Ian Korman's Comcast High-Speed Internet Cable Overview - Home of In-Depth Information and Help from a Customer's Perspective - Last Updated on 07/14/05 - New Detailed HSI Installation Story Added!!

What is the purpose of this webpage? I have created this webpage to provide information about Comcast High-Speed Internet Cable service (Comcast HSI or CHSI) in a single and easy to read source in case you are like me and don't find the Comcast pages particularly easy to search. I also hope to provide information you won't find there about my experiences with the service as well as those of others. This is NOT a 'complain about Comcast' site!! I may link to or post complaints from others or myself but I created this site to spread useful information to people. Who is Ian Korman? I am a telecommunications and I.T. engineer with lots of experience in PSTN(Public Switched Telephone Network) and Data Network troubleshooting (see my resume). I previously created a webpage about Ameritech ADSL when I had that service and got a lot of response to it so I decided to create this page. I do NOT work for Comcast or am in any way affiliated with them. Where can I send feedback and comments? You may send me email at ian@kormanworld.net

Index Format of this Wepbage Latest News!!: support stories and more Archived News My Initial High-Speed Cable Internet Installation Experience - September, 2002 Hardware Comcast Support Software Technical Info: IP Addresses, Traceroutes from my home, etc. Info and Email from other people Articles Links Glossary of Acronyms and Terms

Format of This Webpage I am trying to keep the format of this webpage pretty simple. Just use the index above to navigate to the various areas via in-page links. All of my information is on a single page. I do have external links keyed on text and graphics and these will NOT create a new pop-up window. The webpage is created in xhtml. I have used as few graphics and these are all in png format.

Luckily for everyone that finds and gains information from this webpage I have a NEW HSI Installation story for you. I recently moved to an apartment in Clinton, Michigan and just had Digital Cable and HSI installed TODAY! Why, because they had such an awesome deal. I got 16 months of digital cable with HBO and a free DVR for $29.99/month and HSI for 1 year for $29.99/month. Since I had a combined installation they only charged me $29.95 for the complete install. Now this is a darn good deal!! I found out about the deal from a mailing sent to the 'CURRENT RESIDENT' at my address.

Ok, I said this will be a detailed report of my experience and you all know it will be from my previous story. So, I will try to break up this story into section to help you navigate it.

Intro Details

I called Comcast on Tuesday to schedule the installation. To my complete surprise they were able to schedule a tech to come Thursday, between 2 and 5 p.m. The tech arrived on Thursday at around 1 p.m. This was early but I was cool with that. I don't like waiting forever for these guys.

The tech's name was Mike Robertson. He arrived in a Comcast truck and he told me he was a direct Comcast employee. I add this fact because previously I had contractors show up. He told me Comcast is keeping him busy and he has lots of installs. I am happy Comcast is direct hiring now as they can have better control over their quality. Also, I have to say that Mike was an awesome tech. I will be making sure his management knows this (can everyone please help me in pointing out good employees to their management?!?!?).

The house my apartment is in already had a cable line going to it run from a pole across the street and just tacked onto the side of the house. This is a standard cable company practice. Mike asked me if it is ok to split off this cable for now. He would let his supervisors know of the situation and they would decide whether or not to run a new connection from accross the road. From the corner of the outside of the house the cable ran down into the basement and then up into my apartment. Mike put a new cable end and splitter on the outside end of the cable and then put a new cable end and splitter on the inside end of the cable. The other splitter was needed for the CM and TV. Note: Of course, I had cable to hook up my TV but I let them give me new cable. They budget a certain length of cable, including connectors, as part of the install cost. You can't have enough cable and connectors so don't volunteer yours.

This is the 'bad' part of the process (in my opinion). Poor Mike was forced to call up the normal Comcast line (the same line customers have to use), get in the phone queue and wait for an operator. It was a long wait but finally Mike got thru. I have him my CM box he got all the CM numbers needed to activate it (primarily they need the MAC number to be entered in the database). SURPRISE!!! They came back and told him my CM was in a J Code status which interprets to STOLEN!! What a bunch of BS! I showed Mike the box with the Circuit City price tag still on it. So, he had to then call one of the tech guys and they confirmed that there is no way this modem could be one of theirs and they got my modem entered into the computer system.

First off, Mike told me you don't want to connect your CM to the cable network before they get your MAC address added into the system. This can cause problems with their network devices. So, don't be a maverick and do this. However, once it is in the system you connect the cable line to the CM and it should cycle up to connected status like mine did.

Now is the part where you see if your computer can talk to the CM to get out to the Internet. I had DHCP setup fine on my computer. However, when I pulled up my browser (set to my homepage) I got this very strange screen pop up. It is strange because no matter what URL you put in your browser it will just display this screen. Mike said he has seen this screen before and it is because I had this CM active on another Comcast node before. I would have to call Comcast Customer Support and they could fix this for me.

Well, I called Comcast. I got thru to Trevor without much of a wait. He advised me I did have to download that program like that screen had told me to. I had already downloaded it and Trevor assured me that it would not install anything on my computer or mess with my browser like previous Comcast software had. The software didn't work although it popped up an interesting little 'Account Set-Up' walk-thru. Trevor ended up pushing the software onto my CM(via TFTP) by utilizing its IP address. Between this and a couple of CM power cycles I finally got network connectivity.

So, I am now at IP address 68.40.81.183 with a default gateway of 68.40.81.1. DHCP server is 68.87.77.13 and it assigned me these DNS servers: 68.87.64.196, 68.87.66.196 and 68.42.244.5

I confirmed with Trevor that my final bill was $73.89 for the first month of service. This seems a little odd as the invoice said $109.88. I will have to post an update to this when I get my bill.

I have to admit that my DVR has nothing really do to with HSI. However, this thing is so darn cool I feel I should talk about it. It is actually a networked computer device just like your CM!!

The Comcast Dual Tuner DVR/HDTV Capable box is made by Motorola. It is a DCT6208. Here is what it looks like.

This thing has its own IP address, 3 USB ports (one being conveniently placed on the front), DVI, dual 1394(DTV), Ethernet and Smartcard just to name a few things. The reason it has an IP address is because it has a built in DOCSIS CM. Combine this with 80MB storage and Dolby 5.1 and this thing is basically a home multi-media system. All you need is a modern DVD player and you are good to go.

It has a pretty darn busy remote to control it too!!

I started recording my support stories in June of 2003. I dealt with Comcast customer support prior to this but those interactions really weren't that interesting. Generally I would say the Comcast help desk people are curtious if not that technically savvy.

• June 5th, 2003 - Suspicious Cable Outage
• June 6th, 2003 - Fallout from Suspicious Cable Outage
• June 17th, 2003 - Comcast Support Software
• June 6th thru June 18th, 2003 - Sending Email Problem
• June 22nd, 2003 - Comcast HSI Video Tour
• June 23rd, 2003 - Comcast Support Software - Round 2
• June 24th, 2003 - Comcast Support Software - Installation Completed
• July 12th, 2003 - TCP/IP Hung
• August 29th, 2003 - Getting Scheduled Maintenance List!!
• October 26th, 2003 - CM Startup Sequence
• February 10th, 2004 - Cable Modem Hacking
• March 14th, 2004 - Connection Center
• January 16, 2005 - 2005 Update
July 14, 2005 - New HSI Installation Story - Detailed!

Well, it is 2005 already and I still have Comcast HSI service. I can say it has had VERY good uptimes (better than SBC DSL), the speeds have remained high, and the customer service has been helpful (although I have friends that work there and can't say they are a great employer).

Surfboard CM Hanging - Ok, if you own a Motorola Surfboard CM the FIRST thing you should try when you lose connectivity to the Internet is to *REMOVE THE POWER CABLE FOR ABOUT A MINUTE* then repower the unit. The blue button on the top of the unit is USELESS! The CM will tell you it has sync but it DOES NOT. The only true way to reset the unit is powering it on and off and Motorola did not supply us with a switch. BTW, when the CM gets in this state is almost always due to a Comcast network outage or hit. So, it is generally NOT a problem with the CM.

Home LAN - Most home routers or hubs are pretty simple devices. They can go bad but not likely. However, one problem I have found with home routers is that they may cause additional signal latency for some applications(like online games) that require you to 'punch a hole' through them to expedite the signal to your game PC(s). This means you have to go into the routing table of the router and tell it to expedite certain type of traffic to the specific IP addresses of those PC's. You can go to this link to find out more: http://www.kbalertz.com/Feedback.aspx?kbNumber=240429

Thanks for all the informative emails you have been sending. One good comment I got last year was "Why doesn't Comcast place HSI status information one of their cable channels?" You would think Comcast, who says how great CTV is at getting information to people is, would use their own medium wouldn't you?

Well, I had to reload WinXP over the last few days. As part of my reload I decided to reload the Comcast Support software. I almost did not load it because it really isn't helpful and you can access Comcast Support now via a normal web browser using their JAVA interface.

The Comcast.net website is under revamp so I had to contact customer support to locate the software. It was supposed to be in download.comcast.net but that link just takes you to the main comcast.net page. The page you want to get the software from is http://online.comcast.net/start/. This software requires your customer account number(located on your bill) so have that handy. It will also change your IE browser's homepage and add a little Comcast log to the upper right. This shouldn't be a big deal since you should all be using Mozilla web browser right!!! :-)

I think loading the software can't hurt. It doesn't seem to leave anything running in the background to use up your system resources and it optimizes your connections to better work with the Comcast service. Having that direct link to Comcast Support is pretty nice when you need it.

I was watching TechTV tonight and I saw a really cool site called TCN-ISO.NET. This site states they are "Your #1 Resource for Cable Modem Hacking..". I am not condoning this but any webpage about hacking your CM is sure to be chocked full of good info for everyone interested in understanding them.

Not much to report over the last few months. People have been sending me some emails asking questions. If you have any questions either run them by me or post them on the Comcast Forum over at broadbandreport.com. I am not a cable expert but am pretty good at finding technical answers to many questions if you are stumped.

I did find a really need posting on the forums lately. It is a SB1500 Connection Flow Chart that can help you understand what a general DOCSIS 1.1 CM does when it is powered on and connected to a good cable connection.

I was always kind of perplexed on why Comcast doesn't send emails notifying me of scheduled maintenances. Well, I used the online support function and found out that you can actually get an online list of maintenances via the www.comcast.net website. What you do is you 'Sign In' to the website and then you click on 'Service Center'. Don't click on the expand arrow just click on the words 'Service Center' which are in the menu on the left. Once you click on that it knows your area (because you logged in) and it will list all relevant maintenances for your area. For example, they did a whole bunch of maintenances this morning. Of course, they don't really give you much info about what went on. Last week they appeared to have some fallout from a maintenance that caused extreme lag in accessing anything outside their network over certain ports.

Well, I was using my computer today and all of a sudden I could route to anything via TCP/IP. None of the protocols in the TCP stack would work. I looked at my CM and it still had a link light. I couldn't access my router though.

I did the usual things like resetting the CM (both with the button and by reseating the power cord) and disable/enable of the ethernet connection within the WinXP networking menu. So, I did a reboot of the PC (it took two actually) and things started working again. My guess is that somehow the TCP/IP services on the PC had hung. However, I talked with some people in the BroadBandReports.com Cable Users Forum and they suggested that the problem could have been caused by the Ethernet card 'locking up'. They suggested going into the hardware options for the Ethernet card and turning off the 'power saving' mode. I think this is an EXCELLENT idea for everyone. I don't think this was my problem because I was using the computer at the time and the card shouldn't have gone into power saving but for many users this could happen and cause you to think your HSI is down.

While I was waiting for more feedback from Comcast I tried a few other combinations of uninstalling and reinstalling both IE and the Comcast Support software. None of the combinations worked. No combination of disabling background apps worked either.

I would just like to make sure that you do not have a Firewall
installed and running on your computer. Such software can cause these
features to work incorrectly. If you have recently changed your
password, it may take up to 6 hours for this information to be updated
in the web features. Also, any pop up Killer software can prevent the
Web Applet from opening up.

We suspect that there is a problem with your browser's cache. When this
is corrupted, your computer may not have access to the usual, high
speed networking or pages may not load properly. The solution is to
delete the cache. Your browser automatically regenerates a correct, new
cache.

The email then explained how to delete the cache in both Netscape and in IE. That is pretty stupid though because Comcast Support Software told me before it won't run with Netscape and the instructions on for IE were wrong. Regardless, I deleted my cache and all temporary Internet files, cookies, etc. I don't have any firewall software issue either. Well, all this work didn't help fix things.

Thank you for your inquiry about obtaining the latest Comcast
High-Speed Internet software. For your convenience, the fastest method
of obtaining a copy of the latest software is by visiting our download
site and following the download instructions:

          http://online.comcast.net/start/

I decided to go to this webpage and manually download the Comcast Support Software. This actually downloads the Comcast HSI Wizard software. I tried installing this anyway. Well, this appears to be the way to go because once I went through the whole process and installed the Comcast Support Software one more time it started to work fine.

I was able to go to http://www.comcastsupport.com/ and actually enter the site. I got into an online support chat with Michelle and told her my problem was fixed. I also ended up getting a username and password for my account which I never had before. This will allow me to access free email and webpages now.

I would say the installation problem was a Microsoft OS problem mainly. I have seen these types of problems so many times where some types of apps won't load until you uninstall/reinstall/reboot the computer in a certain order. Since the Comcast HSI Wizard software did install, reboot, and do more install that is probably what made things finally work out.

It appears that Comcast got my earlier problem with the Comcast Support Software not working mixed in with my email problem and have kind dropped looking into it. So, I sent them another email. Here is their response:

The first thing to try would be to repair your Internet Explorer. This
can be done by following these 5 easy steps:


1. Click on Start and select Settings

2. Go into the Control Panel

3. Click on Add/Remove Programs

4. Scroll through the list and select Microsoft Internet Explorer

5. Click on the Remove button and select Repair, then click OK.

It does seem as though if you have an activated antivirus, popup
killer, firewall or even running programs on your PC it could interrupt the
download. Also the download may be stopped due to a lack of space on
your hard drive.

I could not 'repair' IE but I did uninstall it an reinstall it. Although, I told Comcast in my initial email that I already tried this.

Of course, this didn't work. I sent EcareOnline back a reply along with a copy of my IE crash file that is generated. Will have to see what they suggest next. I have heard they are not above asking you to reload your OS.

A guy with the screen name 'mbernste' in the Comcast HSI Forum pointed out that there is Comcast HSI Video Tour. It is pretty dumbed down technically but I am sure some of you may find it entertaining.

This whole issue started with me receiving the following email:

    **********************************************
    **      THIS IS A WARNING MESSAGE ONLY      **
    **  YOU DO NOT NEED TO RESEND YOUR MESSAGE  **
    **********************************************

The original message was received at Fri, 6 Jun 2003 00:55:25 -0500
from bgp01131683bgs.ypeast01.mi.comcast.net [68.42.114.203]

   ----- The following addresses had transient non-fatal errors -----


   ----- Transcript of session follows -----
... Deferred: Name server: cynnabar.org.: host 
name
lookup failure
Warning: message still undelivered after 4 hours
Will keep trying until message is 5 days old

Here is where I show of some of my technical skill. This email is a 'canned' message generated by the device bgp01131683bgs.ypeast01.mi.comcast.net at comcast. This message is being generated as part of the SMTP protocol which is the protocol within the TCP set of protocols governing the transmission of email.

The text of the email is not governed by SMTP. When I read this it looks like it is saying it failed on the host name lookup for "cynnabar.org". This doesn't make any sense since I can get to the website over Comcast Network via HTTP protocol from my web browser. The HTTP protocol uses the same DNS system that SMTP uses to resolve URL into an IP Address.

Well, I sent the non-delivery email to Comcast hoping they would look into the problem and resolve it. It shouldn't be my job to resolve SMTP problems not related to my computer.

Ok, that was a stupid thought because Comcast sent me an email telling me it was a problem with cynnabar.org mailserver and I should contact the hostmaster myself to get the problem resolved. Of course, Comcast didn't tell me the technical reason as to why the email was not getting delivered. According to RFC 821, which governs SMTP, when an email is not delivered it is supposed to generate an error code. The newest error codes are called ESMTP, extended SMTP.

I sent the 'canned' rejection email to my cynnabar.org contact. They tested and had no problems. Since he wasn't on the Comcast network he couldn't duplicate my exact problem.

I recontacted Comcast and they did some testing. They were able to send test email to the barony@cynnabar.org address. This was peculiar to me. So, I wanted to escalate the issue higher with cynnabar.org. I asked Comcast to give me the ESMTP error code.

Again, what was I thinking. Comcast would only do testing and would not get onto their bgp01131683bgs.ypeast01.mi.comcast.net device and get the error code for me.

I gave up on Comcast and started troubleshooting the issue on my own. I knew that barony@cynnabar.org wasn't an address for subscribers only to send email to because the tests from Comcast personnel had gotten through. So, what I did was send an email to it from another kormanworld.net email address. This email also failed to get through. I went back and read the RFC 1893 which explains ESMTP error codes. I determined on my own that what must be happening is that the Comcast email relay device was actually getting host lookup error from the cynnabar.org mailserver. I guess this would be a code 451.

I contacted Comcast and asked them to close their ticket. I then sent a more detailed email to my cynnabar.org technical contact explaining what I think the problem was i.e. that the cynnabar.org mailserver is having some problems with the kormanworld.net domain (maybe it is being blocked). Shortly after sending this email I saw my test emails hit the barony@cynnabar.org list. Problem solved.

I would like to add I did end up calling in a couple of times to try and get this matter resolved. I worked with two different techs on the phone, Terry and Sanchez. Both techs were very courteous and helpful within the limits of their technical knowledge even though they couldn't help me pinpoint the exact problem as to why the email wasn't going through.

Well, I tried to get Comcast Support software to work. There seems to be some problem with the software that both the lite and full version seem to crash Internet Explorer(IE). I don't like the fact that the software only works with IE to begin with(I use Mozilla) so it just makes me more frustrated that the software crashes this unliked MS browser.

In a previous email from EcareOnline I was referred to
go to http://www.comcastsupport.com which I did. On that site I first
installed the lite version of the support software. This software did
not work and it caused Internet Explorer to lock up everytime I would
hit 'ENTER' at the bottom of the main support page. I though my pop-up
blocking software could be a problem and disabled that but still my IE
would lock up and crash when trying to access the Comcast Support page.
I then tried to uninstall and reinstall the lite version of the support
software. I was unable to do this so I uninstalled and reinstalled IE.
This didn't help at all. I then found a link to the full version of the
Comcast Support software and installed that. Same thing, I would go to
the main Comcast Support site, hit 'Enter' and it would hang up and
crash IE. So, I uninstalled the Comcast Support software and then went
back to the support webpage and hit 'Enter' and was able to finally go
to the next page where I re-downloaded the support software and
reinstalled it. Once the support software was installed again I
continued to have the problem where IE would crash when I tried to
access the support site. Is there any way to fix this?

Also, when I try to access the interactive support chat I end up 
getting
a webpage with just a Comcast support banner at that top after I fill
out my name and other information. No chat ever starts.

I called 1-800-COMCAST and they were unable to help me with this issue.
I hope you can provide me with some assistance. I do NOT have a
telephone near my computer so I hope you can send me detailed email
instructions to help me fix this issue.

Well, after my suspicious cable outage I still had some problems with my Internet connectivity. I was experiencing extreme lag and timeouts. Of course, as always I first tried to troubleshoot my own equipment first by rebooting my cable modem, my router, and my computer. None of this helped. So, I sent Comcast an email.

First of all, for those of you that don't know you can send Comcast email by going to the following webpage, http://www.comcast.com/ContactUs/customerservice.asp. There is not a specific email address for them as service is based on region. Also, email goes to EcareOnline which is not the same place as the High-Speed Internet help center that you call on the telephone. In fact, if you call about a ticket number the help desk people can't even look that up. They can only reference your issue by your telephone number. I personally prefer to start my issue with email as then I have records of my correspondence with Comcast.

Intermittently getting no network response. This is affecting all TCP/IP traffic from my home. I am not losing CM sync. I have power cycled my CM and computer. I have not made any modifications to my computer network settings. This problem started after my cable was restored after I experienced a total cable outage on the morning of June 5th.

Date:	 Fri, 06 Jun 2003 09:24:47 -0400
To:	"Ian Korman" 
Subject:	Re: System of Ann Arbor - Technical Support
From:	"Comcast ECARE-MichiganWest" 
	

Dear Mr. Korman,

Thank you for your e-mail message regarding the new Comcast High-Speed 
Internet service. We understand you are anxious to have your connection
issue addressed, we can help you with this.

We have polled your modem and the connection seems to be lagging a bit,
we have sent a signal to reset your modem, we ask that you follow the
below directions to help you resolve this issue:

We would like you to power cycle your modem.

1. Unplug the Power to the cable modem for 90 seconds.
2. When the Modem has re-syncronized with the network, restart the
Computer.  The ideal situation is to have the modem come back up before
the computer is finished restarting.
3. Check the Coax cable connection to the modem to make sure the cable
is connected and secure.  Also check the other netowrk cable (almost
like a phone jack) on the back of the modem as well to make sure it is
securely connected to the modem and NIC.

We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you.

Your ticket number for today is:  5231741

If there is anything else we can help you with, please contact us at
1-800-COMCAST, or go to www.comcast.net, and click on help.

Thank you for choosing Comcast.

Sincerely

Kathleen
Comcast Customer Care

I didn't have to do any of these things because the reset signal seemed to clear things. However, I wonder if my modem had to be remotely reset because someone had sent a signal previously that screwed it up. I guess I will never know and the problem is fixed now and that is all I care about at this time.

This all started when I found a link on my local Ypsilanti Township website to a Comcast website where you could comment on your customer support experiences with them. The site is http://www.commentsoncomcast.com.

Well, I filled out a survey giving them good marks in manners but poor marks in technical ability. The important thing to note is that you can NOT make these comments anonymously. That is right, they ask you for details such as your name, telephone number, and email address. I didn't like this aspect of it but I decided that I am not afraid to own up to my opinions. Well, big mistake on my part!! Read on for the horrifying details.

From:	survey_responseteam@cable.comcast.com
To:	ianjkorman@yahoo.com
Subject:	Comcast Thanks You
Date:	Wed, 4 Jun 2003 23:56:55 -0400
	

Dear Ian Korman,
Thank you for taking time to complete our survey and provide Comcast 
with valuable feedback. We do take your survey responses and comments 
very seriously and look at this as an opportunity to ensure satisfaction.

If your survey indicated a service issue, a Comcast representative will 
be contacting you.

This is an automatic reply e-mail; please do not reply to this 
response.

Thank You 
Comcast

Pretty basic stuff right? Take note of the time stamp on that reply. This is crucial because sometime after midnight my cable service, internet and TV, went totally down. You are hearing this correctly!! As soon as I completed a survey giving Comcast poor marks in technical ability the service goes down. Coincidence? I don't think so.

"Good morning, my name is Rhonda. I am calling from Comcast in response to an online survey completed from your home. I would like to thank you for completing our survey. We do appreciate your feedback and value you as our customer. I am also calling because it appears that you may be experiencing difficulty with your modem service and I would like to assist in getting that resolved for you. Please feel free to contact me direct at your convenience - 248-233-4583..."

I never contacted Comcast and told them there was any problem with my service. Did they proactively check my service or did they know there was something wrong with it because they caused the problem?

By the time I checked my cable again it appeared to be up and working. So, I never called Rhonda (or is it Wanda?). If I had called her I certainly would have asked her if someone reads the results of the surveys at night. But if my cable service had been messed with could I expect a straight answer?

Bottom line is that:
1. I get treated fine on the telephone when I do call Comcast.
2. This whole issue is about the temporary loss of Internet and Cable service. No people or property were harmed. No big deal in the overall scheme of life.

My cable installation experience was pretty straightforward and uneventful. I wanted to give a narration of it because there are some tidbits of information I am sure many people may find useful. I go into detail about my hardware in my hardware section.

First off, I did not have cable service at all before I decided to get cable internet. Why did I decide to get Comcast High-Speed Internet?

1. I had SBC/Ameritech DSL service for many years. I was one of the first subcribers to that service. I had an original ADSL modem from them (see details about my DSL service). Anyway, they did not have WinXP drivers for the modem and would not provide me with a new modem. Ameritech had GOOD customer service but SBC has ruined that. SBC are a bunch of crooks in my opinion based on the history of how they have operated their telephone monopoly in California and the fines for poor service they have gotten in Michigan since they acquired Ameritech.

2. Comcast had (and still has 06/19/2003) a great introductory deal on signing up for their cable of $19.99/month for 6 months. That was a great incentive.

3. I had numerous friends who had Comcast Internet for awhile and were still experiencing good throughput. This alleviated some of my fears about bandwidth saturation of the local cable loops.

So, I called up Comcast and ordered cable service. This was a very simple and easy process but I was unable to get an appointment for a long time becuase they told me they were very busy with all the installations for returning college students. They told me they could contact me if any cancelled appointments came up and I told them that would be great.

Once I had an appointment I went down to Circuit City to get a Cable Modem. This is where the story gets really good because the Circuit City guy told me they had a deal going on with the Motorola SURFboard SB4200 Cable Modem. I could get that modem for $99.99 with $90 of rebates if I signed up for Comcast Cable when I bought the modem. This worked out for me since I had only signed up for the service a few days ago and it hadn't been installed yet. WooHoo!!!

I got a call from Comcast and was able to get an earlier installation appoint set for 9/10/02. On that day some contract guys(not Comcast personnel) came to my house to turn on my cable service. They got the TV portion of the cable on but the internet service did not work.

I ended up screwing around with the cable modem for quite awhile to try to get it to work while I waited on a real Comcast technician to come out to my house and fix my problem. I tried a lot of things like equipment resets, cable reseats, and remote cable modem resets by Comcast support but did not have the proper cable test equipment to troubleshoot a possible physical issue.

On 9/17/02 a Comcast cable technician came to my house. He was able to test the cable line and replace some segments of it that were impeding the signal. He also changed my cable trap and turned off all the channels I wasn't supposed to be getting (bummer but at least it proves his integrity). Anyway, this completed my installation.

I am connected my computer to Comcast HSI basically using three pieces of hardware. You can actually get away with a single piece of hardware, just a cable modem, if you have a computer with USB ports.

The most important piece of hardware you have to have is a cable modem. I purchased a Motorola SURFboard SB4200 Cable Modem. Why did I choose this brand?: I checked around (on the Internet and asking friends who already had Comcast HSI) and a lot of people recommend Motorola SURFboard cable modems in general. I was able to get the modem for $10 at Circuit City after mail-in rebates.

The second piece of hardware I bought was a LinkSys EtherFast Cable/DSL Router with 4-Port Switch: BEFSR41. This is a very nice router that is compact and simple to use. You can upgrade the firmware on it yourself which is a must for a router. Also, it is pretty cheap (look for discounts on it - I got a manufacturer's discount plus an Office Depot in-store coupon and it cost me about $30).

I merely connect the cable modem to the LinkSys router via ethernet. Then I connect the LinkSys router to the third piece of hardware needed, an ethernet card. I bought a D-Link DFE-530TX+ 10/100 Mbps ethernet card for this. D-Link makes reliable and cheap products that you can pick up at most local electronic chains. I also recommend the 3COM Ethernet cards which I have one of in my second computer.

The LinkSys router has 4-ports for attachments on it. That should be enough for most people's home networks. If you think you need more connections you can always add a cheap 10/100 Mbps hub. I recommend one that has switching ports to avoid wasteful broadcast to all ports. I have a cheap one called a GS31208 which has 8 ports. Apparently it is made by Kingmax but they list it as a AKS-3208.

You can hookup your SURFboard via ethernet and USB at the same time. If you are going to use the USB port on the SURFboard then you need to get the Motorola SURFboard SB4200 USB Drivers.

Any DOCSIS 1.0 compatible cable modem will work with Comcast HSI. If you are worried about a particular cable modem working with Comcast HSI then you can check out Comcast's Approved HSI modems list to be sure.

If you plan on moving your computers around a lot or have your computers all over your house you should do one of the following:

1. Wire your house with ethernet connections. This is what I have done. I have a 19" computer rack in my basement where I keep my cable modem, router, hub, and patch panel. I have ethernet connections all over my house and just plug my computers into them and then connect the computers up to either the router or the hub by moving connections on my patch panel.

2. You can buy a wireless router, such as a Wireless Access Point Router with 4-Port Switch: BEFW11S4, and then buy a wireless network card for each of your PC's. I personally don't recommend a wireless network because:

   1. It may take more technical knowledge than many people have to make it secure.
   2. Interference with your wireless signal can degrade your bandwidth. If you live in a crowded neighborhood you could even have your channels totally blocked by neighbors.
   3. The price for the wireless routers and cards is a lot more than the normal ethernet variety.

While dealing with EcareOnline, I noticed in their email that they advise me to go to http://www.comcastsupport.com/. This is the ComcastSUPPORT website for the HSI service. When you get to the main screen there is a red 'ENTER' button you click to proceed. If this is your first time to the site then clicking on the button will get you to a screen that will allow you to download the ComcastSUPPORT software. You have the option of either installing a lite version, which is a Java add-on, or you can install the full version of the software which is an application added to your system that does a few more things than just allow you to access the webservices.

Both versions of the software only work with Internet Explorer(IE). This is a pain if you don't use IE but not a big problem.

The Lite version of the software merely allows you to access the online functions of the ComcastSUPPORT site. This is really the most important (and useful in my opinion) aspect of the software.

The Full version of the software gets you three functions:

• Quick Restore - This will check to see if there have been any changes to your protected software since the last time your configuration was recorded. This will then let you "roll-back" to a date when you know the software worked properly. If you are running WinXP you can already do this within the OS by going to 'Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore'. All this feature does is provide a quicker and more automated way to do that.
• Automated Solutions - I can't get this option to work (bad URL I think). However, you can access this from the Comcast Support Webpage. Basically, this is just access to canned scripts almost like MS Help in windows.
• Online Support - This is just a link that will launch IE and go to the ComcastSUPPORT webpage.

So, why would you want this software? Well, for me there is only a single reason. That would be access to the Live Chat Support. That's right. Comcast has it's own IM software where you can interact live with a support person. From talking with the people at the Michigan IP Services Support Center, the people who you get via telephone support, it appears the tech you get to talk to is not located there but is an EcareOnline tech. I am unclear why you access different techs via telephone and online but the main point is that you can get ONLINE LIVE HELP!!!

I had major problems installing the ComcastSUPPORT software via the http://www.comcastsupport.com/ site. I would recommend you install the Comcast HSI Wizard software, located here http://online.comcast.net/start/, first which will then load the ComcastSUPPORT software for you. Now, this Wizard software does have a few bad elements to it such as adding a Comcast logo to Outlook and IE. I found this program called IE De-Brander (which is linked to a download on my site) which will get that off of IE and OE for you.

Also, I seemed to have a problem accessing the ComcastSUPPORT site (the page you get after you hit 'ENTER' button) going through my router. Comcast admits there support software has known issues with firewalls. I don't have any problem with firewall software installed but I still had a problem anyway. I found that when I accessed the site by eliminating the router (going through a straight USB connection to my cable modem) that this seemed to allow me access everytime to the site.

I am placing some technical information that I have acquired about Comcast Internet service and Comcast cable service in general. I hope this information may be of use to people into troubleshooting some problems that they might encounter. Sure, some of this information could also be used by certain people to do some sort of mischief. I hope people that believe information is 'dangerous' as well as those people that give people legitimate reasons to believe this would just grow the heck up.

• IP Addresses
• Traceroute from my home
• Speed Testing
• Accessing Cable Modem Data
• SB4200 Configuration Manager
• DocsDiag Utility
• USB Connectivity on the SB4200
• Comcast Signal Analyzer Channel
• Michigan IP Services Support Center

It is very simple to determine from what IP block I get assigned an IP address from. All I do is look on my Linksys router and take the IP addressed I am assigned and use the Subnet Mask to figure this out. There is actually a webpage I found that will do the calculation for you if you don't want to do the binary calculation located here, whatmask. So, the CIDR block I get assigned an IP address from is 68.42.112/21. That is part of a block of 2046 IP addresses from 68.42.112.1 to 68.42.119.254.

I would list the IP address I get assigned but it appears that address is pegged to the MAC address of my Cable Modem. That is much different from my Ameritech ADSL service which would assign me a random IP out of an available block of IP's.

Comcast gives you two IP addresses btw, one for your CM and one for your router or PC(obtained via DHCP. Those IP addresses have a TTL(time to live) of about 2 to 3 weeks.

After determining the block of IP addresses I get an address assigned out of I decided I would determine what my path to the general Internet might be through the Comcast network. In order to do this I ran a traceroute from my PC. I used a GUI utility to do this(Magic NetTrace if you want to know). Here are my results:

1	10.59.96.1	-	

2	172.30.158.145	-	

3	172.30.158.174	-	

4	172.30.157.174	-	

5	68.42.244.182	-	

6	12.119.243.105	-	

7	12.123.139.34	gbr2-p30.dtrmi.ip.att.net

This was a traceroute to my personal webpage. Since I have a shell account on my hosting machine I was able to traceroute back to my PC. Here are the results:

.....
10 gar2-p370.dtrmi.ip.att.net (12.123.139.33)  
11 12.119.243.106 (12.119.243.106)
12  68.42.244.185 (68.42.244.185)
13  172.30.157.173 (172.30.157.173) 
14  172.30.158.173 (172.30.158.173) 
15  172.30.158.146 (172.30.158.146) 
.....

What all this tells me is my connection to the Internet seems to go accross the Comcast network and out through a connection to one of the major Internet backbone providers, AT&T in this case. Also, it is interesting that the device at 10.59.96.1 is blocking traceroutes to my computer.

Almost all cable connections are 'capped' by the MSO. Comcast has its caps set at 1800Kbps for download and 256Kbps for uploads in most areas for the basic plan. These caps are set in a config file that is downloaded to your cable modem when it first boots up on the cable connection.

If you want to test the speed of your internet connection the Speakeasy network test sites are regarded as the best available methods to do this. These sites are set up regionally. You can go here to get a list of the sites. Just pick the closest one to where you live.

You should be able to access most cable modems directly from an PC hanging off it via HTTP from your web browser. Just type in the address 192.168.100.1 in your location bar and hit enter. You should get an HTML page for your cable modem configuration manager.

For the SB4200(I think all SurfBoard CM's) by going to 192.168.100.1 you get to an internal CM html interface titled "Configuration Manager". This page has a menu across the top with options of: Status, Signal, Address, Configuration, and Logs. These menu options work as follows:

This page displays the tasks Cable Modem has carried out since starting up. Everything in here should either say Done or Skipped, if it says In Progress then the Cable Modem is still running through its boot up process and you should press F5 to refresh this page.

This page displays the Information about the Downstream and Upstream Signals the Cable Modem has, or is trying to lock onto.

• DownStream

  This is the Signal that the Cable Modem receives from the Network. It can be seen from this page that the Cable Modem is locked onto a Frequency at 331Mhz. It has a Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) of +37dBmV.

  There is background noise on all networks and this is measuring the difference between the Signal strength which is +6dBmV and the Noise which is -31dBmV (+6 - - 31 = 37). The SNR should be greater than 29dBmV.

  The Power Level is the signal strength that the cable modem is receiving from the High Speed Network. The Downstream Power Level can be between +15dBmV and - 15dBmV.A reading of -5dBmV seems to give the most robust connection.

• Upstream

  This is the Signal that the Cable Modem uses to transmit back to the Head-end.

  The Power Level is the Signal Strength that the Cable Modem is putting out so that it can overcome any losses and still be able to communicate with the Head-end. This Level will vary depending where you are on the Network.

  The Upstream Power Level can be Between 18dBmV and 58dBmv. The maximum power level the Modem can produce is 60 dBmV. It is good practice to not have the modem working at its maximum as any further increase in signal would cause the modem to lose it Upstream Lock.

The main information on this page that is relevant is the HFC MAC Address. This is the unique hexadecimal number of this particular Cable Modem that is used for registration purpose with the DHCP Server.

• Frequency Plan

  This is dependant on what system the Cable Modem is connected to.

• Upstream Channel ID

  This is Automatically configured when the Cable Modem Locks on to a Upstream Signal. It can be set to -1 initially to help it gain a lock quicker.

• Favorite Frequency (Hz)

  This is the frequency that the Cable Modem will initially look for a signal on boot-up. This will also be automatically configured when Cable modem locks onto a downstream signal. The Cable Modem will lock onto the downstream frequency quicker if this is set manually rather than it scanning its entire frequency spectrum looking for a suitable Signal.

This page displays a chronological list of the Cable Modem's boot up, registration and errors that happen to the Cable Modem. The date and time are given in the following format YYMMDDHHMMSS. So 011206201830 would be 2001,December,6th 8:18pm,30 Seconds.
Thanks to Rods Cable Modem Pages for help in creating the above info.

If you are trying to troubleshoot cable modem problems there is a great free utility available to help you called DocsDiag. This program is used for reading diagnostic data from DOCSIS cable modems. It works by utilizing SNMP, which is a protocol for managing and monitoring network devices. With Comcast HSI service you will have to read this section of the DocsDiag software documentation, Recipe for use of DocsDiag with the customer-side address of the cable modem, to get the software to work.

You can read a specific example of how to use DocsDiag with a RCA DCM-215 Cable modem here.

I have been doing some testing with hooking up my Motorola SURFboard SB4200 Cable Modem to my computer via the USB connection while simultaneously having it connected via ethernet through a router. Motorola says right here that you can run both the USB and ethernet connections simultaneously. However, it all depends on whether Comcast will give you two IP addresses via DHCP, one for your computer and one for your router.

The first test I did was to connect the USB cable from my cable modem to my PC while it was on and my PC was connected to the Internet via the ethernet connection to the router. This worked out fine and the USB connection showed up in the WinXP 'Network Connections'.

The next thing I did was to disconnect the ethernet connection from the cable modem to the router. This disabled my access to the Internet. I tried to restore my connectivity through the USB connections by hitting the reset button on my cable modem. This didnt' work. I then tried a lot of things like disconnecting/reconnecting the USB cable from the computer, power cycling the cable modem, disable/enable the connection in WinXP, and issue 'ipconfig release' and 'ipconfig renew' commands using the run option. None of these things worked.

As a last resort I restarted my PC. This seemed to do the trick. My computer finally obtained a routable IP address for the USB connection and I could access the Internet.

I then re-connected my router to the cable modem. I was able to acces the router fine. It did not have an IP address acquired by DHCP though.

I tried resetting and power cycling my cable modem to see if I could get Comcast to give me an IP address for both my router and my USB connection. This didn't work.

Again, I resorted to restarting my PC. What this did was get my router an IP address but not one for my USB connection. I am not surprised by this. I was pretty sure that Comcast would only allow a single IP address to be assigned to my MAC address.

Well, this was an informative investigation. I confirmed I could only get a single IP address. I also found out that it would appear that the cable modem polls the ethernet connection first and then the USB connection. I think this is true because my router got the single available IP address via DHCP and not my PC.

I am going to do further testing later with performance testing to verify whether my guess is true that my ethernet connection give me better access to the Internet than does the USB connection.

If you go to channel 118 (at least on my cable service here in Ypsilanti, Michigan) you can get the test signal. According to the screen this is being generated by a Hewlett-Packard HP 85721A Cable TV Analyzer; A.02.09. I discovered that this is merely software running on the Agilent 8591C Cable TV Analyzer. Of course, Agilent and not HP makes the test equipment now and this software package has been discontinues by Agilent. However, the display you see on the TV is pretty basic signal measurements.

Just in case you are curious, the Michigan IP Services Support Center for Comcast is located in a brand new building located at 5775 Interface Dr. Ann Arbor, MI (West of Zeeb Rd. / South of Jackson Rd.). I went there for a job interview and it is a very nice building. They have black Dell workstations set up in their call centers and it is pretty slick. Also, from talking to their techs they actually have test PC's in their call center that are connected to Comcast HSI as a customer would be (i.e. it is not routing through their private network).

If you have the time and inclination there is a Comcast HSI forum at BroadbandReports website located here: Comcast HSI Forum. I try to cull good information from there and place here on this webpage but I don't copy all the info from there.

Following is a list of articles I think you might find interesting. For cable/broadband news sources please check out the links section.

Following is a list of links related to cable, broadband, and related topics. I think you will find them particularly useful.

• BPI - Baseline Privacy Initialization
• CM - Cable Modem
• CMTS - Cable Modem Termination System
• DHCP - Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
• DOCSIS - Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification
• ESMTP - Extended Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
• HFC - Hybrid Fiber-Coax
• HTTP - Hypertext Transfer Protocol
• MAC - Media Access Control
• MIC - Message Integrity Check
• MSO - Multimedia Service Operator
• RFC - Request for Comments
• SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
• SNMP - Simple Network Management Protocol
• TCP - Transmission Control Protocol
• URL - Uniform Resource Locator
• USB - Universal Serial Bus