Comcast and Routers

Good afternoon all.

I have been having some pretty severe connectivity issues between my router and our cable modem.

Brief History:
We've had netgear 802.11g router for about 18 months. Worked find. about 3 months ago, service became terrible. I finally figured out the the router was not talking to the modem.

Borrowed a D-Link DI-624 802.11g router. Installed it and it worked flawlessly for about a week. Now it too will not pull an IP address from the cable modem.

Had an older Belkin 802.11g router lying around. Connected it last night. Once configured it instantly pulled an IP through DHCP using the modem. By 5:00 this morning, it too will no longer pull an IP from the modem.

The modem seems to be working fine. If I disconnect a wired computer from the router and plug it into the modem, I have no issues. DHCP pulls an IP and off I go, except that all of the other computers/tivos/devices can't see the internet .

As an FYI, we have a Motorola Surfboard modem that I purchased about a year ago.

Anyway, I called comcast to upgrade to their home networking option, and the CS agent told me that the equipment would be $5/mo (I knew that), I could no longer have my triple play pricing (didn't know that) and I would have to pay for a service call to have their technician come out to install the service. I damn near slammed the phone down on the CS agent.

Is anyone else having similar issues? Does anyone have any suggestions?

FiOS, Please come save us soon.

Peter

 

For me the biggest issues I've had in the past ended up being due to the signal levels coming to the cable modem. Removing any splitters before the modem is a must. Also while this may not be convenient for most, I found the signal levels vary from each wall jack. I connected to each and stuck with the the one that had the best results. Each time Comcast makes changes on their end, you'll find the levels change so having the best situation on your end helps. I've also found the values fluctuate in the winter on the colder days. If you log into the cable modem (likely by clicking here http://192.168.100.1/ ) and go to "Signal" you'll see a bunch of data. See below for info on the data and what's best.

In general I find that when signal levels are becoming a problem, I almost certainly notice it first when watching HD stations as they get noisy or completely gone. Next will come the modem failing to work.

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What do signal levels and SNR mean ?

Downstream SNR shows the strength of the signal to your cable modem as compared to the noise on the line (signal/noise). If the noise level increases the SNR value decreases. So, then high levels are good for the SNR. This number should be at 30 or more. If the SNR goes below 30 than you will probably start to experience some problems, such as intermittent connection, packet loss, etc.

Downstream Power shows the power of the signal your cable modem is getting. The level of the downstream power should be -15 to 15 dB according to most manufacturers' specs... However, it is best for that level to be in the -8 to 8 range.

Upstream SNR shows how much signal the head end is getting from your cable modem, compared to the noise level. "Head End" refers to the point of reference that is the central point of the local network of your service provider. Anything above 29 is good. Just like the download SNR if the noise level increases the upstream SNR decreases.

Upstream Power shows the level of the signal from the cable modem to the provider. This number should be lower than 55dB. The lower the number, the better your connection.

 

I hate hwo comcast charges you to have a tech come out and do his job for a service you will be paying for.. its a joke i cant wait til fios takes over.