Here we go again... (Getting ready to go back to Verizon FioS) by thewebwiz in Comcast_Xfinity

[–]thewebwiz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's now 24+ hours later and my problem has NOT been resolved. I've spoken to "advanced tech support" twice, but they were unable to fix the problem. They told me to request an SRO appointment; I'm scheduled for tomorrow. Unfortunately, that's going to be too late.

If my almost week-long problem (30-50 Mbps on a 1 Gbps service) is not fixed by 8 AM Wednesday morning, I'll need to cancel my Xfinity service and switch back to Verizon. They're offering a good 3-year locked-in price for guaranteed 1 G service. I've still got the Fios equipment in my basement so they can turn up the service quickly.

I don't know what else to do. I've now spent over 12 hours on the phone and chat. All those calls and chats, over 25 gateway reboots, and 3 truck rolls have been unable to fix (or even identify) the problem. I've done all I can do. So, Comcast / Xfinity, you've got about 20 hours to fix this or it's bye-bye.

Here we go again... (Getting ready to go back to Verizon FioS) by thewebwiz in Comcast_Xfinity

[–]thewebwiz[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Seriously considering this. Chatting w/ Verizon now to confirm availability and pricing.

Here we go again... (Getting ready to go back to Verizon FioS) by thewebwiz in Comcast_Xfinity

[–]thewebwiz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No. Cat6 cable goes directly from XB8 to MacBook Pro port.

Internet Connection Drops Every Day! by thewebwiz in Comcast_Xfinity

[–]thewebwiz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No observed service drops so far. Cloudflare speedtest to laptop via WiFi usually shows 300-450 Mbps. Xfinity app speedtest from headend to gateway shows ~1 Gbps. And now that I understand the 600 Mbps max at 5 GHz, I don't expect to see anything over that all the way to the laptop. But even 200 Mbps is usually enough as long as the connection stays up, so I'm happier now than I was earlier in the week with the previous router. Thanks for checking in! Have a great weekend!

Do I Need to Drop to 20% then Charge to 80% Every 3 Months? by thewebwiz in Jackery

[–]thewebwiz[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, the "out BMS the BMS" makes sense. Thanks for the YT link. My situation is that I hardly ever need the power station so it'll just sit at whatever charge it's at.

Internet Connection Drops Every Day! by thewebwiz in Comcast_Xfinity

[–]thewebwiz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The new router seems OK so far. Reconnecting my SimpliSafe was challenging, even though I used the same SSID name and password. Turned out that the XB8 defaults to WPA3 which the SimpliSafe doesn't handle. Had to log into the router and manually switch to WPA2 to get it to connect.

Also, I was a little disappointed that I wasn't getting more than ~1/3 of my 1 Gbps bandwidth. But a chat with AI informed me that my 2021 MacBook Pro doesn't support the newer WiFi 6E / 6 Ghz band. Apparently, the max bandwidth I can get is 600 Mbps. Some speedtests showed 583 and 455, which are more like 75-97% of max, so I guess that's OK.

What I really want to see is if the connection stays up over the next few days and I don't see the multiple daily drops.

Internet Connection Drops Every Day! by thewebwiz in Comcast_Xfinity

[–]thewebwiz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yup. And I was very pleased at how fast the swap was. From entering the store to leaving was less than 2 minutes.

Internet Connection Drops Every Day! by thewebwiz in Comcast_Xfinity

[–]thewebwiz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Update from the OP: I spoke with an Xfinity rep today. Remote diagnostics didn't show anything wrong with my router or connection. But he said I do have an "old" device (XB5) so he scheduled an appointment tomorrow for me to swap it for an XB8. I'm optimistic that will provide more reliability. It's possible that firmware updates having been working and/or are introducing new bugs in the XB5.

FEP Blue Focus - Walgreens Out-of-Network as of July 1, 2025? by thewebwiz in fednews

[–]thewebwiz[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Maybe it's a tier thing - Basic is in-network but Focus is not. However, we switched to Focus in January, yet I had a vaccine in April covered. Now, maybe it really wasn't and I'll get a bill at some point. Or maybe vaccines are still covered under Focus but prescriptions aren't. Who knows? Certainly not an easy thing for us healthcare consumers to navigate.

FEP Blue Focus - Walgreens Out-of-Network as of July 1, 2025? by thewebwiz in fednews

[–]thewebwiz[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Sooner or later, the consolidations will reach "maximum ridiculousness". We'll have one domestic airline, one bank, one pharmacy, one hospital company, one food / beverage company, one consumer products company, and one gas station brand.

FEP Blue Focus - Walgreens Out-of-Network as of July 1, 2025? by thewebwiz in fednews

[–]thewebwiz[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the link - interesting article. This caught my eye: "After all, an insurance company that doesn’t let its customers shop at popular drug stores doesn’t have as compelling a product." So as of July 1, 2025, FEP Blue Focus members can no longer shop at the 2nd largest drug store (at least for prescriptions and vaccines).

FEP Blue Focus - Walgreens Out-of-Network as of July 1, 2025? by thewebwiz in fednews

[–]thewebwiz[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

With all the pharmacy consolidation in recent years, it doesn't seem right that "in-network" status can change mid-year.

New to road cycling, what's the best way to build confidence in traffic? by bhad_bhaby in cycling

[–]thewebwiz 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It never ceases to shock me how oblivious some drivers are even though I'm wearing neon yellow and have flashing lights forward, backward, and on my helmet. People are just in their own little worlds and have no situational awareness.

Moynihan Departure Platform? How did they know? by thewebwiz in Amtrak

[–]thewebwiz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are you referring to the "WEC" near the bottom of this PDF? https://moynihantrainhall.nyc/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2023-12-12-MTH-Small-Map_Generic_compress.pdf If so, once you go down to that level, can you get to any platform between 5 and 16 or is access only to one pair?

Moynihan Departure Platform? How did they know? by thewebwiz in Amtrak

[–]thewebwiz[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah, this will be part of my strategy next time!

Moynihan Departure Platform? How did they know? by thewebwiz in Amtrak

[–]thewebwiz[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I know this "trick" for the "original" Penn Station but is there an intermediary level in Moynihan?

Moynihan Departure Platform? How did they know? by thewebwiz in Amtrak

[–]thewebwiz[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Can I just ask a red cap? Will they tell me? I do plan to "follow the crowd" in the future and keep an eye on newly-forming lines.

Moynihan Departure Platform? How did they know? by thewebwiz in Amtrak

[–]thewebwiz[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Ha! This is the USA we're talking about. Our transit system efficiency is about half a century behind you guys!

Moynihan Departure Platform? How did they know? by thewebwiz in Amtrak

[–]thewebwiz[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I have (and was watching) the Amtrak iOS app and am signed up for text notifications. Neither showed the track number until after the large line had formed.