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mlautens
Premium Member
join:2007-10-06
Fort Lauderdale, FL

mlautens

Premium Member

[Speed] Any advice on how to get Comcast HSI to address a "node" problem

For weeks now, I have had dropped packets and terrible speeds, particularly on uploads, and mostly in the evenings. Watching streaming media is spotty and playing online games is hopeless.

Contacted Comcast HSI customer support, they walked me through a bunch of "is it plugged in correctly?" tests while they ran a "health check" on my connection. That showed "my upstream was red." Well, duh.

They sent a tech and he promptly offered that the node servicing my neighborhood was failing intermittently. He alleged that the people who should repair this had bigger fish to fry and this was not a priority. He further alleged that he complained to his supervisor and they were "escalating it." He said "it should take a day or so to fix."

It's been another week, the problem is unchanged. Does anyone have advice for me? Shall I just get back to support, go through the same steps again, and have them send another tech? I figure if I have them send a tech once per week, every single week, week in and week out, EVENTUALLY someone there will get sick of it and actually do something to help me.

Thoughts and suggestions are solicited.

iNick
Premium Member
join:2012-12-11
Joliet, IL

iNick

Premium Member

If it's truly something on Comcast end I would keep calling about this issue and ask for a credit for all the stuff you couldn't do.

beachintech
There's sand in my tool bag
Premium Member
join:2008-01-06

beachintech to mlautens

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to mlautens
I doubt that is the problem as described. Does your TV service go in and out (Totally dark) too? Sounds more to me like the tech you got had no idea what he/she was talking about. I've know many techs that when they are faced with something they don't know how to fix, blame it on a mysterious line problem.

Call back in and say the issue isn't fixed.

Before that though - have you done any testing on your end? What are your signal levels? Are you testing this / experiencing the problem with a single computer connected directly to your modem?
ss911der
Premium Member
join:2000-09-05
Fort Lauderdale, FL

ss911der to mlautens

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to mlautens
Where are you located? My neighbors and I have been facing similar issues for the past week. We live in a community close to NSU.
wTheOnew
join:2012-03-09

wTheOnew to iNick

Member

to iNick
said by iNick:

If it's truly something on Comcast end I would keep calling about this issue and ask for a credit for all the stuff you couldn't do.

They generally wont do this until the issue is 'resolved'. I had to call every other day for months and truck roll after truck roll before they replaced my drop which fixed my issues. Kept asking them why I was paying for service I wasn't getting and they always said they can't offer credits until the issue is resolved. Several managers said the same thing...when I could get through to one or get one to actually call back in the two hour window they promise. Huge credit at the end though.

iNick
Premium Member
join:2012-12-11
Joliet, IL

iNick

Premium Member

How huge? I never gotten more then $20 which they claim I am lucky to get.

Jim721
join:2014-07-31
Belleville, MI

Jim721

Member

A couple years back I had Internet and tv issues that for what ever reason it took repeated calls and multiple tech visits finally the issue was resolved. I was issued a credit for the whole month.
mlautens
Premium Member
join:2007-10-06
Fort Lauderdale, FL

mlautens to ss911der

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to ss911der
I am in Forest Ridge. That's a stone's throw from NSU.
mlautens

mlautens to beachintech

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to beachintech
I have done some testing, yes. When I had the splitter in line (cable modem and cable TV box), my numbers were all quite good. Downstream power levels were in the -2 range, upstream was around 46. The SNR levels were also well within range. When I removed the splitter at Comcast's request, the numbers improved. The downstream power level is now -0.2, nearly perfect. The upstream power dropped to around 42. The SNR improved from 36 to about 39. So those numbers all looked very well to me. These were even read DURING the time of heavy packet loss and slow upstream performance.
ss911der
Premium Member
join:2000-09-05
Fort Lauderdale, FL

ss911der to mlautens

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to mlautens
I am in Southern Orchard, so that makes even more of those that are having the same issue.
mlautens
Premium Member
join:2007-10-06
Fort Lauderdale, FL

mlautens

Premium Member

I am also in Southern Orchard
ss911der
Premium Member
join:2000-09-05
Fort Lauderdale, FL

1 edit

ss911der

Premium Member

I tried to reach out to NetDog See Profile in hopes that he could get this to the right people. That was several days ago and I have not heard a response. I'm not sure what to do at this point. It's probably our whole section of the community as I support several houses in our neighborhood and they're having the same problem.
mlautens
Premium Member
join:2007-10-06
Fort Lauderdale, FL

mlautens

Premium Member

I was really quite certain from the very beginning that, unless I simply had a bad gateway (and THAT would only make sense if I had a gateway that cared what time of day it was), it wasn't my problem alone. Having had cable modem issues in the past, I've become accustomed to what the downstream and upstream power numbers mean, as well as the signal to noise ratio. And my numbers all looked spot on. I think it's clear that we are in the same boat and it's affecting our entire neighborhood.
wTheOnew
join:2012-03-09

wTheOnew to iNick

Member

to iNick
said by iNick:

How huge? I never gotten more then $20 which they claim I am lucky to get.

Few hundred. I asked to be comped 1/3 of my Internet service for four months which came out to $70ish but the lady kept saying total cost of four months of service. I told them my TV was fine the whole time and I only wanted what I thought was fair, but I'm only going to protest free money so hard. lol

On one hand it taking four months to fix my service pissed me off but on the other hand the ultimate resolution placated me fairly well.
mlautens
Premium Member
join:2007-10-06
Fort Lauderdale, FL

mlautens

Premium Member

After several days of relatively smooth trouble-free operation, the Comcast "NOT SO" Highspeed Internet is once again delivering glacial upstream speeds and losing packets.

And yet, I don't call to report it because I know that in order to do that, they're going to walk me through that PAINFUL series of noobtastic troubleshooting steps to make certain I have the cable modem plugged in to the wall.

Do you suppose that's all part of the master plan? "Hey, how's this sound? If we make them do this crap every single time they call, it'll frustrate them so much that they won't keep calling. It's all good, because hey...where are they going to go?"

(Sigh) I hate monopolies. And the cable and telco industry is a collection of regional monopolies. Period.
ss911der
Premium Member
join:2000-09-05
Fort Lauderdale, FL

ss911der

Premium Member

Facing some dreadful connectivity tonight. I'm right there with ya.
wTheOnew
join:2012-03-09

wTheOnew

Member

Just keep calling. You will eventually get to someone that cares enough to see the issue through. Plus, the more calls in the easier it is to show that you've been experiencing ongoing issues.
ss911der
Premium Member
join:2000-09-05
Fort Lauderdale, FL

ss911der

Premium Member

Maybe if I was retired and had nothing else to do.
ss911der

ss911der

Premium Member

Mlautens, I am on Ridgeland Road, how about yourself?
ss911der

ss911der to mlautens

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to mlautens
»/sm ··· b34c6a83
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd to mlautens

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to mlautens
you get put through those steps because tech support knows 99.9% of the customer base is so dumb they need help turning on the TV.... let alone operating a computer.
ss911der
Premium Member
join:2000-09-05
Fort Lauderdale, FL

ss911der to mlautens

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to mlautens
Just received a call from Comcast asking if the internet is working ok as there was some work done in the area. While it is working fine at the moment, I am trying to be optimistic that they indeed fixed the problem.
neiby6
Premium Member
join:2006-07-22
Henderson, CO

neiby6 to ss911der

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to ss911der
Can you send me a traceroute to something like 8.8.8.8? I'd like to see what gear you're hitting on the first couple of hops.

Thanks,
John
Chuck66
join:2004-04-28
Mantua, NJ

Chuck66 to mlautens

Member

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You need your neighbors help.

Get them calling and emailing, daily.

Find the contact Customer Service CEO page and contact him also.

We finally got our development on it's on node and things have been fantastic.
ss911der
Premium Member
join:2000-09-05
Fort Lauderdale, FL

ss911der to neiby6

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to neiby6
Tracing route to google-public-dns-a.google.com [8.8.8.8]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms router.asus.com [192.168.1.1]
2 35 ms 29 ms 42 ms 98.211.176.1
3 11 ms 9 ms 9 ms 68.85.83.117
4 27 ms 13 ms 12 ms te-0-2-0-1-ar01.pompanobeach.fl.pompano.comcast.
net [69.139.181.157]
5 12 ms 13 ms 12 ms ae14.edge4.Miami1.Level3.net [4.68.62.129]
6 12 ms 11 ms 13 ms ae-2-52.edge1.Miami2.Level3.net [4.69.138.107]
7 15 ms 12 ms 12 ms 4.68.70.118
8 11 ms 19 ms 13 ms 209.85.253.118
9 30 ms 30 ms 31 ms 66.249.95.164
10 30 ms 45 ms 31 ms 209.85.243.254
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 30 ms 31 ms 46 ms google-public-dns-a.google.com [8.8.8.8]

Trace complete.
ss911der

ss911der

Premium Member

When things are bad, the 2nd hop (node?) tends to be all over the place in the hundreds of ms.
ss911der

ss911der

Premium Member

Here we go again...

Tracing route to google-public-dns-a.google.com [8.8.8.8]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms router.asus.com [192.168.1.1]
2 35 ms 20 ms 30 ms 98.211.176.1
3 11 ms 10 ms 10 ms 68.85.83.117
4 * 14 ms 38 ms te-0-2-0-1-ar01.pompanobeach.fl.pompano.comcast.
net [69.139.181.157]
5 * * 521 ms ae14.edge4.Miami1.Level3.net [4.68.62.129]
6 * * * Request timed out.
7 * 1852 ms 12 ms 4.68.70.118
8 * 12 ms * 209.85.253.118
9 * * 1965 ms 66.249.95.164
10 32 ms 31 ms 31 ms 209.85.248.31
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 31 ms 30 ms * google-public-dns-a.google.com [8.8.8.8]
13 30 ms 31 ms 30 ms google-public-dns-a.google.com [8.8.8.8]

Trace complete.

»/sm ··· b34c6a83
mlautens
Premium Member
join:2007-10-06
Fort Lauderdale, FL

mlautens to ss911der

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to ss911der
Last night it was bad again. Same symptoms. I called Comcast and they assured me I was important to them. They promised to forward this to network techs who would fix it. I'm not holding my breath. Let me know if yours continues to be good?

camper
just visiting this planet
Premium Member
join:2010-03-21
Bethel, CT

camper

Premium Member

said by mlautens:

they assured me I was important to them.

 
Comcast tells me that every time I call them. imo, it's just part of the scrpt they have to read.

XCOM
digitalnUll
Premium Member
join:2002-06-10
Spring, TX
(Software) pfSense
MikroTik CRS125-24G-1S-RM

XCOM to mlautens

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to mlautens
The only way I was able to get them to fix a node issue that we had on our neighborhood was to switch to Business Class. Due to their TOS they had to roll several trucks and fix the issue.

No matter what I did and what data/evidence I showed the consumer class tech support they never cared nor try to do anything...

There was a bad node somewhere in our area due to a TS/lightning strike.... I lived with internet issue for 3yrs until I figure that if I move to Business Class they had to "maintain" a specific "uptime" and with the track record I had on service call it was clear that there was an issue and it was going to cost them more if not addressed early... And I was right... within 3 days of me moving services they had several truck rolls and engineers at my house and area... And all was fixed right away... 2yrs now with business class and I am a happy camper