March 07, 2003
AT&T/Comcast suck, badly

I finally figured out what happened to my Internet connection.. no, it's not a regional outage.. it's just that the customer service people can't differentiate between e-mail problems and connectivity problems (can you please cycle your modem?). The outage in my area was for e-mail.. not connection.

Now since, all my neighbors have their cable tv (none of them have cable Internet that I know of) and all theirs works fine, that leave one choice (can you cycle your modem please?) .. especially since apparently there was a cable tv truck on my street yesterday morning.

Something that has happened once before and also left me Internet-less for a few days. (I need you to go to the back of your modem and pull the plug, count to 10 and plug it back in). Big clue: I do no subscribe to cable tv. I refuse to. I don't watch tv I have no intention of paying for it.

That's right, once again, (cycle your modem please) the cable tv division came by, saw my hook up (with filters so I don't actually get channels just noise) and pulled the plug. Guess what that disconnects? (now cycle your modem again).

Of course, a technician cannot come before Monday so i'll be going to the office to work this weekend (this couldn't have been at a worse time work-wise). What does customer service say? Please cycle your modem!

AT&T cable tv & AT&T cable Internet do not even talk to each other. One doesn't know what the other is doing, one has no clue what the other is doing, in fact I'm not sure one knows the other exists.

I'm feeling great after spending an hour on the phone with various customer reps trying to explain to them that cycling my modem will not create a signal on wire and therefore will not restore my connectivity.. yes, I realize some people that call in are idiots and I realize those customer service people get paid very little and know very little.. but honestly, cycling your modem doesn't fix everything. Maybe an inter-company memo explaining that people that have cable Internet are not necessarily stealing cable tv and need that line connected? Please?

Maybe this is just another of their tactics to get me to subscribe to cable tv. DIsconnect my Internet access every 6 months for a week at a time.

I wish I could get decent dsl where I live.

Posted March 07, 2003 06:24 PM in Geek Stuff
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Comments
On March 7, 2003 06:45 PM Erik J. Barzeski added:

Be sure to at least get credit (i.e. not billed) for the days you don't have service.

I once had one-way cable service with Adelphia (have two-way now) and my phone line was cut for five days. So not only did I have no way of getting online, but I couldn't speak to anyone on the phone either. My cell phone works, but nobody has the # - I just forward my home # to it when I'm out.

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On March 7, 2003 06:47 PM Steve Friedl added:

Have you tried rebooting your computer?

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On March 7, 2003 06:51 PM Lance added:

Ha ha Steve, you a funny man!

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On March 7, 2003 06:52 PM Lance added:

Damn, and I was thinking of discontinuing cable TV (the kids watch far too much), but knowing that this may jeopardize my internet connection tells me I should leave well enough alone.

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On March 7, 2003 10:05 PM jianin added:

Any of the "tech support" tried pinging your modem in the first place? I had a 6-month saga with AT&T (yes, it was still AT&T then) about my nonexistent cable internet connection. Some tried to claim that since my cable TV (I still had it then, too) received signals, I should be getting their cable internet signals too. And kept telling me to trash my TCP/IP preferences (I'm on a Mac) and "recycle" my modem. And some also told me to go talk to my modem manufacturer. Boy, did I have fun those months, bouncing between 2 tech supports! "It's your hardware's fault that you are getting 192.xxx.xxx.xx." "No, if you're getting a 96, it's a problem with your connection."
Anyway, to keep a long story short, I finally reached a Tier 2 support person who was bright enough to think of pinging my modem (hey, I learned something new that day!) and found out that he can't get to it. Surprise! So the cabling guys had to come track mud all over my nice cream carpet. Hmmm... I've got weak cable signals. You can't tell by looking at the tiny 13" TV I have, but a nice fancy hand gizmo of theirs showed a pathetic signal strenghth of -27. So they changed some cables. Still no connection. Must be an external cabling problem then. And here's a new experience - internal cabling _and_ external cabling ain't the same group. Bounced between them for a while too. Finally struck gold with a really good knowledgeable field technician who knew his stuff about cabling, cable TV signal strength requirements _and_ cable internet signal strength requirements. (Too weak a signal is unacceptable data so your connection is refused - too much "garbage.") He even found the exact bad piece of cable, replaced it, retested with his fancy gizmo, and, get this, waited till I was online and registered (finally!) before he left! (Thanks again, John!)
So now I'm online fine, and have given up cable TV since it isn't worth $40/mth to watch only 4 hours each week. And my connection seems perfectly happy. (Where's some wood around here?!) I've gotten my 6 months' credit back, month to month, while waiting for them to fix the problem.
Now to figure out why my connection dies almost every night at 1:00 for over 0.5 hours....

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On March 7, 2003 10:49 PM Jeremy Zawodny added:

Clearly your modem is broken.

Mine works. Why don't I send you mine while I use my DSL? That'll get you running. :-(

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On March 7, 2003 11:45 PM Techie2000 added:

DSL rules.

Although I have been having strange problems with losing sync ever since a service outage a month ago. We're going to have to try a new modem, and once the snow clears try one of the outside splitters. I still can't figure out what happened that caused it. It just started losing sync at anything about 768Kbps down for no particular reason.

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On March 8, 2003 02:58 AM danny molek added:

SONIC YOUTH - Disconnection notice


Album : Murray street (2002)


DID YOU GET YR DISCONNECTION NOTICE
MINE CAME IN THE MAIL TODAY
THEY SEEM TO THINK IM DISCONNECTED
DON’T THINK I KNOW WHAT TO READ OR WRITE OR SAY
GLOSSARIES INJECTED DAILY
WORDS + NUMBERS SPELL OUT THE PRICE TO PAY
IT SIMPLY STATES, “YR DISCONNECTED BABY”
SEE HOW EASILY IT ALL SLIPS AWAY

THIS IS NOH DIRECTION
PREPARE FOR THE CITY
ANGELS TURN ON HEAVENS LIGHT

HURRY UP THE STAGE AWAITS YOU
DON’T FORGET MEMORIZE YR LINES
MISSED YR MARK NOW WE MEDICATE YOU
OUT OF STEP JUST CANT FIND THE TIME
WILL WE PASS THRU UNDETECTED
EVERYTHING RIGHT HERE INSIDE OUR FILE
NOT SO FREE TO BE UNPROTECTED
A SECRET MONA LISA HIDES BEHIND HER SMILE

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On March 8, 2003 08:04 AM john added:

I'm crossing my fingers during the transition to Comcast - my AT&T service has been stable for a year (although we've all been through Support hell for one reason or another) and I'm hoping the move to Comcast is seamless. I've got my doubts - they've already called me up trying to sell a service I already have through them...

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On March 8, 2003 11:36 AM kevin added:

can you please cycle your modem?

:P

(sorry, could not resist)

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On March 9, 2003 12:52 PM Mike added:

Be glad all they did was wrongly disconnect you. They actually pressed criminal charges against a woman in MD who had cable internet but not cable TV. Her story is here: http://www.geocities.com/flutocracy/cablemodem.htm

This happened almost five years ago, I can't believe they still haven't gotten their shit together. I guess since they didn't get sued for millions in the 1998 incident, there was no motivation to actually get their two divisions talking to each other.

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On March 9, 2003 10:37 PM Dan Isaacs added:

Get a Tivo. It makes Cable watchable.

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On March 10, 2003 07:06 PM Nick added:

Heh, having worked for a cable company...
The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing and vice versa. Your best bet is to do this. Call tech support, then once they pick up, don't even let them speak and tell them you need to talk to a Level 2 or Level 3 Support Rep. If they're unwilling either hang up and call again, or start explaining to them in really long words what's wrong.

"Ah yes, I seem to have lost my connectivity to your DHCP server and can't get my modulator demodulator to obtain the DNS information from your Database." or some other complex jibberish.

Then, when you get connected with level 2/3 support. Ask them to "ping your modem" and run some SNMP queries on it to find out why you cannot connect. Infact, they can remotely reboot your cable modem if it's really necessary.

And, keep us updated ;)

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On May 13, 2003 03:29 PM ted added:

hi there,
i ran across this page searching for "comcast suck" on yahoo. unfortunately, i had comcast "high speed internet" and i just cancelled after 5 months of calling the tech support dept and not getting any connection signal after 8 pm. the techs told me the same thing, cycle your modem, blah blah.. i had two techs come out to my townhouse to check out the problem and i had the same problem with the tv cable vs internet cable thing. the cable tech put a filter on my cable for the tv side, which affects the net connection. after that whole thing cleared up, i still had no connection after 8pm. and when i called (2 to 3 times a week for 5 months), i got the same "it should be back up within 48 hours" scripted speech they tell everyone. and after 5 months of paying for something i can't use, i decided to get my money back. except they only credit for the time when you can't connect. so after paying around $40 a month for 5 months (total of over $200), i only got credited $36. so i paid over $150 for something i never used.

sorry for all the complaining. i just wanted you to know you're not alone in your situtation with comcast. i also wanted to know what area you live in and if our situation is the same. i live in sunnyvale, CA and as far as i know, i'm the only one with cable net connection in my townhouse complex.

i hope this message helps anyone who questions their net subscription with comcast. and a word of advice, if you lose more than a week of connection with any company, think about changing before it gets too late.

...ted

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On July 22, 2003 10:51 PM michael shaw added:

recycling your modem and unplugging it will work sometimes.its only a bandaid.what you can do is ask for inhouse people.this way you wont get a contractor.but in your case if they cut your modem off it most likely wasnt tagged with a pink tag or video trap mike shaw FOREMAN for comcast in union nj

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On November 12, 2003 12:10 AM mommynrs96 added:

I currently have cable net thru Shaw cable in Montgomery,Texas. I have never had a problem with connection or modems. I am however moving to Wyoming and the area there only gets High speed internet thru AT&T from what I can tell thru my research. There are no DSL suppliers. I am a little nervous about getting internet service thru them. IS there any hope of eventually getting problem free internet thru AT&T/comcast?

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On November 12, 2003 12:10 AM mommynrs96 added:

I currently have cable net thru Shaw cable in Montgomery,Texas. I have never had a problem with connection or modems. I am however moving to Wyoming and the area there only gets High speed internet thru AT&T from what I can tell thru my research. There are no DSL suppliers. I am a little nervous about getting internet service thru them. IS there any hope of eventually getting problem free internet thru AT&T/comcast?

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