Cox provides Cble Modem service in our area. Last night, the service went down HARD! The Cox @home customers have been unable to connect for what is almost 24 Hours. Technical support says the problem is area wide...just a recording, will have a human talk with us if a problem is ANYTHING ELSE! (they say...they're working on it!!)

What got me thinking about Dates is that yesterday was the first day that use of new Area Codes became MANDATORY in our Metro area. The Valley has now been split into Three codes instead of One. This change is the only one to affect ALL residences at once. At first blush it would seem that CABLE modems are immune to Phone Company changes, but who Knows??

It may be a coincidence, and I may be all wet, but to have service knocked out for going on 24 hours for ALL customers just raised my suspicions that perhaps, JUST PERHAPS, things aer a hell of a lot more interconnected than we understand!!!

(Glad I kept the dialup modem and original ISP for backup!)

-- K. Stevens (kstevens@ It's ALL going aray in January.com), September 02, 1999

Answers

Wow, finally something I know something about! Wouldn't be the phone lines messin' with the cable modem, K., of that I'm quite sure. More probable,..these freakin' things are so sensitive to the slightest fluctuation of db loss or gain that keeping them online is a minor miracle all by itself. Your TV converter doesn't care how much signal it gets, provided it's not too far into the negative (snowy pix) but the modem has to sit between like a -3 to +3 db range or it loses it. It's still an imperfect science at the moment. Number one complaint with modems right now, poor customer service from the provider (ie @home etc) Mine still goes down at least twice a week. But once you've got one your hooked, aren't you?

-- kritter (kritter@adelphia.net), September 03, 1999.

Kritter,

I agree that once I have the cable modem set up, it is addicting. But I am still glad that I kept my original ISP as backup.

Initally, I thought it was my fault, and tried several recovery procedures. Then I called, and got the blanket message about Valley wide disruptions. The modem has not lost BLOCK SYNC at all during this time. My principal use for the modem is to connect to other providers. Cox only keeps Newsgroups for one day. Mindspring seems to average about one week. The much reviled AOL keeps fewer newsgroups for two weeks minimum as a default, 30 days maximum. The propriatary content also varies.

My understanding of cable modem technology is that at the present, the light pipe only connects ultra speed to customers. Messages upstream sre by copper wire. If TELCO is involved at all, it is perhaps here.

-- K. Stevens (kstevens@ It's ALL going away in January.com), September 03, 1999.