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Internet Service
I learned something last night.
Our Internet service provider is Comcast. When we originally had it set up Comcast provided the wireless router. About a year ago we were experiencing increasing drop outs of connectivity to the Internet although our computers and wireless devices connected to the router fine. I finally called Comcast and they did some remote tests. They informed me that our router had come to it's "End of Life". Not being very IP savvy, I thought that was a hilarious way of saying "Your router is dead". But it really means it is obsolete in terms of being able to sync to newer system standards. So, I went down to Best Buy and bought a new router. Hooked everything up and it has run fine for the past year .... until a few days ago. We started experiencing similar problems that we had encountered with the original one with very spotty connection to the Internet that kept dropping out. Initially I thought maybe the new router was now obsolete also however I checked the manual that came with it and determined that it was designed for both D-2.0 and the newest D-3.0 standards. Turns out Comcast has been upgrading to D-3.0 in our area recently and the router needed a "reset" to handle it. A simple power down, wait, and power up does not accomplish the reset. There's a small hole in the back with a momentary switch that you need to depress for 5 seconds or more while the router is on in order to initialize a reset. Comcast can do this remotely, but you pay a service charge for it. Anyway, I pushed the little switch in with a pen, held it for over 5 seconds, and let it reboot. So far, so good. Service has been stable with none of the drop outs we've been experiencing for about 4 days. On a hunch, I also went to a couple of speed test websites and discovered our download and upload speeds have increased also. Thought I'd post this info in case there are other computer age technology challenged people like me out there. |
Internet Service
On 9/17/13 8:21 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
I learned something last night. Our Internet service provider is Comcast. When we originally had it set up Comcast provided the wireless router. About a year ago we were experiencing increasing drop outs of connectivity to the Internet although our computers and wireless devices connected to the router fine. I finally called Comcast and they did some remote tests. They informed me that our router had come to it's "End of Life". Not being very IP savvy, I thought that was a hilarious way of saying "Your router is dead". But it really means it is obsolete in terms of being able to sync to newer system standards. So, I went down to Best Buy and bought a new router. Hooked everything up and it has run fine for the past year .... until a few days ago. We started experiencing similar problems that we had encountered with the original one with very spotty connection to the Internet that kept dropping out. Initially I thought maybe the new router was now obsolete also however I checked the manual that came with it and determined that it was designed for both D-2.0 and the newest D-3.0 standards. Turns out Comcast has been upgrading to D-3.0 in our area recently and the router needed a "reset" to handle it. A simple power down, wait, and power up does not accomplish the reset. There's a small hole in the back with a momentary switch that you need to depress for 5 seconds or more while the router is on in order to initialize a reset. Comcast can do this remotely, but you pay a service charge for it. Anyway, I pushed the little switch in with a pen, held it for over 5 seconds, and let it reboot. So far, so good. Service has been stable with none of the drop outs we've been experiencing for about 4 days. On a hunch, I also went to a couple of speed test websites and discovered our download and upload speeds have increased also. Thought I'd post this info in case there are other computer age technology challenged people like me out there. The last time I spoke with our cable provider, I was told I needed a new cable modem, too, in order to take advantage of the "new, higher speeds." So I asked "what speeds, precisely?" The answer I got indicated speeds I already was getting, so I didn't upgrade the cable modem for $5.00 more a month. I have a separate router, as do many people, so I didn't see any need to even think about replacing that. The cable company persists in trying to sell me on its phone service, which runs over its internet cabling. I got rid of one of our land lines but we still have one that we rarely use. About 99.9% of our calls these days are from or to our cell phones. Phone over internet is no more reliable than its cable TV provider, and I've never been impressed with our cable provider. Every so often, I think about converting from cable to dish, but the two dish companies here seem unwilling or incapable of distributing info that is clear and understandable. |
Internet Service
In article , "Mr.
Luddite" says... I learned something last night. Our Internet service provider is Comcast. When we originally had it set up Comcast provided the wireless router. About a year ago we were experiencing increasing drop outs of connectivity to the Internet although our computers and wireless devices connected to the router fine. I finally called Comcast and they did some remote tests. They informed me that our router had come to it's "End of Life". Not being very IP savvy, I thought that was a hilarious way of saying "Your router is dead". But it really means it is obsolete in terms of being able to sync to newer system standards. So, I went down to Best Buy and bought a new router. Hooked everything up and it has run fine for the past year .... until a few days ago. We started experiencing similar problems that we had encountered with the original one with very spotty connection to the Internet that kept dropping out. Initially I thought maybe the new router was now obsolete also however I checked the manual that came with it and determined that it was designed for both D-2.0 and the newest D-3.0 standards. Turns out Comcast has been upgrading to D-3.0 in our area recently and the router needed a "reset" to handle it. A simple power down, wait, and power up does not accomplish the reset. There's a small hole in the back with a momentary switch that you need to depress for 5 seconds or more while the router is on in order to initialize a reset. Comcast can do this remotely, but you pay a service charge for it. Anyway, I pushed the little switch in with a pen, held it for over 5 seconds, and let it reboot. So far, so good. Service has been stable with none of the drop outs we've been experiencing for about 4 days. On a hunch, I also went to a couple of speed test websites and discovered our download and upload speeds have increased also. Thought I'd post this info in case there are other computer age technology challenged people like me out there. Interesting. I also have Comcast. Love the speed. They provided the modem, but I provide the router. Everything was great then one day, no connection. They send trouble codes, all come back good, so that means the modem is good. So, go get another wireless router, hook it up, now we are back in business, well that was a year ago. Now, it drops and you have to reboot to get it back up. I'm going to look into this D-2.0 to D-3.0 thing, thanks. |
Internet Service
On Tue, 17 Sep 2013 08:21:17 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" nowayalso.jose.com
wrote: Thought I'd post this info in case there are other computer age technology challenged people like me out there. === The good news is that the ISPs are upgrading their networks; bad news is that they are doing it in a disruptive and cavalier manner. We've experienced the same thing here with our high speed DSL service. One day things will stop working. You go through the service call process and jump through all of their hoops, only to find out that things were changed with no warning or announcement. It's a lousy way to run a business. |
Internet Service
On Tue, 17 Sep 2013 08:33:31 -0400, "F.O.A.D." wrote:
Every so often, I think about converting from cable to dish, but the two dish companies here seem unwilling or incapable of distributing info that is clear and understandable. === Satellite TV service is very susceptible to thunderstorm outages. Fiber optic is the way to go if they have it in your area. |
Internet Service
"F.O.A.D." wrote in message m... Every so often, I think about converting from cable to dish, but the two dish companies here seem unwilling or incapable of distributing info that is clear and understandable. ------------------------------ We have cable TV service with several High Definition "boxes" in various rooms of the house. It's more for Mrs.E. I rarely watch TV other than some of the cable news channels, the History Channel, re-runs of "MASH" and "Everyone Loves Raymond". Once in a while I'll watch a Patriots game and more often this year, a Red Sox game. I also have the Direct TV box and portable dish that I used to use on the boat. I installed it in my man cave and use it most of the time. One thing that I have noticed (and I think I've mentioned this before) is that the quality of the standard (non-HD) picture from Direct TV often rivals that of Comcast's HD signal. It's not HD obviously but when watching a LCD or Plasma TV from a distance, the difference between the two is not very noticeable. I've been told that Comcast must compress their HD signal much like mp3's compress audio in order to send all the channels over a limited bandwidth capacity cable. |
Internet Service
On 9/17/13 8:50 AM, iBoaterer wrote:
In article , "Mr. Luddite" says... I learned something last night. Our Internet service provider is Comcast. When we originally had it set up Comcast provided the wireless router. About a year ago we were experiencing increasing drop outs of connectivity to the Internet although our computers and wireless devices connected to the router fine. I finally called Comcast and they did some remote tests. They informed me that our router had come to it's "End of Life". Not being very IP savvy, I thought that was a hilarious way of saying "Your router is dead". But it really means it is obsolete in terms of being able to sync to newer system standards. So, I went down to Best Buy and bought a new router. Hooked everything up and it has run fine for the past year .... until a few days ago. We started experiencing similar problems that we had encountered with the original one with very spotty connection to the Internet that kept dropping out. Initially I thought maybe the new router was now obsolete also however I checked the manual that came with it and determined that it was designed for both D-2.0 and the newest D-3.0 standards. Turns out Comcast has been upgrading to D-3.0 in our area recently and the router needed a "reset" to handle it. A simple power down, wait, and power up does not accomplish the reset. There's a small hole in the back with a momentary switch that you need to depress for 5 seconds or more while the router is on in order to initialize a reset. Comcast can do this remotely, but you pay a service charge for it. Anyway, I pushed the little switch in with a pen, held it for over 5 seconds, and let it reboot. So far, so good. Service has been stable with none of the drop outs we've been experiencing for about 4 days. On a hunch, I also went to a couple of speed test websites and discovered our download and upload speeds have increased also. Thought I'd post this info in case there are other computer age technology challenged people like me out there. Interesting. I also have Comcast. Love the speed. They provided the modem, but I provide the router. Everything was great then one day, no connection. They send trouble codes, all come back good, so that means the modem is good. So, go get another wireless router, hook it up, now we are back in business, well that was a year ago. Now, it drops and you have to reboot to get it back up. I'm going to look into this D-2.0 to D-3.0 thing, thanks. Amazing how slick the cable companies are when they email or snail mail you something they want you to buy, like additional service. It's too bad most places have no real competition among cable providers. Here, it's the cable company or one of the dish companies and Verizon pimping Dish Network because though it says it has FIOS in our immediate area...it doesn't. |
Internet Service
On 9/17/13 8:55 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
"F.O.A.D." wrote in message m... Every so often, I think about converting from cable to dish, but the two dish companies here seem unwilling or incapable of distributing info that is clear and understandable. ------------------------------ We have cable TV service with several High Definition "boxes" in various rooms of the house. It's more for Mrs.E. I rarely watch TV other than some of the cable news channels, the History Channel, re-runs of "MASH" and "Everyone Loves Raymond". Once in a while I'll watch a Patriots game and more often this year, a Red Sox game. I also have the Direct TV box and portable dish that I used to use on the boat. I installed it in my man cave and use it most of the time. One thing that I have noticed (and I think I've mentioned this before) is that the quality of the standard (non-HD) picture from Direct TV often rivals that of Comcast's HD signal. It's not HD obviously but when watching a LCD or Plasma TV from a distance, the difference between the two is not very noticeable. I've been told that Comcast must compress their HD signal much like mp3's compress audio in order to send all the channels over a limited bandwidth capacity cable. We've got "digital" cable and three HD/DVR boxes, and with all that, I still don't find much I like to watch beyond the news/science/history channels. Most of the premium movie channels play the same crappy movies over and over and over, and I have absolutely no tolerance for the "reality" shows. I do like "Newsroom" and "Boardwalk Empire," especially the latter, because it is so dark. |
Internet Service
"iBoaterer" wrote in message ... In article , "Mr. Luddite" says... I learned something last night. Our Internet service provider is Comcast. When we originally had it set up Comcast provided the wireless router. About a year ago we were experiencing increasing drop outs of connectivity to the Internet although our computers and wireless devices connected to the router fine. I finally called Comcast and they did some remote tests. They informed me that our router had come to it's "End of Life". Not being very IP savvy, I thought that was a hilarious way of saying "Your router is dead". But it really means it is obsolete in terms of being able to sync to newer system standards. So, I went down to Best Buy and bought a new router. Hooked everything up and it has run fine for the past year .... until a few days ago. We started experiencing similar problems that we had encountered with the original one with very spotty connection to the Internet that kept dropping out. Initially I thought maybe the new router was now obsolete also however I checked the manual that came with it and determined that it was designed for both D-2.0 and the newest D-3.0 standards. Turns out Comcast has been upgrading to D-3.0 in our area recently and the router needed a "reset" to handle it. A simple power down, wait, and power up does not accomplish the reset. There's a small hole in the back with a momentary switch that you need to depress for 5 seconds or more while the router is on in order to initialize a reset. Comcast can do this remotely, but you pay a service charge for it. Anyway, I pushed the little switch in with a pen, held it for over 5 seconds, and let it reboot. So far, so good. Service has been stable with none of the drop outs we've been experiencing for about 4 days. On a hunch, I also went to a couple of speed test websites and discovered our download and upload speeds have increased also. Thought I'd post this info in case there are other computer age technology challenged people like me out there. Interesting. I also have Comcast. Love the speed. They provided the modem, but I provide the router. Everything was great then one day, no connection. They send trouble codes, all come back good, so that means the modem is good. So, go get another wireless router, hook it up, now we are back in business, well that was a year ago. Now, it drops and you have to reboot to get it back up. I'm going to look into this D-2.0 to D-3.0 thing, thanks. ------------------------ Our wireless "router" and "modem" is one and the same. If yours is D.30 capable but your service has been D.20 up to now, it may require the "reset" I was talking about to learn the new protocol standard. I am noticing that the speed is noticeably faster now .... and no more drop outs like we've had for the past 4 days. Fingers are crossed. |
Internet Service
On 9/17/13 8:54 AM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Tue, 17 Sep 2013 08:33:31 -0400, "F.O.A.D." wrote: Every so often, I think about converting from cable to dish, but the two dish companies here seem unwilling or incapable of distributing info that is clear and understandable. === Satellite TV service is very susceptible to thunderstorm outages. Fiber optic is the way to go if they have it in your area. Verizon keeps talking about FIOS around here, but it isn't delivering. It likes population density, which we don't have. |
Internet Service
"Wayne.B" wrote in message ... On Tue, 17 Sep 2013 08:33:31 -0400, "F.O.A.D." wrote: Every so often, I think about converting from cable to dish, but the two dish companies here seem unwilling or incapable of distributing info that is clear and understandable. === Satellite TV service is very susceptible to thunderstorm outages. Fiber optic is the way to go if they have it in your area. ------------------------ I can understand that in your area given the almost daily thunderstorms you have during the summer. Up here we have a few, but not often. When we were in Florida we had Direct TV but we were only there for the winter months with few thunderstorms. The only problem I have up here with Direct TV is that a tree has grown a leaf laden branch directly in liine with the dish to satellite view. It's not normally a problem unless the wind is strong, blowing the limb and leaves around. A tall ladder and a chain saw will take care of that soon. Oh ... and if we have a heavy, wet snowfall, I have to brush it off the dish once in a while. I mounted the portable dish on the railing of a porch that goes off my man cave, so that isn't really a big deal to do. |
Internet Service
"F.O.A.D." wrote in message ... On 9/17/13 8:54 AM, Wayne.B wrote: On Tue, 17 Sep 2013 08:33:31 -0400, "F.O.A.D." wrote: Every so often, I think about converting from cable to dish, but the two dish companies here seem unwilling or incapable of distributing info that is clear and understandable. === Satellite TV service is very susceptible to thunderstorm outages. Fiber optic is the way to go if they have it in your area. Verizon keeps talking about FIOS around here, but it isn't delivering. It likes population density, which we don't have. ---------------------------- Verizon FIOS is available in our area. They were promoting "free" hookups if you signed on for several years, so we checked into it. Our house is located about 500 feet from the road and all the utilities (cable, electric) are buried underground in conduit that was installed when the house was built. The Verizon guy shook his head. They would only do a "free" overhead run which was impossible because there are no telephone poles anywhere. |
Internet Service
On 9/17/13 10:01 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
"F.O.A.D." wrote in message ... On 9/17/13 8:54 AM, Wayne.B wrote: On Tue, 17 Sep 2013 08:33:31 -0400, "F.O.A.D." wrote: Every so often, I think about converting from cable to dish, but the two dish companies here seem unwilling or incapable of distributing info that is clear and understandable. === Satellite TV service is very susceptible to thunderstorm outages. Fiber optic is the way to go if they have it in your area. Verizon keeps talking about FIOS around here, but it isn't delivering. It likes population density, which we don't have. ---------------------------- Verizon FIOS is available in our area. They were promoting "free" hookups if you signed on for several years, so we checked into it. Our house is located about 500 feet from the road and all the utilities (cable, electric) are buried underground in conduit that was installed when the house was built. The Verizon guy shook his head. They would only do a "free" overhead run which was impossible because there are no telephone poles anywhere. Our little private road and the public road that leads into it have underground electric, telephone, and standard cable. The public road leads to a regular service county road and then about a third of a mile away, a state road. The county road, much, much older, has overhead electric and telephone and, I presume, cable. A year or so ago, I saw the cable infrastructure installers using their equipment to run optical cable to the two public schools on the state road, but they didn't go any farther. None of the feeder roads directly connected to the state road got optical cable, either. |
Internet Service
In article , "Mr.
Luddite" says... "F.O.A.D." wrote in message ... On 9/17/13 8:54 AM, Wayne.B wrote: On Tue, 17 Sep 2013 08:33:31 -0400, "F.O.A.D." wrote: Every so often, I think about converting from cable to dish, but the two dish companies here seem unwilling or incapable of distributing info that is clear and understandable. === Satellite TV service is very susceptible to thunderstorm outages. Fiber optic is the way to go if they have it in your area. Verizon keeps talking about FIOS around here, but it isn't delivering. It likes population density, which we don't have. ---------------------------- Verizon FIOS is available in our area. They were promoting "free" hookups if you signed on for several years, so we checked into it. Our house is located about 500 feet from the road and all the utilities (cable, electric) are buried underground in conduit that was installed when the house was built. The Verizon guy shook his head. They would only do a "free" overhead run which was impossible because there are no telephone poles anywhere. When Comcast came to our office park, they ran fiber optics throughout the park, 7 different office buildings, through the existing conduit. Then once inside the buildings (3 or 4 stories, lot's of suites) they could run where ever anybody wanted it. It was pretty interesting. |
Internet Service
In article , "Mr.
Luddite" says... "Wayne.B" wrote in message ... On Tue, 17 Sep 2013 08:33:31 -0400, "F.O.A.D." wrote: Every so often, I think about converting from cable to dish, but the two dish companies here seem unwilling or incapable of distributing info that is clear and understandable. === Satellite TV service is very susceptible to thunderstorm outages. Fiber optic is the way to go if they have it in your area. ------------------------ I can understand that in your area given the almost daily thunderstorms you have during the summer. Up here we have a few, but not often. When we were in Florida we had Direct TV but we were only there for the winter months with few thunderstorms. The only problem I have up here with Direct TV is that a tree has grown a leaf laden branch directly in liine with the dish to satellite view. It's not normally a problem unless the wind is strong, blowing the limb and leaves around. A tall ladder and a chain saw will take care of that soon. Oh ... and if we have a heavy, wet snowfall, I have to brush it off the dish once in a while. I mounted the portable dish on the railing of a porch that goes off my man cave, so that isn't really a big deal to do. I've heard they have come a long way as far as rain and storms blocking signal. Do you find that to be true? |
Internet Service
In article , "Mr.
Luddite" says... "iBoaterer" wrote in message ... In article , "Mr. Luddite" says... I learned something last night. Our Internet service provider is Comcast. When we originally had it set up Comcast provided the wireless router. About a year ago we were experiencing increasing drop outs of connectivity to the Internet although our computers and wireless devices connected to the router fine. I finally called Comcast and they did some remote tests. They informed me that our router had come to it's "End of Life". Not being very IP savvy, I thought that was a hilarious way of saying "Your router is dead". But it really means it is obsolete in terms of being able to sync to newer system standards. So, I went down to Best Buy and bought a new router. Hooked everything up and it has run fine for the past year .... until a few days ago. We started experiencing similar problems that we had encountered with the original one with very spotty connection to the Internet that kept dropping out. Initially I thought maybe the new router was now obsolete also however I checked the manual that came with it and determined that it was designed for both D-2.0 and the newest D-3.0 standards. Turns out Comcast has been upgrading to D-3.0 in our area recently and the router needed a "reset" to handle it. A simple power down, wait, and power up does not accomplish the reset. There's a small hole in the back with a momentary switch that you need to depress for 5 seconds or more while the router is on in order to initialize a reset. Comcast can do this remotely, but you pay a service charge for it. Anyway, I pushed the little switch in with a pen, held it for over 5 seconds, and let it reboot. So far, so good. Service has been stable with none of the drop outs we've been experiencing for about 4 days. On a hunch, I also went to a couple of speed test websites and discovered our download and upload speeds have increased also. Thought I'd post this info in case there are other computer age technology challenged people like me out there. Interesting. I also have Comcast. Love the speed. They provided the modem, but I provide the router. Everything was great then one day, no connection. They send trouble codes, all come back good, so that means the modem is good. So, go get another wireless router, hook it up, now we are back in business, well that was a year ago. Now, it drops and you have to reboot to get it back up. I'm going to look into this D-2.0 to D-3.0 thing, thanks. ------------------------ Our wireless "router" and "modem" is one and the same. If yours is D.30 capable but your service has been D.20 up to now, it may require the "reset" I was talking about to learn the new protocol standard. I am noticing that the speed is noticeably faster now .... and no more drop outs like we've had for the past 4 days. Fingers are crossed. My modem isn't a wireless router, I have to add the wireless router inline. Going to check tonight to see if my router is capable and if Comcast is going to D-3.0 here. |
Internet Service
On Tuesday, September 17, 2013 11:22:21 AM UTC-4, wrote:
On Tue, 17 Sep 2013 08:54:42 -0400, Wayne.B wrote: On Tue, 17 Sep 2013 08:33:31 -0400, "F.O.A.D." wrote: Every so often, I think about converting from cable to dish, but the two dish companies here seem unwilling or incapable of distributing info that is clear and understandable. === Satellite TV service is very susceptible to thunderstorm outages. Fiber optic is the way to go if they have it in your area. I have Dish with the OTA module in the DVR so I get the best of both worlds. Comcast was too unreliable to seriously consider and it would certainly never be my "one pipe" connection to the world. We have Time Warner, and although their customer service is spotty, their quality of service is excellent. With HD, DVR (with an external 1TB drive), telephone and internet service, they are my one pipe. I resisted adding telephone until I was sure that the FAX and alarm system would work over their connection as good as POTS from Ma Bell. I can't remember the last time we had an outage. |
Internet Service
"iBoaterer" wrote in message ... In article , "Mr. Luddite" says... "Wayne.B" wrote in message ... On Tue, 17 Sep 2013 08:33:31 -0400, "F.O.A.D." wrote: Every so often, I think about converting from cable to dish, but the two dish companies here seem unwilling or incapable of distributing info that is clear and understandable. === Satellite TV service is very susceptible to thunderstorm outages. Fiber optic is the way to go if they have it in your area. ------------------------ I can understand that in your area given the almost daily thunderstorms you have during the summer. Up here we have a few, but not often. When we were in Florida we had Direct TV but we were only there for the winter months with few thunderstorms. The only problem I have up here with Direct TV is that a tree has grown a leaf laden branch directly in liine with the dish to satellite view. It's not normally a problem unless the wind is strong, blowing the limb and leaves around. A tall ladder and a chain saw will take care of that soon. Oh ... and if we have a heavy, wet snowfall, I have to brush it off the dish once in a while. I mounted the portable dish on the railing of a porch that goes off my man cave, so that isn't really a big deal to do. I've heard they have come a long way as far as rain and storms blocking signal. Do you find that to be true? --------------------------------- Hard to tell because I don't know how it was way back when. If we have a very heavy thunderstorm roll in with thick clouds and rain, I'll lose the sat signal until it passes. Same with a heavy snowstorm. But, it really has to be coming down in buckets to screw it up. My dish isn't anything fancy ... just a portable oval type with one "pickup" or whatever it is. What amazed me is when I had it on the boat. Scituate Harbor tides can run 10 feet (low to high) and I never lost the signal or reception. Also, if it was really windy and the boat was moving around a lot in the slip, it also didn't bother it. This was a fixed disk ... not one of the fancy auto adjusting servo types. Worked well. |
Internet Service
"iBoaterer" wrote in message ... My modem isn't a wireless router, I have to add the wireless router inline. Going to check tonight to see if my router is capable and if Comcast is going to D-3.0 here. -------------------------- Well, as an update our connection to the Internet has been rock solid all day today ... for the first time since last Thursday. I did the "reset" thing shortly late last night and it's been stable ever since. I think the router "learns" the D-3.0 protocol in the reset procedure. |
Internet Service
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Internet Service
On 9/17/13 1:46 PM, iBoaterer wrote:
In article , says... On Tue, 17 Sep 2013 08:54:42 -0400, Wayne.B wrote: On Tue, 17 Sep 2013 08:33:31 -0400, "F.O.A.D." wrote: Every so often, I think about converting from cable to dish, but the two dish companies here seem unwilling or incapable of distributing info that is clear and understandable. === Satellite TV service is very susceptible to thunderstorm outages. Fiber optic is the way to go if they have it in your area. I have Dish with the OTA module in the DVR so I get the best of both worlds. Comcast was too unreliable to seriously consider and it would certainly never be my "one pipe" connection to the world. I had one outage with Comcast that I can remember, 3 or 4 years ago. We had a half hour cable outage yesterday in conjunction with a half hour power company outage. |
Internet Service
In article , "Mr.
Luddite" says... "iBoaterer" wrote in message ... In article , "Mr. Luddite" says... "Wayne.B" wrote in message ... On Tue, 17 Sep 2013 08:33:31 -0400, "F.O.A.D." wrote: Every so often, I think about converting from cable to dish, but the two dish companies here seem unwilling or incapable of distributing info that is clear and understandable. === Satellite TV service is very susceptible to thunderstorm outages. Fiber optic is the way to go if they have it in your area. ------------------------ I can understand that in your area given the almost daily thunderstorms you have during the summer. Up here we have a few, but not often. When we were in Florida we had Direct TV but we were only there for the winter months with few thunderstorms. The only problem I have up here with Direct TV is that a tree has grown a leaf laden branch directly in liine with the dish to satellite view. It's not normally a problem unless the wind is strong, blowing the limb and leaves around. A tall ladder and a chain saw will take care of that soon. Oh ... and if we have a heavy, wet snowfall, I have to brush it off the dish once in a while. I mounted the portable dish on the railing of a porch that goes off my man cave, so that isn't really a big deal to do. I've heard they have come a long way as far as rain and storms blocking signal. Do you find that to be true? --------------------------------- Hard to tell because I don't know how it was way back when. If we have a very heavy thunderstorm roll in with thick clouds and rain, I'll lose the sat signal until it passes. Same with a heavy snowstorm. But, it really has to be coming down in buckets to screw it up. My dish isn't anything fancy ... just a portable oval type with one "pickup" or whatever it is. What amazed me is when I had it on the boat. Scituate Harbor tides can run 10 feet (low to high) and I never lost the signal or reception. Also, if it was really windy and the boat was moving around a lot in the slip, it also didn't bother it. This was a fixed disk ... not one of the fancy auto adjusting servo types. Worked well. I watch Direct TV at a couple of hotels I frequent when I travel for work, and I really like it. I really like Comcast cable and internet but, they have a stranglehold here and are getting pricey. |
Internet Service
In article , "Mr.
Luddite" says... "iBoaterer" wrote in message ... My modem isn't a wireless router, I have to add the wireless router inline. Going to check tonight to see if my router is capable and if Comcast is going to D-3.0 here. -------------------------- Well, as an update our connection to the Internet has been rock solid all day today ... for the first time since last Thursday. I did the "reset" thing shortly late last night and it's been stable ever since. I think the router "learns" the D-3.0 protocol in the reset procedure. I'm going to look into mine, it's pretty new, so it may learn it as well. |
Internet Service
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Internet Service
On Tue, 17 Sep 2013 08:54:42 -0400, Wayne.B wrote:
On Tue, 17 Sep 2013 08:33:31 -0400, "F.O.A.D." wrote: Every so often, I think about converting from cable to dish, but the two dish companies here seem unwilling or incapable of distributing info that is clear and understandable. === Satellite TV service is very susceptible to thunderstorm outages. Fiber optic is the way to go if they have it in your area. I have two neighbors who signed up for FIOS with Verizon. Both are going back to Cox when their two years is up. They came over to tell me about their problems when they saw the Verizon folks digging a trench up to the house. I had called to have it installed. I stopped the installation. Maybe in a couple years they'll get the bugs worked out. Oh, both neighbors complained of problems with Netflix, which we watch quite frequently. -- John H. Hope you're having a great day! |
Internet Service
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Internet Service
wrote in message ... On Tue, 17 Sep 2013 13:46:07 -0400, iBoaterer wrote: In article , says... On Tue, 17 Sep 2013 08:54:42 -0400, Wayne.B wrote: On Tue, 17 Sep 2013 08:33:31 -0400, "F.O.A.D." wrote: Every so often, I think about converting from cable to dish, but the two dish companies here seem unwilling or incapable of distributing info that is clear and understandable. === Satellite TV service is very susceptible to thunderstorm outages. Fiber optic is the way to go if they have it in your area. I have Dish with the OTA module in the DVR so I get the best of both worlds. Comcast was too unreliable to seriously consider and it would certainly never be my "one pipe" connection to the world. I had one outage with Comcast that I can remember, 3 or 4 years ago. You might not know how often you have a drop out unless you are pinging the net fairly regularly. I hit it once a minute with the weather station. The outages were usually a few minutes at a time but some went for an hour or more. After a storm like Charley and Wilma, it was out for a couple weeks. TV came back in a week but the net didn't. ----------------------- Direct TV never missed a beat during Wilma at the house we had in Florida. Power went out but I hooked the TV and sat receiver up to the generator. I was watching the storm coverage as the eye passed over us. |
Internet Service
F.O.A.D. wrote:
On 9/17/13 8:55 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote: "F.O.A.D." wrote in message m... Every so often, I think about converting from cable to dish, but the two dish companies here seem unwilling or incapable of distributing info that is clear and understandable. ------------------------------ We have cable TV service with several High Definition "boxes" in various rooms of the house. It's more for Mrs.E. I rarely watch TV other than some of the cable news channels, the History Channel, re-runs of "MASH" and "Everyone Loves Raymond". Once in a while I'll watch a Patriots game and more often this year, a Red Sox game. I also have the Direct TV box and portable dish that I used to use on the boat. I installed it in my man cave and use it most of the time. One thing that I have noticed (and I think I've mentioned this before) is that the quality of the standard (non-HD) picture from Direct TV often rivals that of Comcast's HD signal. It's not HD obviously but when watching a LCD or Plasma TV from a distance, the difference between the two is not very noticeable. I've been told that Comcast must compress their HD signal much like mp3's compress audio in order to send all the channels over a limited bandwidth capacity cable. We've got "digital" cable and three HD/DVR boxes, and with all that, I still don't find much I like to watch beyond the news/science/history channels. Most of the premium movie channels play the same crappy movies over and over and over, and I have absolutely no tolerance for the "reality" shows. I do like "Newsroom" and "Boardwalk Empire," especially the latter, because it is so dark. Maybe you can get your basement DVR downgraded to receive the expanded cable channels minus the premium channels. |
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