Anyone else having trouble with comcast TV?

[Suprtek]

Happens more when it's wet out.

I remembered that being being mentioned at the time. It was only affecting my internet service then though. This time, that seems to be fine. Its the TV signal that's having problems. I haven't checked every channel yet but so far I've only managed to find about 4 or 5 channels that seem ok. They happen to be consecutive channels if that means anything.

 

[Tactical Dave]

If you have it on the main line and it is still freezing then yeah it is outside.

I have had customers say that Comcast put a booster in and it helped and others say it did not. From what I have seen in 99% of them had such crazy coax and splitter issues that that was the real issue and the booster just put a good baind aid on it...

Like I said I have never seen a booster on a pole but I know there are ways to camo up the signal a little but often not much.

I know people with Comcast that have never had problems but they have good coax and 1 splitter along with good ends.

A lot of times it depends on if the install tech is a hack or not.

I'd call them out.... Outside issue.

 

[Suprtek]

If you have it on the main line and it is still freezing then yeah it is outside.

I have had customers say that Comcast put a booster in and it helped and others say it did not. From what I have seen in 99% of them had such crazy coax and splitter issues that that was the real issue and the booster just put a good baind aid on it...

Like I said I have never seen a booster on a pole but I know there are ways to camo up the signal a little but often not much.

I know people with Comcast that have never had problems but they have good coax and 1 splitter along with good ends.

A lot of times it depends on if the install tech is a hack or not.

I'd call them out.... Outside issue.

There are a couple of splitters in my house but like I said, I bypassed them and the problem is still there. I know it should be their problem, but if I can simply just add a booster and solve the problem it would be worth it to me not to have to deal with them. I may be able to borrow a booster to see if it works. If it doesn't work, I may have no choice but to call them.

I also wanted to make sure that the booster won't interfere with my internet signal since its on the same cable.

 

[Tactical Dave]

There are a couple of splitters in my house but like I said, I bypassed them and the problem is still there. I know it should be their problem, but if I can simply just add a booster and solve the problem it would be worth it to me not to have to deal with them. I may be able to borrow a booster to see if it works. If it doesn't work, I may have no choice but to call them.

I also wanted to make sure that the booster won't interfere with my internet signal since its on the same cable.

If I remember right there is a way to wire in the booster to both. I have not looked at one in detail in a while to tell you how to do it.


Oh FYI the power is fed through a coax with a special electrical plug for that coax.

 

[marv]

I subscribe to my local phone co-op's cable service. Also get my internut from them. I have occasional blackouts where the TV goes dark and silent for a second or three. I strongly suspect it is their problem because I can switch over to antenna on the same channel and the dropouts do not occur.

 

[JB357Mag]

go to their website, look under billing for the option to do an online chat with their billing reps, give them the info they ask for and ask if there is anyway they can lower the bill.

I have done this twice, and has worked both times. I read online somewhere that this is a 3rd party company and they are more likely to give discounts then comcast themselves.

Thanks dude for the tip, Ill have to try that!

Jimmy

 

[Suprtek]

UPDATE: My wife got tired of waiting for me to deal with this so she called and started raising hell with comcast today. I wouldn't wish her on anybody when she gets riled up! Even though we used their web service to check for any service issues in our area and it showed that there were none, suddenly when my wife started in on them there was some kind of an issue in our area and they were "working on it". I don't know what or where the issue was, all I know is by the time I got home from work everything seems fine. All channels are clean and clear. There hasn't been anyone home today so I know they didn't do anything inside. I took a quick look at the connection on the outside of the house and nothing looks like its been disturbed. I guess it was magic.

 

[Suprtek]

Looks like I spoke too soon. The lousy reception is back. It seems to come and go. I used the comcast "chat" feature on their website and was told (again) that there was an issue in the area they are working on. I told them I need to have my bill adjusted for the outage. They said they would make a note of it and adjust it after the problem is fixed. I asked to be notified when they completed the repairs. No way to do that they said. Then they told me to use the feature on their website that show the service issues in your area. That thing is worthless. It doesn't even show this service issue. You can be sure that when the bill comes due, I will be adjusting it accordingly.

I did try to hook up a booster. It didn't help because I was just trying to boost an already poor signal. I wish I wasn't so addicted to TV.

 

[Suprtek]

Another update: Still having trouble. I did a little digging and found an email address to contact them. I refuse to call their help line because the time you wait on hold is stupid long. I told them I will not be paying any more bills until I'm satisfied this problem is fixed. They actually called me after that. They told be that the service issues in my area that my problems were blamed on by at least 2 other people didn't actually exist. Someone forgot to remove the alert after it was fixed and the people that told me that failed to notice that the alert was nearly 3 months old. Anyway, despite the fact that its Christmas eve, a technician is scheduled to come out today. We'll see what happens.

 

[Tactical Dave]

Another update: Still having trouble. I did a little digging and found an email address to contact them. I refuse to call their help line because the time you wait on hold is stupid long. I told them I will not be paying any more bills until I'm satisfied this problem is fixed. They actually called me after that. They told be that the service issues in my area that my problems were blamed on by at least 2 other people didn't actually exist. Someone forgot to remove the alert after it was fixed and the people that told me that failed to notice that the alert was nearly 3 months old. Anyway, despite the fact that its Christmas eve, a technician is scheduled to come out today. We'll see what happens.

Most operations if not all are 7 days a week. I have been a people's homes on the actual Holliday... Had a customer the other day tell me the satalitte guy showed up at 9pm to do his install and left at 2am.... Customer reaaaaly wanted to watch football the next day.


I bet there is damaged cable outside or a loose fitting that is letting moisture in..... Or just a loose fitting... Have had at least one customer tell me they had Comcast tell them to unplug the cable box to one of their TVs because it was affecting other TVs in the area...

 

[Lucas156]

Issues? Yeah all the channels say to be announced.

 

[Suprtek]

They are here now! They even showed up early.

 

[Suprtek]

The tech is gone now. The problem is not yet fixed. Another truck is supposed to be on the way within the next few hours. The tech that was here replaced all the exterior cable ends and splitters. He bypassed my in ground cable by running a temporary above ground cable. None of this provided any results. After consulting his little magic box that measures the signal on the cable and spending some time on his phone, his conclusion was that my signal is actually too strong. He seemed like a good guy that genuinely wanted to help but apparently the next step to be done is beyond his authority. He mentioned that I was only supposed to have around 12 or 13 Db of signal to the house and I had over 25 Db. Apparently in the world of cable, more is not better.

 

[Tactical Dave]

The tech is gone now. The problem is not yet fixed. Another truck is supposed to be on the way within the next few hours. The tech that was here replaced all the exterior cable ends and splitters. He bypassed my in ground cable by running a temporary above ground cable. None of this provided any results. After consulting his little magic box that measures the signal on the cable and spending some time on his phone, his conclusion was that my signal is actually too strong. He seemed like a good guy that genuinely wanted to help but apparently the next step to be done is beyond his authority. He mentioned that I was only supposed to have around 12 or 13 Db of signal to the house and I had over 25 Db. Apparently in the world of cable, more is not better.

Correct to much "signal" is just as bad sometimes as to little.

 

[Suprtek]

There's no second truck here yet but they are doing something somewhere. Suddenly the TV signal was perfect and my internet speed shot way up. They must still have work to do because it keeps cutting in and out. At least this is progress!

 

[Tactical Dave]

There's no second truck here yet but they are doing something somewhere. Suddenly the TV signal was perfect and my internet speed shot way up. They must still have work to do because it keeps cutting in and out. At least this is progress!

A lot of those outside line guys just start working on it and you may or may not ever see or talk to them. Some will usually knock on your door when they are done.

 

[wheatley]

The second truck will start at the beginning of the run, it'll be a bucket truck. Those guys rarely come to the home as their work is solely network related. We often have some areas that don't adjust correctly with temperature changes as they should and need to be manually adjusted or it could just be as simple as a part failing on the main line.

I've since transferred out of the Indy area but please feel free to pm me with any general questions regarding Comcast and Ill do my best to help when I'm online. I can not answer billing or price related questions as I am only a field tech but network and in house stuff I can at least try and lead you guys in the right direction.

 

[Suprtek]

A lot of those outside line guys just start working on it and you may or may not ever see or talk to them. Some will usually knock on your door when they are done.

The tech that was here earlier told me they may not come to the door but he said they would be in a bucket truck. I live on a cul-de-sac and I've been watching for them. I know for sure that no service vehicle has been anywhere in sight. That doesn't mean they haven't been somewhere in the area where I can't see them though. He also mentioned that the problem could be a network issue. I took this to mean that the problem could be addressed from a computer somewhere but I may be wrong about that.

 

[wheatley]

Network means anything other than your house generally. Generally if its an issue that can be addressed from a computer it would have been fixed while the tech was there unless its from the source which doesn't happen very often. With what you mentioned about the levels it will be corrected on the mainline (network) Good luck with your problem.

 

[Suprtek]

It hasn't cut out for a while now. The TV looks good on all channels that I've tried. My internet download speed is now close to 30 Mbps as compare to less than 5 Mbps earlier. I'm not really sure what the max speed is that I should be getting.