Comcast Rant (Yeah, nothing special)

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Taxious
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Re: Comcast Rant (Yeah, nothing special)

Post by Taxious »

Kulaf wrote:Might also be because I buy my own cable modem. :)
Actually, one of my worst experiences with comcast was when I bought my own cable modem and called them to register the MAC address. To make a long story short; two months and many phone calls and headaches later, they finally got their end sorted out so that I could use it.

Fuck comcast.
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Re: Comcast Rant (Yeah, nothing special)

Post by Arathena »

Comcast customer satisfaction up 9 points, still tied for second worst in nation, beats out bankrupt company. Worst in nation at phone service, too.
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Re: Comcast Rant (Yeah, nothing special)

Post by Harlowe »

Kulaf wrote:Me either and I had them in both IL and in CA.
The only thing I haven't liked is the cost, but actually (and we use our own modem) our service has seldom been down nor have we had any problems registering it when we've gotten a new modem.

I've never needed customer service, so that might be bad here, I wouldn't know.
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Re: Comcast Rant (Yeah, nothing special)

Post by Minute »

DSL is cheaper here than comcast, and with the 18mbps down UVerse coming I am hoping they get real competitive real soon.

I H8 Comcast, yes I do.
I H8 Comcast, through & through.
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Re: Comcast Rant (Yeah, nothing special)

Post by Kulaf »

Well here in WA they did a sneaky thing. Comcast won the contract to provide TV programming to the state capitol. One of the stipulations however was that they MUST maintian local support for the services that they provide. So that meant a call center up in Everett. Once Comcast had the call center here they just figured they would expand it to include the digital phone and internet call centers as well. So anyone here in WA and probably other parts of the West Coast gets their tech support right here in the US.
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Re: Comcast Rant (Yeah, nothing special)

Post by Select »

They've been calling me allll week and I just got a letter asking me to call back at my convenience. Well, tomorrow is finally convenient for me since finals are done and I won't be working. They might be able to resolve the shitty customer service issues for me, but I'm unhappy with them choking my upload speeds. If they can fix that a little and give me the economy deal since I *just* get internet. I'll stay aboard. ;)
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Re: Comcast Rant (Yeah, nothing special)

Post by Taxious »

Select, keep in mind that you can do one of their "starting discounts" more than once. Last week I just upgraded to the next internet tier and am paying the same bill for the next 6 months. Then I'll just go back down to the economy tier until I'm able to get another deal from them (3 or 6 months, I can't remember).
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Re: Comcast Rant (Yeah, nothing special)

Post by Taxious »

lol comcast wins again!
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/faster ... worst.html
The votes are in, and Comcast has won Consumerist's uncoveted "Worst Company in America" award.
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Re: Comcast Rant (Yeah, nothing special)

Post by Fallakin Kuvari »

Not surprising since they won their case against the FCC and are again throttling bandwidth.
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Re: Comcast Rant (Yeah, nothing special)

Post by Taxious »

Yeah - kinda sad that they:
1) did bandwidth throttling illegally in the first place
2) won their case in court
3) are still doing it
You've heard of the golden rule, haven't you? Whoever has the gold makes the rules.
/sigh
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Re: Comcast Rant (Yeah, nothing special)

Post by Kulaf »

How is bandwidth throttling illegal?
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Re: Comcast Rant (Yeah, nothing special)

Post by Fallakin Kuvari »

Its not, FCC had told them they couldn't do it and Comcast took them to court over it and won.

It mainly just sucks a lot.
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Re: Comcast Rant (Yeah, nothing special)

Post by Kulaf »

I don't even think they are still doing it. I read an article that said something to the effect that they changed the management policies regarding this issue. But if you want to see if you are in fact having your speed reduced, Google has several tools to find out:

http://www.measurementlab.net/measurement-lab-tools
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Re: Comcast Rant (Yeah, nothing special)

Post by Taxious »

Kulaf wrote:I don't even think they are still doing it.
They are definitely still doing it.
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Re: Comcast Rant (Yeah, nothing special)

Post by Taxious »

Also - if anyone is interested in getting around Shitcast's bandwidth throttling:
A bit of a background to Comcast's Sandvine:
Comcast is blocking P2P traffic by using something called a Sandvine. Comcast searches for connections for file-sharing networks. When it finds a connection, comcast sends a "RST" packet to both your computer and the computer you are connecting to. The RST packet is telling both computers to "Reset" or "Close" the network connection. Thus, blocking any data from being sent over the connection. What this tutorial does here is sets your computer up to ignore any RST packets on your bittorrent port. DO NOT IGNORE RST PACKETS ON ALL PORTS - ONLY DO IT ON YOUR BITTORRENT PORT.

Make sure you ask questions here before doing anything you are unsure of. You have the ability to completely cut yourself off from the internet using this.

ALSO NOTE: You must use a single port for using bittorrent. THis will not work if you have your client use a "random" port.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Important!

This isn't just for Comcast users. It appears that sandvine sends RSTs to both the seeder and the leecher. Therefore, if you want to download from anyone who is on comcast, you have to do this fix, or something similar, as well.
-----------

I know there are a lot of us using comcast, and the tutorial (http://redhatcat.somewhere.com/2007/09/ ... wipfw.html) leaves out some important stuff... but not to fear, here's a complete guide to setting up WIPFW on Windows 2000 and XP. If you're having any problems, post 'em here and I'll have a solution for you in no time.

You MUST do this at a local console, as it will block all VNC/Remote Desktop connections by default.

This has only been tested on Windows 2000 & XP, with Vista YMMV.


Step 1:


Download WIPFW from sourceforge http://downloads.sou...orge.net/wipfw/


Step 2:


Unzip to C:\Program Files\WIPFW


Step 3:


If you want a "default deny", double click "install-deny.cmd". Network activity WILL be cut off at this point.

If you want a "default allow", double click "install.cmd".

A default deny means that ALL data will be BLOCKED by default. If you are behind a router (or any other firewall) that has a firewall already built in, use default allow (Because your router is blocking the bad stuff anyway).


Step 4 (Windows XP only):


Start -> Control Panel -> Security Center -> Windows Firewall

Turn Windows Firewall OFF and click OK

Then, in the security center, click "Recommendations..." under the (now red) firewall header.

Check "I have a firewall solution that I'll monitor myself" and click OK


Step 5:


Save the following text in the file %systemroot%\System32\drivers\etc\protocol (%systemroot% is the windows directory). NOTE: This text may already be there. If so, just ignore this step.

QUOTE(protocol)
# Copyright © 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This file contains the Internet protocols as defined by RFC 1700
# (Assigned Numbers).
#
# Format:
#
# <protocol name> <assigned number> [aliases...] [#<comment>]

ip 0 IP # Internet protocol
icmp 1 ICMP # Internet control message protocol
ggp 3 GGP # Gateway-gateway protocol
tcp 6 TCP # Transmission control protocol
egp 8 EGP # Exterior gateway protocol
pup 12 PUP # PARC universal packet protocol
udp 17 UDP # User datagram protocol
hmp 20 HMP # Host monitoring protocol
xns-idp 22 XNS-IDP # Xerox NS IDP
rdp 27 RDP # "reliable datagram" protocol
rvd 66 RVD # MIT remote virtual disk



Step 6:


Open C:\Program Files\WIPFW\wipfw.conf in notepad and replace the contents with the following:
NOTE: Make sure you replace "*****" with the port that your bittorrent client uses!

If you are using the Default Deny:

QUOTE
#################
#
# wipfw.conf
# Replace ***** with your bittorrent port
#
#################

# First flush the firewall rules
-f flush

# Localhost rules
add 100 allow all from any to any via lo*

# Prevent any traffic to 127.0.0.1, common in localhost spoofing
add 110 deny log all from any to 127.0.0.0/8 in
add 120 deny log all from 127.0.0.0/8 to any in

# Drop incoming packets with RST flag on BitTorrent port
# This is what thwarts Sandvine.
add deny tcp from any to me ***** tcpflags rst

# Setup stateful filtering
add check-state
add pass all from me to any out keep-state
add count log ip from any to any

# Allow new incoming BitTorrent connections
add pass tcp from any to any *****
add pass udp from any to any *****


If you are using the Default Allow:

QUOTE
#################
#
# wipfw.conf
# Replace ***** with your bittorrent port
#
#################

# First flush the firewall rules
-f flush

# Drop incoming packets with RST flag on BitTorrent port
# This is what thwarts Sandvine.
add deny tcp from any to me ***** tcpflags rst



Step 7:

If you are using a default deny, you will have to change the config to allow other network data through your network with any of the following rules (just add these rules to the end of wipfw.conf)

QUOTE(File & Print Sharing)
#Replace 192.168.0.0/24 with your local subnet and mask

# Allow Microsoft SMB file sharing w/ NetBIOS
add pass tcp from 192.168.0.0/24 to me 135-139
add pass udp from 192.168.0.0/24 to me 135-139

# Allow direct-hosted SMB w/out NetBIOS
add pass tcp from 192.168.0.0/24 to me 445
add pass udp from 192.168.0.0/24 to me 445


QUOTE(VNC)
# Enable VNC
add pass tcp from any to me 5800-5801
add pass tcp from any to me 5900-5901


QUOTE(Remote Desktop)
# Allow RDP/Terminal Services connections
add pass tcp from any to me 3389


QUOTE(SSH server)
# Allow incoming SSH
add pass tcp from any to me 22


QUOTE(DNS server)
# Allow incoming DNS
add pass udp from any to me 53


QUOTE(Web server)
# Allow incoming WWW
add pass tcp from any to me 80


QUOTE(FTP server)
# Allow incoming FTP
add pass tcp from any to me 21

More ports for other network services can be found here.

Save wipfw.conf when you're done.


Step 8:

Start -> Run

Type CMD.exe and press enter.

run the following two commands

>net stop ipfw

>net start ipfw

All done!
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Re: Comcast Rant (Yeah, nothing special)

Post by Freecare Spiritwise »

Comcast isn't using Sandvine anymore. They're not even technically throttling, though they can deprioritize your ass if you meet a few criteria.

I was in on the thread where the CC engineer that implemented the new system was discussing it over at broadbandreports.com.

Basically, if:

1. Your local node is severely congested.

AND

2. You run your connection "flat out" for over 15 minutes.

Then you will be deprioritized until your bandwidth load subsides for over 15 minutes.

IIRC, it's implemented at the modem level, so it's possible to circumvent, but it's also possible to tell if you're circumventing it so I wouldn't do that.

I use my full 250 GB per month allowance (courtesy of their new usage meter) and don't have any throughput issues.
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Re: Comcast Rant (Yeah, nothing special)

Post by Taxious »

Google ISP WRU??
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Re: Comcast Rant (Yeah, nothing special)

Post by Fallakin Kuvari »

wait wait... bandwidth allowance?!

Ugh, I hope it never comes to that here.

(I understand 250GB is a lot, its just the idea of there being a limit that I don't like.)
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Re: Comcast Rant (Yeah, nothing special)

Post by Taxious »

Fallakin Kuvari wrote:wait wait... bandwidth allowance?!
Your cell phone has a data cap too :wink:

So if Free is correct they aren't using Sandvine anymore but still screw you over if you use your full connection for 15+ minutes. Maybe this change hasn't come to Denver yet? I definitely notice my bandwidth die (for a good half hour) if I even open bittorrent for a minute.
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Re: Comcast Rant (Yeah, nothing special)

Post by Freecare Spiritwise »

The limit used to be secret, and used to vary by factors like the amount of competition in your area and how congested your local area was. People gave them shit for years about their secret caps, so I applaud them for at least doing everything above board now. AFAIK, 250 GB is the highest cap of any ISP ... at least for those that are capping, which I believe is everyone but Verizon FIOS and a couple small DSL providers.

I think it's a pretty generous cap, but Comcast will be the first to tell you that if you are hitting the cap you can go with the business plan which is uncapped and has a few other bennys. I can confirm the business plan has no cap because my sister has it and she's a total fucking leech with > 1TB / mo. Heh, what used to be "I'll be in town next week" is now "I'll be in town next week, how big of a hard drive to I need to bring?"

Also, something they don't advertise is that there is a secret "over the cap allowance" that they'll give you based on the criteria that are still secret. So if you have FIOS in your area or you are the only heavy user on your node, they may or may not let you slide a bit over that cap. There's been reports of people going over 1 TB consistently without getting disconnected.

I'm really thinking about going with the $99/mo business plan once I figure out how the hell to handle all the influx of data. I read somewhere that the library of congress is only about 10 TB of data. I've already got that covered but the main problem is that most motherboards only have 2 SATA slots and I hate all that power overhead of running external (even eSata) drives.
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