Xfinity TG862 modem problems

A few months ago, Xfinity/Comcast offered a no-cost replacement of the existing modem with the TG862. It was rated about 10x faster and included a wi-fi router and also handled the land-line phone. We went for it - big mistake!

After about a month, the first modem went belly-up. It took three days of no service (including no telephone) before they finally replaced it. Four months later, the replacement modem has failed.

After a couple of hours talking to the service guys, I managed to get it working again, but the wi-fi function is still dead. Ethernet is fine. Since DW uses an iPad, she no longer has internet access. The modem has gone off line about every four hours since it first died and each time it starts an un-commanded reset sequence that's taking about 30 minutes. During that time we have no land-line phone.

We're getting to the point where we don't want our phone service dependent on a modem in the house. We have a cell phone, but regard it as a private call-out device and don't give out the number to all and sundry.

We're seriously considering dropping Comcast and switching to Frontier. Their sales rep says that the land-line doesn't go through the modem, but to a parallel socket at the phone jack, powered from their end.

Since we like to get CBC channels on the TV, we'll probably stay with Comcast's cable TV system. The Dish Network being sold by Frontier doesn't carry any Canadian channels.

Has anyone on here had problems with the Arris TG862 Telephony Gateway? The Comcast/Xfinity user group website has quite a lot of complaints about it.

 

You have a contract with Comcast to provide you with a particular service. If that service isn't working as per the contract, you need to contact them. If after repeated attempts, (at least three), and they still fail to live up to their side of the contractual agreement, the next step would be to hire a lawyer.

 

I've had the TG862 for Comcast Triple Play for a year without any problems but the xfinity BBS proves I've been lucky. Many are experiencing WiFi problems and the only solution most have recommended is to have Comcast put the TG862 in bridge mode and use a separate router. That stinks because they charge a monthly rental fee for the TG862 and you have to buy your own router.

 

Buzzmag:

I still have a Belkin wifi router from the system we had before the TG862 arrived. It has an RJ45 ethernet output and the TG862 has four ethernet ports. I still can't get momma's iPad to work through the Belkin box into the TG862 using a second ethernet port.

I'm seriously thinking of telling Xfinity to bugger off and switching to Frontier. I'm assuming Frontier (who bought the old Verizon land-line network) still powers the phone from their end of the system. I have priced Frontier's internet/phone service - $50/month - but haven't yet found out what Comcast's TV/DVR service costs if un-bundled.

It's the loss of our land-line phone when the router/modem dies that's our main concern. We only have one cell phone, and that usually goes out with whoever is away from home, and only a few people (immediate family and close friends) have the number.

 

Thanks, Tony, I'll try that this morning. I'm not quite sure what's going on with wi-fi. I'm not familiar with the iPad way of doing business, having been with MS since Win 3.0. If the iPad hadn't been a gift to my wife, we'd have got a Win laptop to replace her dead ASUS netbook

The iPad seems to be getting some access, but not like it was doing before we had the most recent failure of the Xfinity router. Emails are showing up and she can access Facebook, but anything we try to get through Safari comes back with the diagnostic "Unable to connect to server "

I'm going to go to our local library with the iPad and see if the same problems occur on their wi-fi, which would isolate the issue to Safari.

Frank

 

I took DW's iPad to our local library, which has a wi-fi facility. I was surprised to find that it couldn't log in there either - same "could not connect to server" message.

I took it to our local guru store and after about 45 minutes messing with it they had solved the problem. Apparently, the computer had so many wi-fi sites in the memory that stores thos things that it could no longer communicate. The tech at the store eliminated them one at a time and when they were all gone except their store wi-fi, the computer worked perfectly.

When I talked to the daughter who had gifted the iPad to DW, she said she had used wi-fi in many places as part of her job, travelling around training hospital techs whose employers had bought new imaging equipment fron her employer. Her territory includes Washington, Oregon, Idaho and western Montana, and she wasn't aware that the computer remembered all the wi-fi sites she'd used.

Who'd a thunk it! I guess I owe ther Xfinity modem an apology. I'm still not comfortable with our land-line phone going througha potentially unreliable box, so I'm still considering a switch to Frontier. Any pros or cons in this community? We don't do any video streaming or other activites that require masive badwidth or ultra-high byte rates, just basic internet, forums like this one and e-mail. I'm stuck with Internet Explorer because os DW's crossword addiction, but I also use Google.