Topic: If you should ever have an intermittent Internet Connection....

[Bob Wessner]

Been off-line for a couple of days, did you miss me?  

I switched from dial-up to cable about two years ago. From time to time I would have intermittent connection problems. I'd run all the "repair" software such as Comcast's Desktop Dr. I think and Windows repair, Comcast's seems lame. Usually, no help. Most of the time I would just shut everything down and go to bed in disgust. Over the two years Comcast had given me three modems thinking that was the problem. Last Friday night I lost it for good and never got it back until today. Guess what I found?

See pic. That damn shield wire is not much larger than a human hair, but was causing intermittent shorts to the copper core and finally it was no longer intermittent. It was the connection in the wall under the desk. I had checked the connection to see if it was tight, etc. numerous times, even reversed the coax piece running from the box to the modem but never dismantled the box and looked with a flashlight.. until today.

[BobbyR]

Nice catch

[Sam Green Racing]

Welcome back Bob.......



































no, we didn't miss you.

Sam.

[750goes]

who put in the original cable ??

[bucky katt]

that happened with both of our satelite recievers

[333]

I missed you Bob.  I was just about to send out a search party.

[Bob Wessner]

who put in the original cable ??

Comcast. 

[medic09]

Comcast are the ones who should have found the problem.

That's why we just dumped Comcast.  I had service going out everytime it rained; returning when it dried.  Hmmmm....could that be a clue?  They never completely did away with the problem, but they cashed my check every month.  We're switching this week to a local DSL provider.  Since we never get the full speed promised by cable anyway, I'm sure we won't know the difference.  And since I've never lost phone service in rainstorms yet, I bet I'll have more consistent service.

[azuredesign]

Thanks, I'm going to check our hook ups as well. We've had the same problem.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

And speaking of speed with Comcast (who I dumped 2 weeks ago)........

You might want to check your download speeds. I'd bet you are paying for more speed than you are getting especially with all your neighbors using the same party line as you. I had various problems with Comcast for about a year from the time I hooked up with them. My previous provider, Sprint Broadband Direct, was good and it was somewhat fast but they shut down leaving me with the choice of 1.5mb Qwest or Comcast, which I opted for 4mb. After my millionth (or so it seemed) complaint the nice lady decided to comp me with a free 3 month upgrade to 8mb. I decided to run some speed tests. 3.8 to 4mb only and I was getting a little better than 4mb prior to that. If you like Comcast and are paying for a faster service than you are getting you might want to "downgrade" your bill to a lesser speed because thats all you'll get anyway. Your line can't handle the traffic. Qwest brought their fiber optics to my neighorhood and i went with 12mb and it's cheaper too.

http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

http://speedtest.net/
 

[tramp]

good troubleshooting

[Duke McDukiedook]

That'll do it. Damn installers.

[HavocTurbo]

I have Charter Cable...

They recently went from 3mb to 5mb being the smallest available service. When they changed they notified all of their Wisconsin customers but none of their Illinois customers.

One month my bill was $25 for internet alone.... to $55 for internet alone!!!!

I called and raised hell. Was told they sent out notifications to all their customers in WI. At which point I stated I was in IL. She laughed at me and told me they don't provide service in IL.

I have had Charter in IL for almost 10 years!! I dropped them that day.

[Duke McDukiedook]

Good old cable companies, dependable for a good screw job.

[techy5025]

I have DSL with Bellsouth...no cable in the neighborhood. In order not to have to put 14 DSL filters on all the phones in the house, I put one filter in the entrance box that also routes the DSL over the second pair of phone wires in the house. Generally, this is the outside pair in the four wire telephone connectors. At least twice I have had green oxidation short the outside wires to one of the inside wires. It makes for some strange phone problems and some intermittent disconnects on the DSL modem.

The male and female connectors are gold plated, but it must be very thin and finally the base metal corrodes.

Cable has at least one advantage over DSL....the upload rates are much better. This is especially helpful if you have something like a "Slingbox" that routes your TV or security cams over the internet...or have a server at home. Most people download much more than they upload so this is not an issue.

Jim

[cb350twin]

I can beat that..

Our cable internet was going on and off so they replaced part of the cable going into the house. (Must of been a rabbit or something) After they replaced it, it still did the same thing. We switched from cable 8.0 mbps to DSL 1.5 mbps fastest they have in our area (Qwest) works way better and only 15 bucks a month, really don't notice the speed difference too much. Only time I notice it is when I'm downloading stuff for the PS3.