Dramatically Varying Speeds on Comcast

[knight240]

For about 6 months, we've been dealing with terrible internet speeds. Speeds are very inconsistent, and I will randomly get the speed that im paying for, 25 down, but most of the time, its 1.5mbps up and down. Netflix stutters, our iphones will drop calls when they try to use the wifi connection. We have called Comcast several times, had techs out, etc, etc, and it is always a huge waste of time with no results, typical "it appears to be working fine for me" sort of stuff. I am convinced that either a) our neighborhood loop is way over subscribed hence the variability, or b ) something is wrong with the connection to my house (or both).  We are at the end of the line in a fairly dense neighborhood in Memphis, TN. I have tried connecting the modem directly to the demarcation point on the back of the house to eliminate potential wiring issues, no luck.

 

Is there anything else I can do to force or convince Comcast to take a real look at my issue? See recent results below. 

 

[Pgoodwin1]

Keep calling them. It's a pain yes, but eventually you (and probably others) will get the issue recognized at Comcast. Be polite and friendly (hard to do when frustrated). After the second call, ask to speak to a supervisor. They'll eventually do something. If it is a neighborhood issue, then surely others will be complaining. If it's not, then eventually they send a tech out that has the experience and savvy to solve the problem

[knight240]

Thanks, will do and I'll report back on any success or lack thereof. 

[HDBoy]

We've had Comcast Internet service for 20+ years and once again, have been having severe and recurring Internet slowdowns for at least a month in Elk Grove, CA, 15 miles south of Sacramento. We have our own cable modem, a one-year-old (and Comcast sanctioned) Motorola — one of the fastest available. This has happened before, it will happen again and again. Infrastructure problems (moisture rusting punchdown block connectors inside the outdoor cable boxes that step down fiber-optic to copper wire at the curb...aging equipment and switches inside neighborhood "central office" boxes that serve major intersections, etc.). Comcast has long battled widespread local infrastructure problems that limit bandwidth nationwide. And they also overprescribe their nodes (i.e.: sell service to more customers than the local bandwidth actually supports). Comcast constantly Tweets that it doesn't "throttle" customers and that it supports "net neutrality." Something is very wrong at Comcast. Either they do throttle, or that claim is true only because the can't throttle a POS service that never reaches the advertised specifications.

 

Our Comcast service has been dog-slow for about a month. Just 756 kbps (on Ethernet) this morning — that's crappy dial-up quality service. Finally took time to troubleshoot, and found three problems: Interfering 5GHz WiFi frequency, slow even on Ethernet and low WiFi signal in one room of the house with impenetrable walls for the radio. Changed 5GHz WiFi and WiFi improved. Rebooted all the wired network devices and Ethernet improved. Now, I have to check my test results over the past month or so and call Comcast as even my Ethernet connection speed stills 50-75% slower than what we pay for...The connectivity problems never ends with Comcast. Never.

 

Try these steps:

 - Check and report your speeds here as both WiFi and direct Ethernet connections.

- Use a WiFi-signal App like iStumbler (Mac) to detect possible interference from neighbor's WiFi, which might be using the same frequency as you in either 5GHz or 2.4GHZ spectrums. Change the WiFi frequencies used and test again.

- Make sure your microwave's frequency isn't interfering with your WiFi signal. 

- Reboot your cable modem, switches and routers and retest. 

- Use the log-in feature here to document and chart your Comcast performance results on both WiFi and Ethernet over time, like a week, month or quarter, THEN call Comcast. You'll have documentary evidence from this site to show Comcast, ask for refunds or rebates, and force them to figure it out.