[SGVLUG] My RoadRunner Cable Connection = kaput!

[Zack, James]

Check out AT&T UVerse if you want to combine it with TV service.  We
have found it to be less expensive than Cable and excellent customer
service.  They bundle the TV with DSL, and throw in a free wireless
router with 5 ethernet ports.  The only catch, your TV boxes's are
driven over Ethernet as well, so they compete for slots on the switch.

-----Original Message-----
From: sgvlug-bounces at sgvlug.net [mailto:sgvlug-bounces at sgvlug.net] On
Behalf Of Sean O'Donnell
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 3:29 PM
To: SGVLUG Discussion List.
Subject: [SGVLUG] My RoadRunner Cable Connection = kaput!

I've been using Time Warner/Roadrunner cable as my ISP since 2004 now,
and I've never really had any complaints, up until about 5-6 months ago.

Now, I can't even stay connected long enough to write an email to their
customer service because I'm constantly getting dropped anywhere from
2-8 minutes at a time, about 2-4x an hour (on some occasions).

It doesn't drop every hour, but when it does, my connection drops
randomly, and it's just become very annoying. Especially when I'm in the
middle of doing something online, such as work, sending an email,
searching google, chatting on IRC, or playing online/multiplayer video
games. If you're in #sgvlug or #lalugs on freenode, then you may have
noticed x0d coming and going quite often, dropping like a fly.

The only alternative I have in my neighborhood is AT&T's DSL service,
which from my experience at my grandparents house (albeit in another
neighborhood), is no different than what I experience w/ cable.

Anyone else having shitty connectivity issus w/ AT&T or
TimeWarner/Roadrunner Cable?

I've tried replacing my cable modem, using different Gateway Routers, 3
different (individual) PCs plugged directly to the modem even, and
nothing seems to solve the problem.

I'm convinced that it is either the cable line itself, or perhaps the
dhcp service provided by my ISP.

All of the lights on the modem seem to be on (as normal) when the
connection goes down, but there is no way to renew a DHCP lease during
such downtime, despite the fact that the modem says it's still connected
as intended. This happened with all my different routers/PCs, and even
just plugging an XBOX 360 directly to the modem. Very frustrating.

I'm going to give DSL a try and see if that helps, but wondered if
anyone else in the area (South Pasadena, Pasadena, etc.) has shared
similar headaches (or not), or knows of a 3rd-party 'broadband' ISP that
I can look into for this area???

Thanks,
Sean