Should I believe the Comcast repairman?

[tenplay]

We came back last night from a trip to find our Comcast cable TV and Internet both not working. I called Comcast tech support, which confirmed that no signals were getting through to our TV and PC. The Comcast repairman showed up this morning while I was at work and told my wife that a rat had chewed through the cable. After replacing the cable, the TV worked fine but the PC was still not connecting to the Internet. After about an hour of fiddling with the PC, he told my wife that the Comcast service is working fine but that there must be a virus in the PC that is blocking the service and that we needed to have a computer virus specialist inspect the PC. When I got home, I decided to look over the PC situation and found that the cable modem was turned off. After pressing the on/off switch, it worked fine. Could he have been that dumb?

Now I am wondering about the cable being chewed by a rat. We do live in a semi-rural environment. But I've never seen a rat on our property. What do I need to do to protect the cable from further damage from rats? Thanks for any advice.

[Joseph E. Johnston]

A cat or a .22 rifle with good scope come immediately to mind...

Joe

[Joey]

I would say this person knew nothing about your internet service. Usually if you're getting a TV signal then the modem should work assuming the STATUS light goes solid meaning it's locked on. Even IF your computer had a virus it wouldn't affect this--as a matter in fact your computer doesn't even have to be turned on for the cable modem to lock in.

As for the rat chewing the cable, I've never seen that happen. The cable used today has TWO stranded shield layers and one or two solid foil layers. Not saying it's possible, but I've never seen it and you shouldn't have to do anything to protect the cable except don't nail into it or staple into it.

It's possible that (1) their service was out - did your neighbors have TV? (2) their connection at the pole came loose or needed a new connector or (3) the entrance fuse might have shorted.

J

tenplay wrote:

[Dr. Hardcrab]

A satellite dish??

[Red Neckerson]

or another cable company.....

[Bob]

I could have also been a rat with a furry tail, more commonly know as a squirrel. Both of them can do severe damage. Did he show your wife the chewed cable? Was he outside long enough to replace the cable? Find out where it happened and cover it with wire mesh.

[Bob]

Depending on where he lives, that may not be possible. Comcast negotiates exclusive rights with a lot of municipalities.

[tenplay]

I have seen squirrels around our property. When you say to cover it with wire mesh, are you saying to wrap wire mesh around the length of the cable that is exposed? Thanks.

[Dr. Hardcrab]

I live in a county where we are surrounded by Comcast. They even have a hold on the northern end. I haven't figured out why the guy that has the local company hasn't sold out yet.

All joking aside, I've seen mice (not rats) chew through all kinds of wires so anything is possible...

[Rusht Limpalless]

[Bob]

[Red Neckerson]

"tenplay" wrote

NO! Yew IDGIT!!

Wrap it around the squirrel!!!

[buffalobill]

buy some sticky self-baited rat traps, install them inside your basement and check them if you notice dead animal smell. don't worry about the cable.

[Art Todesco]

[Bob]

[mm]

I had mice for a while and other than eating into boxes of food and a big bag of birdseed, the two noticeable things I've found were microcassettes -- they didn't damage the case but they cut the tape on

4 of them, out of a bunch I had lying on the table or the floor.

And teeny weeny headphones -- they ate part way through the wires on 3 pair, allowing the metal to show, and in each case cutting through one wire so they don't work. None of them were plugged in.

AFAICT. they didn't touch any of my full size cassettes. or my thicker wires, which are still easily thin enough that they can get their teeth around them. Most of my wire is at least 10 years old. Is the insulation on ear-buds made of something different from earlier years?

I wonder what makes them like this stuff.

Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also.

[mm]

I think he meant to wrap it around the squirrel.

Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also.

[Larry Bud]

Yes. When I moved into my house I just asked the the Comcast guy verify that a signal was coming through to the modem and I'd install the rest because when I was at my apartment, the guy didn't know squat.

[Bob]

Most of the time they use it for nesting material.

[gfretwell]

Squirells got mine. I watched the guy cut out the chewed part and hand it to me..