Comcast vs. Vonage

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2006 8:16 pm Post subject:

Pretty much... your only recourse is to address the problem (Comcast). Trust me, I've logged MANY hours on the phone with Comcast tech support trying to get them to fix THEIR problems. They eventually do fix things, but it takes forever...

How clear is the picture on your TV sets? If there's any hint of snow at all, call up Comcast's cable TV side and have them come out and get the signal right (this means NO cable amplifiers or other junk, they need to get the signal correct at the street) and then work your way up through the system. It won't fix routers upstream, but having the best connection you can to their network is a good start on getting things right.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 10, 2006 Posts: 1

I am a long time customer with Vonage and have sung the praises of their services. However, I believe that Comcast IS filtering packets and/or configuring their network to impede the QOS that I once enjoyed. If it is proven, they will pay a heavy price. They are no longer the only game in my town.

Posts: 193 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 193

VonageTPA wrote:

Pretty much... your only recourse is to address the problem (Comcast)...How clear is the picture on your TV sets? If there's any hint of snow at all, call up Comcast's cable TV side and have them come out and get the signal right (this means NO cable amplifiers or other junk, they need to get the signal correct at the street) and then work your way up through the system. It won't fix routers upstream, but having the best connection you can to their network is a good start on getting things right.

Ah Men

Posts: 5

Thanks for the guidance from everyone!

Here are a couple snapshots of the traceroute report. The packet loss is usually a lot higher at first but steadily drop (and by the time I get snapshot of the window they have dropped quite a bit). Once the first packet loss shows up then the other locations reports it, too. So it just works its way down the line?

Is this something I can present to Comcast in an attempt to get my point across and hopefully get some service? I do need to add that sometimes a packet loss would appear at hop 1... does that mean perhaps my equipment (router/modem) may also be at fault sometimes?

Thanks again for everyone's input!

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Sep 22, 2005 Posts: 10

Shakedown,

Be careful in assuming that "packet loss" at a given point is actual. Some routers along the way may not be responding simply because it is not their function. Vonage tried to (fraudulently or incompetently) use this excuse with me to claim that my service problems were related to a problem router in the roadrunner system. However, after having the problem investigated (my time, my expense) it was found that the router Vonage was officially claiming to be the problem was not responding to the requests because it was already busy doing what it was designed to do. This was evidenced by the fact that packet losses did not occur at points from the source to points after the 'defective" router.

Thanks

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 11, 2006 Posts: 1

Hi, I'm a Comcast user in Portland, Oregon area using a Motorola SB5210 cable modem. I am having endless trouble with my Vonage service. I am about ready to get a refund and stop using it and look somewhere else. However, I am open to conspiracy theories since my father in Southern Oregon is using Vonage with his Qwest DSL service with very little troubles. When I make a call, my voice cuts out for 10 seconds every 20 seconds or so and absolutely cannot hold a conversation. It worked ok when I first had it, but this problem has been occurinng consistently now. Also, my Vonage router knocks out my Comacst modem often. I have to do all kinds of funny resetting to get it to work, and presnetly it doesn't work at all. I have spent endless hours on the phone with Vonage tech support and am getting tired of this. Please, does anyone belivee this is a problem with Comcast or Vonage? I really need this to work, but its not looking well. I can use Skype for the most part without trouble, but this Vonage thing is getting screwy. Let me know if anyone has any ideas, but the quirky functioning of this product scares me.

Posts: 193 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 193

http://www.vonage-forum.com/ftopic11960.html
Hmmm,
I'm wondering if the statement 'call comcast' is a placebo of sorts for...Putting pressure on C to enable QOS for voice.
Given the statements from the above thread(dumbing down the linksys routers), has something to do with the V servers or routers being overwhelmed with data and voice traffic. You would think that enabling as much QOS as possible would help the traffic problem. Does all the voice and data go through V servers? If not, where is the data and voice separated? If you were to loose some of the packets along the way this would be less traffic for the V system to handle; What percentage is V willing to accept? Before to many people give up. To that end if C were to separate the traffic and only send voice to the V servers it might eleviate the V bottleneck that might be ocurring that they don't want to admit to. I guess I'm wondering if C is using QOS on the voice? Or if thats what V is saying they shouldn't have to pay for?
Sorry for the rambling but I'm confused.

ps
I remember specifically, when I called C to change my modem mac in there system the tech told me the V system does not distinguish the voice from data. This was about 6-8 mo ago.

psps.
This is probably why the new ver of wrtp54g has a firmware lock against aftermarket firmware.

Posts: 1715 · Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 2:52 am Post subject:

sinceMay2004 wrote:

http://www.vonage-forum.com/ftopic11960.html
Hmmm,
I'm wondering if the statement 'call comcast' is a placebo of sorts for...Putting pressure on C to enable QOS for voice.

Nope... There's only so much that Vonage can do. It's up to your ISP to get the packets to where you're sending them. Vonage is only on the receiving end of things. Think of Comcast as the post office and Vonage is the place you're trying to send a letter to. Vonage is waiting for the packets to arrive at their place, in the meantime, you're saying "the packets are in the mail"..

Quote:

psps.
This is probably why the new ver of wrtp54g has a firmware lock against aftermarket firmware.

Um, not really.. The WRTP54G works on a chipset that is only used in the RTP300 and itself, no other router out there uses it. This router has a very weak CPU, so it makes for a lousy router. Because of this, the hackers have no interest whatsoever in writing aftermarket firmware. To the best of my knowledge, there is NO aftermarket firmware out there for these routers. There's no lock against installing aftermarket firmware that I'm aware of, but this is difficult to test when there isn't aftermarket firmware to try.

Posts: 33

Once again Comcast vs. Vonage issues are taking their toll on Comcast customers use of the Vonage Voip. Today when my son, also using Comcast and Vonage, called me the voice was so choppy that we couldn't hold a conversation and had to use our cell phones. It seems that the Comcast vs. Vonage issues started at the same time that Comcast rolled out their own Voip product. Wink

I am sure that Comcast would never do anything, on purpose, to stifle the competition. Intentional or not Comcast needs to immediately address the issue, their customers who also use Vonage Voip, are having with voice quality. My previous investigation has determined the problem to be somewhere on the pipe between Comcast and Vonage ... I will continue my research to see if anything has changed.

Posts: 193 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 193

Comcast => The QTel of America.