Comcast: Bandwidth limiting by repeatedly restarting modem?

Punkrulz

Somewhat eXPerienced
Joined
24 Dec 2001
Messages
790
Hey guys,

I experienced this issue in the past. I used to be in the middle of a game of COD4 online, and during the game periodically my modem would semi-restart itself. The Power, DS, and US would stay on and everything else would shut off. 5 seconds later, I'd still be in the game, the lights would come back on and I'd be fine, almost like a super huge lag spike. I contacted Comcast support, and they dispatched a technician whom provided me another Motorola Surfboard Modem w/ Phone (Since I get my phone through their service as well).

I really haven't played COD4 much since then and have been focusing back on World of Warcraft. Saturday, I was playing in a 25-man raid (also with Ventrilo running) and quite a few times, the modem began to do the same thing. I have yet to contact Comcast regarding this issue reoccurring again. It's been awhile since I've done the 25-man raids, so I don't know if it only happens during then or what. I know that I haven't had the issue during the 10-mans, and I haven't noticed anything else causing this to happen. Also, my girlfriend was playing WoW and on Ventrilo at this time as I was watching these problems happen, and I nothing else besides WoW and Vent were taking up bandwidth.

Does anyone else have similar problems? Is this a hardware issue with the modem, or is Comcast in fact limiting my bandwidth usage this way? As much as I don't want to do this as it may affect other users, is there perhaps a bandwidth stress test to be run to see if high modem usage causes this, to force the issue?
 
I also have comcrap but do not game on a PC. But when I do game online with my PS3 I never notice any lag. If you are connected theough your ethernet cable try checking for newer drivers and or resetting your cable??

if you are playing wireless, again try looking for a possible updated driver? its a shot in thre dark
 
TDInc, it's a physical loss of signal with the modem itself, not a connection between myself / router / modem. :( In any case I am running latest drivers w/ new cables, but it's definitely an issue with either the modem itself or the modem's connection to Comcast.
 
The Comcast tech should have tested the signal strength in your lines if he did not already. the actual cable coaxial splitter or the line itself could be bad.

I did have an issue like i mentioned. where the line coming to the house was really bad and it was replaced. and the signal was great.
 
My DSL service does that too. Under heavy use (bit torrent) it just resets, I'm disconnected for maybe 5 sec. then its fine.

Figured out that they're switching my DNS server while under heavy use. I might happen once, but i've seen it happen 10-15 times an hour.
 
Have you tried playing without Ventrilo running?

Also, you may get better results if you post this problem in the official Comcast forums.
 
Comcast can/does throttle connections, but not by messing with your modem. If your modem is indeed dropping then I would say you either have a bad modem or poor signal to your modem (perhaps it's on the borderline and extra bandwidth is causing it to go over). You can check your modem (usually 192.168.100.1) and then google around for acceptable levels (dslreports.com is a good site).
 
The ISP (DSL or Cable) can check signal strength and connection quality from the main office without sending out a tech. If they sent out a repair man they already knew you had hardware problems. But... if the repair guy was lazy he may just have slapped in a new modem to avoid having to dig up cables. Or you may just have gotten another sickly modem.

Other possibilities:
-Someone else(s) on your cable trunk sucking up bandwidth.
-Overloaded ISP servers.
-Someone messing with you. I had DOS attacks launched at me when playing some game a few years back.
-Something else in your LAN messing up. I had routine dropouts that required modem/router reboot to recover for a long time before I replace the router and the problems magically disappeared. It died when the traffic got too heavy. P2P and multiplayer games would crash it.

Call COmcast to rule out your line and modem with a line test. Then start looking elsewhere.
 

Members online

No members online now.

Latest profile posts

Also Hi EP and people. I found this place again while looking through a oooollllllldddd backup. I have filled over 10TB and was looking at my collection of antiques. Any bids on the 500Mhz Win 95 fix?
Any of the SP crew still out there?
Xie wrote on Electronic Punk's profile.
Impressed you have kept this alive this long EP! So many sites have come and gone. :(

Just did some crude math and I apparently joined almost 18yrs ago, how is that possible???
hello peeps... is been some time since i last came here.
Electronic Punk wrote on Sazar's profile.
Rest in peace my friend, been trying to find you and finally did in the worst way imaginable.

Forum statistics

Threads
62,015
Messages
673,494
Members
5,621
Latest member
naeemsafi
Back