Well, the Comcast Monkey came today to fix my cable modem problems. It turns out that the problem was completely outside my apartment. I got a new modem out of the deal anyway. I never liked the old RCA piece of crap.

Apparently there was a 1:2 splitter outside. That was connected (improperly) to a 1:4 splitter. My line was the only one plugged in. So they ripped out the 1:4 and put be in the 1:2, all the while muttering "who the hell would have done this?"

Of course, we all know the answer: Another Comcast tech would have done it.

It's a good thing I also have DSL.

Update: As Dan and I were discussing this via IM, we relaized that these Cable/DSL techs are a lot like programmers or sysadmins. No matter what they see, they'll always complain about the guy who did the job before them. Always.

Posted by jzawodn at May 15, 2003 01:40 PM

Reader Comments
# jim mcmurry said:

ouch !


as a sysadmin type (ok, now a director, but once was a "real techie") I resemble that comment :)

sysadmins never bad mouth good techies, the only problem is, by the time a really good sysadmin arrives on scene, so many bad ones have come through there already (it sounded like a good reason until I wrote this all out)


on May 15, 2003 02:55 PM
# Matt said:

I would consider myself an Internet junkie, but DSL and a cable modem. Isn't that going a bit over board? I guess it paid off during your latest outage...

on May 15, 2003 11:40 PM
# Charles said:

I guess you've never been in DSL Hell. I had continual problems getting my line up and running. The QWest techs insisted that the problem was my house wiring. I had in-house "linebacker" coverage so they were supposed to repair in-wall wiring too. I got nowhere even after weeks of cross-complaints, they insisted the problem was in the walls and they didn't want to rewire my house, I insisted the problem wasn't in the walls and was in their system. Finally one tech visited, and had a bright idea. She pulled out a big spool of cable and ran a wire from the junction box 1/2 block away, directly to my DSL router, completely bypassing the house wiring. Surprise, the problem was still there, it wasn't my house wiring, just like I said. Now that they knew where NOT to look, the problem was solved in a couple of hours.

on May 16, 2003 11:31 PM
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