Time warner internet problems - options? (durham) (Raleigh: apartment, house) - The Triangle Area - City-Data Forum

nekoneko99 · 08-20-2009, 08:54 AM

So I am in Durham (southpoint mall area) and have had Time warner for the past 2 years I've been here. I have been having a constant problem with my internet. Basically it will get to periods where it will slow down to less than 1 mbps or just completely stop or disconnect. Resetting the router will fix this, however, once this problem starts it persists so that it will constantly do this, so evey 5 minutes i either have disconnection or unbearable speeds. 2 or 3 times in the past this has happened, a tech is sent out, he fiddles with our box/connection and all seems to work well for maybe a month or so, then it starts up again.

Has anyone had anything like this? Was it something you were able to resolve? I wish I could just go with another provider but it doesn't seem like there is any fast dsl for my location either.

Any adive at all? I pay them so much money and last night I could not even get basic pages to load, or play any online games.

Snarky Prof · 08-20-2009, 09:30 AM

I live in Raleigh and we had the exact same problem. What made it worse was that my husband works remotely and needs reliable Internet service.

We called constantly and got a lot of "OK we'll be out to fix the problem. Well, whatever they did would not fix the problem. We kept records of when the service would go out. We had someone come out about five times before finding out that it was TWC's connection between them and our apartment building. Someone came out and finally fixed the problem. We ended up working with someone who was high up in the tech section. He was on the phone telling the tech who was in our house what to do.

The point is, sometimes you have to be persistent. Don't be rude or argumentative, becuase that never works. Don't settle to talking to some call center person. Move up the chain.

Good luck.

JimmyO · 08-20-2009, 11:54 AM

Definitely move up the chain, and don't be afraid to ask for someone local, or even on this continent. Things like this are why we ditched TW for cable, and will for internet as soon as a viable alternative becomes available.

ma91pmh · 08-20-2009, 12:09 PM

I had very similar problem recently. They came out and switched the modem and router and that fixed it, now it's perfect. They did say they had been having troubles with Mac wireless connections tripping modems.

zinner · 08-20-2009, 12:29 PM

It might be cheaper to give you the cold shoulder until you cancel service than actually fix the problem. That is why cable has the worse customer service ever.

ma91pmh · 08-20-2009, 12:55 PM

i have to say i ASSUMED their customer service would be awful... when I did finally call because it was getting too frustrating it was pretty good. tech ran a line test, said he saw a problem and would get someone out. guy showed up on time, fixed the problem. all happy. you don't always hear when it goes well

nekoneko99 · 08-20-2009, 01:53 PM

Well, Personally I don't think their customer service is what's bad, they're nice and listen on the phone. Last time this has happened they sent a tech out, he arrived 2 hours after the initial phone call, which really amazed me. My problem is with the actual service they provide, it's been nothing short of flaky. And when they "fix it" It's great for a few days/weeks then somehow reverts back to it's poor connection.

XxLegionxX · 08-20-2009, 02:05 PM

Hold tight, AT&T Uverse is laying down lines all around the triangle as we speak. It's in my neighborhood, but I have yet to switch to it. Main reason being is that not too long ago we canceled cable and went with rabbit ears. To my surprise we were still receiving the BASIC cable signal through our line. From what I'm told as long as you subscribe to their internet service they can't effectively filter out the basic cable signal. As per your problem, you said it's related to your router. And everytime you reset your router the problem goes away for awhile? Try connecting your PC directly to your Cable Modem and see if you still have the flaky connection. If not, then it is your router. And that problem can easily be solved but purchasing a new one. I constantly dropped my connection when I had a Lynksys WRT54 router. Getting a new ISP isn't going to fix a bad router. Just out of curiousity, did TW provide the router?

nekoneko99 · 08-20-2009, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XxLegionxX

Hold tight, AT&T Uverse is laying down lines all around the triangle as we speak. It's in my neighborhood, but I have yet to switch to it. Main reason being is that not too long ago we canceled cable and went with rabbit ears. To my surprise we were still receiving the BASIC cable signal through our line. From what I'm told as long as you subscribe to their internet service they can't effectively filter out the basic cable signal. As per your problem, you said it's related to your router. And everytime you reset your router the problem goes away for awhile? Try connecting your PC directly to your Cable Modem and see if you still have the flaky connection. If not, then it is your router. And that problem can easily be solved but purchasing a new one. I constantly dropped my connection when I had a Lynksys WRT54 router. Getting a new ISP isn't going to fix a bad router. Just out of curiousity, did TW provide the router?

Sorry I initially misspoke, the cable modem is what I have been resetting.
(and thus the router along with it). This will fix it for 1-10 minutes then it occurs again, (sometimes, however, it actually does not fix it, it is still unacceptably slow). Since at this point it has become a constant problem I call TW and the send a tech. He will mess around with our box and wires outside and whatever he does will fix it for a few days/weeks, then the problem returns. Also when this problem initially begin we directly wired the computers to see if it would help, it did not.

Starglow · 08-20-2009, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nekoneko99

Well, Personally I don't think their customer service is what's bad, they're nice and listen on the phone. Last time this has happened they sent a tech out, he arrived 2 hours after the initial phone call, which really amazed me. My problem is with the actual service they provide, it's been nothing short of flaky. And when they "fix it" It's great for a few days/weeks then somehow reverts back to it's poor connection.

Have they swapped out your cable modem? You can do this yourself by taking the modem to a TWC service center for exchange.

Are you using a router or wireless connection? Is the router configured correctly with no IP address conflicts on the network?

Has TWC measured the signal strength?

Sometimes the problem isn't something TWC can fix if your personal router is having issues or something around you is interfering with the wireless signal such as a cordless phone or other devices that work on the same radio frequency.

There's not enough details regarding your setup to really know what's going on with your Internet connection.