Also Experiencing constant dropouts

Hello Morthner,

Welcome to the forum.

Please accept our apology for this ongoing issue and thank you for your patience.

Let me assist you in this matter, so please send me via PM with your account information with your hours of operation and a contact number.

Thank You

Jon, thanks for getting back to me so fast on Friday and understanding the issue's we've been facing the past few months.  A tech did show up on Saturday (albeit an hour late).  He did the usual tech thing and took readings at the router, where the line comes in and out at the pole.  He did not replace the router.  He did state that there was too much signal loss between the pole and the router.  He was a sub-contractor and not a Comcast employee, so he said that he would "write this up and give it to his boss" and it would be up to the "boss" to take any next steps.  The three previous techs did all of the same readings, so I'm not holding out any hope of his "boss" doing anything more.

I did however receive a call this afternoon from a Comcast employee regarding the follow-up survey they sent after the visit on Saturday (I was not very complementary). She has scheduled yet another visit (this will be number five), but she said it will be the Comcast area supervsior.  I will let you know if we get any resolution after this call.   

We're still getting multiple drops per day, so hopefully somebody will do something more than take readings and drive away.

morthner,

Thank you for getting back to us with your update, and once again we appreciate your continue patience with Comcast.

Additionally I'm sorry untimeliness of the technician and I do hope our area supervisor has address your issue.

Please continue to post technical support questions and concerns you have in this forum.

Thank You

Jon, here is an update of what has been happening:

While the rep I talked to on Tuesday stated that she would have the supervisor show up on Thursday, the tech from the 2nd service call (who had replaced the 4 way splitter with a 3 way) showed up along with another tech (the 6th if you're keeping count). Also, a utility mark-out had been done to replace the underground feed (which actually is not necessary since there is a 2" conduit out to the pole). When this set of techs came out, they once again did their readings and decided that the contract tech from Saturday was wrong and that there was no problem with the underground feed and cancelled the replacement of the feed. They also stated that the #23 tap was more than sufficient (which the tech on Saturday said was not). They then called for another tech with a bucket truck to come out (tech #7) and check the line. He came out, looked at things for a while and then left. Tech #2 had said to call him on Friday if things weren't better, which they weren't. I called him and he said he would get back to me, which he hasn't. He also asked if the router had been replaced, which it hasn't.

So here is where we stand. We have had 6 on-site visits, which all have agreed that there is a signal problem upstream somewhere, but nobody has been able to do anything about. After numerous support and on-site techs saying that the 5 year old SMC router should be replaced as a first step, it's still here.

Tech #6 also stated that they made network changes back in February, which is probably why we're having problems after 8 years of rock solid service. He was at a loss however to say how they could correct them.

I would just like to get our service back to where it was for the previous 8 years, solid and dependable. Not what we have now, with intermittent drop-outs occurring multiple times a day.

morthner,

This is very unfortunate to say the least. 

I've just sent you PM to address this issue, please check you message.

Thank You

Jon, wanted to give you another update. 

You had scheduled a tech to come out and replace the SMC between 1 and 3pm.  At 3:05pm the tech hadn't shown up, so I gave a call to the 800 number to make sure they were only their way.  I was assured that the tech was "in route" and should arrive shortly.  At 5pm the tech still hadn't shown up, so I called the 800 number again.  I was on hold with a support rep for about 5 minutes and then the line went dead.  I called back and talked to another support rep who said they would escalate the call (ticket ER010199635) and I should hear from somebody in the next 30 minutes.  At 6:30pm I hadn't heard from anybody, so I called support again.  This rep told me the ticket was closed as "not a Comcast issue".  I asked her how a router replacement was "not a Comcast Issue" and she said that she had no record of a router replacement being requested.  I asked her if she could escalate the problem and after a 5 minute hold I was transferred to somebody who did seem to know that the router was supposed to be replaced but had no idea why the tech's visit was cancelled.  He said he would try to get somebody out this evening, and if not, he would get back in contact with me by 9pm to reschedule. 

He did get back to me at 8:50pm and we're now scheduled for Thursday.  I'll let you know if somebody actually shows up this time!

morthener,

Thank you for the update.

I've just sent you PM, please check it

Thank You

Jon, again, thanks for all the support you've provided in attempting to resolve this issue.  As you know from our phone call this morning, the tech did show up (finally!) and replaced the SMC 8014 with a Docsis3.  We also had a line crew show up yesterday and they pulled new coax (through the conduit, they were thrilled that they didn't have to dig!) and the tech moved us over to the new line after replacing the SMC. 

The only negative was the tech not showing up on Tuesday as scheduled and the resulting time I had to spend on the phone to find out where he was. They tech today said that he (Tuesday's tech) closed the ticket as "occupant not available", which is nonsense since there were mutliple people present on Tuesday. 

I'll monitor the connection for the next 48 hours and let you know how we do.

morthner,

It is very gratifying to hear that your service working acceptably and thank you for allowing me to assist.

Your patience with me and Comcast is truly appreciated.

In regards to this most unfortunate event; I have forward your concerns and comments to our management. As you have said, it is “disturbing” to the noted tech no show.

The “bridge mode”, is technically setup on the IPGW, and we call it “pass-through mode”.Currently our IPGW is routing with its gateway IP address, and issuing LAN DHCP to your network. Basically to make your network router the “end-point” in your network, configure your “routable WAN IP” to it.Additionally if there is any specific rules setup on our IPGW (i.e. port forwarding, NAT rule) disable them to prevent conflict.

Please continue to post technical support questions and concerns you have in this forum.

Thank You

Ah, the gift that keeps on giving... turns out we were charged $139.95 for the inital appointment on 5/23 (I think that was the one when nobody showed up!)  I talked to billing and they were willing to credit only $120 of the charge, leaving us holding the bag for $20 for a missed appointment.  I thought Comcast was supposed to credit us $20, not the other way around...

Also, we never received the $20 credit for a late appointment on the 26th that the tech noted on the appointment receipt.  I would also assume on those other two occasions when the tech's never showed up at all we should have been credited.

At this point it's costing me more money to call and contest these charges than the credit is worth.

Good news is that the connection is fairly stable.  We've had only 2 drops since the 7th (and one was during an electrical storm so we won't count that one!)