Modem might be bad?

[lynspottery]

We purchased our Motorola SB6121 Surfboard modem last July and just replaced our router with a Liksys AC900 on March 29. We have had inconsistent internet connectivity for the past several weeks.

Day before yesterday a Comcast technician came out and double checked things. What he found was not conclusive. He replaced the couplings on our splitter and at the pole. Could not find any cable problems but did mention the signal received by the modem seems a bit low. He suggested we get new modem, but could not conclusively say it was a modem problem.

I really questioned that as Comcast has very poor support in our area and their maintenance is sub-par. We have fought with them over this and finally got a manager on the phone last night when we lost connection for the 3rd time since around dinner time. I was online almost all day yesterday and had no issues at all. After getting the manager to "Look" at the technical logs we got her to realize the tech mentioned signal issues so she said she would be reporting this and forwarding this to higher level.

I have very little faith in this but since they seem to be the "only game in town" so to speak for internet cable (of those offered, Comcast is better overall). Competition is being squashed all over the country and I think having better competition in all areas is healthy.

I called a Motorola technician yesterday just to get a handle on the modem and have him help me go over the modem dashboard information. We reset the modem but he said the modem did not appear to be an issue. He felt it was the cable company's poor signals causing this.

We are in a cul-de-sac at the end of a fairly old neighborhood. So effectively we are at the end of the line....I really hate the way these things work. If the internet is working just fine during the day, but sluggish at night after dinner time, I really question the quality of their service....especially at the prices they charge. Oh and one other thing, we see this problem most often when it is raining out....like it was last night.

 

[USAFRet]

Some years ago I had a similar situation with Cox. Signal would die 3/4/5 times a week, only in the evenings. Be out for hours.
Next day, the tech would come out and investigate. Of course it works during the day, you fools.

Over a few months, everything got replaced. Junction box in the yard, new cable line through the yard, new modem, new coax to the modem, new PC....
By keeping careful logs, I was able to track it down to temp/humidity. I got so where I could predict when it would die to within 15 minutes.

One day, I had a fleet of Cox trucks outside the house.

It was finally tracked down as to one of their upstream boxes dying due to temp and humidity. Like I had been telling them for weeks.

 

[lynspottery]

I truly hope Comcast does the same thing. I do not feel like the modem is the problem but it keeps getting logs of failed, partial signals, etc., and I get frustrated because I cannot pinpoint the problem. Since last night the modem apparently had more than a few reports on it...this is just a sampling from this morning.

Time Priority Code Message
Apr 08 2014 05:59:21 6-Notice N/A MDD Recovery following MDD Loss;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:cf:ce:8e;CMTS-MAC=00:01:5c:66:2e:56;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Apr 08 2014 05:59:17 5-Warning T202.0 Lost MDD Timeout;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:cf:ce:8e;CMTS-MAC=00:01:5c:66:2e:56;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Apr 08 2014 05:59:17 5-Warning N/A DS Partial Service Fallback: MDD Lost-> CM in DOCSIS 3.0 Recovery Mode ;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:cf:ce:8e;CMTS-MAC=00:01:5c:66:2e:56;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Apr 08 2014 05:59:13 5-Warning T202.0 Lost MDD Timeout;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:cf:ce:8e;CMTS-MAC=00:01:5c:66:2e:56;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Apr 08 2014 05:59:13 5-Warning N/A DS Partial Service Fallback: MDD Lost-> CM in DOCSIS 3.0 Recovery Mode ;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:cf:ce:8e;CMTS-MAC=00:01:5c:66:2e:56;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Apr 08 2014 05:55:21 6-Notice N/A MDD Recovery following MDD Loss;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:cf:ce:8e;CMTS-MAC=00:01:5c:66:2e:56;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Apr 08 2014 05:54:32 5-Warning T202.0 Lost MDD Timeout;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:cf:ce:8e;CMTS-MAC=00:01:5c:66:2e:56;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Apr 08 2014 05:54:32 5-Warning N/A DS Partial Service Fallback: MDD Lost-> CM in DOCSIS 3.0 Recovery Mode ;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:cf:ce:8e;CMTS-MAC=00:01:5c:66:2e:56;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
Apr 08 2014 05:54:00 6-Notice N/A MDD Recovery following MDD Loss;CM-MAC=94:cc:b9:cf:ce:8e;CMTS-MAC=00:01:5c:66:2e:56;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;

 

[enemy1g]

Not sure where you live, but I was having connectivity issues last Tuesday with Comcast. Granted, it was more like I can't even connect or load anything, but issues nonetheless. Comcast saw nothing on their end, no reports of outages or anything. Modem is pretty much brand new, as is the router. And I know there's no issue with the hardware. But as of now, everything has been perfectly fine, no connectivity or stability issues. Although I did receive small lag spikes a few days ago, but nothing too bad; ~21 ping to about 60.

 

[lynspottery]

We live in Snellville, GA (NE of Atlanta)

I suspect Comcast's network really needs upgrading. They keep trying to squeeze as much out of their old technology until they are forced to change like they did from the DOC2 to the DOC3 this past year.

Logic just does not seem to work with them. We were fortunate that the tech who came out had brains. He was extremely informative and gave us some very good information which we were then able to use in our "discussions' with their customer support rep and manager last night.

The fact he knows there is a "white noise" issue in our immediate area that has not been addressed, is significant. I do know that signals on lines can be "cleaned up" so to speak but unless you actually get hold of their main maintenance technicians who do that type of work, you are out of luck.

They must of had a larger than normal call volume last night because my son got disconnected after being placed on "hold for the next available representative" 4 times before we were able to finally get a live person to answer the call. Even their service of calling back to help failed.

Rain seems to be their Achilles heel all over their network. And the network in our neighborhood is in need of extreme repairing.