Connectivity issues T_T

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Tobuoi
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Connectivity issues T_T

Post by Tobuoi »

Okay, so for the last couple months, the wireless connection from our shitty Belkin router has become a joke. We got it back in the fall and it worked fine for a while, and then it slowly got worse and worse, to the point where I haven't really been able to play any online games for a week or so. Yesterday, we went out and bought a Cisco Valet router which has received relatively positive reviews online--certainly better than Belkin's routers.

Well, we brought it home, set it up, and everything seems to be working more or less the same...it often goes hours at a time without being able to connect ("connections are available" (including ours) but still unable to connect), shitty, slow, temporary connectivity when it does connect, and so on. This has led me to believe that there is something wrong with something other than the router and I was wondering what your guys' thoughts were. I would suspect my wireless card except that my parents are having the same problems on their laptop. We're going to call up Comcast today and see if we can get them to check it out. Could there be something wrong with the modem or something, or do I not know what I'm talking about?
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Mullet
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Re: Connectivity issues T_T

Post by Mullet »

What type of cable modem do you have?
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Re: Connectivity issues T_T

Post by Tobuoi »

Some Motorolla that Comcast set up the last time we had internet issues.
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Re: Connectivity issues T_T

Post by Mullet »

Okay, go to your web browser and in the address bar clear everything out and type 192.168.100.1 and go to the signal page and take a screen shot and post it.
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Re: Connectivity issues T_T

Post by madmattd »

I had similar issues when Comcast set up my cable in the fall. It turned out that there was so much noise in the line that the router kept restarting itself trying to push through it all. They replaced a splitter and dropped about 8dB noise off the line, not a problem since. This took roughly a month to show up. Depending on how long you have had the modem set up, you could have a similar issue. Or it could be something totally different. If they send a tech out, they will figure it out, I've always gotten great ISp techs, from 3 different ISPs in 2 different cities. It's the people on the phone that are clueless...

Post that screeny Mullet mentioned. Though if you have the same issue I did, you won't be able to get it....Here's my current status on that page for reference:
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Mullet
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Re: Connectivity issues T_T

Post by Mullet »

Matt those levels look great.

The SNR @ 37 is good the norm should be between 35 to 38
The downstream power lever @ 0 is perfect. It can be between -10 & +10.
Your Upstream power level okay but a tiny bit high @ 48, If it's 53 to 57 that's really high and @ 59 the modem will shut off and keep rebooting.


The biggest problems I use to see is bad splitters, broke or split cables. Another thing is the cable coming out of the wall needs to be straight to the modem with no splitters. Most of the trouble calls were when a customer would put a splitter between the wall and the modem so they could run a TV. I would have them remove the splitter and there levels would come back to where they should be and would tell them they need a tech to come out and put a new drop in for the TV if that's what they wanted.
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Tobuoi
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Re: Connectivity issues T_T

Post by Tobuoi »

Here.
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madmattd
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Re: Connectivity issues T_T

Post by madmattd »

Like I said Mullet, they had to do a bunch of work up in the attic to get that down from the like 50 it was...and there IS a splitter from the wall, as it is in my living room by my TV. But they put that there. For a short-term fix I had it plugged direct to another cable outlet, the SNR wasn't much different. The splitter in the attic was a 20-year-old POS. I'm not sure how the previous tenant managed, maybe their router was elsewhere...

Anyway, this is about T's issues. Her SNR is great, so she definitely doesn't have the issue I did. Like I said, if you get them to send a tech out, they will fix you up if they are anything like the techs her. The one that fixed the cable in my attic came a few days earlier, saw what the problem was, and scheduled a time for HIM to come back at the end of his shift a few days later (so I could just leave work at a normal time). All I can say is WOW. (I think he wanted the overtime, lol).

Your upstream power is pretty high per Mullet. Honestly, I don't know enough about these to help you out, but it sounds like Mullet will fix ya up.
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Re: Connectivity issues T_T

Post by Marcus »

So if there are no problems with the modem, it can still be a wireless issue. Mostly interference with other wireless devices.

I have a suggestion, do you know if you have other neighbors around your house that have wireless routers? If so, they probably didn't change anything in their settings such as the channel that your router uses. If there are 3 wireless routers using the same channel, chances are that they will interfere with each other. I have improved my wireless performance by changing the default broadcast channel to the #11, avoids interference with other routers in my neighbors. Also do you have a lot of cordless phones in your house or other wireless devices that can interfere with your wireless and slow down and cause connectivity issues. For example my friend had a GameCube wireless controller that would interfere with his router, although minor, his GC controller would be unresponsive at times.

If you want to try this, what you can do is log into your router, go to wireless and basic wireless settings, you should have the option to change the wireless channel (same place where you give the wifi name). Here is some info:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/setup/wirelesstips.aspx

Also if you are covering a very large house with a single router it can reduce the performance of all computers connected (1 slow connection will affect all the others, that is only true for Wireless B and G not for N routers). Hope that helps

Oh yeah Linksys routers in my opinion have far better reliability, I've had mine running for 5 years without any rebooting or power cycling to restart it (except when the house power goes out)

Linksys FTW!
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Re: Connectivity issues T_T

Post by Mullet »

Tobuoi

Your SNR is a little low @ 33 should be a little higher around 35 to 38
Your downstream power @ -8 should be closer to 0
Your upstream power is bad @ 54

I suspect there is either a bad splitter or a connector problem. You may get the tech to check the splitters and cut the coax connectors off and put new one on which is very simple and fast. The downstream power being -8 and the upstream power level being high at 54 there is a connection issue somewhere in the house or the pedestal outside.

Tobuoi are you in an apartment or a house? Everything I have told you I feel is pretty much right on. If you want you can show this to the tech he will understand the numbers and what I mean. Either way you need toem to roll a truck to your place and fix this.

No matter what the modem is the issue I don't believe your wireless router is the issue.
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Re: Connectivity issues T_T

Post by Tobuoi »

We live in a house. And there are usually three or four connections from my neighbors' houses that show up.

Also, I don't know if this is relevant or not, but the problems started to become significant around the time that we started getting hit with blizzards. Do you think the harsh weather could've damaged something?

Thanks for the input so far, guys. I figured Comcast would be the ones to harass, but I wanted to get a second opinion before we made the call.
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Re: Connectivity issues T_T

Post by Mullet »

And there are usually three or four connections from my neighbors' houses that show up.
Are you saying when you look at your wireless connections that your see your neighbors router names in the list? I hope there not leaching off your connection. You should have a USB thumb drive that came with it and you plug that into each wireless PC and it will setup WPA2 which would keep people from connecting to your router and using your bandwidth.

Also, I don't know if this is relevant or not, but the problems started to become significant around the time that we started getting hit with blizzards. Do you think the harsh weather could have damaged something?
Yeah weather will have a effect on a cable network being that it's copper. You can get a problem called "suck out" that can effect your connection and your neighbors as well. Basically suck out is you have a long coax cable with a copper core and when it gets really cold the copper core can shrink which can call the copper tip to retract from the socket.
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Re: Connectivity issues T_T

Post by hulkvsspawn »

This is an excellent thread you guys.

If it's a good tech that comes out to diagnose the cable line, they'll test the signal strength from the pole, house and inside where the modem gets plugged into. My only suggestion is to hang out with them and ask questions, and offer them something to drink. Who knows, maybe he'll hook you up with some fiber optics.
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Re: Connectivity issues T_T

Post by Magus »

hulkvsspawn wrote:This is an excellent thread you guys.

If it's a good tech that comes out to diagnose the cable line, they'll test the signal strength from the pole, house and inside where the modem gets plugged into. My only suggestion is to hang out with them and ask questions, and offer them something to drink. Who knows, maybe he'll hook you up with some fiber optics.

Speaking from experience.
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Re: Connectivity issues T_T

Post by Mullet »

hulkvsspawn wrote:This is an excellent thread you guys.

If it's a good tech that comes out to diagnose the cable line, they'll test the signal strength from the pole, house and inside where the modem gets plugged into. My only suggestion is to hang out with them and ask questions, and offer them something to drink. Who knows, maybe he'll hook you up with some fiber optics.

Once they see her dimples, they will help her. LOL
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