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 But it really means it is obsolete in terms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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

"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.

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.