Sugar Land Comcast - bad reception - what is my alternative???? (Houston: apartment, home) - Page 2 - City-Data Forum

bls8195 · 07-03-2009, 10:56 AM

LOL I am glad you got the picture.

As far as your problem, for one I never had an issue with Direct Tv, and I am sure Windsteam is good as well, I am sure they will assist you more so than Comcast has.

Xiaomao · 07-03-2009, 04:34 PM

As far as internet goes, I hate Comcast, but we're stuck with it because, apparently, the other providers don't come out to where I live. So, Comcast has their horrible monopoly over the area. Our internet is better now, but people often talk about the caps they place on it and how it would crap out at random. Happened to us.

easybay · 07-03-2009, 07:49 PM

What do you mean by caps?I swear my internet goes down around 4 pm every day and is significantly slower at other times.

Xiaomao · 07-03-2009, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by easybay

What do you mean by caps?I swear my internet goes down around 4 pm every day and is significantly slower at other times.

I'm not sure how it is for everyone, but before we got our internet fixed, it would go down because we maxed out our bandwidth whenever we downloaded a big file/loaded a huge webpage. I don't know how large the bandwidth cap is, or who gets it, but I can download huge files now without too much trouble.

I also believe they block some torrent/p2p software. We used to have that problem, but once they came and replaced our router, which was really old, I haven't had trouble with anything like that.

Do you notice a pattern whenever you're using it? How long have you had your router? You use P2P/Torrent software?

easybay · 07-03-2009, 10:18 PM

Forgive my ignorance....

The router is provided by Comcast - correct? We would have got it 5 years ago when we moved in. Everything was was working fine until we got the DVR - always had a snowy picture - and occassional signal loss (the "predator" effect). Since getting the second DVR - at Christmas, things have gone from bad to worse. My last service call was on Monday and when they left everything was fine. Now we are unable to even use the tv's with DVR because the image constantly loses the feed. What really pi$$es me off is that I am have been paying for this service for 5 years and they neglect to tell us that the signals aren't strong enough coming into my house to support my tv's/DVR/phone/internet. Sure take my money when they KNOW the service won't work. Shouldn't Comcast be the one telling me that their system doesn't support what I want?

The funny thing is when I tell them when someone calls in the internet drops - they don't believe it, and say it shouldn't happen. HUH???? My daughter is calling because she is lost driving around San Antonio, and I try to mapquest where she is and guide her and Ican't use the internet at the same time as the phone - do they think I'm making this up? The only way we figured out why it was constantly dropping was because of that circumstance (repeated phone calls from her).

As for software - I'm a techno idiot.......

easybay · 07-03-2009, 10:19 PM

What are the differences between direct/dish/windstream? Any?

Xiaomao · 07-03-2009, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by easybay

The funny thing is when I tell them when someone calls in the internet drops - they don't believe it, and say it shouldn't happen. HUH???? My daughter is calling because she is lost driving around San Antonio, and I try to mapquest where she is and guide her and Ican't use the internet at the same time as the phone - do they think I'm making this up? The only way we figured out why it was constantly dropping was because of that circumstance (repeated phone calls from her).

As for software - I'm a techno idiot.......

I'm also a techno idiot, because of this, you might want to google around for some forums that deal with customer service/complaints or a site that actively talks about Comcast. I'm sure there are people that have had similar problems. Our problem was caused by an old router, so the guy replaced it, but then our cable crapped out.

So we had to go buy a new cable box for one TV in a room, and now it's working just fine.

I hope someone can help you with your trouble. It can be a frustrating mess.

Cassino · 07-04-2009, 12:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by easybay

I called for ANOTHER service call and the woman said my router sounds faulty. Ok, I'm so ignorant of all this - would that interfere with my cable????

If you have both phone and internet through Comcast, they provide you with a modem that connects to a cable outlet and also connects to a phone jack. This modem controls both your internet and phone access.

How is your computer connected to the internet? Do you have a router that is connected to the modem or is your computer plugged directly into the modem?

If you are using a router, it might be causing a problem with your service but I really doubt it. The cable modem going bad would be more likely.

I believe, though am not sure, that the phone and internet transmit over the same portion of the cable line (separately from the TV portion). If your signal is weak, then there may not be enough capacity for both the internet and phone to operate properly at the same time. I would try and have a technician come out and check the signal strength at the various cable outlets in your place. Alternatively, you could try plugging the modem into different cable outlets and see if that resolves your problem.

Also, the modem is separate from your cable TV. The digital TV converter connects directly to the cable outlet and they should not impact one another.

Hope that helps and good luck!

easybay · 07-04-2009, 07:51 AM

Thanks for the explaination - Because nothing is working properly - and each is supposed to run as a separate entity, I figure the problem is with the cable coming into my house - and ultimately with Comcast selling me a service my house can't support.

My computer is plugged into a box provided from comcast. I don't know whether it's a modem or a router. I do know that when I unplug my computer from this my phone doesn't work - and obviously internet goes down.

The guy who came here on Monday seemed to have fixed the problem outside, but by doing so, he interfered with my neighbors lines, and said another tech would be out the next day to resolve their problems. I'm wondering if the 2nd guy reversed what the first guy did.

So if I was to skip Comcast all together and go with Direct or Dish what do they actually do? Do I get a satellite dish attached to the side of the house, and then they use the existing cable lines?

I

ewhiz123 · 07-04-2009, 08:42 AM

I had a similar problem at my house in Sugar Land with Comcast. The HDTV DVR that I had was just not functioning properly and was very sporadic.

Comcast came out and just said the signal strength was too low since we split the signal 6 times at my house and the other rooms were utilizing the service as well.

He suggested an amplifier, so i searched on Amazon and got the following product. I installed it myself and it has worked wonders. Internet performance has increased and my HDTV DVR now works superb.

Sample Amplifier at Amazon