Modem lights are all off except power.
Unplug modem from wall, count to 10, plug in.
Still nothing after a few minutes.
Repeat.
Still nothing after a few minutes.
Call Comcast service number....

After fighting the AI answering system they are using now, I finally
get an actual person. This takes over 10 minutes.

She tells me to "unplug your modem and wait 10 seconds before plugging
it back in." I tell her that has been done, twice. She says I have
to do it again. While we wait, she starts a spiel about a streaming
device and service they are selling. I tell her emphatically that I do
NOT want that.

She then says that she is going to send a "strong signal" to my modem
to see if that will fix it. While we wait for that, she starts on the
streaming device pitch again. No I do NOT want it! For the remainder
of the call we are interrupted several times by the message "to accept
these terms, press 1." Of course I never press one, but I did try 2,
9, and 0. None of these prevented that message from interrupting us
over and over. BTW, is "send a strong signal" code for "take time to
pitch something to you?"

Finally she said she would initiate a service call, and a tech would
be here the next afternoon. Great. Why did that take 20 minutes and
send my blood pressure through the roof?

In less than two hours, the modem lights all came back on and ethernet
and telephone both worked. I went to the "my account" page of
comcast.net, and clicked on 'my service calls." It showed none. That
makes it difficult to cancel. And I'm not going to fight that AI to
reach a real person again today, thanks.

When the system came up, there was one email about "we are aware of an
outage in your area..." Yeah, that's useful when the outage prevents
you from receiving emails.

There was also one about an upcoming service call. Again, no way to
cancel. So the next morning (she had said afternoon), a tech arrived.
I explained the above to him. It was obvious he was quite familiar
with these problems, and agreed that their phone system left a LOT to
be desired. He said he had already suggested that they stop using
calls for repair service as promotional opportunities.

TWO DAYS later, I got an email saying the area outage "is fixed." So
what have I been using for the past two days?

Seems the greedy are now running the farm. Helpful and friendly are
no longer available.

--
Protect your civil rights!
Let the politicians know how you feel.
Join or donate to the NRA today!
http://membership.nrahq.org/default.asp?campaignid=XR014887
(use cut and paste to your browser if necessary)

Gun control is like trying to reduce drunk driving by making it tougher for sober people to own cars.

On Sat, 30 Jul 2022 09:41:28 -0400, dyno dan <logic@is.important>
wrote:

>Modem lights are all off except power.
>Unplug modem from wall, count to 10, plug in.
>Still nothing after a few minutes.
>Repeat.
>Still nothing after a few minutes.
>Call Comcast service number....
>
>After fighting the AI answering system they are using now, I finally
>get an actual person. This takes over 10 minutes.
>
>She tells me to "unplug your modem and wait 10 seconds before plugging
>it back in." I tell her that has been done, twice. She says I have
>to do it again. While we wait, she starts a spiel about a streaming
>device and service they are selling. I tell her emphatically that I do
>NOT want that.
>
>She then says that she is going to send a "strong signal" to my modem
>to see if that will fix it. While we wait for that, she starts on the
>streaming device pitch again. No I do NOT want it! For the remainder
>of the call we are interrupted several times by the message "to accept
>these terms, press 1." Of course I never press one, but I did try 2,
>9, and 0. None of these prevented that message from interrupting us
>over and over. BTW, is "send a strong signal" code for "take time to
>pitch something to you?"
>
>Finally she said she would initiate a service call, and a tech would
>be here the next afternoon. Great. Why did that take 20 minutes and
>send my blood pressure through the roof?
>
>In less than two hours, the modem lights all came back on and ethernet
>and telephone both worked. I went to the "my account" page of
>comcast.net, and clicked on 'my service calls." It showed none. That
>makes it difficult to cancel. And I'm not going to fight that AI to
>reach a real person again today, thanks.
>
>When the system came up, there was one email about "we are aware of an
>outage in your area..." Yeah, that's useful when the outage prevents
>you from receiving emails.
>
>There was also one about an upcoming service call. Again, no way to
>cancel. So the next morning (she had said afternoon), a tech arrived.
>I explained the above to him. It was obvious he was quite familiar
>with these problems, and agreed that their phone system left a LOT to
>be desired. He said he had already suggested that they stop using
>calls for repair service as promotional opportunities.
>
>TWO DAYS later, I got an email saying the area outage "is fixed." So
>what have I been using for the past two days?
>
>Seems the greedy are now running the farm. Helpful and friendly are
>no longer available.

Between people quitting jobs, the virus and general stupidity which
one will win out ?

KenW

On 7/30/2022 10:38 AM, KenW wrote:
> On Sat, 30 Jul 2022 09:41:28 -0400, dyno dan <logic@is.important>
> wrote:
>
>> Modem lights are all off except power.
>> Unplug modem from wall, count to 10, plug in.
>> Still nothing after a few minutes.
>> Repeat.
>> Still nothing after a few minutes.
>> Call Comcast service number....
>>
>> After fighting the AI answering system they are using now, I finally
>> get an actual person. This takes over 10 minutes.
>>
>> She tells me to "unplug your modem and wait 10 seconds before plugging
>> it back in." I tell her that has been done, twice. She says I have
>> to do it again. While we wait, she starts a spiel about a streaming
>> device and service they are selling. I tell her emphatically that I do
>> NOT want that.
>>
>> She then says that she is going to send a "strong signal" to my modem
>> to see if that will fix it. While we wait for that, she starts on the
>> streaming device pitch again. No I do NOT want it! For the remainder
>> of the call we are interrupted several times by the message "to accept
>> these terms, press 1." Of course I never press one, but I did try 2,
>> 9, and 0. None of these prevented that message from interrupting us
>> over and over. BTW, is "send a strong signal" code for "take time to
>> pitch something to you?"
>>
>> Finally she said she would initiate a service call, and a tech would
>> be here the next afternoon. Great. Why did that take 20 minutes and
>> send my blood pressure through the roof?
>>
>> In less than two hours, the modem lights all came back on and ethernet
>> and telephone both worked. I went to the "my account" page of
>> comcast.net, and clicked on 'my service calls." It showed none. That
>> makes it difficult to cancel. And I'm not going to fight that AI to
>> reach a real person again today, thanks.
>>
>> When the system came up, there was one email about "we are aware of an
>> outage in your area..." Yeah, that's useful when the outage prevents
>> you from receiving emails.
>>
>> There was also one about an upcoming service call. Again, no way to
>> cancel. So the next morning (she had said afternoon), a tech arrived.
>> I explained the above to him. It was obvious he was quite familiar
>> with these problems, and agreed that their phone system left a LOT to
>> be desired. He said he had already suggested that they stop using
>> calls for repair service as promotional opportunities.
>>
>> TWO DAYS later, I got an email saying the area outage "is fixed." So
>> what have I been using for the past two days?
>>
>> Seems the greedy are now running the farm. Helpful and friendly are
>> no longer available.
>
> Between people quitting jobs, the virus and general stupidity which
> one will win out ?
>
>
> KenW

My multiple negative experiences with Comcast's customer service all
predate the virus and people quitting jobs. I believe it's an embedded
corporate culture where there aren't apparent negative consequences to
poor job performance. The service techs I've spoken to who are willing
to talk say they're expected to perform at an unrealistically heavy
workload without adequate training/mentorship and that they rarely if
ever can complete on schedule. However, they soon realize that there
aren't any negative consequences for poor performance, few rewards for
jobs well done, and soon loose any incentive to do a good job.

dyno dan <logic@is.important> wrote:

> Modem lights are all off except power.
> Unplug modem from wall, count to 10, plug in.
> Still nothing after a few minutes.
> Repeat.
> Still nothing after a few minutes.
> Call Comcast service number....

When I've reset the cable modem, it has taken a LOT longer than a few
minutes. More like 20 minutes before the reset starts, and another 10+
minutes to walk through all the setup process with the LEDs getting to
their normal state. Takes time to reset the cable modem, and then to
get them to resend the config data (provisioning).

I don't bother unplugging the power from the cable modem, especially
since mine has a backup battery, so it won't lose power for several
hours after removing the power cord. Instead I use a unbent paper clip
to push the Reset button in a recess on the back of the cable modem.
Press just momentarily. If you press for more than 10 seconds, you can
also lose the config data, and have to call in to get your modem
re-provisioned.

The cable modem can support a speed that is faster than what you paid
for in your service tier. The cable modem has to get configured for
your account with them, like how many channels to bind to build up the
speed provided in your service tier. The modem also has to negotiate
with their DHCP server to get a WAN-side IP address assigned to the
cable modem.

"A few minutes" seems far too short for the cable modem to get setup
fully. I use the Reset button on the cable modem, and then go watch
some TV (if the outage doesn't include TV service; else, watch some
recorded movies), go make a pot of coffee, check the postal mailbox,
have a meal, etc.

> ...
> She tells me to "unplug your modem and wait 10 seconds before plugging
> it back in." I tell her that has been done, twice. She says I have
> to do it again. ...

When I tell them everything I did, they ignore all that. It's not part
of their canned response database. Just pretend you did it. Say
nothing for 5 minutes, and tell her it's done. You're not getting past
the 1st-level tech on the phone call until they get through their spiel
of canned responses, and then you have to mention the word "escalate" to
get the call escalated to a 2nd- or 3rd-tier tech.

> She then says that she is going to send a "strong signal" to my modem
> to see if that will fix it. ...

More likely she cannot change the strength of the call, so she lied to
you, and instead re-provisioned the modem.

I installed their Android app which can tell me if there is an outage in
my area. Obviously with the cable modem down, you can't use it to check
their website for outages.

> Finally she said she would initiate a service call, and a tech would
> be here the next afternoon. Great. ...
>
> In less than two hours, the modem lights all came back on and ethernet
> and telephone both worked. ...
>
> When the system came up, there was one email about "we are aware of an
> outage in your area..." Yeah, that's useful when the outage prevents
> you from receiving emails.
> ...

Obviously an outage is going to prevent you from getting e-mails, do the
web, or anything else with a service that is down. You don't have a
smartphone, and it doesn't have an e-mail client on it? Your cable
modem is not the only avenue to reach their e-mail service.

BTW, as they go through any spam spiel, I hum the tune from the Jeopardy
game show (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wi8Fv0AJA4) to step atop
whatever they're saying.

dyno dan <logic@is.important> wrote:

>. . .

>There was also one about an upcoming service call. Again, no way to
>cancel. So the next morning (she had said afternoon), a tech arrived.
>I explained the above to him. It was obvious he was quite familiar
>with these problems, and agreed that their phone system left a LOT to
>be desired. He said he had already suggested that they stop using
>calls for repair service as promotional opportunities.

Check your statement next month. There will likely be a bill for the
service call.

>. . .

On Sat, 30 Jul 2022 08:38:45 -0600, KenW wrote:
> On Sat, 30 Jul 2022 09:41:28 -0400, dyno dan wrote:
>
>>Seems the greedy are now running the farm. Helpful and friendly are
>>no longer available.
>
> Between people quitting jobs, the virus and general stupidity which
> one will win out ?

'Tis said that there is more stupidty than hydrogen in the universe.
Jonesy
--
Marvin L Jones | Marvin | W3DHJ.net | linux
38.238N 104.547W | @ jonz.net | Jonesy | FreeBSD
* Killfiling google & XXXXbanter.com: jonz.net/ng.htm

In article <ejbaehtt7tu4ahbr9ci0tkq1eb3hholtcp@4ax.com>,
dyno dan <logic@is.important> writes:

[...]
> When the system came up, there was one email about "we are aware of an
> outage in your area..." Yeah, that's useful when the outage prevents
> you from receiving emails.

If you are fortunate to have cellular (not from Comcast too) with
data, you could use your phone to check Comcast's outage page
yourself, which is likelier to be up-to-date. You could probably also
check your connection via their web site, esp. around the
time an outage with a scheduled end time was supposed to end.

One problem I've long had is that on hot days, the modem would lose
connection. I finally realized I needed an amplifier with "active return"
(the outgoing modem signal is also amplified), put in that, problem mostly
solved. The modem doesn't disconnect anymore, and the Internet works 10
or more degrees hotter than before, but on the very hottest days, the error
rates would be so high that for a few hours it might be barely useable. Good
enough that I'm rarely using up my phone high speed hot-spot allowance
as alternative connection, anyway.

Richard L. Hamilton <rlhamil@smart.net> wrote:
>dyno dan <logic@is.important> writes:

>[...]

>>When the system came up, there was one email about "we are aware of an
>>outage in your area..." Yeah, that's useful when the outage prevents
>>you from receiving emails.

>If you are fortunate to have cellular (not from Comcast too) with
>data, you could use your phone to check Comcast's outage page
>yourself, which is likelier to be up-to-date. You could probably also
>check your connection via their web site, esp. around the
>time an outage with a scheduled end time was supposed to end.

>One problem I've long had is that on hot days, the modem would lose
>connection. I finally realized I needed an amplifier with "active return"
>(the outgoing modem signal is also amplified), put in that, problem mostly
>solved. The modem doesn't disconnect anymore, and the Internet works 10
>or more degrees hotter than before, but on the very hottest days, the error
>rates would be so high that for a few hours it might be barely useable. Good
>enough that I'm rarely using up my phone high speed hot-spot allowance
>as alternative connection, anyway.

That didn't solve your problem. You need a new drop. Cracks in the
soybean-based thermoplastic insulation in the outer layer of the coax
expanded which allowed signal interference. Squirrels find it to be
delicious, which defeats the purpose of using thermoplastic in the
insulation.

The drop is the connection between the line pole and ground at the outside
wall of your home. Sometimes it's buried across your backyard, but it's
still called a drop. Speaking of the ground, make sure the ground wire
is actually connected.

In article <th6rnn$110rm$1@dont-email.me>,
"Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com> writes:
> Richard L. Hamilton <rlhamil@smart.net> wrote:
>>dyno dan <logic@is.important> writes:
>
>>[...]
>
>>>When the system came up, there was one email about "we are aware of an
>>>outage in your area..." Yeah, that's useful when the outage prevents
>>>you from receiving emails.
>
>>If you are fortunate to have cellular (not from Comcast too) with
>>data, you could use your phone to check Comcast's outage page
>>yourself, which is likelier to be up-to-date. You could probably also
>>check your connection via their web site, esp. around the
>>time an outage with a scheduled end time was supposed to end.
>
>>One problem I've long had is that on hot days, the modem would lose
>>connection. I finally realized I needed an amplifier with "active return"
>>(the outgoing modem signal is also amplified), put in that, problem mostly
>>solved. The modem doesn't disconnect anymore, and the Internet works 10
>>or more degrees hotter than before, but on the very hottest days, the error
>>rates would be so high that for a few hours it might be barely useable. Good
>>enough that I'm rarely using up my phone high speed hot-spot allowance
>>as alternative connection, anyway.
>
> That didn't solve your problem. You need a new drop. Cracks in the
> soybean-based thermoplastic insulation in the outer layer of the coax
> expanded which allowed signal interference. Squirrels find it to be
> delicious, which defeats the purpose of using thermoplastic in the
> insulation.
>
> The drop is the connection between the line pole and ground at the outside
> wall of your home. Sometimes it's buried across your backyard, but it's
> still called a drop. Speaking of the ground, make sure the ground wire
> is actually connected.

From what I've seen looking at the ground block on the front of the house,
they replace the drop just about every year even without me complaining.
There are a lot of squirrels, but I haven't seen chewed spots on the cable,
not that I attempted to inspect all of it.