out of this. Long story, but interesting to electronic nerds.
I am leaving out a whole bunch of trouble shooting that I have done
trying to isolate the problem:

For the first time in over 4 years I am experiencing chronic problems
with Comcast Internet service. Symptoms are really weird though and
Comcast is sending a "high level" tech and a supervisor to witness.

Problems started on May 18th. I'd come in the house and notice the
modem sync light blinking which means no Internet connectivity. Home
network is fine. Just no Internet.

Doing the recommended power reset thing, it still wouldn't sync.
Finally called Comcast for help and went through the painful automated
remote reset process that takes 10 minutes before you can actually talk
to an "agent".

Talked to agent who said, "let me try a remote reset". I said, "you can
try all you want but if the modem is not connected to the Internet, you
won't be able to reset it. But, he tried anyway and then scheduled a
visit by a tech.

Tech arrived and looked at signal strength which he said was
"excellent". He decided my 4 year old modem was bad and installed
a new, "X7" type that is supposed to be the best they have ever had.

After connecting input cable the modem synced up and Internet
connectivity was restored.

"Good" I thought. Problem solved. But ... noooooo

Next day it's out again. Tried the power off reset. No luck.
Light just blinks endlessly. Checked RG6 connectors. All tight.

After another day I called Comcast again and told the agent what was
done and it still didn't work. She scheduled another tech visit.

Tech arrived, (different guy) tested signal strength and, like the
other tech, said it was "excellent". He went out and replaced all
the RG6 connectors at the Comcast pedestal on the road, the pedestal
near my driveway and ran a new RG-6 cable into house. Connected it
up and everything works fine again.

Problem solved? Nope.

Next day, it's out again, but now I am starting to notice something.
It only seems to go out whenever I leave my house for a while and
return. Then I just happened to notice that whenever my cell phone
scans when I come home, looking for my secure home network, the
model light starts blinking "no sync" as soon as the cell phone
connects via Wi-Fi to the secure network.

Then, I noticed that to restore connectivity I don't need to do the
"power off reset" routine. All I have to do is very briefly
disconnect the cable input line for a second, reconnect it and
"poof" the model syncs.

I've tested and watched this almost 20 times now. Whenever I leave
the house and return and the cell phone connects to the network it
knocks the modem off-line.

I called Comcast again yesterday and explained all this which is why
they are sending out another tech and a supervisor. They had never
heard of a problem like this.

However:

The last agent I talked to looked up to see if Comcast has done any
upgrades, repairs or work on any of their distribution centers. Turns
out they made a major upgrade to one on ... May 18th .. the day my
issues started. This guy was knowledgeable about the Comcast system
and, on a hunch, I asked him if the signal strength is *too* high, can
it cause a problem. He said yes. The modems are designed to shut down
if the input is too high to protect the electronics. Ah, Ha!

My hunch is that they put new distribution amps in and the signal to
my model is more than "excellent". I think it's way too high and it's
knocking the modem off-line. The cell phone connection is the straw
that breaks the camel's back.

Betcha they install a signal attenuator.

I cut the cable and left it laying in the right of way in 2004.
Comcast is OK when it is working but it was down too much to count on.
Your experience with their service department mirrors what people tell
me here. My FIL's connection is down at least once a day. Most of the
time it comes back by itself. Other times he is on the phone with
them. He never realized how much it was really down until he got Echo.
It has a red ring on top anytime it loses connection with the host and
his music stops. With me it was my weather station. I had to turn off
logging because it was filling up the logs with failed attempts.



Dealing with Comcast when you are having a problem is a frustrating
experience for sure. Fortunately the service here has been pretty
much rock steady since we moved over 4 years ago with only occasional
outages when there's a general, overall outage. I think I can count
on one hand the number of times that has happened in four years.

This problem is a doozy. I left out a lot of things I tried to
isolate the problem but finally gave up. One positive thing I can
say about Comcast is that once you get through the frustrating
attempts to actually talk to a real person, they have been very
responsive in terms of getting a tech out to check things out,
even with all the covid restrictions. Most of their "agents" are
working from home.

I went out earlier to get coffee at Dunkin's. Internet was working
when I left. When I got back home I watched the Wi-Fi connection
on my cell phone as I entered the house. The cell phone scans for
a bit, looking for the default home network. While it did this I also
kept an eye on the modem light. It showed that it was synced
until my cell phone found and connected to the network. Within
5 seconds the modem lost connection to the 'Net and the light
started blinking again. Disconnected the "in" cable for a sec,
re-connected and within a few seconds it synced up again.

It's weird. Why the cell phone has anything to do with this
is beyond me.

That is a strange one but you've done a good job of tracking down the event that kills it.

I may have missed it, but is the WiFi built into the modem? If so, a fix could be to get an external WiFi adapter and stop using the one built into the modem. Also, are there other things that are connected via WiFi? What happens if you shut one of those down, then bring it back up so it has to reconnect?

On 6/11/2020 2:45 PM, Its Me wrote:


I may have missed it, but is the WiFi built into the modem? If so, a fix could be to get an external WiFi adapter and stop using the one built into the modem. Also, are there other things that are connected via WiFi? What happens if you shut one of those down, then bring it back up so it has to reconnect?



They keep changing the names of this equipment.

The X7 supplied by Comcast is called a "Gateway" and
is a modem/router all in one.

I tried what you suggested. My computer is hardwired to
the modem/router via Ethernet cable. My cell phone,
printer and a Roku thing for a dumb TV all connect via
Wi-Fi.

I turned everything that connects with Wi-Fi off and tried
to re-boot the modem/router. Didn't work. Unplugged the
Ethernet cable as well so *nothing* was connected to
modem/router. Still didn't sync. Disconnected the
RG-6 input cable, connected it back and by the time
I finished screwing it on the modem had synced.

It will be interesting to see what the Comcast
super-tech and his supervisor says tomorrow.


--
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com

RCE wrote:
On 6/10/2020 7:25 PM, Alex wrote:


RCE wrote:
On 6/10/2020 8:15 AM, Justan Ohlphart wrote:

RCE Wrote in message:
Thunderbird crashed.Â* Testing setup.-- This email has been checked
for viruses by AVG.https://www.avg.com

Ok
JO ??



Had setup email and newsgroups again.Â* Don't know what happened but
seems to be ok now.Â* First time I ever had a problem with Thunderbird.

Computers bug me sometimes.



At least you aren't honoring Krause with the name he gave you!


Alex, you are familiar with this stuff, so I thought you'd get a
kick out of this.Â*Â* Long story, but interesting to electronic nerds.
I am leaving out a whole bunch of trouble shooting that I have done
trying to isolate the problem:

For the first time in over 4 years I am experiencing chronic problems
with Comcast Internet service.Â* Symptoms are really weird though and
Comcast is sending a "high level" tech and a supervisor to witness.

Problems started on May 18th.Â* I'd come in the house and notice the
modem sync light blinking which means no Internet connectivity. Home
network is fine.Â* Just no Internet.

Doing the recommended power reset thing, it still wouldn't sync.
Finally called Comcast for help and went through the painful automated
remote reset process that takes 10 minutes before you can actually talk
to an "agent".

Talked to agent who said, "let me try a remote reset".Â* I said, "you can
try all you want but if the modem is not connected to the Internet, you
won't be able to reset it.Â* But, he tried anyway and then scheduled a
visit by a tech.

Tech arrived and looked at signal strength which he said was
"excellent".Â* He decided my 4 year old modem was bad and installed
a new, "X7" type that is supposed to be the best they have ever had.

After connecting input cable the modem synced up and Internet
connectivity was restored.

"Good" I thought.Â* Problem solved.Â* But ... noooooo

Next day it's out again.Â* Tried the power off reset.Â* No luck.
Light just blinks endlessly.Â* Checked RG6 connectors. All tight.

After another day I called Comcast again and told the agent what was
done and it still didn't work.Â*Â* She scheduled another tech visit.

Tech arrived, (different guy) tested signal strength and, like the
other tech, said it was "excellent".Â*Â* He went out and replaced all
the RG6 connectors at the Comcast pedestal on the road, the pedestal
near my driveway and ran a new RG-6 cable into house.Â* Connected it
up and everything works fine again.

Problem solved?Â*Â* Nope.

Next day, it's out again, but now I am starting to notice something.
It only seems to go out whenever I leave my house for a while and
return.Â* Then I just happened to notice that whenever my cell phone
scans when I come home, looking for my secure home network, the
model light starts blinking "no sync" as soon as the cell phone
connects via Wi-Fi to the secure network.

Then, I noticed that to restore connectivity I don't need to do the
"power off reset"Â* routine.Â*Â* All I have to do is very briefly
disconnect the cable input line for a second, reconnect it and
"poof"Â* the model syncs.

I've tested and watched this almost 20 times now.Â* Whenever I leave
the house and return and the cell phone connects to the network it
knocks the modem off-line.

I called Comcast again yesterday and explained all this which is why
they are sending out another tech and a supervisor.Â* They had never
heard of a problem like this.

However:

The last agent I talked to looked up to see if Comcast has done any
upgrades, repairs or work on any of their distribution centers. Turns
out they made a major upgrade to one on ... May 18th .. the day my
issues started.Â* This guy was knowledgeable about the Comcast system
and, on a hunch, I asked him if the signal strength is *too* high, can
it cause a problem.Â* He said yes.Â* The modems are designed to shut down
if the input is too high to protect the electronics.Â* Ah, Ha!

My hunch is that they put new distribution amps in and the signal to
my model is more than "excellent".Â* I think it's way too high and it's
knocking the modem off-line.Â* The cell phone connection is the straw
that breaks the camel's back.

Betcha they install a signal attenuator.




Good guess.Â* No one else would suspect that.Â* It would be great if they
could leave it alone and get the modem to accept it!

My last Comcast problem was due to a squirrel chewing the line to my
house - at the top of the pole.

RCE wrote:
On 6/11/2020 2:45 PM, Its Me wrote:


I may have missed it, but is the WiFi built into the modem?Â* If so, a
fix could be to get an external WiFi adapter and stop using the one
built into the modem.Â* Also, are there other things that are
connected via WiFi?Â* What happens if you shut one of those down, then
bring it back up so it has to reconnect?



They keep changing the names of this equipment.

The X7 supplied by Comcast is called a "Gateway" and
is a modem/router all in one.

I tried what you suggested.Â* My computer is hardwired to
the modem/router via Ethernet cable.Â* My cell phone,
printer and a Roku thing for a dumb TV all connect via
Wi-Fi.

I turned everything that connects with Wi-Fi off and tried
to re-boot the modem/router.Â* Didn't work.Â* Unplugged the
Ethernet cable as well so *nothing* was connected to
modem/router.Â* Still didn't sync.Â* Disconnected the
RG-6 input cable, connected it back and by the time
I finished screwing it on the modem had synced.

It will be interesting to see what the Comcast
super-tech and his supervisor says tomorrow.



The combo modem/wi-fi routers are a known problem - at least a few years
ago.Â* I dumped my all in one and my problems went away.Â* I have an Arris
Surfboard modem connected to a Netgear Orbi mesh wi-fi router with two
satellites to cover my concrete home and reach all of the exterior
cameras and other crap we have connected.

On 6/11/2020 4:30 PM, RCE wrote:
On 6/11/2020 2:45 PM, Its Me wrote:


I may have missed it, but is the WiFi built into the modem?Â* If so, a
fix could be to get an external WiFi adapter and stop using the one
built into the modem.Â* Also, are there other things that are connected
via WiFi?Â* What happens if you shut one of those down, then bring it
back up so it has to reconnect?



They keep changing the names of this equipment.

The X7 supplied by Comcast is called a "Gateway" and
is a modem/router all in one.

I tried what you suggested.Â* My computer is hardwired to
the modem/router via Ethernet cable.Â* My cell phone,
printer and a Roku thing for a dumb TV all connect via
Wi-Fi.

I turned everything that connects with Wi-Fi off and tried
to re-boot the modem/router.Â* Didn't work.Â* Unplugged the
Ethernet cable as well so *nothing* was connected to
modem/router.Â* Still didn't sync.Â* Disconnected the
RG-6 input cable, connected it back and by the time
I finished screwing it on the modem had synced.

It will be interesting to see what the Comcast
super-tech and his supervisor says tomorrow.


There are different ways to reboot your router and modem. There's power
off wait power on, there's push the reset button for whatever time is
specified for different types of reset. Best to have guidance from at
least level 2 tech or supervisor.
I've been playing around with my routers lately. Things get pretty
squirrely when you start "Dicking" around with them. Ha Ha
My main router claims to have 45 devices attached to it. So I figured
I'd give it some help with the load. I've accumulated 3 travel routers
over the course of a couple of months. One of them I just hooked up to
ethernet to my main router. It worked for a while but now it doesn't
indicate it has an ethernet connection. I'm still trying to figure out
whats going on with it.
The other two connect to the main router over wi fi. they seem to be
working OK. I have groups of devices attached to various routers.
I think it's helping the main router and devices stay up longer between
crashes.

Good luck with your problem. The key is getting the right person at your
ISP to help you out. Otherwise you're wasting your time dealing with them.


--