Internet Connectivity Loss Observed Every Few Hours

[Mixleplix]

Starting 3-4 weeks ago my home Internet service has had intermittent outages randomly throughout the day.  Typically the outages happen about every 3 hours or so and last for 5-10 minutes, and each outage affects all devices on our network (wired and wireless).  During this time, no Internet sites are reachable via my home service -- no websites, no DNS resolution, no ping replies from known IP addresses, etc.  Also, the loss of Internet service is sometime accompanied by a loss of "lock" on the cable modem (Motorola MB 7621), but sometimes its lock is retained during the outage (at least according to the external lights on the modem).

Prior to this intermittent disruption beginning, the service had been stable for 3+ years and there has been no equipment change on my side for the past 9 months.  However, the problems began shortly after a tree fell in my neighbor's yard and took out some cable service lines, including my own.  The coincidence of the beginning of my intermittent outages with the line replacement would seemingly warrant a further in-person tech visit, but after at least 5 calls to the telephone support line, they cannot seem to arrange it.  My modem has now been rebooted many times, however.

I have attached a recent log from the cable modem.  Also, the channel statistics for the cable modem usually shows about 25K uncorrected errors across all channels in a 24 hr period.  My  call an hour ago to the the tech support line led to yet another reboot which cleared them for now, so there is nothing there yet to report.

Like many others now, my family is working from home now, so it an important issue for us.  I greatly appreciate any help in getting it resolved.

Cable Modem Log

[EG]

Please also post the *Downstream Power Level*, the *Upstream Power Level*, and the *SNR* (Signal to Noise Ratio) numbers.

[Mixleplix]

Certainly.  And now after about 4 hours since modem reboot, I have accumulated 8K uncorrected errors.

Channel Status

[EG]

The upstream power is too high and it may be intermittently fluctuating even higher to out of spec levels. That can cause random disconnects, spontaneous re-booting of the modem, speed, packet loss, latency problems, and the un-bonding of channels.

In a self troubleshooting effort to try to obtain better connectivity / more wiggle room, check to see if there are there any excess/unneeded coax cable splitters in the line leading to the modem that can be eliminated/re-configured. Any splitters that remain should be high quality and cable rated for 5-1002 MHz, bi-directional, and no gold colored garbage types like GE, RadioShack, RCA, Philips, Leviton, Magnavox, and Rocketfish from big box stores like Home Depot, Lowes, Target, Wal-Mart etc. Splitters should be swapped with known to be good / new ones to test

If there aren't any unneeded splitters that can be eliminated and if your coax wiring setup can't be reconfigured so that there is a single two way splitter connected directly off of the drop from the street/pole with one port feeding the modem and the other port feeding the rest of the house/equipment with additional splits as needed, and you've checked all the wiring and fittings for integrity and tightness and refresh them by taking them apart then check for and clean off any corrosion / oxidation on the center wire and put them back together again, then perhaps it's best to book a tech visit to investigate and correct.

[Mixleplix]

Thank you for the reply. On my side, all I have is a single two-way splitter made by Extreme Broadband, which I think is one Comcast supplied.  I have a spare splitter (same brand) and swapped it out, but the upstream power levels are still the same.  Funny thing is that when the tech replaced my service line a month ago due to the fallen tree, the only thing I saw that he did to change the configuration is that he removed a 3-way splitter.  At one time I had TV service, but no longer do now, so he just installed some kind of coupler in place of the 3-way splitter.  I am near certain the problem I am having has something to do with changes resulting from replacement of the service line.

Nonetheless, I am on-board with having a tech come to investigate and have been by about the second of my five calls to Comcast tech support.  Can you help make that happen or tell me how to do so?

When I called tech support yesterday (4th call), the agent told me they could have someone out the same day from 5-7 pm due to my on-going service issues.  I was pleasantly surprised by the promptness only to be disappointed when no one showed or called.  This morning when I called tech support (5th call), the agent gave no explanation for the missed appointment.  Instead, before she would do anything insisted on going through the same scripted steps that did nothing all the previous times, then said someone from Comcast would call to schedule a visit.  No call yet and, from recent experience, I am not holding my breath.  When the service works, it is good, but I am not a fan now to say the least.

[Mixleplix · Accepted solution]

The issue I was experiencing now appears to be solved.  As described previously, the service line into my home had been recently replaced due to a fallen tree, and the problems I experienced began soon thereafter.   For reasons that I do not understand, the telephone tech support agents were reluctant to arrange for an in-person tech visit because the problems I was experiencing were intermittent (despite it causing a brief outage 8-10 times/day).

Nonetheless, by the 6th or 7th call to tech support an appointment was scheduled for the next day.  As I expected, the tech identified some problems with the service line.  Following repair/replacement of some portion of the line, things are again stable and I am seeing no corrected/uncorrected errors  on the cable modem.

I am grateful the service is restored.  However, there is no reason I should have had to experience weeks of degraded service when a tech visit was needed and could have been easily scheduled in short order (next day).

[EG]

Glad you got it sorted out ! Now closing this marked "solved" topic.