Cable tears

Rrg. Cable modem is down. Again. (This will be posted after we’re back up.)

Last time we called Comcast, they weren’t able to see any system problems. And it’s intermittent enough that the damn thing doesn’t fail long enough for a truck to roll here and see anything (“Sorry, can’t find any problem now, that’ll be $50 service fee). And the TV side of the service seems just fine …

Which really makes me think that it’s the craptacular modem they gave us, the Teryon TJ-715X. Once things are back up, I’ll do a little research, and might make an “emergency” test acquisition this afternoon of another cable modem, to see if that resolves it.

Allow me to point out how frelling annoying this is.

UPDATE: And again with the downage.

Called Comcast. Spoke with “Josh.” Had me unplug the modem, unplug the Netgear wireless router we have atop it. Had me disconnect the cable itself from the modem, and short out the center coax pin to the side. Reset things from the Mother Ship. Had me plug all back in.

After a minute or two of slowly blinking cable light, it’s back up.

Now, his diagnosis:

1. The modem is too close to static-causing equipment, in this case, the TV (which causes static even when turned off, as a rub of the fingers across the screen will demonstrate). When he was able to get into the modem to look at its status, it showed a “transmit power” of 48.7. The “good” number is 30. At 55, the modem shuts down.

   So his solution is, find somewhere to put the modem further away from the equipment.

   Riiiight.

2. Regarding replacing the modem, he said it was certainly our prerogative. He suggested that most cable modems are pretty much the same (all built in the same factory in Singapore sort of thing). He did suggest that a cable gateway (with the wireless hub built in) might be more stable than a two-box solution.

Rrg.