Is comcast messing with me?

[miroku2192]

So I called Comcast over the weekend because they sent me a "rental" modem by accident, claiming that my old one is no longer going to use because their server still thought I was using their old rental modem, which I had returned several years ago. I bought my own Belkin.

Anyway, after an hours worth of arguing they finally agree to send me the return label + box for me to pop it back in instead of making me pay for everything and their OWN FUCKING MISTAKE, my internet dies for a few minutes about an hour later that day. Then 2 days ago my internet dies again, completely. Even unplugging shit doesn't work...and I call comcast and they tell me my modem is now broken, when two representatives 5 days ago (sunday) said my modem had a strong signal and was perfectly fine with their new service.

Now that just seems kinda fishy to me, and since i'm not too much of a tech guru, I just wanted to know, is there any truth to their claim? Can they fuck up my modem from where they are? Is there a way for me to check if they're just messing with me or what? Or it's all just some really unlucky bullshit coincidence?

**Okay so my neighbor was over and called comcast (im away at school) and he told me that the customer support on the other side said that modem companies AUTOMATICALLY program their modems to shut off/stop working after their 5 year life expectancy thing (is this really true???), and that the Comcast analyst "gave a jolt" to it or something, like sent some strong signals to it, so that it "revived" the modem...but that if it kept disconnecting, we'd have to buy a new modem. Now is this really possible/true? Or are they just trying to cover up for themselves?

Anyway, thanks guys. This problem has been driving me nuts. Please share with me some knowledge! I'm not too tech savvy ;X

[chris]

modem companies AUTOMATICALLY program their modems to shut off/stop working after their 5 year life expectancy thing

Ha ha ha I don't think they would do this. Having said that the modem contains a tuner and transmitter which can die out, personally i would never buy a cable modem for this reason alone
I have seen so many dvr's and cable modems die out.

There is a more likely answer though and what tips me off is what the tech said. What the tech probably did is noticed the signals where low so he sent a signal to the modem which will [b]temporarily/b] fix the issue by boosting the signal to your house instead of booking a trouble call. What i recommend you do is call back and ask them to do a signal test. They wont be able to tell you signal numbers more then likely but they will be able to see if either the rx or tx is failing or low. Also I am not sure if it is true as i have never tried it but i was told pushing a docsis 3 profile onto a docsis 2 modem can kill it. Again modems are not cheap so at the time i didn't want to intentionally brick a modem. Cheap splitters can also cause havoc as well as running your cable through one of those surge protector power bars(those things are evil). I can only tell you from what i worked with and some cable company are different but you want to have low loss so usually you have your cable coming in and then you have a 2 way splitter 1leg goes directly to the modem the other leg goes directly to your other splitter for your tv's you should never have a modem behind more then 1 splitter it should be behind a 2 way splitter and never a 4 way splitter there is usually just to much loss. As for the type of splitter used id recommend DigiTap or Antronix. Regal seems to get a thumbs up by most people to avoid radio shack and rca and monster cable splitters. Anyhow im not going to go into much more detail I hope this has helped you.

[demonix]

Originally Posted by miroku2192

customer support on the other side said that modem companies AUTOMATICALLY program their modems to shut off/stop working after their 5 year life expectancy thing (is this really true???)

I doubt it as belkin do provide a lifetime warranty although they have to considering how crap their networking products are (considering my belkin router developed a fault months after I got it and gave out last year) so I suggest you get a new modem but not anything made by belkin.

[miroku2192]

Originally Posted by chris

Ha ha ha I don't think they would do this. Having said that the modem contains a tuner and transmitter which can die out, personally i would never buy a cable modem for this reason alone
I have seen so many dvr's and cable modems die out.

There is a more likely answer though and what tips me off is what the tech said. What the tech probably did is noticed the signals where low so he sent a signal to the modem which will [b]temporarily/b] fix the issue by boosting the signal to your house instead of booking a trouble call. What i recommend you do is call back and ask them to do a signal test. They wont be able to tell you signal numbers more then likely but they will be able to see if either the rx or tx is failing or low. Also I am not sure if it is true as i have never tried it but i was told pushing a docsis 3 profile onto a docsis 2 modem can kill it. Again modems are not cheap so at the time i didn't want to intentionally brick a modem. Cheap splitters can also cause havoc as well as running your cable through one of those surge protector power bars(those things are evil). I can only tell you from what i worked with and some cable company are different but you want to have low loss so usually you have your cable coming in and then you have a 2 way splitter 1leg goes directly to the modem the other leg goes directly to your other splitter for your tv's you should never have a modem behind more then 1 splitter it should be behind a 2 way splitter and never a 4 way splitter there is usually just to much loss. As for the type of splitter used id recommend DigiTap or Antronix. Regal seems to get a thumbs up by most people to avoid radio shack and rca and monster cable splitters. Anyhow im not going to go into much more detail I hope this has helped you.

So why would the signals be low (sorry im very bad with tech stuff)? I'm going home in a few hours, so what should I say to them when I call them up (for signals being low, do you mean they're not giving us "enough" of a signal and thats why my internet isn't working? And that they're bullshitting about my whole "modem" being actually broken? What exactly is happening here? And also, when I do call them back and ask them to do a signal test, what will that tell me? How will I know what they say is true or what? [sorry for these dumb questions].

Because if it's the case that my modem is actually working, and they're lying about it, boy oh boy am I gonna be pissed.

[chris]

They are not dumb questions, Sorry for getting back to you so late but anyhow to answer your questions they should be able to tell you if the rx(receive) or tx(transmit) signal is to low and failing and if it is then they should be booking a service call. As for what can cause this there are a number of things, One thing i mentioned is splitters, the other thing that can cause this is having rg59 lines in the house which should be replaced with rg6 also another thing to look at is your connectors. Ideally you want compression connectors you can do a google image search and im sure you will see what they look like. Another thing that happens is that the drop to your house can degrade over time and need to be replaced. Something you may want to check out is on analog tv do you see a snowy picture, if so that may be a sign of a weak signal. There are just so many things that can lead you to this problem. I think it may be worth while to push for a tech to come out and check the signal with a signal tester, though im not sure if comcast does free service calls.

Oh another thing i forgot to mention and again it depends on the company but some company put the splitter outside the house and they can rust and get ruined.