[lug] Have Internet providers been discussed recently?

Gary Hodges gary.hodges at noaa.gov
Thu Sep 13 08:13:48 MDT 2012


I'm pretty sure my Internet problems are not the result of anything at 
my house.  About three months ago it was down for about six hours.  I 
finally called and heard a recording that work was being performed in my 
area.  Ever since the Internet goes down at least once a day, and often 
several times.  When it is functioning, it is often not good enough for 
my VOIP phone to work.  That can be dead for weeks at a time.  These 
outages can range from a few minutes to all day.  One of the last times 
I picked up the phone to call Comcast, I again heard the same "work in 
your area" recording.  There might have been a little improvement after. 
  At least our home phone has worked most of the time since.

About two years ago I redid all the cabling in my house.  Bought really 
nice cable, high quality connectors, and borrowed a super sweet crimp 
tool from a colleague.  I really don't think the problem is in my house, 
but I suppose that is always a possibility.  Haven't polled any 
neighbors yet, but will do so when the opportunity presents.


On 09/13/2012 07:41 AM, Jeff Sowders wrote:
> I feel your pain.
>
> I would talk to your neighbors to see if they are experiencing issues.
> I had the same issue at my house where it was working then one day it
> kept dropping packets and disconnecting intermittently.  This went on
> for two weeks.  I spoke with one of my neighbors and they were having
> the same issues.
>
> I finally got a tech to come to the house only the issue wasn't
> happening at the time.  It helps that this tech had been in multiple
> positions at the company so he new his stuff also that I had spoken with
> my neighbors and they had the same issue.  He was able to pinpoint the
> issue to an intermittent tap shelf which they finally traced down and
> repaired.
>
> But I had to go thru lots of headache and phone trouble shooting to get
> them to realize it wasn't anything in my house.
>
>
> On Thu, Sep 13, 2012 at 8:33 AM, Davide Del Vento
> <davide.del.vento at gmail.com <mailto:davide.del.vento at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     AFAIK, you can subscribe a basic cable and get a discount on the
>     internet. For some internet plans the discount is higher than the
>     cost of basic cable.
>     I second the DIY suggestions, don't even try their support.
>     For me, their internet is just great (I have the 12Mbits downstream
>     plan), but as you know, with cable internet it depends on your
>     neighbors. What do you mean "intermittent and poor"? You may want to
>     debug it yourself and try to figure out if the problem is in your
>     cabling, in how much your neighbors are downloading or if it's
>     really "their service" (which I find hard to believe, since it works
>     great for me). Another thing to consider: are you sure you're not
>     been throttled because of overuse of your account?
>     All I said is for residential, not business, plans.
>     Cheers,
>     Davide
>
>     On Wed, Sep 12, 2012 at 11:53 PM, Gary Hodges <gary.hodges at noaa.gov
>     <mailto:gary.hodges at noaa.gov>> wrote:
>
>         Hmmm.  Just checked pricing.  The cheapest business is about $12
>         more
>         per month than what I have now.  Speeds look about the same, though
>         business might be a bit quicker upstream.  I could drop limited
>         basic
>         cable ($20) and still come out ahead.  Which reminds me...
>
>         I read somewhere that getting Comcast Internet automatically
>         gets you
>         limited basic cable.  I don't think that is a planned feature,
>         it's just
>         how it is.  Or at least how it was presented wherever I read it.
>           Anyone
>         know if that is true?
>
>
>         On 09/12/2012 03:21 PM, Dan Ferris wrote:
>          > When I was living in Longmont I had Comcast Business. The
>         difference
>          > between business and residential is very striking.
>          >
>          > Dan
>          >
>          > On 9/12/2012 2:30 PM, Steven A Hart wrote:
>          >> I'm sure alot of us feel your pain concerning Comcast. When
>         I bought a
>          >> new home I struggled with the same thing and ended up
>         sticking with
>          >> Comcast but only for network. I looked into other options
>         and long
>          >> story short, Comcast was the only one who could offer me the
>         network
>          >> speed required for my wife and I. We started out with the
>         dreaded
>          >> triple-play package and knocked it down to just network.
>         Cable TV and
>          >> comcast phone were simply wastes for me.
>          >>
>          >> When dealing with Comcast, make your life much more simple
>         and don't
>          >> have a tech come out unless there is a real technical issue
>         that needs
>          >> troubleshooting. If it's just start/stop of service, use of
>         their
>          >> crappy cable boxes, etc, find the nearest Comcast office and
>         walk in
>          >> the door. I think that most of us can handle connecting coax
>         cables in
>          >> our own homes.
>          >>
>          >> Just some thoughts....best of luck with the situation!
>          >>
>          >> Steve
>          >>
>          >> On 09/12/2012 02:21 PM, Gary Hodges wrote:
>          >>> Comcast has upset me enough I'm ready to bail on them.
>           Service was
>          >>> great for years, but for about 3 months it has been
>         intermittent, and
>          >>> poor when it does work.  Twice I have scheduled appts,
>         leaving work
>          >>> 3-hours early.  When scheduling I was exceedingly explicit
>         that I
>          >>> wouldn't have a phone because the Internet wasn't working.
>           They were no
>          >>> shows at both appts because no one answered when the tech
>         called.
>          >>> Ugggg!  I better get the $20 missed appt credit for both of
>         those.
>          >>>
>          >>> I've done some searching for other providers, but thought
>         I'd run the
>          >>> question by lug before making calls.  In the end I'll
>         probably just
>          >>> stick with Comcast, but I told my wife it is now up to her
>         to work with
>          >>> them.  She said she doesn't talk to tech support people.
>           Maybe I'll
>          >>> give my son the phone number.
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>
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>
> --
> Jeff Sowders
>
> 865.414.4935 Cell
>
> jsowders at tendrilinc.com <mailto:jsowders at tendrilinc.com>
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