Okay, update.
At some time between 5:45 and 6:00 PM yesterday, the signal went out again. But that gave me enough information to realize I had a loose or bad connection right on the exterior of the house, where they cable comes in -- because I realized after several days' data points that the signal only came back on sunny days, late in the morning -- and always disappeared 30 to 45 minutes after sundown. And that meant to me a marginal connection somewhere that had gone bad and was now only closing the circuit when it had heated up enough for the metal parts to meet.
Now, let me tell you a little about Comcast in this area. Apparently, they don't own the cable lines, they lease them from another company, or rent usage, or something. And apparently that company is a bit more concerned about technical matters and performance than Comcast is.
I already had an appointment for a modem upgrade this afternoon (this wasn't being done as a fix, it was just something one of the techs said I could get for free and he might as well put me in for it to make up for some of the trouble I've endured). So the tech comes today, and although his truck and ID say "Comcast", his jacket and fluorescent vest have a different company name and logo on it. He swaps in this new "D3" modem, and while it's doing a ten-minute suite of power-on tests I tell him about the line problem. Well, I had to -- the line was still dead and he couldn't test the modem.
He grumbled about how rotten the Comcast techs were, listened to my theory about what was happening, and agreed with me. He headed out into the snow on the garage side of the house, and in ten minutes had my line up and running again. Then he grumbled some more about the Comcast techs. Then he finished the modem setup, tested the speed, and said "Wow!" loud enough for me to hear him from the other side of the house. Apparently with the new modem I'm now getting a download speed of over 40 Mbs -- enough that he was impressed, and kept being impressed until he left.
The acid test, of course, is in about 90 minutes, when the sun has been down for a while and everything cools down. If I'm still here in the morning, congratulate me.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
At some time between 5:45 and 6:00 PM yesterday, the signal went out again. But that gave me enough information to realize I had a loose or bad connection right on the exterior of the house, where they cable comes in -- because I realized after several days' data points that the signal only came back on sunny days, late in the morning -- and always disappeared 30 to 45 minutes after sundown. And that meant to me a marginal connection somewhere that had gone bad and was now only closing the circuit when it had heated up enough for the metal parts to meet.
Now, let me tell you a little about Comcast in this area. Apparently, they don't own the cable lines, they lease them from another company, or rent usage, or something. And apparently that company is a bit more concerned about technical matters and performance than Comcast is.
I already had an appointment for a modem upgrade this afternoon (this wasn't being done as a fix, it was just something one of the techs said I could get for free and he might as well put me in for it to make up for some of the trouble I've endured). So the tech comes today, and although his truck and ID say "Comcast", his jacket and fluorescent vest have a different company name and logo on it. He swaps in this new "D3" modem, and while it's doing a ten-minute suite of power-on tests I tell him about the line problem. Well, I had to -- the line was still dead and he couldn't test the modem.
He grumbled about how rotten the Comcast techs were, listened to my theory about what was happening, and agreed with me. He headed out into the snow on the garage side of the house, and in ten minutes had my line up and running again. Then he grumbled some more about the Comcast techs. Then he finished the modem setup, tested the speed, and said "Wow!" loud enough for me to hear him from the other side of the house. Apparently with the new modem I'm now getting a download speed of over 40 Mbs -- enough that he was impressed, and kept being impressed until he left.
The acid test, of course, is in about 90 minutes, when the sun has been down for a while and everything cools down. If I'm still here in the morning, congratulate me.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.