Net connection drops every hour?

E

entropism

2[H]4U
Joined
Dec 23, 2004
Messages
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OK, so today is going to be my 4th service call from Comcast, and I'm getting tired of it, maybe you guys might have some insight, because they sure as hell don't:

Every hour or so on average (sometimes every 10 minutes, sometimes only 5x/day), my internet connection will completely drop. I have to reboot my router and disable/re-enable my network adapter, and that usually clears up the problem. Normally, I'd attribute this to a router problem, but I've since swapped out the router, and switched which onboard network adapter I use. Comcast has also swapped the modem, nothing has helped. Lately, however, I've had to reset the modem as well, and it takes multiple resets to get everything going.

In my modem log, I find a TON of entries for this:

No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CMTS-MAC=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;

And the entry dates for the log entries go from Jan 1st, 1970 to today's date, randomly.

In addition, my speeds have gone from a consistent 22mbps to about 10 at most, often dropping to about 2, and at worst, about 750k.

Comcast has gone from telling me that my signal is horrible, to now telling me the signal is fine, to saying that this is a problem on my end. Anyone have any insight?
 
That log entry and time are meaningless. How about some signal readings? Most modem's diag pages should tell you unless Comcast locked them.

You are describing a signal problem. Comcast either has a bad drop, bad tap, bad amp somewhere, or more commonly, you have a splitter that went bad, or an amp somewhere between the modem and Comcast.

IF you get a dslreports.com account, drop by the Comcast direct forums, those guys are miracle workers. They can have a lot of pull to get stuff fixed.
 
Yeah they're here right now, one guy is trying to tell me it's windows, the other is saying my signal is too high. They put a 3db attenuator on my line, and while the speedtests seemed to smooth out at 17mbps, the connection is supposed to be 22mpbs WITHOUT any speedboost. Frankly, right now, I'd be happy just with a stable connection.

From the modem signal page:

Channel ID 1 2 3 4
Frequency 555000000 Hz 561000000 Hz 567000000 Hz 573000000 Hz
Signal to Noise Ratio 36 dB 37 dB 37 dB 37 dB
Downstream Modulation QAM256 QAM256 QAM256 QAM256
Power Level
The Downstream Power Level reading is a snapshot taken at the time this page was requested. Please Reload/Refresh this Page for a new reading
8 dBmV 8 dBmV 8 dBmV 8 dBmV

and for the upstream:

Channel ID 12
Frequency 34200000 Hz
Ranging Service ID 5463
Symbol Rate 5.120 Msym/sec
Power Level 45 dBmV
Upstream Modulation [3] QPSK
[3] 64QAM

Ranging Status Success

Sorry about the text formatting.
 
Your signal levels are in acceptable ranges. Give the attenuator a try, and contact someone in the direct forum if you continue to have issues.

Speed's on a cable network can very greatly if you have other high users in your area. Even with Docsis 3, you are still sharing 160mbit of bandwidth with 250+ other people.
 
I hear you, I'm just a little annoyed that my speeds dropped from a consistent 22mpbs down to a level where Skype can't handle a video connection. Not like the speeds fluctuate throughout the day either.

Thanks for your help by the way
 
Well, this is definitely embarrassing... Comcast came out and fixed the line problems, turns out my signal was burning out my tap. So they got that all set up, but my speeds were still at about 12mpbs down. As it turns out, Avast's latest update was screwing with people's internet speeds, so I uninstalled it and put in MSE temporarily and I'm now getting 35mbps down, 12 mbps up.

Looks like I'll wait for Avast's fix before going back...
 
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