How to Fix a Crappy Comcast Wifi Connection

I’m not going to begrudge anyone for using the modem and router that their ISP provides them. You shouldn’t—because you’re probably paying your ISP to “rent” a device that isn’t very good—but not everyone has the patience or inclination to understand the nuances of wireless networking, or even their monthly bill.

On Instagram the other day, a friend of mine—a teacher currently spending her days video-chatting a room full of kids—was complaining about her Internet connection. Her video chats kept dropping, and she was seeking any troubleshooting advice the Insta-masses could send her way. She admitted she know nothing about wifi, but presumed that was the problem.

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We got to talking, and she showed me her gear, which included, you guessed it: a Motorola cable modem/router she got from Comcast (a freebie, she claims). As we talked more, she listed the following key details:

• Her internet connection feels slow and inconsistent on her laptop and phone

• She’s using her laptop all of 15 feet away from her Motorola modem/router (so range probably isn’t an issue here)

That’s it. While that didn’t give me a lot to go with, it did get me thinking of some possible solutions. My advice follows, with one caveat—the settings I’m talking about may or may not exist on your specific modem/router combination, or they might be located in a slightly different location. I can’t troubleshoot every device, but these generalities should be enough to help you out if you’re also suffering from shitty wifi with Comcast.

Make sure your preferred device isn’t slowing you down

If you’re experiencing a slow wireless connection or your connection keeps dropping, make sure you’ve tested your wifi on other devices around the same spot. This helps troubleshooting immensely by giving you a clue as to whether your device is to blame—say, a crappy wifi controller on an old laptop—or whether your wireless setup is having issues.

Make sure you’re running the same speed tests on each device. It’s always possible there’s a problem upstream, which you can verify by physically connecting a device (like a desktop or laptop computer) to your modem/router and running a speed test there. If you get wildly different results between your wired and wireless devices, and the latter are much slower, there’s the problem.

If everything is slow, perhaps there’s something wrong with your modem/router or the connection going into your home. Or maybe you forgot you’re actually paying for a pretty crappy internet plan (especially if the apps you’re using, like video chat, require a bit more oomph). You can check all of this by calling your ISP and talking the issue through with them; they can run tests on their end to verify the strength and quality of the connection going into your home.

Don’t forget to do basic physical troubleshooting, either: turn your cable modem/router on and off. If that doesn’t fix everything, turn it off, unplug all the network cables, disconnect the coaxial cable, then plug everything back in. Turn the cable modem/router back on. See if that improves your situation.

Use apps that make troubleshooting easier

I realized very quickly that my usual methods of troubleshooting a router—jumping right into its web-based configuration screen, if it has one—probably weren’t going to be very helpful, as these web-based UIs are generally complicated and perplexing for people who aren’t versed in router-speak. Apps are a little better, but they generally have a lot of settings that an average person just doesn’t understand. They can set up a password for their wireless networks, but that’s about it.

As much as it pains me to suggest it, the first thing I would do is grab Xfinity’s “My Account” app to help simplify the router management process. It doesn’t give you full access to your router’s settings—unfortunately, we’ll have to dig through that web-based UI for that—but it’ll get you started with simpler troubleshooting (and it looks a lot prettier).

Credit: David Murphy

To get started, tap on the “Internet” tab at the bottom. If you tap on “Troubleshoot Modem,” you can reset your cable modem/router via your app—saving you the trouble of having to go find it and pull power cables. Tap on your cable modem, however, and you’ll see a few interesting settings:

Credit: David Murphy

I’d turn off “Home hotspot,” which is basically just a way for others to leech off your cable modem/router. This theoretically doesn’t affect your monthly bandwidth—or, allegedly, your connection speed—but I suspect that’s incorrect. The radios your cable modem/router uses to transmit and receive data can’t process all the data from all the devices simultaneously. To simplify it, every device gets a small slice of the router’s time and resources. The more devices you add to the equation, the more latency and slowness everyone has to deal with (potentially).

Reset your cable modem/router and see if that improves things. I suspect you’ll need a little more help, but it’s a start.

Dig deeper into your modem/router’s settings

Within that same screen, tap on “Change WiFi Settings Using xFi.” I’m going to assume, for the purposes of this article, that your router can accept this kind of configuring. If not, you have to approach the problem via the web-based method. I’ll get to that in a bit.

Tapping on that link loads up a simplified configuration screen for your modem/router, which should start you on the “Connect” tab. Next, tap on your modem/router’s name and/or wifi network, which should load this screen:

Credit: David Murphy

Tap on “See Network,” and then tap on the big “Advanced Settings” box at the bottom—isn’t it great how buried this is, by the way? Once you’ve done that, you’ll see a screen that looks like this:

Credit: David Murphy

The Best Ways to Boost Your Home Wifi Read More

Adjust your 2.4GHz/5GHz setup

Tap on the first option, “2.4 and 5 GHz WiFi.” A 2.4GHz signal generally carries farther, but it can be a lot slower due to wireless interference and the inherent speed limitations of wireless-n. 5GHz can be a lot faster at closer range—and is the only way to get top-shelf wireless-ac speeds.

Your router/modem is probably set up to use the same wireless network name and password for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz. You might be able to split them here—and I recommend you do that, so you can have more fine-grain control over which one your devices connect to. You can also confirm that your modem/router is set to automatically select the right channels to use on 2.4GHz and 5GHz. Don’t bother specifying a channel unless you’ve first done your homework.

Check your DNS Server

Odds are good that your modem/router is using Comcast’s DNS, or Domain Name System, instead of a much faster one. You can’t change that here (seeing a common thread?), but you can at least confirm this is the case. Tap on the “DNS Server” option under Advanced Settings, take a look at what’s listed under “Primary DNS” and confirm it’s Comcast’s DNS with a simple web search.

Since Comcast hard-codes this value into its modem/routers, you’ll want change it to a much speedier DNS on each of your devices. It’ll be an involved process, but it might help improve your overall experience—especially when you’re browsing the web.

Visit your modem/router’s web-based configuration

Credit: David Murphy

Pull up a web browser and type in the address for your modem/router’s admin tool—typically 10.0.0.1, but it could vary based on what gear you have. Your login and password should be admin / password, unless you’ve previously changed them. If you have, make your guesses count, because your modem/router will lock you out for a few minutes after a few incorrect attempts.

Once you’re in, you’ll probably see a bunch of options, like so:

Credit: David Murphy

It’s possible, and probable, that your device’s setup will look different than mine. (I haven’t used many Comcast-issued modem/routers in my life, but I’m assuming they’re all going to be a little bit different.)

Credit: David Murphy

You’ll want to start with whatever option relates to your wireless connection/networks (“Connection,” in the above examples). If you couldn’t split your combined wireless network into a separate 2.4GHz and 5GHz network before, you should find that option here. You’ll also be able to click on “Edit,” or some version thereof, to adjust your wireless network’s channel selection (automatic!) and bandwidth. (Try the highest you can get unless you’re running into a ton of connectivity issues. Dialing it back down could fix that, especially on your 2.4GHz network.)

Credit: David Murphy

Consider adjusting your firewall

If your cable modem/router, like mine, has a bunch of different options for your Firewall, consider dialing back your security a bit to potentially improve (or allow) connections via whatever software you’re trying to use on your systems. For example:

Credit: David Murphy

Were I to stick with “Medium,” I’d really be messing up some of my P2P activity, as shown in menu:

Credit: David Murphy

Kicking that down to “Low” could hopefully solve connection issues I might be having using those apps. The same is true if, say, you’re going wild and setting your firewall’s security to “high.” Dial back a wee bit—don’t turn it off—and you might improve your experience.

Make sure your modem/router’s Parental Controls are off

If, by chance, you accidentally turned them on for any reason, make sure that your router doesn’t have Parental Controls enabled:

Credit: David Murphy

While I doubt most people have this issue, it’s certainly possible that some rule got activated for home devices and is interfering with your ability to use a certain app or service. It’s a long shot, but it doesn’t hurt to glance over this section while you’re already in your modem/router’s settings menu.

Buy a new router—or move it

Finally, I want to point your attention to the “Bridge Mode” setting (it’s on the first page of options for my router/modem). This turns your modem/router into a simple modem. You’ll then need to connect your own router to it to set up a wireless network, but this could be a great option—one I wholeheartedly recommend as a mini-upgrade—to improve connectivity around your home—especially if your router/modem is located in an odd place or you’re just fed up trying to get a working signal.

Credit: David Murphy

As always, the usual rules of improving your wireless network’s signal still apply, provided you’re planning to stick with your existing modem/router. Generally speaking, that means putting your modem/router in a central location in your home, or at least in the same room as where you’re most likely to use (or need) a strong wireless signal. Whenever possible, use wired connections instead of wireless ones to achieve the best possible speeds for your priority devices (like a desktop or laptop PC). Make sure you’re using a router/modem that can handle the fastest speeds for the devices you own—and you’re using the right wireless network (your 5GHz one) to achieve them, whenever you’re within close range of your router/modem.

Troubleshooting a crappy wireless connection is never fun (and often leads you down a number of curious and strange paths), but these general tips should get you going. And I maintain that your best bet is to return your modem/router to your provider, buy one yourself that’s compatible with your ISP and/or the service you’re paying for, and combine it with a great wireless router. This kind of a DIY setup will always deliver the best performance in the end.