Marc1231's profile

Visitor

 • 

5 Messages

Friday, September 9th, 2022 6:19 AM

Closed

Worsening internet connection and infuriating customer support - my work from home job is now at risk and I still can't get any help

Over the past two months, my internet connection has steadily deteriorated. The connection seems to randomly drop and reconnect. It is becoming much more frequent as time passes. When it's actually working it works as expected, but it's rare this lasts more than ten minutes at a time now. It took me a full minute to simply load this web page so I could begin typing up this forum post, and I have now completely abandoned any hope of successfully watching livestreams, joining online calls with my friends, playing online games, or anything of the sort due to the constant disconnections and instability. This was never a problem until about two months ago, and since then I've had countless calls with customer support and two techs have come out to my home but none of them were particularly helpful or thorough.

I am not the most tech savvy person, but I have done my due diligence and my best effort to rule out everything I can. This is a list of changes made and attempts to diagnose the problem:

  • Replacing every cable from the modem to the walls and from the walls to my devices. No change. I can't do anything about the cables in the walls, but I am doubtful that the problem lies there and has somehow affected every individual cable to every room in the house starting all at exactly the same time.
  • I ran a lengthy extension cord in from another room and tried four separate outlets from four separate rooms in my house after one customer support agent insisted to me that it was a problem with the modem not receiving enough power. I even used different extension cords to rule out a possible faulty extension cord. No change at all.
  • I disconnected every single device from the network, both wireless and wired. Even with only one desktop computer connected, problems persisted. I carefully added each device back slowly, one at a time, just in case. No change.
  • I tracked total device usage in the house and tried to see if it corresponded with the down times - it does not.
  • I have restarted my modem almost thirty times now. This has caused more down time than it has prevented.
  • The second tech to come to my home replaced my modem completely, and the problems have persisted exactly as they did before.
  • I've had six different customer support agents tell me that they are sending "correcting signals" to my modem. I have no idea what this means, but it has never helped.
  • I have updated software and drivers and ran full system virus scans on every single device connected to the network to be absolutely sure it is not a problem caused by a device of mine. No change.

I've used online ping tools, and I've found that seemingly at random a ping attempt will take anywhere from ten to one hundred times longer than the average result, or simply completely fail for long enough that the website stops working.

Weirdly, I've noticed when in online calls, I can frequently hear other people in the call, but they cannot hear me. Like the download still works but upload cuts out completely. This happens constantly, and a complete and total connection drop usually follows these.

Explaining the issue and my attempts to resolve it has gotten me nowhere at all with customer support. I do not believe that restarting my modem for the thirtieth time will do anything for me now, and customer support now has me trapped in a loop with them where they restart my modem and then tell me that it all looks fine now, and now matter how much I tell them that this wasn't my problem, I get nowhere else with them. Sure, it works fine briefly again after the modem is reset, but within half an hour it will be right back to the usual problem. For some reason I cannot get them to understand that, and I've been unable to get anyone who is able to do any kind of further assistance to help me try and diagnose this issue.

It has gotten so bad that it is affecting my livelihood, as I work from home and now am frequently unable to do my job due to these problems. My work requires a steady connection for security reasons, and it has been made clear to me that I will lose my job if I do not have internet capable of allowing me to perform the work. Seeing as how this wasn't a problem at all two months ago, and I'm getting the cold shoulder from xfinity, I am starting to feel desperate.

Any help at all or any kind of direction from anyone would be deeply appreciated. I am at an absolute loss on what to try next or who to ask for help. I can't lose my job. I've already lost the ability to talk to my long-distance friends or enjoy any of my gaming/streaming hobbies, and losing my income too is going to possibly literally kill me. Help me, please.

Problem Solver

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1.5K Messages

3 years ago

From your post:

"in the walls, but I am doubtful that the problem lies there" and "cable in every room"

Splitters and connectors for coax are one of the most common problems with signal integrity.  They corrode.  They degrade. It might be decades old corroded cable ends with old radio shack splitters someone might have spliced in.  You have to log into your modem/gateway and take a look at the signals on the line.  https://forums.xfinity.com/conversations/your-home-network/internet-troubleshooting-tips/602dae4ac5375f08cde52ea0

Post the Downstream Power Level, SNR, Upstream Power Level, correctable/uncorrectable errors, etc -- the entire table here.  The error logs may help too.  Read through other troubleshooting in that link as well and look for additional problems listed. 

Best -- is if you just have a clean cable run from the street, directly to your gateway without any splitters. 

* When you post the error logs, you have to redact your MAC address in the error lines or the forum bot with hide the post (personal information).

(edited)

Visitor

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5 Messages

@flatlander3​ 

Sorry, I phrased poorly and incorrectly about the cabling- Xfinity modem/router combo device is in the basement of my home, and a long cable goes from there to each room's port. I can't replace those long cables to the ports in the walls (not myself, at least) but I've tested and replaced every other cable I can reasonably access. I would be very confused as to why every individual cable all began failing all at the exact same time in the exact same way along with each wireless device too, that doesn't seem right to me- but I admit my lack of knowledge here may be incorrectly informing such an assumption.

I think these are the tables you were talking about? I apologize if they are not, this is all unfamiliar to me. I am not sure where to find error logs, where do I look for those? For some reason that forum post you linked me has broken images so if the instructions to find the error logs are in one of the images I cannot see them.

Downstream
Channel Bonding Value
Index
20
28
36
44
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
0
193
Lock Status
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Frequency
567000000
615000000
663000000
711000000
525000000
531000000
537000000
543000000
549000000
555000000
561000000
573000000
579000000
585000000
591000000
597000000
603000000
609000000
621000000
627000000
633000000
639000000
645000000
651000000
657000000
669000000
675000000
681000000
687000000
693000000
699000000
705000000
959800000
SNR
40.946209
40.946209
40.946209
40.946209
40.946209
40.946209
40.946209
40.946209
40.366287
40.946209
40.946209
40.946209
40.946209
40.946209
40.366287
40.946209
40.946209
40.946209
40.366287
40.366287
40.946209
40.366287
40.946209
40.946209
40.366287
40.946209
40.946209
40.946209
40.946209
40.946209
40.946209
40.366287
42.25 dB
Power Level
13.000000
13.099998
13.199997
12.800003
13.599998
13.400002
13.099998
13.099998
13.000000
13.000000
13.099998
13.199997
13.000000
13.000000
13.099998
12.800003
12.900002
13.199997
12.900002
13.099998
13.000000
13.199997
13.099998
13.099998
13.300003
13.000000
13.000000
13.199997
13.099998
12.800003
13.000000
13.000000
12.300003 dBmV
Modulation
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
QAM256
OFDM
Upstream
Channel Bonding Value
Index
1
2
3
4
5
Lock Status
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Locked
Frequency
16400000
22800000
29200000
35600000
39900000-84275000
Symbol Rate
5120 KSym/sec
5120 KSym/sec
5120 KSym/sec
5120 KSym/sec
0 KSym/sec
Power Level
36.270599
36.520599
36.520599
36.770599
46.432629
Modulation
64QAM
64QAM
64QAM
64QAM
OFDMA
Channel Type
US_TYPE_ATDMA
US_TYPE_ATDMA
US_TYPE_ATDMA
US_TYPE_ATDMA
US_TYPE_OFDMA
CM Error Codewords
Unerrored Codewords
20171
20050
19915
19775
19651
19521
18006
17870
17769
17639
17498
17382
17253
17123
17000
16884
16620
16495
16365
16221
16098
15985
15858
15719
15593
15464
15332
15208
15094
14964
14371
14246
62
Correctable Codewords
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Uncorrectable Codewords
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Official Employee

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2K Messages

Greetings, @Marc1231! I hope your week has been treating you well. Thanks so much for taking a moment out of your busy day to leave a post on our community forum. I'm sorry to hear you're having issues with your service, but you have definitely come to the right place for assistance.

 

Thank you for providing those logs. Your Signal Quality (SNR) looks fine, but the power levels are a little out of spec. It sounds like you have already done more testing than anyone could have reasonably expected, but I wanted to double-check a couple things with you, just in case.

 

1. You mentioned a primary access point in your basement, with a long cable running to each room in your house. I assume you are referring to Ethernet cables running to each room, is that correct? Are these cables all connected directly to your modem, or do you have a hub or switch that connects to the modem and then redistributes the signals?

 

2. You mentioned that each restart temporarily restores your service, but then the signal will drop again after a few minutes. Did your previous modem do the exact same thing, temporarily start working correctly, or was the pattern any different?

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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5 Messages

@XfinityJamesC​ 

Thank you so much!

1) I'm sorry my wording has been pretty unclear. The modem in the basement has ethernet cables running to each room. Most of these are connected directly to the modem, but I do have a hub that I was using because the modem only has 4 ports on the back and I have 5 rooms that need ethernet, so two of the cables were sharing the hub. I have disconnected the hub as of two days ago as another effort to test what may be causing my problem. Unfortunately, connected via hub or by direct to modem has not made a difference in the past.

2) Yes, my previous modem did the exact same thing. Due to the inconsistency of the problem at hand it's hard to say if the new modem has exactly the same pattern, but at casual observation it appears to. Restarting the modem seems to have little to no lasting, consistent positive effect.

I'm concerned about the power level. On a previous call with customer support, this was offhandedly mentioned to me but nothing clear about what I might be able to do about it or why it might be happening was told to me. I've tried many different outlets in my home and it seems no matter where I plug in the modem it has this problem. Is there anything I can reasonably do about this?

(edited)

Official Employee

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2K Messages

@Marc1231 thank you so much for those details that definitely helps. For the power levels, if your power levels both upstream or downstream are not what they should be that could cause connection issues so that makes sense especially if it was mentioned in the past. I would be happy to check the power levels for you on my end.

If you could send our team a private message with your full name, the name listed on the account (if different), and the service address associated with your account, I'd be more than happy to check those levels out from my end for you! 


Here are the detailed steps to direct message us: • Click "Sign In" if necessary • Click the "Peer to peer chat" icon (upper right corner of this page) • Click the "New message" (pencil and paper) icon • Type "Xfinity Support" in the to line and select "Xfinity Support" from the drop-down list • Type your message in the text area near the bottom of the window • Press Enter to send your message

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

 • 

5 Messages

@XfinityAmandaB​ I sent a message as directed, thank you so much!

Expert

 • 

109.1K Messages

3 years ago

@Marc1231 

By chance. Is there a drop amplifier or a powered (active / amplified) splitter on the coax line leading to the modem ? If so, remove it and see.

Visitor

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5 Messages

@EG​ no splitter of any sort, far as I can see. I almost wish there was so I'd at least have something I can actively try and do to troubleshoot. No such luck.

Contributor

 • 

160 Messages

2 years ago

I was also experiencing intermittent drops with similar downstream power levels.

This attenuator got my power levels down into the recommended -10 to +10 db range, which seemed to decrease the drop rate markedly.

PPC FPA6-54 Forward Path Attenuator 6dB 75 Ohms for DOCSIS Cable TV Box and Modem

I screwed it right into the modem.

 (coax-->attenuator-->modem)

Good luck!

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