Just wondering if anyone that uses their service is having any trouble, my service has been slow for about three days and last night I lost my IP, was back on this morning and then this afternoon I lost it again, called them up, they did some tests and are coming out this Friday, something about a signal adjustment. Was running real slow just awhile ago couldn't even load a page and then it's running decent enough to put up this post, I just don't know how long though.[:@]

 

I have comcast and it use to go down everyday at 5oclock.You could almost set your time by it.Bad cable or line to house is possible and deteriorates signal wise over the yrs.Mother nature finally gets the best of it.If your area is growing,the added volume finally catches up and companys cant always keep up.Complaining may only save you a few bucks off the monthly bill but thats not way you have it.Cleaning all the trash out of your computer may help the speed but if its an IPO issue youre kinda strapped.Busy times of day are usually the worst times.Run all your antivirus and keep everything up to date security wise.

 

Signal adjustment? They always say that but in reality, the person on the phone usually can't even spell "IP".

Here's a rundown on slow speed problems with cable modems:

It ain't the signal level or even the amount of noise. It's a network. Problems with the physical cable or passives (splitters, etc.) do not affect speed. If the signal is low coming in, it won't work. If there is too much attenuation between your modem and the CMTS (their big switch), i.e. the return path, it won't work or will lose sync intermittently. Signal level does not affect speed. 99% of the time, slow speed problems are the customer's PC. Either spyware, viruses, configuration issues, etc. Usually something has the CPU usage pegged at 100%. If not, it's their network. If that's what it is, then everybody in your immediate area, either on the same fiber node or on the same blade on the CMTS will have the same problem. This 'should' be easy for them to track but they usually drop the ball and have to find out the hard way. It could be faulty equipment in the headend/hub or it could be a configuration issue causing a bottleneck.

So when they come out, don't let them work on something cable related in the house and act like they fixed it. Cable issues within the home do not affect your connection speed. They do affect connectivity. If your modem is actually losing its connection, it usually is a problem in the house. Either way, they should have the proper test equipment to find out where the problem is. If the tech is worth a ****. Usually a test modem, hopefully a latptop as well. He should also have a return generator to test how much signal it's losing on the return path as it makes its way from the modem to the main line tap. It ain't rocket science but plenty of them do manage to f*ck it up.

Just make sure it is a slow speed problem and that the modem is not just dropping out before you give them a hard time. You should be able to tell by the lights on the modem what it's doing. Also do a CTRL+ALT+DEL to pull up the Task Manager and see what your PC's doing. If the CPU usage is pegged at 100% or you're low on memory, you've got a problem. There shouldn't be a sh!tload of processes running either. Usually 40-50 at the most. If there's a lot more than that, it could be an issue too, depending on your machine.

 

Signal strength can absolutely affect speed.

If the signal is low or intermittant, it causes the system to retransmit. The way that Ethernet works (including PPPOE) is that it gets faster and faster until you need to do a retransmit. Then it starts slow and ramps up again. (sliding windows). So if your modem is asking for resends, your PC never gets to ramp up to full speed.

Anyhow, another common issue is with the power supplies in the cable 'modems'. They can get weak for some reason and the signal quality drops.

You can look up the model cable box you have in your house on the internet (providing you are working well enough to do so) and figure out how to see the diags on it.
It will show you signal strength to the house usually using a red/yellow/green color code. Then you can determine if its the cable company or if its hardware related.

As CraigC said, there could be oversubscription on the network, or a problem with the PC itself. Since it gets fast again, I'd say its not PC related most likely.
Also, since you are losing your IP all together, I'd be skeptical if its an oversubscription issue.

You didn't say if you are using a router for multiple PC's or wireless. Sometimes they can be the issue and often a reboot fixes them.

You may also check that your connections are tight all the way back to the point of entry to your home.

Do make sure you keep track of how many days you have been down, they will credit you for them.

 

I have Charter and had this problem two weeks ago. I spent much time on the phone to the call center with no good results. A week later, a tech came out and tested my modem and wiring. He said it was a problem outside the house and said it would be fixed that day. 3 days later, I hadn't seen a line worker, so I called back only to go thru the phone stuff again. 3 days later, they sent a tech to my house. He walked right in and looked at my computer and said it was a problem with my modem power supply, because they had a batch of bad ones. He said the first guy should have found that right away. He replaced the power supply and things went back to normal.

 

I F***ING hate charter, you wanna talk about a monopoly or the enemy. We have had more problems than I can count and I know it's not the computer because the hubby is in IT. The cable won't work from time to time, the internet won't work and when you call them to talk to their fake biatch they tell you someone may be out in two weeks. WTF !! My hubby has to have high speed so he can log into work from home, we can't go more than a few hours. It helps when you threaten them with DSL then they will get off their butts to do something. Whoa, now I am all worked up. i just hate being bullsh*ted, they all think I am dumb because i am a girl, and that I must not have a mind of my own because I am married. I have had that happen too. Ok I'm done now[&:]

 

CPU 0 to 1%, processes=52, I keep removed any spyware or adware and have protection. I think my computer is o-k.

 

No router or wireless, I checked all the connections on the cables outside and inside. I'm pretty sure it's outside the computer. One thing the tech had me try was a speed check and I could never get it to work. I just hope they find something, or fix it accidently, of course you know it won't be doing it when they come.

 

They have me on that one, I can't get DSL out where I live.[]

 

Yeah, Charter's been having issues with it's backbone. Last few days I've had drops and e-mail server issues. Talked to a couple people I know who actually have to go fix the issues, and it's been widespread lately, affecting not only the modems but the digital boxes as well in some areas. If you've been sufferiing a large amount of tiling or pixilization that could be part of the issue.

Wolf, at least that's the scoop for Southern Wisc and Northern Ill AFAIKI