Monday, June 26, 2006
Any Cable Internet Experts?
This is more a plea for help than anything else... It has nothing to do with libraries or librarianship, but please bear with me.
So, we have cable Internet through Comcast. We have a nice little wireless router set up and a couple PCs connected to the router w/ Ethernet cables. When it works, it's lovely.
But, intermittantly we lose our connection and it's anywhere from a 5- to 30-minute process to get back online. The lights on the cable modem and router all stay green and happy. But to reconnect, I need to unplug my PC's Ethernet cable from the router, plug it directly into the modem, and ipconfig /renew til my fingers are numb. Sometimes it won't grab an IP til I reboot both the cable modem and my PC. Then, when I plug back into the router, all is well.
We finally got a Comcast guy to come out last week. (They blame our router, but it happens when I'm plugged directly into the modem as well.) He replaced the splitter on our line, and now it's happening every 1-2 days rather than several times a day. Which I guess is an improvement, but...
Any suggestions? It seems like it might be some kind of wiring issue, since we saw improvement when he replaced the splitter, but wiring is not my forte.
(And now, back to your irregularly scheduled blog!)
So, we have cable Internet through Comcast. We have a nice little wireless router set up and a couple PCs connected to the router w/ Ethernet cables. When it works, it's lovely.
But, intermittantly we lose our connection and it's anywhere from a 5- to 30-minute process to get back online. The lights on the cable modem and router all stay green and happy. But to reconnect, I need to unplug my PC's Ethernet cable from the router, plug it directly into the modem, and ipconfig /renew til my fingers are numb. Sometimes it won't grab an IP til I reboot both the cable modem and my PC. Then, when I plug back into the router, all is well.
We finally got a Comcast guy to come out last week. (They blame our router, but it happens when I'm plugged directly into the modem as well.) He replaced the splitter on our line, and now it's happening every 1-2 days rather than several times a day. Which I guess is an improvement, but...
Any suggestions? It seems like it might be some kind of wiring issue, since we saw improvement when he replaced the splitter, but wiring is not my forte.
(And now, back to your irregularly scheduled blog!)
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We get our internet service through Comcast, too. When we first got it, we had some outages and lost connections, but they happen less frequently now. (They tend to happen in the middle of the night, which is really only a problem when you're suffering from insomnia. Which I frequently do.) When we've called them, we've been told it's just a fluctuation or something.
Unfortunately, I don't really have any answers, just commiseration.
Unfortunately, I don't really have any answers, just commiseration.
What Comcast told me to do to resolve those occasional disconnection blues was unplug *both* the router and the modem *from the wall outlet* in the order of first the router and then the modem. Wait 30 seconds or so. And then plug them back in, reverse order--first the modem, and then the router. And the connection should reconnect back *on its own* with no need to reconfigure the IP manually as you've been doing. This does usually work. I run into it maybe once every few weeks. Sometimes I have to do the unplug/replug a couple of times, but the connection comes back eventually. The green lights on the modem are far more accurate this way, having been "turned off" by the unplugging, and then on replugging, they slowly come back on one by one, as the connection is actually re-setting itself.
I believe I had a similar problem. Comcast said it was the splitter. Is your cable connected to the splitter? Do you have multiple connections in your home? I use the connection in the den for the router, the connection in the living room for cable and simply removed the unnecessary splitter that was in the den. -GregatShush
You've probably done this already, but you could make sure that you've got the latest firmware for your wireless router (check your user manual and/or the manufacturer's website). I had a similar problem with a little NetGear 4-port (though not wireless) router: Everything would be fine until for some reason I'd lose the network connection. I'd have to go over to the router and reset it (a pain in the behind and other areas); this all disappeared when I upgraded the router's firmware.
I have had difficulties with my cable Internet as well. As one of the other commentators suggested, make sure you check any splitters on your cable line to make sure they are not losing signal. However, in my case, I finally determined that I did not have a strong enough signal coming into my home to run two televisions and the cable modem, especially since one of the televisions has a digital cable converter that seems to require more signal too. I now have only one television plugged in at a time, and it works fine. I'm sure you're family wouldn't be too happy with this solution, but to see if it works, try it for a day or two. If things are fine with only one other device connected, then call your cable company and see if they can somehow boost the signal to your home. Evidently they do have technology to do that (although I have not tried that--the cable company suggested it when I was having problems, but it's easier to unplug a television than to be home when the cable company can come!)
Personally, I so loathe and despise cable companies that I would probably cut off my nose to spite my face. Fortunately there are options; I have DSL from the telephone company (which I loathe slightly less than cable), but it's also available through DirectTV. I say, rise up against Comcast!
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. Of course, now it hasn't happened since I posted... maybe the connection can sense I'm talking about it! But Val, I'll try your idea next time.
For the couple people who mentioned splitters -- the cable guy who was out replaced the splitter, which has helped considerably, but hasn't resolved the problem entirely. We have the cable modem + 2 TVs, although we never use the second set. I'll try disconnecting the second set to see if it makes a difference.
Carlos: Yes, I've updated the firmware to no effect -- this has happened even if I'm plugged directly into the cable modem, so I don't think it's a router issue.
Diane: Unfortunately, DSL isn't available in my area -- I was ready to switch to the DSL + dish package b/c of this (and other Comcast annoyances building up over the years...), but they've got me.
For the couple people who mentioned splitters -- the cable guy who was out replaced the splitter, which has helped considerably, but hasn't resolved the problem entirely. We have the cable modem + 2 TVs, although we never use the second set. I'll try disconnecting the second set to see if it makes a difference.
Carlos: Yes, I've updated the firmware to no effect -- this has happened even if I'm plugged directly into the cable modem, so I don't think it's a router issue.
Diane: Unfortunately, DSL isn't available in my area -- I was ready to switch to the DSL + dish package b/c of this (and other Comcast annoyances building up over the years...), but they've got me.
OMG--I have that problem too! What was really weird was that it seemed to happen when I had my laptop up--it even shut down my husband's connection on his iBook.
I bought a new Wi-Fi card and it seemed to do the trick, but it's weird that my laptop wireless connection would interfere with his connection.
--The LL
I bought a new Wi-Fi card and it seemed to do the trick, but it's weird that my laptop wireless connection would interfere with his connection.
--The LL
Hi Linda - That's bizarre! We have cordless phones that will shut off our wireless, but I've never heard of it happening because a laptop connects.
Anyway, an update. The unplugging the router/modem trick doesn't seem to work for us... but we found a SECOND splitter a couple of days ago and unhooked it, so hopefully that will help. (Who needs a second TV, anyway! :))
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Anyway, an update. The unplugging the router/modem trick doesn't seem to work for us... but we found a SECOND splitter a couple of days ago and unhooked it, so hopefully that will help. (Who needs a second TV, anyway! :))
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