 
broadbndgeek
Premium
join:2000-08-03
Graham, WA
|  Poor Cable
--
insomnia has cause man to think more deeply. | |
|
 | CableModemtech
join:2001-10-10
Lawrenceville, GA
| Re: Poor Cable I am a cable modem service techician (no I'm not TV technician Internet only) and I work for comcast. Understand this, @home is Comcast's ISP, Comcast is the END USER's ISP. When you call for Tech support for the @home service 9 out of ten times your talking to one of @home's call centers.....not Comcast. @Home's so called phone technicians are not technician's (not that comcast's customer service are sharp as a tack either) they are Soccer moms and dads that have little to NO technical backround what so ever and are being paid 9 bucks an hour to read off of a piece of paper. Trust me I know I have to deal with the customer's that have been told to " unplug the modem for 12 hours" ( If something is wrong with the service unplugging the dam modem isn't gonna fix it)or the ever popular "you need your modem changed". I get about 50 service orders a week, out of those 1 or 2 may need there modem changed. Also out of those fifty half of them are provisioning (database) problems that can be fixed in 2 minutes over the phone. Most modems have there own internal diagnostics that will give you a basic Idea of whats causing the problem. Get to know the light patterns on your modem they tell you alot.
The Surfboard modems in paticular have an internal diagnostic utility that displays signal levels and return powers in your web browser. This is good for sometimes figuring out intermitent MODEM connections. It can be accessed by typing 192.168.100.1 in your web browser. Note this will only work if the modem is locked and you are not accessing the modem through a NAT router or proxy server.
Here are a few things to help you have a better understanding of cable modems.
1. Signal levels have almost no bearing on speed. The modem is either on and perfect (modem only not the rest of the system) or off and nothing. In some cases the modem can be losing and regaining its lock so fast it shows up as packet loss or slow speed.
2. Speed meters are bullshit. If you want an Idea of the kind of speed your modem is capable of go to a bunch of different download sites and download some files. See what kind of rate you get. Most cable modem systems give you 1-3 megabits (not bytes) on the download. This is not guarenteed by any system though. Notice the words "UP TO" 50 times faster in the fine print. Just because you are capable of downloading at a certain speed doesn't mean its going to be sent to you at that speed.
3. Just because you have cable TV doesn't mean you should be able to get the cable modem. Docsis compliant cable modems require a forward signal (the one that supplies your TV's)and a return (the signal that is sent back to the cable company by the modem). There are a few systems that utilize the cable for downloading and a standard phone line modem for the return. Analog cable TV boxes don't send anything back to the cable company. The modem actually uses 2 regular tv channels for its communication pathways (forward and return).Which ones they are differ from cable system to cable system. Cable TV has been around for 40-50 years and was never originally designed to have a signal sent back from the home to the cable company. Cable modems less than 10. Not all cable systems are capable of supporting the cable modem service. DOCSIS cable standards require a certain range of frequencies and a return path to support cable modems (except non DOCSIS proprietary setups and dialup modem return). If you live in an area with an older cable system that doesn't meet the specifications then it must be upgraded or completely rebuilt (that takes an assload of money when your talking a few thousand miles of cable in one decient size system. Don't be surprised if every modem doesn't work perfect all the time (I'm not trying to defend the reliability just stating the reality). Whenever you try to utilize old technology as a medium for new technology there are bound to be problems. Alot of cable systems are 15 to 20+ years old thats a long time for a piece of electrical equipment to be underground or hanging on a pole exposed to the elements. Things like water, loose connections, dirty cable fittings and worst of all IGNORANCE can cause you to have problems with your modem.
4. Splitters are probably the biggest enemy of the cable modem. When you split the signal it drops the signal strength down. The more you split the weaker the signal on the forward. The other side of the coin is the modems return power. Its limited to between 58 and somewhere around 65 db (depending on manufacturer) worth of transmit power. The modem's return has to travel back through what ever splitters are between the modem and the main line outside. If there are to many the modem will not be able to get its signal back to the cable company (try to have the modem wired to most direct route to the cable house box outside.
If you want to know more about technical specs on cable modems go here »www.cablemodem.com
Sorry its late i gotta go to bed have to deal with retards tomorrow. Thank god @home is going out of business my job might get easier!!!! PS Comcast did not Cap your upload @home did because some stupid ass genius thought it would free up bandwidth on the download side...........doesn't work like that!!!!!! | |
|
| | 
celicaguy
@24.22.x.x
| Re: Poor Cable I couldn't agree more about @home technical support. My experience with the @Home tech support script readers was very frustrating. I knew more about the cable modem than they did. They even had problems with the webspace server failing to load the Frontpage extensions. They kept trying to tell me my full version of Frontpage 2000 was not compatible with @Home Webspace. It took weeks and an escalation to a supervisor to explain what an extension file was. Since Frontpage is not really supported by @home, they would try to blow you off and disconnect the call. Another problem was with the power cord on the RCA Modem. It was shorting out on the circuit board but they wouldn't beleive it. They kept asking to do a system push and the standard BS script checks when I had already stated the obvious. Took two weeks to get them to replace it. The replacement modem was sent but then they put a cap on my upload. I complained enough that a tech took it off.
My last experience with these idiots was with the mail server. The mail.indpndnce1.mo.home.com mail server will not respond to ping or tracert from my location anymore. They have no clue how to fix it even when I told them what was wrong. I proved to them it was a mail server issue when I could Telnet to a Portland, WA mail server and also retrieve my mail from the netmail.home.com mail server. To this day, the original mail server is not responding and I had to change my Outlook settings for the Netmail server. | |
|
| | | 
xdeadhead
220, 221, Whatever It Takes.
Premium
join:2000-11-08
Mechanicsburg, PA | Re: Poor Cable please explain how you " complained enough that a tech took it off" exactly what must i do ? no shit? they really took your up cap off? thanx | |
|
| | 
Kid Bluez
Strumming Da Bluez
join:2001-02-10
fah
| Thanks for the reply, CableModemTech. I appreciate the info, much of which was known by this ole lady but some unknown. Yes, I agree I usually got better service when I was lucky enough to chat with a Comcast etc, but that was rare. I'd usually get @home techs who'd tell me anything from "install the dial up networking in windows start up" (say what? lol) to "everything looks fine here, and we don't know why you can connect to your ISP but can't leave Comcast's router to get out into the 'net' (I had tracerts showing I could ping out that far)."
I have finally given up calling the techs cuz it's SO frustrating and I get nowhere. So I suppose I won't miss them.
I, however, do fault Comcast for this lil item---changing to Adelphia and NEVER notifying me once. Comcast still hasn't though I received an Adelphia zero balance bill in the mail this month. Yes Comcast billed me via their usual credit card auto-billing. I still wait in anticipation, that my ISP will have enough class to inform their customers of important items.
Take care.
--
"donate blood;
play hockey" | |
|
| |
NocDoc
@home.com
| I can honestly say with an unbiased opinion (I'm not a Comcast Employee) that the people in your service area should feel very fortunate to be blessed with a cable modem service techician as knowledgeble and caring as yourself. I think this actually may be more a charactoristic of the Comcast employees then cable modem techs per say. I won't mention names but several of the top 5 US cable companies do not have the same high standards that Comcast seems to hold.
That being said there are a couple of point's I'd like to comment on in your otherwise factual and technically correct post.
1) @homes call centers : TRUE the majority of the persons employed there are not technicians. However since they are filling the void left by what would normally be a Comcast teir1 support person, the levels of technical ability are generally comparable.
2) 50 service orders per week to replace modems that do not require replacement. : This is a by product of item 1. There are few modem provisioning issues that can not be resolved by a competent teir1 rep. (why does'nt Comcast provide more teir1 support instead of outsourcing?)
I will not bore you with any of the numerous encounters I've had with clueless cable modem techs and their unbelievable stories told to customers in order to avoid fixing a simple problem like getting a modem to sync...OK I can't resist just one. My all time favorite was hearing of a installer who told the customer that the reason their modem would not sync was SUNSPOTS. This would have been bad enough on it's own but he followed it up by further telling the customer to call @home teir2 support so they could make the needed system adjustments to counteract the effects of the sunspots. (ok enough of story time)
3) The cap on cable modems. : I will only say this...The cable companies dictate the actual speed of the customers upstream. This tends to be supported by the fact that the speed the modems are capped at varies by both MSO and even by region in some cases. BTW wasn't Comcast the first to sell multi-teired QOS levels to the customers? (I may be wrong on this one but it sounds correct at this moment) If @home was responsible for the cap I can assure you that it would be universal for all customers regardless of the cable company involved.
Ok it's very late now but I want to end on the same note I started on. Your customers are lucky to have a quality tech such as yourself supporting them. Keep up the good work! | |
|
| | 
pupowski$
join:2001-01-15
Atlantis
| said by CableModemtech:
When you call for Tech support for the @home service 9 out of ten times your talking to one of @home's call centers.....
I have @Home since test markets began. Tech support was horrible from the start, and I worked my way up the food chain with complaints to corporate, the FCC, and local regulators.I even challenged AT&T applications for local service in other states before I got their attention. It was like a war just to get the service I was paying for, and there was no competition, so it went on for several years.I was credited over TWO YEARS free service,one month at a time, for various problems. The average wait was 30-45 minutes for a tier one tech who couldn't do much, and another 15 minutes to reach tier 2 who were more knowledgeable but limited by the company structure. Field techs were never a problem, and I blame top management for poor phone support,not the techs.About a year ago service improved dramatically, and has remained that way since.I speak to AT&T employees, not @Home's, and service has never been better. I never used the portal or mail servers, and I won't miss @Home a bit. | |
|
| | |
Kid Bluez
Strumming Da Bluez
join:2001-02-10
fah
| Re: Service has never been better Yeah, I've received an easy 1 1/2 years of free services in the form of refunds for no service or poor service--until they changed the policy to say that if you can connect AT ALL in a 24 hour period, you get NO refund. That's garbage! They must've done that because it is so intermittent around here, and everyone would be asking for full rebates every single month!
--
"donate blood;
play hockey" | |
|
| | | |
pupowski$
join:2001-01-15
Atlantis | Re: Service has never been better Where did you find that cool Avatar? | |
|
| | | | |
Kid Bluez
Strumming Da Bluez
join:2001-02-10
fah
| Re: Service has never been better quote:
pupowski: Where did you find that cool Avatar?
If you're referring to mine, I made it with Paint Shop Pro, used a bit of Photo Shop, and Animation Shop. Took me forever one night, starting at midnight, and was done by 9am (? somewhere around there). Team Helix has some very talented people that make them in a snap, but my expertise is not there yet. Did ya know you could animate your avatar with $5 in tool points (minimum), 40x40, 5k limit. Nice of Justin. 
quote:
pchdude: I like the "PS" part about the upload caps
Yep, I remember getting Comcast's email about how @home was going to cap UL to 128, with the reasoning that most people want download speeds rather than upload speed, and this would, thus, save the bandwidth for customer's preferences. HUH? I game and UL is as important as DL speed. It was a great marketing ploy, but those of us who know anything about it saw it for what it was---nothing but a ploy. Gaming has never been the same since. Hey pch, Dana Point is a nice community.  We be neighbors (don't really live in Pasadena, and I do have the same isp as you).
[text was edited by author 2001-10-13 06:48:40] | |
|
| | | | | |
pupowski$
join:2001-01-15
Atlantis
| Re: Service has never been better said by GoGrannyGo:
If you're referring to mine, I made it with Paint Shop Pro, used a bit of Photo Shop, and Animation Shop...... Did ya know you could animate your avatar with $5 in tool points (minimum), 40x40, 5k limit. Nice of Justin.
Thanks for the info, I would like animation for mine. $5.00 is a bargain, but software isn't, and all I have is Photo Shop. I don't know much about team helix, but I'm going to take a look now. Good job on your avatar, that's how ideas spread. | |
|
| |
pchdude
@home.com
| That's the best response I've ever seen. Truthful and technically accurate too. I like the "PS" part about the upload caps. Some folks have real strange ideas about what does and doesn't affect bandwidth.
The standard excuse we always got for the upload cap(crap)is that the @home servers couldn't handle a large number of users uploading at once, and that the emphasis is on customer satisfaction. Yeah well, maybe so, but I don't spend my Internet time playing with @home servers... | |
|
| | |
2farfromCO7
join:2000-10-14
Farmington, MI
| Of course it doesn't mean anything Because @home is insignificant and unnecessary. That is a terrible business model to build, where your service is so unimportant that your clients don't even skip a beat when you go out of business. That tells you it was doomed from the start. How is Earthlink going to be any different with Time Warner Cable with the exception that AOL-Time Warner faces far greater anti-trust scrutiny, and any abuses that cost Earthlink money will surely trigger sanctions against AOL-Time Warner. Of course then they'll just pull AOL from cable modems which will make my point that the AOL-Time Warner has 0 synergy and is the most overrated, overblown, and overhyped merger in the history of capitalism. It's much todo about nothing.v | |
|
| 
Jim Gurd
Premium
join:2000-07-08
Plymouth, MI
 ·Comcast
| Re: Of course it doesn't mean anything said by 2farfromCO:
Of course then they'll just pull AOL from cable modems which will make my point that the AOL-Time Warner has 0 synergy and is the most overrated, overblown, and overhyped merger in the history of capitalism.
No actually it's the second. The first is Excite@Home. It made even less sense than the AOL/TW merger although I agree that there is absolutely no synergy there either.
Both were very bad ideas but AOL/TW is at least a profitable conglomerate. Excite@Home however has been bleeding red ink for years. | |
|
| | 2farfromCO7
join:2000-10-14
Farmington, MI
| Re: Of course it doesn't mean anything If you lived in Farmington Hills instead of the fairy tale world of Plymouth(have you basic cable TV rates even crossed the $30/month barrier yet?, and when did you get cable modems? '97?), you might be whistling a different toon. Time Warner blackmailed us for 3 years just to get c cable modems and digital cable even though we were and still are paying the highest rates in the Metro Detroit area. Now that we finally have cable modems, they are charging us $84/month for them one way or another. That is downright extortion. | |
|
| | | 
spenster
join:2001-04-03
Houston, TX
| Re: Of course it doesn't mean anything $84/month? That's it? You should see my monthly bill. Try $43/mo for basic cable, $79/mo for "1500/1500" internet, and $10/mo for modem rental. After taxes it comes out easily to about $155/mo. To top it all off I don't even see the "1500/1500" either. I did an average of 450 down and about 600 up. Funny thing is that the 1000/1000 plan is/was $49/mo until they changed their offerings. They no longer offer the "1500/1500" but I'm supposed to be able to keep it still since I connected before the switch.
By the way, anyone who wants to know which company this is that sucks so bad is Optel. | |
|
| | | | 
IGGY
No Guru Just Here To Help
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-30
Chatham, IL
|  Re: Of course it doesn't mean anything
download in the range of 3600 to 5500 kbps upload capped at 128kpbs ( in the range of about 100kpbs most days ). But hey now that @HOME is going broke = phone support has gotten better in my area. Heck they answered the phone in less than 5 minutes the other day. Couldn't solve my issue.
Got booted upwards. But before they answered I realized the issue was my fault. LOL!
--
Test Your Anti Virus & Firewall - MORE!! at IGGYZ | |
|
| | | | 2farfromCO7
join:2000-10-14
Farmington, MI | No, that's $84.95 for internet with a 256k upload not 1500. Dumb comparison. | |
|
| | | | |
spenster
join:2001-04-03
Houston, TX
| Re: Of course it doesn't mean anything Not so dumb if you would have read the post more carefully. Did you notice the quotations? They're selling it as 1500 but I have yet to see it. Besides, with the SLA not allowing any kind of servers, having such an upload speed is useless. Do you average 450 or less down? Have you seen throughput fall to less than 50kb/sec? If do the math I'm sure you'll see that price/bitrate ratio will be quite different. | |
|
| | |
Jim Gurd
Premium
join:2000-07-08
Plymouth, MI
·Comcast
| Actually I pay about $75.00 per month for Basic 1,2 and 3 plus internet access. (Basic 1 is just the local broadcast channels plus public access. I need to subscribe to 2 and 3 to get most of "basic" cable). The modem is included in the $40 price for the internet service. Since I only have basic I don't need to pay for a cable box so I don't use one. I'm not sure how much they would charge for it.
By the way, I used to live in Dearborn Heights and I got cable service when it first came out which was approximately March 1998. My move to Plymouth was seamless. The only thing that changed was I got a different brand of cable modem. I went from a Lan City to a 3Com. | |
|
| Anon |  Comcast caused a lot of damage while solvent
Comcast, your demise serves you right. | |
|
| cmaenginsb
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-19
Palmdale, CA | Re: Comcast caused a lot of damage while solvent I think you need to re-read the article, Comcast is very solvent, it's @home which is not.
In areas where you are using @home right now they will most likely be run by Comcast internally in the future. | |
|
| | 
Zhen-Xjell
Prolific Bunny
Premium,VIP,ExMod 2001-04
join:2000-10-08
Bordentown, NJ
clubs: 
| Re: Comcast caused a lot of damage while solvent I concur Comcast is not in the same position as @Home, and dare we forget they wanted to take on AT&T?
I had it running on my site, but the demand was so overwhelming I am very close to having my site shut down until November's allotment. ... an excerpt from my website:
September 11, 2001: Only Time (onlytime.swf) Flash File (click me to view). MIRROR LOCATION: Thanks to a friendly email conversation, this flash movie can now be seen at an alternate location: sonacomis. ATTENTION: I didn't know I would get slammed with requests to view this file, so in just inside a week for the first time ever, my bandwidth for the month is almost gone. I'm not increasing it, so I have to take it offline until next month, November. Sorry, what more can I do on a limited budget? Thanks for understanding. [Thu Oct 11, 2001]
--
Live Life!
{Only Time}
[text was edited by author 2001-10-11 15:52:38] | |
|
| | 
TimSpencer
join:2001-05-18
Arvada, CO | I agree...wonder how much longer it's going to be before Comcast announces they have purchased AT&T Broadband? | |
|
| | |
| 
valmg
Neutiquam Erro.
join:2001-05-07
Brick, NJ
clubs: | I had such horrible experiences with Comcast for cable tv that I got a satellite dish. Very poor customer service, some questionable business/employee practice. I stayed on dialup until I could get dsl, rather than use them to access the internet. | |
|
Hardxx
join:2000-12-21
Norristown, PA
| I think in the long run... Comcast will acquire their own access for their high speed service. They see the winfall of bundling their services (tv/internet) and the potential for phone service. That is the long term aspect. Short term it will be rough. The whole earthlink high speed expierment is still in testing phases.... I am moving saturday and since I am an existing customer of @home supposedly the tech from comcast is still coming out saturday to set up my account at my new home. Hope this works. I can't go back to dial up. | |
|
| 
banditws6
Shrinking Time and Distance
join:2001-08-18
Naples, FL
·Comcast
| Good luck with the move! I hope everything goes well for you. Moving is what killed my Comcast broadband access last month. After enjoying 3 years of cable Internet from a slew of different providers in different areas of the country, I moved 3 miles down the street last month and Comcast told me I couldn't have @home there. Of course, they told me the opposite until I actually moved; go figure. So I had to cancel my @home account. Now they don't have any clue when I will be able to get back online; every time I call I get a different answer. They've run the gamut from 2 weeks to "it's nowhere NEAR ready." This is just from moving 3 MILES AWAY. Ridiculous.
I had to go back to dial-up on my crappy, staticky Sprint phone line and it sucks the wad BIG time. Man, after 3 years I totally forgot how much analog blows.  | |
|
| | 
Carbon Unit
Premium,MVM
join:2001-07-21
Saint Charles, MO |  Re: Good luck with the move!
| |
|
mcaslan
join:2000-06-17
Baltimore, MD
| Related to... When AT&T purchased Northpoint it was published that the @HOME and Excite contractual details prohibited AT&T pursuing broadband. Now Comcast wants to buy AT&T Broadband.
Couldn't all this bankruptcy be related to the dissolution of the @HOME company to wind up operations to allow each of the parties to pursue their own strategies and interests without all the complicated contractual limitations after everybody bought into everybody else.
Maybe that's why everybody is saying it's all ok and bankruptcy court to find an amicable solution. They (upper level management) know and have planned this to occur.
[text was edited by author 2001-10-11 16:18:43] | |
|
Rick
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-06
Waterbury, CT
clubs:
| I wonder if @home is trying to raise the stakes a little with this move
and trying to get more than AT&T is offering for their business by showing just how important they are?
These cable companies sign up 100,000 +
new customers a month and this has gotta certainly hit
them in the wallet. | |
|
|
NocDoc
@home.com | Re: I wonder if @home No actually it was the bankruptcy court that made the decision, not excite@home... | |
|
Figures
@Dial1.Den
| Figures Come on folks you knew Excite was doomed after they hired Patti Tart (I mean Hart) as their new CEO. Patti is the person that gave us all Telocity. Telocity failed and Excite scooped her up immediately. It takes shear dishonesty to fail a business with 3.6 million customers paying monthly. Man, I could make a decent living if I had just 100 customers paying me monthly for internet service. | |
|
eltrain13
join:2001-08-29
Chicago, IL
| screwed by @home | |
|
arosenbl
join:2001-10-14
Arlington, VA
| Who owns this system?! | |
|
| | Anon | Re: Who owns this system?!
As for @home there nothing much going on here save the laying off today of all most all of the @home install techs in southeast michigan they just do cable installs and repair work now since they can no longer provision cable modems | |
|
|
mrgupta
@mediaone.net
| I go to UM, use Comcast and have the exact same problem. I was beginning to wonder if it was just me. It's really starting to tick me off. I just bought a wireless router and new wireless NIC too! :-( I am considering switching to DSL, but I am a little scared of setting up my NIC and router all over again, especially since I've heard it's harder to set these kinds of things up on DSL. Any insight? | |
|
|
|
|
·