US Cable Support > Comcast HSI > [Rant] [LONG]Another Tale of Multiple Truck Rolls

[Rant] [LONG]Another Tale of Multiple Truck Rolls

Re: [Rant] [LONG]A Tale of Three Truck Rolls

*shrug* Only due to my persistence and tenacity! Hate to be a royal pain-in-the-backside to anyone, but otherwise there wouldnt have been any followup on this issue. "Trying" would imply Comcast is making an active effort. I'm unconvinced that's the case.

reply to dmk08809

reply to dmk08809
nothing they do at the house will fix your issue, sounds like there is ingress on the plant, which can come and go, and isnt easily fixed in a day, as the line tech will have to track it throughout miles of plant.
--
I'm better than you!

reply to Telco
Thanks Telco , nice to know I am a ghetto dweller and useless. I have been with the company for 15 years and take pride in my work. But that doesn't matter because I suck just like every other person YOU speak of. Why don't you randomly ask the thousands of customers I have helped and never heard from again after being there .. Oh thats right , this is flame board, nobody ever comes here to state anything positive.
To the op , it dose sound like an ingress issue from somewhere other than your house. It will get tracked down it just takes time. I had one person in a town taking down over 200 others .... because he had a live cable jack (not connected to any tv or box) touching a metal lamp. That took a couple weeks to track down. House by house person by person.

Are you an actual "Callcenter rep"? By the way you responded about how bad this board is and there are NEVER any positive things said, then you are falling right in to the category that Telco is talking about.

But, I also do agree about the ingress, but from what has been posted, it doesn't evn sound like Comcast is even going down the path of possible ingress. So when the Comcast folks don't even start in the right direction, just how long should the customer have to wait?

reply to Phugg
Phugg -- I hope you didn't take any of my comments as such! I know there are good folks along with the not-so-good in *any* organization. And truthfully, that can even vary greatly from office-to-office or region-to-region. I do genuinely appreciate those that actually do help. I've run into good folks from Comcast but unfortunately they're just not the ones in a position to actually do something with the present issues at hand. True there tends to be a negative bias on most online forums when it comes to discussions about any company's product or services. The most disgruntled folks tend to be the loudest and most frequent posters! I'll give credit where and when its due. Read my other posts and reviews over the course of my ~12 year history on DSLR for proof.

But yeah, ingress can be a real pain from what I've heard. Basically the entire plant becomes a huge noise funnel, no? And knowing a little about RF, there's a LOT of radio/broadcasted garbage in the 20-44Mhz frequency range around here so a tight plant is essential. I dont envy anyone having to troubleshoot issues like this especially when they can also be somewhat intermittent.

My gripe isn't merely that things have been effectively broken for several weeks but rather not being kept informed as to what, if anything, is being done to address it. Just a simple phone call saying "we see it, acknowledge the trouble, and are working the matter, here's what you can expect next" would do wonders.

TY Dmk , it wasnt pointed at you. I am well aware of comm breakdowns in all forms of business lately. I just took what was said by someone else on the personal side , so I ranted back. I know in our market we take ownership of an issue and see it through to the end. If that means I call and check up on my days off so be it. If I can squeeze in the time I will. But the techs look like they have done what they can , and now its over thier heads and in the maint. dept's.

reply to dmk08809

Re: [Rant] [LONG]Another Tale of Multiple Truck Rolls

The answer is in the first post. If all the neighbors have the problem, the fault is in a common point.
Many years ago, my internet speeds went down at sundown (obvious cooling problem). It only took a clever tech. five minutes to check upstream user error logs versus downstream.
Ladder trunk disassembled suspect gear. I was told unit was simply not plugged in properly. No speed variations since then.

reply to owlyn

Another day, another truck dispatch scheduled. Things were decent and perhaps approaching almost stable for the past ~3 days and then tonight it all goes kaput once again! The CC phone tech said they saw my upstream signal-to-noise varying greatly and was again, RED. So truck roll #7 now slated for Sunday!

You'd think by this point it would have been much much cheaper for Comcast to simply identify the problem and actually fix it. We're talking 8+ weeks of repeat calls now...

Fortunately as of last Friday I got a DSL line installed as backup (albeit a slow one) but its rapidly becoming the primary link with these continued outages.

Modem errors repeatedly thrown are:

Wed Dec 12 20:45:24 2012 Warning (5) TEK Invalid - Invalid Key Sequence Number;CM-MAC=00:1c:7b:xx:...
Wed Dec 12 20:44:05 2012 Critical (3) Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ...
Wed Dec 12 20:34:23 2012 Warning (5) TEK Invalid - Invalid Key Sequence Number;CM-MAC=00:1c:7b:xx:...
Wed Dec 12 20:34:22 2012 Critical (3) Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ..

All packets are lost for 5-45 seconds concurrently with above errors being generated.

These guys are a complete disaster of a company around here. I have a call into our municipal franchise authority and am ready to raise whatever 'heck' is needed. They're rapidly becoming a "project" and thats not usually worth the effort it takes to attain such a distinctive status. (LOL) My neighbors are amused; they seem to otherwise be okay with CDV calls dropping or getting choppy or their internet timing out -- as long as their TVs are fine. *sigh*

[edit: spelling]

Much to my surprise something or someone somewhere lit a little fire under Comcast today. Appt was scheduled for Sunday but they moved it up to this Friday afternoon. A plant maint tech was even here at the same time working at the tap from his bucket.

Maybe it was our municipal franchise authority contacting the Comcast government rep? Heck, I got four calls today between a CC tech supervisor, CC executive support person I've been working with, CC advanced tech support, and finally a premise tech who was dispatched (the guy who basically told me he's the "go-to guy" when there's difficult problems no one else resolves). Apparently my issue and personal persistence is fairly well-known at the local Comcast office among the techs. Not sure that's necessarily a good thing, but I have been respectful and polite at all times. Hopefully they realize my only goal is to get this working/stable and receive periodic followup while they actively work an acknowledged issue...

Findings today were: Our drop and inside wiring are fine. Zero ingress from those elements. (tech said it was a perfect flat-line) No surprise since its been tested numerous times already and several components replaced at least once. There is however a known ingress issue impacting parts of the node. Apparently some folks are more severely affected than others and its intermittently severe to the point of it being an outage. That's good news in some ways -- it lends credibility to what we're experiencing in addition to the CC ticket documentation showing lousy upstream SNR.

Now here's the interesting part and I'd be curious to hear some insight from knowledgeable folk frequenting this forum. The maintenance tech seemed fairly convinced its due to power company related RF near one of the active line amps down the road about 1/4 mile. He mentioned using an AM radio that in some spots the interference drowned out even regular station signals. He offered a suggestion that even though CC has notified and requested a dispatch from JCP&L, the power company has not yet done anything. There was a mention of a suspected power company grounding fault which CC absolutely cannot touch. I'm not an electrician or EE so have no existing personal knowledge to verify what that might actually mean. It sounds credible, but so would "you need to replace the ball bearings in your muffler!" to someone who has no clue about automotive mechanics.

Anyway, a quick drive around the area with the car's radio on didn't reveal anything unusual that my untrained ear can detect noise-wise. Static is static. And of course that means nothing.. However, I'd have no idea how to even go about articulating such a "problem" with JCP&L much less where its at or with what equipment. CC is continuing to work the trouble but this suggestion was offered as a way to get possibly faster attention from JCP&L. Meanwhile my device is now actively being monitored so CC can do further correlation.

It is true that an power company equipment issue such as a grounding problem can knock out an entire node? Is cable plant shielding that minimal & ineffective? If this is killing cable's upstream frequency range (~22Mhz to ~42Mhz), wouldn't emergency communications (fire dispatch and ops here for example use 33.74Mhz) as well as other over-the-air applications suffer?

This has now become quite a curious situation technically-speaking. As an aside I'm a bit more satisfied and a little more convinced they're not being dismissive simply hoping the problem goes away on its own. I understand complex problems rarely have simple fixes. But man, it sure took a bit of effort and energy to get this far! More to follow as the story continues.

[edit: typo]

If it's happening more at night (I know this is going to sound crazy) it could be LED street lights.

Actually, it's not the lights...but the lights could be the SOURCE of the ingress. This actual issue could be that an amplifier (or line extender) that is mounted to the same utility pole as a new LED streetlight COULD HAVE A LOOSE CASE. When the guys open the shielded case that hold the equipment to service it, they often close the case back up without tightening it closed tight enough (the bolts that hold the case shut). Then the case if effectively UNSHIELDED and is amplifying ingress (interference) into the system.

This happened in Seattle when the city changed the streetlights over, and took months for CONcast to figure out what was going on.

Also, cellular towers often make changes that create intermittent ingress that gets into the closed-circuit CATV network if it is not tight. So if you live close to a cell tower...might be that.

Lastly, I have heard that Docsis 3 modems are far more delicate and sensitive to ingress than Docsis 2. I found that although the speeds are slightly slower (depending on existing service level), I was able to provide MORE RELIABLE service to customers by putting a DOCSIS 2 modem on the account and downgrading the service.

I know that sounds like a stretch...I`m just telling you what works from my experiences. Good luck.

reply to Phugg

Re: [Rant] [LONG]A Tale of Three Truck Rolls

Seattle , I am WELL aware of what you speak of , been there done that a few times now. Our crews have great communication between them, just one a professional note I would want to know when it is resolved. Its not a common occurence.

Phugg, I totally get where you are coming from. I have done the same things for YEARS until I smartened up. Following-up with the customers is great and all, but regardless of how high a level of customer service one wishes to provide, they have to do it on company time and LEGALLY.

You can't be working off the clock. I know it feels like it is your right to work off the clock if you want to, and I know you do it to show the customer that you really do care and want to help them. You can still show them you want to help by following proper company channels and only conducting yourself as a CONcast employee only during work hours. If you cannot do that then the CONcast system is BROKEN and they need to figure out a way in your shop to address customer concerns in a more efficient and professional manner.

I feel kinda bad scolding you, but please take no offense as I am only trying to help you understand the BIG picture. You are setting a standard for other techs to have to do the same thing. If your measured metrics are awesome because you work for free then good for you...lets see how far that gets your career. I`VE BEEN THERE, DONE THAT, AND I NO LONGER WORK FOR THEM. I HAVE TREATED MY CUSTOMERS LIKE GOLD BUT IN THE END THE COMPANY DOES NOT CARE. THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT "POWER" AND "CONTROL" (SURPRISINGLY, NOT "MONEY"...THAT COMES WITH POWER AND CONTROL SO THEY REALLY DON'T WORRY ABOUT MONEY TOO MUCH AT OUR LEVEL.)

Call your customers when you are AT WORK. You are not a salary employee. At very least, CHARGE THE COMPANY OVERTIME (even just a few minutes) if you absolutely HAVE to take customer calls on your days off. And let the customer know it is not typical for techs to call on their weekends, so they don't EXPECT it from the next tech they deal with down the road!

Phew, I sound like a grumpy old man. Sorry dude!

I hate sounding like this.

I have a lot of respect for you after 15 years in the business, but PLEASE stop enabling CONcast and allowing them to take advantage of you.

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Oh, and as far as having good communication between departments at your shop...that must be nice!!! I`m jealous!!!

Our shop is using every anti-union tactic in the book (9 out of 11 of the most common ones, actually) to keep the union out. We are in an active election campaign in Seattle, and one of the first things they did was break up the shop (move dispatch out of house, no more all-employee meetings unless it was to shove anti-union propaganda down our throats), no more tech assists unless its an aerial drop, get everyone out of the shop in 15 minutes in the morning so nobody can have time to talk to each other, and they told us we are no longer able to call the call center on behalf of the customer if dispatch can't help (billing inquiries mostly). In addition to all this, the supervisors will no longer email responses to tech`s questions (eliminate paper trails) and they will not provide answers to tech's questions in real-time...they have to run everything past local Management and their Lawyers first. Seattle is a mess, and if you havn't been through a union campaign with CONcast then you havn't seen the real CONcast yet, sadly.

The one threat to CONcast's "POWER" and "CONTROL" is UNIONS!!! Once one tries to exercise their legal right to organize at CONcast, they meet the true monster that CONcast is.

Ok, I`m done. Struck a nerve.

reply to dmk08809

Re: [Rant] [LONG]Another Tale of Multiple Truck Rolls