Comcast Nightmare

[mk-]

My cable internet connection cuts out every minute or two. It freezes for 20-30 seconds at a time on a fairly consistent basis. Comcast has sent out eight different technicians over the months to my house and they have all been pretty worthless. I've talked to ENDLESS Comcast support agents both on the phone and with their live online chat (although I can't get more than a few words in before I get disconnected from them). Online gaming is absolutely horrible.

Heres some info:
I'm using a dynamic IP.
I've tried releasing and renewing my IP many times.
I've tried power cycling my modem.
It happens whether I'm directly connected to my modem or using my router.
It happens on all three of my computers, and the Xbox.
Comcast technicians have replaced my modem, ethernets, NIC, coax cables all the way out to the cable box on the back of my house, coax splitter outside, tried a new grounding connection outside. Pretty much everything possible at my house to attempt to fix the problem.
Some of the Comcast support people have said there have been outtages reported in my area and others have experienced the same problem as me.
I would switch to another service, but Comcast if the only cable provider in my city.
I can't run a traceroute or ping an IP when the connection is down.
They claim they are sending some more advanced techs to investigate the lines beyond my house, but I've yet to hear a response from them (see below).
I had dslreports.com do a 24 hour smoke test type monitor on my IP. The results were nasty to say the least. I showed them to one of the Comcast online support techs but they claimed the test was invalid to them because dslreports.com is not supported or endorsed by Comcast.

So, I'm positive theres a problem beyond my house, but Comcast isn't doing **** to fix it and don't seem to care. I've called every day for the past 8 days and every time the same response has been "A line technician was scheduled today to investigate the area, I don't have a date as to when they will do the work.

Any advice as to what I should do here? Maybe asking to talk to the managers and trying to explain the situation? I've had to deal with this crap for the past 3 years.

-Matt

[johnwill]

There really is nothing more I can recommend, clearly this is a Comcast issue. Have you checked with any neighbors that have Comcast to see if they're seeing issues? If you have Comcast TV, do you see any signal degradation on any of the normal channels?

[Codeman0013]

If there are more then just you in your neighborhood having this issue then it sounds like a node that is dying in their service. I work for comcast in central illinois and generally if we get 2 complaints on the same node we go look at them. Tell them you want to talk to the onsite quality assurance rep. they should transfer you to their boss incarge of making the customer happy. If this doesnt work then ask for that person's boss eventually you will get someone who can tell you the story. Are you in the chicago area or where are you located? If its something in can help with thats in our jurisdiction let me know i'm one of the quality assurance reps in my area.

[johnwill]

Well, I can tell you that when I had Comcast Internet, it took multiple calls to get problems resolved. I switched to Verizon FiOS, and I've never looked back! Lightning fast, and the only service issue of any kind was when a tree fell on the cables up the street. I can't really blame Verizon for that one. I had many quality and dropout issues with Comcast. I still have their TV until FiOS TV comes to my area. I get continual dropouts in the digital Hi-Def TV service, can't wait to be rid of that too.