[GRLUG] Speed slump?

[Bob Kline]

#1 is a very good point.  The signal to the
modem can just as well be too strong as too
weak - the modem only modulates correctly
within a specified signal strength range.

Why the signal strength varies is anyone's
guess, but can include things like Comcast
adjusting amplifiers upstream, connect
tightness and corrosion, including your own.
But a Comcast person did stop by once of
his own volition, and thought the level might
be slight out of range, and then tweaked
something.  Playing the game on your own
could be done hit and miss I guess, using
your modem performance as a guide.

Anyway, for now, I'm back in the chips.
Power cycling does it.  I don't know why,
but that won't change the fact I just need
to do it on a regular basis now.

    -- Bob




On Thu, May 2, 2013 at 10:23 AM, Chris Wieringa <chris at wieringafamily.com>wrote:

> I personally haven't seen an issue, but I do have issues time to time that
> are extremely local to my neighborhood.
>
> Couple things to check:
> 1.  If you can get to 192.168.100.1 - this should be your cable modem's
> internal IP ranges.  Check your signal levels, compare them to the listings
> on http://www.speedguide.net/articles/cable-modem-signal-levels-1197 .
>  If you are getting to a fringe on signal levels this can greatly change
> your speeds.  You can do some re-engineering internal to your house by
> reducing splits, adding splits, etc to get to optimal levels and making
> sure you have all your house taps connected, or disconnected correctly
> (with appropriate cable caps).  Additional devices on the cable plant in
> your house may be adding signal interference.
> 2.  Ask your neighbors.  Having 2-3 people in a neighborhood call at once
> can help Comcast come to the conclusion that there may be issues with a
> local neighborhood not an individual connection.
> 3.  Hard-power cycle your cable modem and router.
> 4.  If you can figure out that your first or second hops out (tracert) are
> causing issues (I've seen this before), if you "change" your MAC address on
> your router you may get a new IP range with different initial hops.
>  Comcast has several ranges that they load-balance connections between,
> although they tend to stick once assigned to a particular IP pool.
>
> Just a few debugging things I've done with my own connection.
>
> Chris
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, Apr 28, 2013 at 1:44 PM, Bob Kline <bob.kline at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I use speedtest.net, and the Comcast test
>> location in Detroit - Comcast techs recommend
>> that, so one expects it to show good results.....
>>
>> The last two or three days I've notice the
>> up and down rates have typically dropped
>> about 20% to 25%.  Anyone else seeing this?
>> Even my ace in the hole - 4 to 6 AM shows
>> lower rates.
>>
>> I've seen long stretches when the up/down
>> rates are high, and stable.  i.e., weeks to
>> a month or two.  Then something changes.
>> And that's what's happening now.
>>
>> Anyway, just a query to see whether anyone
>> has observed anything.  I don't intend to call
>> Comcast just yet.
>>
>>   -- Bob
>>
>>
>>
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>
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