Cable internet slows drastically at night. What can I do?
December 1, 2013 3:19 PM Subscribe
Four days ago, my Comcast cable internet service began slowing down in the evenings. I know this is normal behavior for cable service, since bandwidth is shared within communities. However, my usual 25 Mbps has slowed to somewhere between 1 and 4 Mbps after 5 PM, with the occasional 20 (very rare). I've seen it as low as 300 Kbps. I checked last night at 2 AM and it was clocking in at 50, which is what I pay for. What can I do?
Comcast is sending a guy over Tuesday morning, but I'm fairly confident it won't resolve anything, especially since my service will be running at acceptable speeds at that time. Do I have any other troubleshooting options? Is there any reason swapping out the modem or cable would work? Could it be a neighbor torrenting? If so, is there anything I can even do about that?
I'm getting ready to cancel this Cable service and sign up for 4G. It couldn't be worse, could it? (There are no other cable providers where I live, and no FIOS)
Comcast is sending a guy over Tuesday morning, but I'm fairly confident it won't resolve anything, especially since my service will be running at acceptable speeds at that time. Do I have any other troubleshooting options? Is there any reason swapping out the modem or cable would work? Could it be a neighbor torrenting? If so, is there anything I can even do about that?
I'm getting ready to cancel this Cable service and sign up for 4G. It couldn't be worse, could it? (There are no other cable providers where I live, and no FIOS)
Comcast is sending a guy over Tuesday morning, but I'm fairly confident it won't resolve anything, especially since my service will be running at acceptable speeds at that time.
If the issue is contention at Netflix O'Clock, then your cable company has the ability to fix it, and you have the ability to make clear that your continued custom depends on them fixing it. I'd agree that you should try to contact support during a slow-down time and see if you can escalate to a tech who has the ability to measure local bandwidth usage.
posted by holgate at 3:32 PM on December 1, 2013
If the issue is contention at Netflix O'Clock, then your cable company has the ability to fix it, and you have the ability to make clear that your continued custom depends on them fixing it. I'd agree that you should try to contact support during a slow-down time and see if you can escalate to a tech who has the ability to measure local bandwidth usage.
posted by holgate at 3:32 PM on December 1, 2013
Response by poster: Thanks guys. I called support last night and he had me go through the motions of unplugging and replugging my modem, resetting, and sending a refresh signal. Since that didn't work, the tech scheduled an appointment. I will try again to ask them to look at local bandwidth usage.
posted by alligatorman at 3:42 PM on December 1, 2013
posted by alligatorman at 3:42 PM on December 1, 2013
I'm a longtime Comcast customer, and I have a story to tell you.
A few years ago, I had a speed/connectivity issue. The first couple of technicians sent to deal with it were third-party contractors who 1.) assumed the problem was inside the house and probably with either my machine or me, and 2.) had no authority to order or test anything. Their fixes--new internal wiring, new splitters--worked just as long as they were there but really didn't fix anything at all. I persevered. On the third service call, they sent an actual Comcast employee, who ordered line testing out in the street. It turned out that a booster in the alley had been mis-calibrated. But that hadn't been the only problem, as I soon learned when everything fell to shit again.
The fourth service call was kind of awesome. Comcast assigned me a concierge to oversee the issue and keep me updated on what was being done. They cleaned up the rat's nest that was our building's internet box, from the fiddling by dozens of inept contractors who were only trying for a quick individual fix, and they ran a new line so that I had my own node, at least initially.
I've never had a problem since.
So my suggestion would be to persevere, AND to make sure that when you call you ask the operator to reference your recent service requests. "Please don't send me an independent contractor again, I need someone with more expertise and authority" actually worked in my case.
(Yes, I had to take time off work, but that's easy for me to do. YMMV.)
posted by Short Attention Sp at 4:02 PM on December 1, 2013 [6 favorites]
A few years ago, I had a speed/connectivity issue. The first couple of technicians sent to deal with it were third-party contractors who 1.) assumed the problem was inside the house and probably with either my machine or me, and 2.) had no authority to order or test anything. Their fixes--new internal wiring, new splitters--worked just as long as they were there but really didn't fix anything at all. I persevered. On the third service call, they sent an actual Comcast employee, who ordered line testing out in the street. It turned out that a booster in the alley had been mis-calibrated. But that hadn't been the only problem, as I soon learned when everything fell to shit again.
The fourth service call was kind of awesome. Comcast assigned me a concierge to oversee the issue and keep me updated on what was being done. They cleaned up the rat's nest that was our building's internet box, from the fiddling by dozens of inept contractors who were only trying for a quick individual fix, and they ran a new line so that I had my own node, at least initially.
I've never had a problem since.
So my suggestion would be to persevere, AND to make sure that when you call you ask the operator to reference your recent service requests. "Please don't send me an independent contractor again, I need someone with more expertise and authority" actually worked in my case.
(Yes, I had to take time off work, but that's easy for me to do. YMMV.)
posted by Short Attention Sp at 4:02 PM on December 1, 2013 [6 favorites]
I have a similar story. My Comcast service was fixed on the fourth visit, when the older, more experienced guy finally replaced something in the box at the street. Just keep calling and they will upgrade the service technician who responds.
posted by raisingsand at 4:31 PM on December 1, 2013
posted by raisingsand at 4:31 PM on December 1, 2013
First of all, there are no other real options for home internet service besides a real residential ISP. All 4G service plans have limits, and will also be huge assholes to you if you're regularly pushing tons of data through them in ways they don't like.
I've had this exact problem with comcast before, and did pretty much exactly what short attention sp did. They eventually came out and actually ran real tests and fixed it, but it was an irritating process.
I've gone through the same with their business class service at work, and although it jumps straight to the concierge step it took a similar amount of time and touch and go bullshit steps of getting them to come out several times.
Expect them to have to make more than one visit to resolve this. It's tiresome, but that's how it works.
For what it's worth, as much shit as people give comcast, i've never had them not actually resolve a problem like this. Whereas i've had several DSL ISPs eventually tell me "look, this awful service is as good as it's going to get" and stop telling me anything but that. With Comcast, if you get that kind of response from a rep, just hang up and call back and try again. It takes way more prodding and poking and tiresomeness than it should, but if you can get a real technician out there who can actually touch their equipment outside your house then you should get some resolution.
posted by emptythought at 4:42 PM on December 1, 2013
I've had this exact problem with comcast before, and did pretty much exactly what short attention sp did. They eventually came out and actually ran real tests and fixed it, but it was an irritating process.
I've gone through the same with their business class service at work, and although it jumps straight to the concierge step it took a similar amount of time and touch and go bullshit steps of getting them to come out several times.
Expect them to have to make more than one visit to resolve this. It's tiresome, but that's how it works.
For what it's worth, as much shit as people give comcast, i've never had them not actually resolve a problem like this. Whereas i've had several DSL ISPs eventually tell me "look, this awful service is as good as it's going to get" and stop telling me anything but that. With Comcast, if you get that kind of response from a rep, just hang up and call back and try again. It takes way more prodding and poking and tiresomeness than it should, but if you can get a real technician out there who can actually touch their equipment outside your house then you should get some resolution.
posted by emptythought at 4:42 PM on December 1, 2013
4G? Tee hee heeee. Whose 4G are you planning to sign up with?
I'm sorry; I don't mean to sound like the telecom demon, but seriously? Yeah, 4G will always be worse than wireline broadband, either with regards to speed or monthly transfer limits, or both.
Are ADSL or "U-Verse" available where you live? Cable is often better than those options, but if your cable continues to work poorly, they may be a better choice for you.
posted by Juffo-Wup at 5:43 PM on December 1, 2013
I'm sorry; I don't mean to sound like the telecom demon, but seriously? Yeah, 4G will always be worse than wireline broadband, either with regards to speed or monthly transfer limits, or both.
Are ADSL or "U-Verse" available where you live? Cable is often better than those options, but if your cable continues to work poorly, they may be a better choice for you.
posted by Juffo-Wup at 5:43 PM on December 1, 2013
As suspicious as I am of Comcast, I've found that they do a reasonable job of delivering what I'm paying for.
I think you should adjust your assumptions, starting with the idea that it is inevitable or acceptable that cable internet constantly suffers significant slowdowns in the evenings. Yes, you share bandwidth with your neighbors, but the available bandwidth should be far in excess of what any one of you are permitted to use, and they should be managing things in such a way that there is enough excess bandwidth to accommodate average use while giving you what you are paying for.
From there, it is time to complain, frequently, and ask to be escalated to the next support tier. If you don't get a reasonable timetable for remedying the problem, go further, and send letters of complain to your city council persons, state legislators, public utility commission, etc, with a carbon copy sent to Comcast.
If you want to collect more data in a systematic fashion, look into Smoke ping, it tracks latency, rather than overall bandwidth, but the two metrics are generally tightly related. DSL reports offers free smoke-ping monitoring with a registered (free) account. You can also install it yourself. There is also Neubot.
Actually, before you turn up the heat on comcast, is it possible that there is something going on on your network during those hours that could be causing a problem? Anyone come home and fire-up an online backup, or leave bittorrent running, etc? With standard home routers, stuffing the upload pipe full can really hurt performance in both directions, and some of the ways that people try to get around it (prioritizing Acks, etc) can actually make things worse. The solution that has worked well for me is to use OpenWRT Attitude Adjustment configure the QoS functionality with my upstream bandwidth, and enable it. The stock firmware on a lot of routers supports QoS, but they tend to use older linux kernels, which don't have effective algorithms for managing the backlog.
posted by Good Brain at 6:05 PM on December 1, 2013
I think you should adjust your assumptions, starting with the idea that it is inevitable or acceptable that cable internet constantly suffers significant slowdowns in the evenings. Yes, you share bandwidth with your neighbors, but the available bandwidth should be far in excess of what any one of you are permitted to use, and they should be managing things in such a way that there is enough excess bandwidth to accommodate average use while giving you what you are paying for.
From there, it is time to complain, frequently, and ask to be escalated to the next support tier. If you don't get a reasonable timetable for remedying the problem, go further, and send letters of complain to your city council persons, state legislators, public utility commission, etc, with a carbon copy sent to Comcast.
If you want to collect more data in a systematic fashion, look into Smoke ping, it tracks latency, rather than overall bandwidth, but the two metrics are generally tightly related. DSL reports offers free smoke-ping monitoring with a registered (free) account. You can also install it yourself. There is also Neubot.
Actually, before you turn up the heat on comcast, is it possible that there is something going on on your network during those hours that could be causing a problem? Anyone come home and fire-up an online backup, or leave bittorrent running, etc? With standard home routers, stuffing the upload pipe full can really hurt performance in both directions, and some of the ways that people try to get around it (prioritizing Acks, etc) can actually make things worse. The solution that has worked well for me is to use OpenWRT Attitude Adjustment configure the QoS functionality with my upstream bandwidth, and enable it. The stock firmware on a lot of routers supports QoS, but they tend to use older linux kernels, which don't have effective algorithms for managing the backlog.
posted by Good Brain at 6:05 PM on December 1, 2013
"Netflix O'clock" - har har. We have the exact same problem (with Time Warner so it's not just a Comcast issue - may be a crappy ISP issue), and I'm working my way up the replacement chain.
I've replaced their cable modem with a new one of my own (in response to their proposal to start charging me $3 a month for 5-year old equipment). I'm about to replace my aging wireless router. Then, once the problem is verifiably not with my stuff, the calls begin...
posted by RedOrGreen at 6:20 PM on December 1, 2013
I've replaced their cable modem with a new one of my own (in response to their proposal to start charging me $3 a month for 5-year old equipment). I'm about to replace my aging wireless router. Then, once the problem is verifiably not with my stuff, the calls begin...
posted by RedOrGreen at 6:20 PM on December 1, 2013
I had the same experience with Comcast as others here, you have to keep at it.
I don’t blame them, it’s like any other tech support, most calls are simple bullshit problems so they send someone to solve those first. If you keep reporting them though, or the techs that come out do, they’ve always solved my problem.
With my worst problem the "fixer" was on the 3rd trip. They figured out something was wrong in the box on the street, fixed it and it was working good. But then they looked at my lines and said they were kind of crappy, so they ran all new lines from the street to my house (which is at least a 5 minute walk). My service was good before, but then it became fantastic, about twice the speed I’m paying for.
posted by bongo_x at 6:41 PM on December 1, 2013
I don’t blame them, it’s like any other tech support, most calls are simple bullshit problems so they send someone to solve those first. If you keep reporting them though, or the techs that come out do, they’ve always solved my problem.
With my worst problem the "fixer" was on the 3rd trip. They figured out something was wrong in the box on the street, fixed it and it was working good. But then they looked at my lines and said they were kind of crappy, so they ran all new lines from the street to my house (which is at least a 5 minute walk). My service was good before, but then it became fantastic, about twice the speed I’m paying for.
posted by bongo_x at 6:41 PM on December 1, 2013
As others say - stick with it, and collect evidence. This happened to me with Comcast in a brand new high rise building after a few months. Once you can convince Comcast that the problem is on their side of the cable modem, they will typically take it seriously.
posted by wotsac at 7:03 PM on December 1, 2013
posted by wotsac at 7:03 PM on December 1, 2013
4G. It couldn't be worse, could it?
4G is for people whose only other options are satellite and dialup.
posted by flabdablet at 7:08 PM on December 1, 2013 [3 favorites]
4G is for people whose only other options are satellite and dialup.
posted by flabdablet at 7:08 PM on December 1, 2013 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks everyone. I got final confirmation from my condo association that Comcast is my only option, so I guess I will have to keep prodding until it gets resolved.
And as for considering 4G: I was frustrated and let my emotions get the best of me. I'll be staying away from that, no worries.
posted by alligatorman at 5:47 AM on December 2, 2013
And as for considering 4G: I was frustrated and let my emotions get the best of me. I'll be staying away from that, no worries.
posted by alligatorman at 5:47 AM on December 2, 2013
« Older Small, hideable, motion activated HD camera with... | Documentary about German Memorials - "Please, no... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by nostrada at 3:28 PM on December 1, 2013