query about "blocking" to stop "signal leaks"

[christopher94523]

I am a veteran of wretched COVAD signal transfer-rate promises (Portland's 1.5Mbps was 275kbps and Pleasant Hill's 3Mbps gave me 350kbps). When I switched to Comcast I was elated. My iMac got 11Mbps and the etherneted PC/XP at 7.6 Mbps -- both via <freespeedtest.com>. As a developere from the era when there was internet but no web, application w/o multicasting and GUI through a career as SW QA Engineer at Intel, Tektronix, Mentor Graphics, etc. -- all quality of which was offshored or lowered in expectation -- I notice the "creeping lies" of "the delivered". I understand that "speed" measurements are based on the algorithms and "weight" for up-and-downloaded variable "plug-ins" by each "speed test site". I have constantly used "freespeedtest.com" just so I have a solid reference point. My Comcast speed has ranged from 212 kbps through 11 Mbps. The 9-11 Mbps speeds were contant for at least 12-16 months. Six weeks ago they suddenly dropped to a 23-29% performance rate. We lost cable tv stations (they "resolved" slowly,  not t screens that say they'll be "available soon" but to blank screens) . We had phone calls drop mid-call (esp. to Comcast whilst reporting problems) that would not get a dial-tone back for 3-5 minutes. We had to drop off the router/switch and use but one computer at a time or we wouldn't "connect".

We have registered (on average) from 2.1-3.5 Mbps for six weeks and 7 visits from Comcast employees and contractors.

The latest finally eliminate 6 problems I had suggested. Nonetheless, no speed increase.

Might they have "solved" the open and leaking splitters by "blocking" our line?

The eMachines XP/PC, which "hangs" off the router via a 100' ethernet cable registers 4.6 and used to hit 7. My iMac (1 GHz speed and 1 GB RAM went from the 11 to 3.4 Mbps. I can eliminate the router (with switch nd modem inputs) and switch (with HP/Debian, eMachines/XP, PowerMac/MacOS9, iMac/macOSX10.4.10) and speeds suck.

3.2 is wretched!

Ideas as to what has transpired or how to check the stats and/or possibility that a block has been added?

best, chris

[mudmanc4]

First off, what is a " block " ?  Exuse me if I sound like a layman here lol

This surely sounds to me as if you have a bad drop.( cable either comming from the node or the port) Have they replaced the cable from the port? How many people are on your port, and are they having issues as well? Are there tons of people on your node, that were not there before the issue started, like a new sub-division, or many new subscribers?

You said you were losing tv, and phone,  kinda leaves out the high node traffic, If it were just low or sporadic bandwidth, I would suggest a laser misfire at the head end, is the TV " tiling " or fuzzing out? If it's tiling, you have low signals, and  high signal to noise levels , wich would indicate a bad line ,port, or node. 10 -1 , this is a bad card in the node.

unless there going to block your VOIP ????????  not the answer to your issue if this is the case.