I got lucky the last time I called Comcast tech support, I found a guy w/ a brain.  But to get info 
out of him and get him off script I first described what tests I had done and what the problem was. 
 I also let him know that I was an experienced tech.  He point out something I have rarely seen, a 
damaged Winsock and I went and found instructions on forcing a reinstall.  This was after a  virus, 
so I wasn't surprised that something else was fubar.   Usually I wipe and reinstall on a virus 
laden PC (in a company I always do, becasue imaging is fast and data can be dumped), but I wanted 
to actually fix this one since I was so close and thought I was done.  About 15 minutes later, all 
was well.   Luckily I had DamnSmall Linux there to help.

Brian Kelsay

>>> <kurt@verruckt.org> 02/23/04 09:49PM >>>

Just so everyone stays in check... Its not exclusive to TW. I also had this
problem with Comcast. Tech Support is worthless. I would have spent the rest
of my life unplugging my lan, and rebooting my pc. Luckily I have a friend
who works for Comcast, and told me what to ask for. After three phone calls
to tech support, he told me to ask for a "line check" (or something like
that, its been a while, sorry). The next time we had this problem, the
lineman on call, came out and hooked up some sort of electronic gizmo to our
box outside the house (i was not home, so this is my wifes literal
translation). It was some equipment in our neighborhood that split the lines
out to all the houses that was failing. Was told later that it was quite
old. It was replaced the next day and have had no problems since. If you are
in an older neighborhood, it might be worth looking into. Just a thought.