Comcast: Officially the worst ISP ever.

[dr.blake.]

I've been having problems staying connected to GR for quite some time because of my router. When I'd go into a game, I could stay for about 20 minutes before GR closed the connection. At first it was'nt that big of a deal because i could stay connected to RvS games even when GR would time out, but when Evill changed the network settings or whatever he made it so when GR times out, the game youre playing quits..

I put up with this for a while.. timing my games so that I could go in and play one map, more or less, leave and come back to avoid timing out. The most common suggestion I'd get was to log on to my router and configure it. when you type your IP into a browser there is a promt asking for a UserName and pass. comcast however changed its software so the pass is different, as well as the configuration page. This lead me to believe the best thing to do was to swap for a new router, and a service rep assured me this was the best thing to do..

So i schedule an appointment.. etc. They come and install a netgear router, along with new splitters and brand new connections all over. The technician assures me I should have no problems timing out... and gives me some absolute bullshit explanation for why it was happening in the first place. When he leaves I log onto GR and time out after 10 SECONDS(not an exaggeration). One by one pings would change to "Down" and then... "connection closed"

So then with the help of DEA and eddi, I figure out how to get on the configuration page and do some port forwarding and DMZ.. this of course does not do a damn thing. I call comcast again and now I'm told the only way to fix the problem is by using the LINKSYS, and doing the port forwarding/DMZ. I ask if they still have linksys routers, he assures me they do. SOOOOOoooooo I have him schedule an appointment for someone to come and swap them again, and i say please make sure when the technician comes, he knows what has to be done. The guy on the phone assures me this will be in the appointment notes.

Today the tech shows up completely unaware of what hes supposed to do, and when i tell him he claims they havent been using linksys routers in about a year, and the only way I could get one would be to go to one of the payment stations and pick one up myself... So thats what I'm doing tomorrow, but I don't know how the FUCK i can excpect to have everything work out. Meanwhile the legendary KoS has been recreated with the best of the best, and I'm supposed to be in on it.. but I dont know that I could even stay on GR long enough to change my name.

Comcast can suck my dick... and If you never see me play another game on GR, its their fault...

[|MP|Nomad]

Piece of advice, get yourself an Airport Base Station, well worth the money trust me.  If you have more peripherals, or other Desktops required to be hardwired, then get a Linksys WIRED router (not wireless).  Then change your IP to be static and do some port forwarding on your router if you are using any VoIP like KDX, etc.

I would bitch at Comcast and threaten to leave for another ISP, maybe they'll give you something.....

[:MoD:Shade]

Hmm, I just ordered a Linksys wireless router, hopefully i won't have any problems.  I also have comcast but haven't had any issues.

[Maniac]

Computers are fun and great until something fucks up and you have to pay and stress to fix it. For about a year thats all i was trying to do, and its finally all working and if anything goes wrong fuck it i'll pay someone to do it i cant handle anymore of that shit.

[Ein]

I too have comcast and have no problems with it for GR. I also use an airport base station and feel that they are much easier than normal routers to setup and configure.

I will admit though, that comcast customer service is lacking. When they installed my cable/internet, they assured me the wire for it was already in the wall. The service representative cut a large square hole in the wall and then realized I was right and there was no cord.

They ended up running another cord through my entire apartment and then left, leaving the large hole in my wall. I called back to the service center bitching about the wall which they came out to fix about a month later. Love that prompt service.

Ein

[dr.blake.]

Update: went to 2 service centers today... they dont carry routers.

[BTs_Mysterio]

Just give up on them and get your own router... most ISPs are so full of shit.

[dr.blake.]

is there such thing as a regular modem with 2 outputs?


cuz thats all i need.. but comcast's modems only have one output...

[cO.twist]

no, because then both of your computers would have the same IP address.  That's why you need a router.

[dr.blake.]

well that makes sense..

[BFG]

I have a vague feeling i saw a modem/router combo somewhere a while ago but im really not sure!

[:MoD:Shade]

I've never set up a router before, is the Linksys wireless one difficult? more than just going into the "Network" preferences?

[BTs-FahQ2]

there are tons of modem/router combos in the market. Blake, see if the motorola one will work for you. This is the best one for Cable connections:


http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDetail.do?oid=124990&WT.mc_n=4&WT.mc_t=U&cm_ven=COMPARISON%20SHOPPING&cm_cat=GOOGLE&cm_pla=DATAFEED->PRODUCTS&cm_ite=1%20PRODUCT&cm_keycode=4

if the link doesn't work google Motorola SURFboard Cable Modem

[:V: Stripes]

I had that shit, with my 64 K Cable Connection..

Apart from it sometimes just disconnected and my internet could go offline for a hour or a day, it should be fine.

I do have another ISP tho, that's maybe the reason why

[|MP|Nomad]

I've never set up a router before, is the Linksys wireless one difficult? more than just going into the "Network" preferences?

I've always used Lynksys, and had minor problems, and fairly easy to set up - you can set it all up via Safari or any other browser.  However, the Cust. service is holy-fucking-shit BAD! The calls are all re-directed to India or something and hardly anyone speaks well English, and have little to no clue about Macs.  Having said that, the products are great, but if you run into probles from the beginning, like I did when I went hunting for a wired router - had to exchange mine 3 times, till I found one that worked best. 

A little advice, - try and get the older models, they are cheaper and have no problems at all with connections to the net, whereas the first 2 routers I got (same model for both) they were newer and more $ but both had major problems and I just returned it and got the older one and never had problems since.

One thing though, whatever you decided to do, make sure they have a refund policy, so you can go home and test the stability and strength of it for at least 2-3 weeks at varying times throughout the day, to give u a good average feedback - and if its crap - bring it back!

[dr.blake.]

The technician who came most recently is convinced its a problem with the connections out on the street... The poor guy was at my house for an hour and a half removing 'splitters' and putting in new 'drops'.. basically gave me an iscolated connection for each TV and computer. Then he came in and i logged into GR... No dice. He said the guys in the fuckin cherry picker were gunna come.. never did. He gave me his supervisor's number and im waiting for a call back as we speak.

[Ethion]

I had that shit, with my 64 K Cable Connection..

Apart from it sometimes just disconnected and my internet could go offline for a hour or a day, it should be fine.

I do have another ISP tho, that's maybe the reason why

And you don't live in the same country, nor the same part of the world

[jerkasaur]

I have a similar problem with Comcast down at my apartment at college. Constantly dropped connections (every 20 minutes rather) and Evill wasnt able to do shit about it. At the appartment, I use the Motorola Surfboard and have had similar results with Linksys. The same internet connection works excellent under 2 other configurations however - Going directly through a cable modem works perfectly, and up at my parent's house the Airport Base Station works great. I havn't had any problems with it at all for over a year.

[:V: Stripes]

The modem is still the exact same, just another ISP. 

[mediocresau]

I saw this topic and was like, "no way Comcast is the worst."  My nomination for the worse?  HawaiianTel DSL.

It used to be Verizon DSL and I was getting some respectable bandwidth.  But then Verizon left Hawaii and left us with HawaiianTel.  The good news is that price wise, its only 60 bucks for both landline phone and DSL access monthly.  The bad news is that I lag like a 56K modem on the current GameRanger.