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Cable Modem Issues

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by professional_pcs

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I am looking for all the Techs that have cable modem and that can give me some information with their good and bad experiences with their cable modem usage

16 replies

by cactus pete

If you have a splice outside, make sure that the connection is weatherproofed. Connectivity can degrade, then disappear after a bad rainstorm. The cable TV wouldn't notice, but the data side sure does.

I've used 4 different cable internet providers, and they've all had their good their bad points. If you're an early adopter for your area, you may be lucky enough to have fewer restrictions on your bandwidth, too.

Lately, though, they've been allowing servers and increasing upstream speeds, so there isn't going to be a lot of product differentiation.

Also, as with any high speed or always-on connection, make sure you have a firewall.

by heathermr2

I have a cable modem that does this and i am using windows 98. If there is a fis or an explaination
please help me

by razz2

I have had ADSL and Cable and both have
advantages. The cable speed is better for the price, but
at the same time I seem to have more EXTERNAL
firewall activity with the cable. Even if the LAN is offline.
Also, most cable companies do not dotrue static ip
assignments. The use DHCP reservations.

by affordable_cues_

I work for a company that does support for cable modems and I noticed that windows 98 sometimes does not pull an IP address and defaults to a ppp adapter which makes the customer not able to use the network connection.

by stephanisat

I'm using a cable modem w/router, and I've been trying to get my networked Win98 machine back online, and I just ran across your post. My ipconfig now is seeing my router & not my PPP, but I still can't e-mail, ftp, or surf. I can ping, and I can share files on my network. My WinXP machine has no problems. My Win98 machine had full connectivity until a few months ago. I'd appreciate any insight.
Thanks.

by pka

The router gets the cable IP address. It then gives the p.c. a sub-address. Use :\WINDOWS\Winipcfg.exe to renew your leases. If you had a connection sharing program be sure it is completely wiped out. Once in a while I've had to completely un-install networking and even replace the adaptor. Often anti-virus softwarem especially soft firewalls, etc can cause these problems.

by intenccity

There should be a law as to were no home PC user can call any tech support without at least knowing wheather they use dial-up, DSL, or cable. I would call it the Residential Dolt Act.

by professional_pcs

I agree american ignorance.
Most people who own a Computer do not know how to use the computer or the programs that are installed on it. Hopefully these people will learn that knowlege is a good thing and aquire some. A computer is a great source for this knowlege and on the internet you can obtain it for free;most of the time.

by greggen

I have found that the more I know, the less real support I get from 'tech support'. Since I troubleshoot PC's and networks for a living, when I have a problem at home, and have to call my ISP's tech support, all they want to do is follow their script.

I know that it is frustrating to deal with 'ignorant' users, but if all users were knowledgeable, there would me no need for 'tech support'.

I once had tech support tell me I needed to reload Windows to resolve my problem, and end the call because I was "uncooperative" when I refused to follow his advice. The problem was that I did not have a signal to my cable modem, they had an outage. I guess by the time I reloaded my PC and restored my files the outage might have been resolved, but c'mon!

Lets make a law to have these idiot tech support reps pay for wasting our time with needless bull. Call it the Wasted Time Relief Act.

by usmcretd

I had problems with my cable modem until I did two things. 1. Insured that I had the highest quality coax to the cable modem - the standard TV cable is not good enough. 2. Added a powered splitter (about $50 at Radio Shack) to split the incomingcable between three TV's and the cable modem. Data is much more sensitive to signal strength and quality than TV (at least analog TV).

by road-dog

For a couple of years. I have only experienced minor problems, one time when the cable coming into my home developed a high resistance and made the modem lose synch with the system.

I did PING tests to the default gateway on my system and to my DNS with roadrunner to show that the problems were within the system. (60% fail rate) They promptly asked me to ping other IP addresses assigned on my cable segment which experienced similar results.

The dispatched a cable monkey directly to re-run the drop into my home free of charge. If the cable company is planning to charge you, make sure that you ask for a signal level check or to have the tech run a spectrum analyzer on the connection. The cable techs are usually subcontractors who make more money on re-runs. They will screw the cable company, don't let them screw you!

Another comment in theis thread indicated a large amount of traffic on the link even when they were not doing anything. This is because the link is shared by multiple users on the segment. The packets are mostly broadcast frames. I've done packet captures with my Sniffer and confirmed this.

All I have to say on the subject is that if you have a broadband connection, invest in a rudimentary firewall at the very least.

Further, if you are on cable, multiple PCs can sometimes connect via a hub without firewall and still get an DHCP assigned address. Sometimes the cable modem is configured to only allow connection from a single MAC address. (Adelphia Cable) If so, a firewall/router is the only way to connect multiple PCs to the cable modem.

An advantage that cable has over DSL is that I find that upload speeds are typically higher on Cable. Most won't care, as they download mostly. I do FTP upload to web sites a lot and I've noticed that cable modems perform better on Napster, (which I've quit using).

That's the long and short of it..

by mattaall

I have been using cable for almost 3 years now and this is my proffesional opinion on everything cable...

Best Cable Companies: Optimum online and Time Warner Cable

Worse cable Companies: Comcast(Because of there horrible service) and Road Runner(Don't get me started)

Best Cable Modem: Motorola Surfboard (SB4100 or higher)

Worse Cable Modem: RCA (Model Doesnt matter they all suck) RCA=Really Crappy Apliance

As of any compatiblity issues concerning OS, 99.9% of cable works with Xp and 2000. I have heard of issues concering 98 but personaly never expierenced any.

by pka

You said <> My experience has been just the opposite. I work on computers all the time and have never had a connectivity issue with any modem or O.S. Aside from the occassional adaptor failing 100% of the connectivity probems has been because of the I.S.P.

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