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Robyn79
Premium Member
join:2014-12-09

1 edit

Robyn79

Premium Member

[Connectivity] My Next Steps?

We had our service call today. The tech showed up on time. He was both professional and courteous. Unfortunately - I think he is in the lower levels of field techs. Capable of dealing with routine installations and the like - but not any of the wifi issues I'm dealing with (he really didn't understand bridge mode any better than I do). Before you read on - note that because he couldn't do anything for us - we were not charged for the service call. So I don't feel ill-used (I'm almost always home all day on Mondays too - so I wasn't inconvenienced either).

Also - every Comcast field tech can't be a "rocket scientist". Ours said he grew up in housing projects up north - and this is a good job for him. I'm sure that he can do what he usually does very well - but our issues are - IMO - over his "pay grade".

Anyway - the call wasn't totally non-productive. He said that all the techs in his position only carry the Arris 682 - the Gateway I have now - on their trucks (our local office has the Arris and Technicolor). He's never heard of anyone having a Cisco 3939 (or any other Cisco equipment) on the truck. IOW - my chances of getting anything better than what I have now from Comcast in my area are slim and none.

Also - the fellow did a scan of our system. At least on the wired end - we're reading somewhere between "gold" and "platinum". Which validates my observations. Our wired connections are great - and this is only a wifi issue.

The best modem I can buy now if I want to keep my voice service (which I do) is the Arris I have now. At least in my service area - buying a Cisco retail is pretty much rolling dice (the website says it's only supported on a rental). Doesn't make much sense to me to spend about $200 to buy a piece of equipment I'm renting for $8/month now.

So I'm keeping my Arris. And plan to do the following. First explore the cheap options in terms of getting a better wireless signal at the other end of the house. I know signal extenders don't have wonderful reputations - but I'm going to try the Netgear EX2700 (if it doesn't work - I'll return it to Amazon - if it does work - problem solved for $36).

Next step might be another Netgear Powerline. But they start to get into the price range of wireless routers (even for a second connection - I already have one - and I'd need to get 2 extra ones). So it would probably make sense to skip this step and go directly to a wireless router.

Question - some threads/questions/answers here make it sound hard to turn bridge mode on/off on my Arris Gateway. And they make it sound like it's something you have to fiddle with a lot. Some make it sound relatively easy and permanent. For anyone here who's actually dealing with bridge mode with this Arris - what have your experiences been like? The former - the latter - or somewhere in between. I'm ok setting up things like this - but don't want to spend the rest of my natural life fiddling with them a couple of times every week (or even every month).

Finally - I can find no evidence that my Gateway is being used as an Xfinity wifi spot. Whatever I may think of the issue in general - I'm not going to change my whole system as a result of something that's not affecting me now.

Any input would be appreciated. And I do want to thank you people who know more than I do for helping me to learn a lot about this. Robyn

P.S. The tech did say that he never saw wifi work unassisted across a span as long as we're talking about. 60-70+ feet across many interior and some exterior walls. I guess perhaps because it worked ok in the past - I kind of got used to it. And am now asking something of equipment it usually isn't able to offer.
Bink
Villains... knock off all that evil
join:2006-05-14
Colorado

3 edits

Bink

Member

You don’t say what wireless problems you are having, so you might not get much help. That said, most wireless problems can be solved by moving the Access Point (AP)/router to a location that’s less likely to cause interference or changing the channel the AP is using.

In any event, wireless is often fraught with issues. Signal propagation varies and interference comes into play as well. While there are lots of consumer-grade wireless routers out there, I encourage you to go down a business-class wireless route and, while the costs might be a lot higher, in my humble opinion, the piece of mine and having wireless that “just works” all the time is worth it. My thread at »Simple Ruckus Wireless Rant has my details.

gar187er
I DID this for a living
join:2006-06-24
Seattle, WA

2 recommendations

gar187er to Robyn79

Member

to Robyn79

Re: [WiFi] My Next Steps?

get rid of the gateway.

buy your own modem, and separate router. this will be repeated forever by everyone on this forum.

tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA

tshirt to Robyn79

Premium Member

to Robyn79
said by Robyn79:

...60-70+ feet across many interior and some exterior walls. I guess perhaps because it worked ok in the past

... that's fairly optimistic to expect the best speeds
You must have had the perfect antenna in the perfect place.
try the new router, than the another Netgear Powerline, with a second one or a wireless extender/relay you can probably have a second access point that's best for the far end of the house and the router AP near the modem end.
while there is some fairly complex math behind it, some experiments and the willingness to throw a little money at it, you can probably get pretty good coverage through out.

Jim721
join:2014-07-31
Belleville, MI

Jim721

Member

My house is 75 long and 30 feet wide and with Asus routers i get full coverage and excellent speeds almost any were. Of course the walls are paper thin and the router is located right in the center of the house that helps a lot.
danj34
join:2006-11-16
Athol, MA

danj34 to Robyn79

Member

to Robyn79
Comcast can enable/disable the bridge mode on your gateway remotely. It is not something that you need to "fiddle with" at all. Once set, it won't change unless someone goes back in to modify the settings.

In bridge mode you use your OWN router and can manage your network any way you want. There is no reason you should have to make any changes or fiddle with it at all.

Antenna position, on the router (or the gateway) is an important consideration in providing wireless coverage. Some 2.4ghz devices like cordless phones or microwave ovens can cause connection difficulties.

tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA

tshirt to Jim721

Premium Member

to Jim721
said by Jim721:

with Asus routers i get full coverage and excellent speeds almost any were

And that's great, but you are talking a 35' circle, move to one end or behind old walls with lead paint in the mix or even some types of latex, or lathe in the walls for plaster or stucco, concrete or dense wood, and inches can change the whole landscape, radiation wise.

Wired over certified CATx twisted pair is optimal, power line and MOCA solutions exist, and some combos can help.

Wi-Fi still requires a bit of voodoo in many homes.

Jim721
join:2014-07-31
Belleville, MI

Jim721

Member

True that. True that !!
Robyn79
Premium Member
join:2014-12-09

Robyn79 to Bink

Premium Member

to Bink

Re: [Connectivity] My Next Steps?

said by Bink:

You don’t say what wireless problems you are having, so you might not get much help. That said, most wireless problems can be solved by moving the Access Point (AP)/router to a location that’s less likely to cause interference or changing the channel the AP is using.

In any event, wireless is often fraught with issues. Signal propagation varies and interference comes into play as well. While there are lots of consumer-grade wireless routers out there, I encourage you to go down a business-class wireless route and, while the costs might be a lot higher, in my humble opinion, the piece of mine and having wireless that “just works” all the time is worth it. My thread at »Simple Ruckus Wireless Rant has my details.

I'm getting poor wireless signals at the other end of the house from the Gateway (a recent problem - it used to work pretty well - if it hadn't been working ok in the past - I wouldn't even bother trying to trouble shoot now). About 60-70 feet away (through several interior walls and one or two exterior concrete block walls as well). I honestly don't want to move the thing to the middle of the house (which would make it the centerpiece on my dining room table or the cocktail table in the living room and would make it inconvenient for any necessary trouble shooting - plus I couldn't have any LAN connections from those locations).

I've read that business class solutions WRT wireless are good - but that business class can't support the kind of TV sevice I have. Although I haven't confirmed those statements myself. Robyn
Robyn79

Robyn79 to tshirt

Premium Member

to tshirt

Re: [WiFi] My Next Steps?

said by tshirt:

...while there is some fairly complex math behind it, some experiments and the willingness to throw a little money at it, you can probably get pretty good coverage through out.

I agree - but also suggest that you have to throw some time into it as well. As long as my main computer and my husband's are both up and running fine - I can fiddle with the rest of it (like the internet TV connections - we don't watch internet TV that often and don't care about it a whole lot). Robyn
Robyn79

Robyn79 to danj34

Premium Member

to danj34
said by danj34:

Comcast can enable/disable the bridge mode on your gateway remotely. It is not something that you need to "fiddle with" at all. Once set, it won't change unless someone goes back in to modify the settings.

In bridge mode you use your OWN router and can manage your network any way you want. There is no reason you should have to make any changes or fiddle with it at all.

Antenna position, on the router (or the gateway) is an important consideration in providing wireless coverage. Some 2.4ghz devices like cordless phones or microwave ovens can cause connection difficulties.

Some people here have made it sound like the "bridge mode" process is a PITA when dealing with Comcast - and one that doesn't always "stick". Guess I won't know what I'll experience until I try it.

And to Clark Kent - the exact middle of my house is the cocktail table in my living room. I'm sure as heck not going to put my modem there . And I'm not going to put the thing on my wall unit in the living room either. Apart from issues of aesthetics - I couldn't get a single LAN connection there. And there's no disputing that LAN connections work better than wireless ones. Robyn