Visitor
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6 Messages
Internet disconnects intermittently after moving, modem lights begin blinking and change color
I moved two week ago and have experienced intermittent Internet drops the entire time. In the 4+ years at my previous address, I only had disconnects when there were reported outages, so I'm skeptical that my equipment is to blame. I don't believe it's related to my internal network because the modem lights change during the outage. The upstream and downstream lights are solid blue when it's working correctly, and the Internet light is solid green. During the outage, the upstream/downstream arrows turn green and begin blinking. The Internet light turns off then begins blinking and eventually goes solid again when the connection is back up. My devices will report no Internet first, then the modem will start the thing with the lights about a minute later. I own the modem; it's a Motorola MB7621.
I've called phone support twice and used Internet chat once. They can't seem to comprehend what intermittent means. They check the signal and say it looks fine and ask me to verify if it's working. I've been trying to get a tech to come out and check the line at my apartment, but they wouldn't schedule an appointment for me. I was finally able to schedule one using the text bot from my phone. 🙄 Then they called me 4 times yesterday trying to verify if it's resolved so they can cancel the appointment. The ineptitude is unbelievable. I finally answered and told the guy that it's intermittent, so I'll have to use it for a day or two to see if it happens again. I don't know why it's so hard to understand intermittent and why they're so hell-bent on not sending a tech. My landlord said AT&T is also available here, and I'd rather not go that route, but I have to have reliable Internet for my job and Comcast is leaving me little choice.
I'll see if I can attach a screenshot of the modem log along with a short video clip of the modem lights from start to finish. I don't know if they're sensitive, but I'll blur the MAC addresses. These log entries happen around the time that the connection drops, but I don't know if they're useful.
Couldn't figure out how to attach, so I uploaded to YouTube. https://youtu.be/2XPiEFDn154
Here is a link to the modem log screenshot. https://photos.app.goo.gl/9mDPFwzEFfRFHzq47
EDIT: I wanted to add the content of a couple of text messages their automated system sent me Friday evening. That's what eventually enabled me to schedule an appointment since the phone and chat people wouldn't schedule it for me.
It looks like there's an issue impacting your services. I think you may need to restart your equipment or check for some common issues.
I had already restarted my equipment multiple times, so I skipped past that.
We have detected an issue with your internet that may result in spotty service or slow internet speeds. We'll need to send a technician to your home to get this sorted out. I'll help you set up an appointment that works best for your schedule.
That's when I was able to schedule the appointment. I'm hoping to get some opinions before the appointment tomorrow evening because I'm worried the tech either won't show up or will show up and say everything is fine.
BruceW
Gold Problem Solver
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26.3K Messages
3 years ago
Please see Internet Troubleshooting Tips. If you still need help, please post your Internet plan speed and the following information from your modem:
You were correct to remove the MAC addresses. Forum security processing considers them "personal information" and may prevent an event log from posting if these are present.
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Ign0tus
Visitor
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6 Messages
3 years ago
Plan Speed: 600 Mbps
SNR, power levels, etc.: https://photos.app.goo.gl/qQqPybfNuCd46T3WA
I'll see if I'm able to view those numbers if it goes down again.
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BruceW
Gold Problem Solver
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26.3K Messages
3 years ago
The signals look fine and the modem is approved for the plan speed, but don't let the tech get away with "everything looks OK". We've seen many of these "good signals but bad log" cases over the past two years or so. Something is wrong somewhere!
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Ign0tus
Visitor
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6 Messages
3 years ago
Yeah, my concern is the possibility that the signal changes at some point (intermittently) which causes the loss of synch, but otherwise the signal is fine. So unless they happen to be there to test at the time that it randomly drops, I'm not sure how they can pinpoint it unless they happen to see something obvious like a bad connector somewhere, a bad cable, or a bad split. It's an apartment, so there's not anything I can change as far as cabling. Interior (inside my apartment) cabling is a 2-3 foot coax from the wall to the modem without any splits. The cable is visibly fine. I believe I got that piece of coax from Comcast. It has the grey boxy things on the ends that make it easier to twist on. Ideally, they will have some type of equipment they can connect that will enable them to check the condition of the wiring from my jack out to wherever it terminates (like conductivity or impedance or whatever is relevant for coax).
That's why I wanted to post a video of the modem lights. I feel like that tells the story and eliminates my internal network.
(edited)
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Ign0tus
Visitor
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6 Messages
3 years ago
Issue appears to be resolved by the technician that I was FINALLY able to get scheduled in spite of NUMEROUS attempts by Comcast to cancel the appointment. I received at least a half dozen automated calls plus 2 calls from a human wherein Comcast tried to cancel the appointment. They kept asking me if my issue was resolved and did I want to cancel. This entire fiasco has been incredibly irritating. Comcast continues to have terrible customer service. It was a complete pain to even get the appointment scheduled, then you tried repeatedly to cancel. It seems that no one in customer service or support understands what "intermittent" means. Here's the definition: occurring at irregular intervals; not continuous or steady
Just because you take a snapshot at a single moment in time and my signal looks fine doesn't mean the issue is resolved!
The tech came out and checked the wiring from the tap to my modem and said it looked fine. However, he said the tap looked pretty old, and there was something that didn't look quite right or good about the wall outlet. He said he checked Scout and could see numerous connectivity drops and unresolved errors. He told me he did something inside the interior outlet and said he moved my connection at the tap to a better looking port. He also said every apartment in my bldg was grounded on me wherever that's connected. He moved that ground to a vacant apartment. To my knowledge, there hasn't been a single disconnect since he was here whereas before it would sometimes go down multiple times within an hour.
The tech that came out: A+
Everyone I spoke to in technical support: D-
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BruceW
Gold Problem Solver
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26.3K Messages
3 years ago
Thanks for reporting your results. Hoping it holds for you!
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SteveCZ
Regular Visitor
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5 Messages
3 years ago
We have been having a similar issue although we have not moved. We have been living in the same house with Xfinity service for over 20 years.
We are also having intermittent loss of an internet connection. Multiple devices using various browsers, all connected via WiFi. We experience short, generally less than a minute, losses of connection, but this can occur multiple times per day. Here is the longer relevant version of my story.
For several months at least, whenever I would call in with a problem, the agent would comment that their screen was showing multiple errors representing intermittent signal degradation and they would suggest a tech appointment. At first, after my immediate problem was solved, I would ignore those warnings. This past January, I decided to heed that advice and scheduled a tech service appointment. The next day I got a call from "Advanced Tech Support" telling me some maintenance had just been done, and my appointment was no longer necessary. I let that agent cancel the appointment. This happened again a month later.
But in early March, the Comcast agent told me not to cancel if I got a call from Advanced Tech Support (a call I got later that day). A tech arrived the next day and told me he removed a filter which was no longer necessary. (I recall that being placed on the line years ago because of too much upstream noise or signal coming from our home.)
Since that filter was removed things are worse! (Not sure if that is cause and effect.) We have been having these aforementioned intermittent connectivity problems, sometimes multiple times per day. Another tech came out who was ready to just replace the entire line coming into my home without doing any diagnosis. That bothered me, but it became moot when he told me he was not vaccinated. I asked him to leave and I rescheduled. After another un-vaccinated tech showed up the next day, I finally got a guy who did some diagnosis, and (similar to the story above) he simply replaced one fitting and tightened a connection inside the wall plate that connects my modem.
(So think about that. One guy was ready to replace the entire line into the house, the other just tightened some things. The medical equivalent would be having gall bladder surgery when all you needed was an antacid.)
Things are better since that last tech, but we are still having the same intermittent losses of internet connection, including one longer-than-usual outage yesterday. Our modem is in a part of the house we do not frequently occupy so I cannot say what the lights are doing during those episodes.
This entire experience since January has been very frustrating. At some point I will probably schedule another tech appointment, but I wish there was some useful log that would record when and how often these drops are occurring. I connected directly with my modem at the gateway IP, and I see a Troubleshooting > Logs section. Unfortunately those logs are nearly empty and worthless.
Why are there not better useful logs for me to view? Any advice is welcome.
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