U

Visitor

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6 Messages

Wednesday, September 7th, 2022 11:33 PM

Closed

Internet connection upstream from my house is unstable

I work from home, and so have two different internet traffic routes. Both go through my Comcast-provided gateway. But the one that connects through Comcast functions much worse than the other one.

I ran speed tests today on both, at the same time, on computers sitting next to each other in my home office.

My work computer, routed through something called "Netprotect" and then State of Washington: 75.14 down, 0.37 up

My home computer, routed through Comcast and Xfinity: 39.29 down, 7.09 up

(I know, Comcast and Xfinity are the same thing. That's how speedtest.net labeled them.)

Today, video calls on my work computer worked flawlessly. A video call with my doctor on my home computer (again, sitting on the same desk) was so bad we had to go to phone call.

On Sunday, I had my home computer in the living room, about five feet from the router. My smart TV is less than one foot from the router. My TV, playing a live video on YouTube, and my computer, playing a live event from Amazon Prime in a web browser, both stopped working at the same time.

I've done the in-home troubleshooting. But the difference in work and home makes me sure the problem is upstream from my computers and my modem. Somewhere my work computer's traffic goes left and my personal computer's traffic goes right, and it's on that right branch that the problem is. 

So my question is, how do I get Comcast's attention so they'll fix this?

Official Employee

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455 Messages

3 years ago

Hello @user_1303ec I am sorry to hear that you are having service issues. You have come to the right place. Have you tried running a network test from the Xfinity app to see what the signal strength is to your modem? If not, I would like for you to launch the Xfinity app. Not the Xfinity My Account app but the Xfinity app. That's the one that's purple with a X in the middle. Once you have the Xfinity app open, I would like for you to select "Connect" at the bottom of the screen. Then select "Internet Health check your speeds" Select the blue letters that say "run a test". The system will first check the area for any issues and then run a signal speed test to your modem. I need to know the percentage of speed that your modem is receiving.

Visitor

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6 Messages

@XfinityRobertA​ 

Thank you!

My phone says:

Plan Speed 1200 Mbps

Speed to Gateway 162.8 Mbps

I moved the phone closer to the Gateway and tried again, and got

Speed to Gateway 214.8 Mbps

The app wants to restart the Gateway but I declined; I did that already and it didn't help, and I still have work to do today.

I got some ethernet and hooked my TV directly to the gateway, and then ordered an ethernet converter for my laptop, so that when I try the most intensive use -- Friday night movies, with a stream to my laptop then cast to the TV -- I won't rely on wifi. 

Official Employee

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455 Messages

3 years ago

@user_1303ec I appreciate you taking the time to complete that test for me. It sounds like you are not getting enough signal to your modem. Do you have a splitter anywhere on the coaxial line between the modem and the wall outlet? 

Visitor

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6 Messages

@XfinityRobertA​ No, the modem is connected straight to the wall. The Xfinity tech who did my setup did the connection, and I haven't disconnected it on either end since.

Official Employee

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2K Messages

I appreciate you keeping us posted, @user_1303ec! Are you using a separate router alongside your modem? When you connect your computer directly to the modem via ethernet, what speeds are you getting here?

I am an Official Xfinity Employee.
Official Employees are from multiple teams within Xfinity: CARE, Product, Leadership.
We ask that you post publicly so people with similar questions may benefit from the conversation.
Was your question answered? Please, mark a reply as the Accepted Answer.tick

Visitor

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6 Messages

No, no separate router. I haven't tried connecting directly via Ethernet. I'll try that tomorrow, after I dig out a cable or buy a new one. (I used to have a box of cables, but I gave in to my wife during our last move, and look how this has turned out...) Then I'll post the results here.

Official Employee

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1.6K Messages

@user_1303ec, No worries! Please feel free to post your results when you can, so we can make sure you get taken care of. 

I am an Official Xfinity Employee.
Official Employees are from multiple teams within Xfinity: CARE, Product, Leadership.
We ask that you post publicly so people with similar questions may benefit from the conversation.
Was your question answered? Please, mark a reply as the Accepted Answer.tick

Visitor

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6 Messages

Okay! My thunderbolt-to-ethernet connector arrived, and I bought a new Ethernet cable, and speed tested it, and got...

885 down

41 up

So I take it all back! The choke point is probably a mix of my computer's antenna (802.11n) and the distance/walls. 

The house has a bunch of ethernet ports built in, but they don't seem to work. I'm messing with the connections in the panel to see it I can get them connected. 

Contributor

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204 Messages

3 years ago

How old is the wiring?  If it was done in the 90s or early 2000s it could be Cat5 and not support gigabit properly.  You can sometimes make higher speeds work over deficient cables if the distance is short enough, but you might have to redo the wall jacks.  If the distance is too much Cat5 just won't work.  It's out of spec for gigabit+.  It's not "supposed" to work at all but it could if you have all 8 wires connected and the distance is short enough.

802.11n isn't going to get you anywhere close to gigabit speeds.

Visitor

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6 Messages

@zandor60657​ The house was built in 2007 and the sticker in the junction box (which is a mess of coax and ethernet cables, seriously, it's like octopus-cable monsters died in there) also says 2007.

I've ordered a new wireless card with 802.11ac, so I'll see how that goes. (And if I can manage to install it without breaking the computer.)

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