Comcast update

In light of my recent negative post about Comcast, as well as my earlier litany of complaints about the company's "craptastic" service, I should point out, in the interest of being fair & balanced, that a pair of friendly, articulate, and highly competent-seeming Comcast employees just showed up and gave me the quickest and most well-explained answer to a support question I've ever gotten from their company. Details after the jump.

First off, you need some background info. Basically, we've been having intermittent problems with our high-speed Internet for a couple of weeks now. Sometimes, our service will shut down entirely, with the "Cable" light on my cable modem turning flashing orange (indicating it's not getting an adequate signal). Restarting the modem would sometimes temporarily fix this problem, sometimes not. Other times, the modem would get a signal, but our service would be incredibly slow. To give you an idea, here are a couple of speed tests that I ran:

The five to six thousand range is where I expect to be (and what I pay for), so you can imagine how less-than-thrilled I was with those readings in the two hundreds, which are barely above 56k modem range. And when our service shut down completely and I had to use my cell phone to get Internet access, that was even more splendid. But, at other times, as you can see, it worked fine.

Totally unpredictable, and very frustrating, because intermittent problems are usually the hardest to diagnose. I fully expected the Comcast guys, upon arriving this afternoon during a period when the modem was working fine, to tell me there's nothing they can do because it's not malfunctioning at all. (My other fear was that they'd try to blame my cable modem, even though this definitely seemed like a signal problem. You may recall the previous occasion when a Comcast tech blamed my modem for the signal problems I was having, theorizing that it wasn't working because it's an "Indiana modem.")

But lo! These techs didn't use either of those cop-outs. Instead, they got out their signal tester thingy, hooked it up to the wall, and discovered that I'm only getting a signal of -4 dBs (whatever that means). By itself, this would be okay, because my cable modem has an operating range of 7 dBs to -7 dBs. However, my splitter -- which splits my signal three ways, between the TiVo, the cable box, and the modem -- creates a loss of 7.5 dBs per split, so that was dropping my -4 signal down to something like -11.5, which is way too low. "That," explained Comcast Guy #1, "probably explains your intermittent connectivity problems."

Eureka! Finally, a decent explanation from Comcast! Admittedly, I don't really understand what dBs are, how they work, or what they mean, but I can Google them easily enough, and anyway I now have a straightforward acknowledgment that this was a signal strength problem -- which, among other things, means that I can cite this discovery if I have similar problems again in the future.

Anyway, their solution was to install a new splitter, which has one "arm" with a less significant drop-off of just 3.5 dBs. They plugged my cable modem into that "arm," while plugging the TiVo and cable box into the other "arms" (which have 7.5 dB dropoffs, just like all the arms on my old splitter). This should result in the cable modem getting a signal strength of roughly -7.5 dBs, which is technically just outside the tolerance limits, but apparently should be OK nonetheless. I believe Comcast Guy #2 said some words to the effect of, "It's right around the tolerance limits, so it should be fine." And given that the problem was only intermittent even when the signal was well below the tolerance limits, I'm inclined to believe him until something goes wrong -- at which point I'll recite what I learned today in hopes of expediting the process of making them realize they just need to boost my damn signal.

The Comcast guys were in and out in roughly 20 minutes, and everything is working fine for the moment. (Then again, the intermittent problem hadn't actually flared up in a couple of days anyway, so it's not clear if that means anything.) I ran a speed test before they left, and got a download speed of 6,045 kb/s and an upload speed of 695 kb/s. So that's good. (Keep in mind, my modem actually plugs into an Apple AirPort Express wireless router, and I'm getting my Internet from that.)

As for how and why I managed to get two Comcast techs who were actually good at their job, there are three possible explanations. One is dumb luck. Another is that Comcast sent me its best people because, as I mentioned before, a "corporate complaint" was lodged on my behalf after my Thursday-night blog post. My vote is for explanation #2. :) A third explanation, however, is that Comcast is actually improving its customer service overall. That might seem like a stretch, but the Comcast executive employee who complained on my behalf did write:

We are working hard to improve the service we are providing to our valued Customers, including hiring additional technicians and Customer Service representatives. We are providing our staff with better tools, including new devices that will perform a 150-point check prior to a technician leaving an appointment. Most importantly, we are improving the training provided to our staff to ensure we provide the best experience during any interaction that we have with our valued Customers. More information regarding these efforts is available at the following URL:

http://www.comcast.com/Corporate/Customers/customercare.html

Besides these enhancements, we are also making it the top priority to listen to our valued Customers. We are doing this in a variety of ways, including our ‘Ask Rick’ program which allows Customers to easily forward feedback regarding their experience with Comcast. We are also visiting Customers around the country to learn from our first hand on how we can improve. To learn more about this, please visit the following URL:

http://www.comcast.com/Corporate/Customers/RickGRoadTrip.html

Obviously, one good experience does not wipe away the stain of all the bad experiences I've had with Comcast -- particularly given that the jury is still out on whether this particular problem is actually solved. However, I'm keeping an open mind, and if I continue to see improvements in Comcast's overall service and product, then I might just lend some credence to the corporate P.R. bulls*** that I just quoted. :)

No, but seriously: it seems like Comcast understands, at a corporate level, that they have a customer-service problem. That's very good. Recognizing that fact is half the battle. And it does sound like they're taking concrete steps to improve it. As with my particular issue, the jury is most definitely still out on whether they'll succeed. But it's good that they're (finally) trying.

Comments

[David K.]

The best solution is to go to radio shack or somewhere similar and pick up a signal booster, which is exactly what Comcast here recommended i do when i was having similar internet problems. They also gave me the same explanation when i called about signal strength and splitters. The TV was less of an issue because it doesn't need nearly as strong a signal but the modem definitely had what you had. Since I got the booster (get a powered one by the way, and make sure its a TWO way booster to work with the cable modem, some are just one way). this is the exact model i got.

[Nadine]

I've been having the same symptoms of intermittant to VERY S-L-O-W internet access.

I don't think you're getting the full explanation. I put a testing program on my computer and noted that the slow down and loss of service was happening with regularity between 10:00PM and 5:30AM.

I think Comcast is selling trunk access during those night and early morning hours, and that is affecting the subscriber speeds.

[Jim]

I have to say, I don't have much faith in their improvement. With the Brand-X case behind us and Verizon doing no line sharing on FiOS (and selling DSL below cost) independent ISPs are going the way of the dinosaur.

I'm not sure how in an era of decreased competition we would expect them to provide better service.

[ComcastCares]

Brendan,
The explanation does make sense to me. First let me clarify to David K. regarding the signal booster. Signal boosters should not be used for the internet connection. If you are going to run a signal booster, it is best to split off the internet, then place the booster for additional TV's. Otherwise it can cause interference.

The basics of the situation here is you have a certain signal coming into your home. Every time you use a splitter, the signal is made weaker. The internet is typically the most touchy when it comes to signal loss. For what you described as the original problem, this would make sense if the signal into your home is at optimal levels.

Nadine, your issue are different because the modem is remaining connected. We can certainly review the specifics, but it may be too many people on at the same time in the area you live. If that is the case, we are constantly working to improve this. You can contact me at the email address below if you would like me to reach out to have this looked at.

In terms of my PR speak, I can assure you that is not intended. Especially since I do not work for the PR department. But I have been around a variety of corporate leaders for other organizations, so sometime it can come out that way.

The efforts to improve service are genuine. It is a large undertaking, and it will take time. But, we are determined to get it right. I would not have joined the organization if I did not believe this was an effort important to everyone in the leadership team.

Thank you for being a valued Comcast Customer!

Frank Eliason
Comcast Executive Offices
frank_eliason@cable.comcast.com

[Brendan Loy]

Thanks for your comment, Frank, and I apologize if I caused any offense with the comment about "P.R. bulls***." It was, in all honesty, intended mostly as tongue-in-cheek, though it may not have come across that way. Generally speaking, I was trying to balance my inherent cynicism, and desire to not appear overly credulous, with my inherent optimism (yes, I'm an optimistic cynic, figure that one out - two different sides of my personality, I suppose) and my desire to give you guys a fair shake. I may not have perfected that balance in my post, but that was my intent.

My overall point was that the jury is (of necessity) still out, in my mind, on whether the efforts Comcast is undertaking will be successful, but I have no doubt the efforts are genuine and, as I said, I'm very glad they're happening.

[David K.]

Thanks for the response Frank, i'm sure Brendan appreciates it too. Trouble is I only had a two way splitter, one for TV (which was not having trouble) and one for modem (which was). Using the booster I haven't had a problem with either so far as I can tell. Not sure if that makes a difference for you Brendan, but I just wanted to put it out there.