Hotel Internet (Comcast) broken -- suggestions?

I'm staying at a Ramada Inn in the Washington D.C. area for a few months that
advertises Ethernet internet access via Comcast in each room.

Normally it is dynamic IP (DHCP) setup. When you run your browser, a Comcast
web page comes up and once you click on the "Connect" button, you're up and
running for all TCP/IP applications.

Well, in my current room the internet access isn't working. Pings anywhere
fail.

I had the hotel "engineer" come and replace the little box on the wall that
branches off the Ethernet connector from the TV cable. The replacement was
brand new (I watched him take it out of the packaging and install it). No
change in net access.

The TV signal is what I would call excellent -- no visible noise, so as far
as connection issues, it doesn't look like the obvious cause. All connectors
seem tight and no frayed connections. I tried using a known-good Ethernet
cable in place of the hotel's cable with no improvement.

The engineer is a bit challenged when talking about computers or electronics,
so I think he's "maxed out" as far as troubleshooting. There seem to be
several -- nay, many -- rooms where internet access is broken.

What is the network topology in a hotel? Is there a huge router or switch
that handles all the traffic? I'd like to get ideas from the network
newsgroup readers regarding how to fix this that I can suggest to the
engineer -- or do it myself (I'm an electronics technician familiar with
networking small offices and homes).

After changing rooms a few times I finally found one with an air-conditioner
that didn't keep me awake all night, so I'm not likely to change rooms
because of network access. (I have internet access during the day, but
meetings take up much of this time, so this really limits my ability to
e-mail, etc. during the day.) FYI, Internet access in some of the other rooms
I've stayed in worked fine.

Any and all suggestions to help get internet into my hotel room would be
greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
--
John English

I said:

> I had the hotel "engineer" come and replace the little box on the wall that
> branches off the Ethernet connector from the TV cable. The replacement was
> brand new (I watched him take it out of the packaging and install it). No
> change in net access.

It just struck me that this box might be a cable modem. Does this mean that
there might be some switches inside that I can fiddle to try to fix the
problem?

Ideas?
--
John English

"John E." <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) news.net...
> I'm staying at a Ramada Inn in the Washington D.C. area for a few months
that
> advertises Ethernet internet access via Comcast in each room.
>
> Normally it is dynamic IP (DHCP) setup. When you run your browser, a
Comcast
> web page comes up and once you click on the "Connect" button, you're up
and
> running for all TCP/IP applications.
>
> Well, in my current room the internet access isn't working. Pings anywhere
> fail.
>
> I had the hotel "engineer" come and replace the little box on the wall
that
> branches off the Ethernet connector from the TV cable. The replacement was
> brand new (I watched him take it out of the packaging and install it). No
> change in net access.
>
> The TV signal is what I would call excellent -- no visible noise, so as
far
> as connection issues, it doesn't look like the obvious cause. All
connectors
> seem tight and no frayed connections. I tried using a known-good Ethernet
> cable in place of the hotel's cable with no improvement.
>
> The engineer is a bit challenged when talking about computers or
electronics,
> so I think he's "maxed out" as far as troubleshooting. There seem to be
> several -- nay, many -- rooms where internet access is broken.

I had similar problems where a hotel was going under renovations.
Could be a lot of things that can cause what you observe.

Make friends with someone staying in a nearby room w/ working internet and
put a wireless router on their modem.

"Dana" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> "John E." <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed) news.net...
>> I'm staying at a Ramada Inn in the Washington D.C. area for a few months
> that
>> advertises Ethernet internet access via Comcast in each room.
>>
>> Normally it is dynamic IP (DHCP) setup. When you run your browser, a
> Comcast
>> web page comes up and once you click on the "Connect" button, you're up
> and
>> running for all TCP/IP applications.
>>
>> Well, in my current room the internet access isn't working. Pings
>> anywhere
>> fail.
>>
>> I had the hotel "engineer" come and replace the little box on the wall
> that
>> branches off the Ethernet connector from the TV cable. The replacement
>> was
>> brand new (I watched him take it out of the packaging and install it). No
>> change in net access.
>>
>> The TV signal is what I would call excellent -- no visible noise, so as
> far
>> as connection issues, it doesn't look like the obvious cause. All
> connectors
>> seem tight and no frayed connections. I tried using a known-good Ethernet
>> cable in place of the hotel's cable with no improvement.
>>
>> The engineer is a bit challenged when talking about computers or
> electronics,
>> so I think he's "maxed out" as far as troubleshooting. There seem to be
>> several -- nay, many -- rooms where internet access is broken.
>
> I had similar problems where a hotel was going under renovations.
> Could be a lot of things that can cause what you observe.
>
>

John E. wrote:

> I'm staying at a Ramada Inn in the Washington D.C. area for a few
> months that advertises Ethernet internet access via Comcast in each
> room.
>
> Normally it is dynamic IP (DHCP) setup. When you run your browser, a
> Comcast web page comes up and once you click on the "Connect" button,
> you're up and running for all TCP/IP applications.
>
> Well, in my current room the internet access isn't working. Pings
> anywhere fail.
>
> I had the hotel "engineer" come and replace the little box on the
> wall that branches off the Ethernet connector from the TV cable. The
> replacement was brand new (I watched him take it out of the packaging
> and install it). No change in net access.
>
> The TV signal is what I would call excellent -- no visible noise, so
> as far as connection issues, it doesn't look like the obvious cause.
> All connectors seem tight and no frayed connections. I tried using a
> known-good Ethernet cable in place of the hotel's cable with no
> improvement.
>
> The engineer is a bit challenged when talking about computers or
> electronics, so I think he's "maxed out" as far as troubleshooting.
> There seem to be several -- nay, many -- rooms where internet access
> is broken.
>
> What is the network topology in a hotel? Is there a huge router or
> switch that handles all the traffic? I'd like to get ideas from the
> network newsgroup readers regarding how to fix this that I can
> suggest to the engineer -- or do it myself (I'm an electronics
> technician familiar with networking small offices and homes).
>
> After changing rooms a few times I finally found one with an
> air-conditioner that didn't keep me awake all night, so I'm not
> likely to change rooms because of network access. (I have internet
> access during the day, but meetings take up much of this time, so
> this really limits my ability to e-mail, etc. during the day.) FYI,
> Internet access in some of the other rooms I've stayed in worked
> fine.
>
> Any and all suggestions to help get internet into my hotel room would
> be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks,

You may benefit by installing Wireshark (fka ethereal) and sniffing to
see what traffic you see. there are a lot of things that can be
broken. But getting a sniffer capture may point you in the right
direction.

Do you get a link light?

--

hsb


"Somehow I imagined this experience would be more rewarding" Calvin
**************************ROT13 MY ADDRESS*************************
Due to the volume of email that I receive, I may not be able to
reply to emails sent to my account. Please post a followup instead.
************************************************** ******************

In article <(E-Mail Removed) .net>,
DaveC <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>Thus spake Hansang Bae:
> ...
>> Do you get a link light?
>
>Yes, I get a link light. And my TCP/IP control panel says that I'm getting a
>self-assigned IP address (is the address important? If so, I'll have to check
>when I go back to the hotel tonight).

By "self-assigned IP address" do you mean its a 169.254/16 address?

If so it means DHCP ain't working.

--
-- Rod --
rodd(at)polylogics(dot)com

Thus spake Hansang Bae:

> You may benefit by installing Wireshark (fka ethereal) and sniffing to see
> what traffic you see. there are a lot of things that can be broken. But
> getting a sniffer capture may point you in the right direction.

I'll get an equivalent for the Mac and see what I can see. What should I look
for?

> Do you get a link light?

Yes, I get a link light. And my TCP/IP control panel says that I'm getting a
self-assigned IP address (is the address important? If so, I'll have to check
when I go back to the hotel tonight).

Ideas? Suggestions?

Thanks,
--
DaveC
(E-Mail Removed)
This is an invalid return address
Please reply in the news group

Thus spake Rod Dorman:

> By "self-assigned IP address" do you mean its a 169.254/16 address?
>
> If so it means DHCP ain't working.

I don't remember the exact address, but yes, it's 169.x.x.x I think.

So, this means that maybe the TV cable to my room isn't hooked to the
mega-switch in the cable closet? Is that the likeliest problem?

Thanks,
--
DaveC
(E-Mail Removed)
This is an invalid return address
Please reply in the news group

In article <(E-Mail Removed) .net>,
DaveC <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>Thus spake Rod Dorman:
>> By "self-assigned IP address" do you mean its a 169.254/16 address?
>> If so it means DHCP ain't working.
>
>I don't remember the exact address, but yes, it's 169.x.x.x I think.
>
>So, this means that maybe the TV cable to my room isn't hooked to the
>mega-switch in the cable closet? Is that the likeliest problem?

Thats one possibility, another is some router not forwarding the DHCP
request.

--
-- Rod --
rodd(at)polylogics(dot)com