FYI A new anomaly to share with you Yesterday swapped my Infinity router modem with my Linksys ...

[G+_Rud Dog]

FYI

A new anomaly to share with you. Yesterday swapped my Infinity router/modem with my Linksys modem and Asus router. Started up a chat from within my login to my Comcast account and from there was given a link to visit to learn the steps needed to carry out the change over. Also was given a phone number to call as well.

 

Did both and was walked through the steps for swapping out my equipment and since there didn't seem to be any reason for keeping the Comcast/Infinity web site open I closed it.

 

All went as expected switch over was flawless. Then started getting the following link after I clicked on random searches returned by Google.

For example was looking up batteries and every once in while the link in question would be substituted with the Xfinity link and that page would show up instead of the link for batteries. This is the link.

https://activate.comcast.com/RoutingEngine/accountlookup.do

 

Now thought at first it was just a problem in the link so decided to clear my cache. All was fine then while googling motors one of the google supplied links took me to the link above instead of the link for motors. Checked my history and indeed the link shown above was back and in one case it had combined the url with the motor url but the Comcast/Infinity link was followed.

 

Snapped a pic of the history listing and the website.

It seems even after rebooting this remains. Ran Malware-bytes and AV and it still shows up from time to time.

 

Just so's you all know and comment if you have ever experience this.

[G+_Jason Marsh]

Hmmm... even though you get this page sometimes, do you otherwise get what you expect? Perhaps their DNS resolves random page loads to their activation page? Try changing DNS settings to point to google dns (8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4)

[G+_Rud Dog]

Jason Marsh Once you get the page shown you have to close that tab or window cause it has not back possibility. Will try the DNS test and see. Thanks.

[G+_Ben Reese]

My first thought was DNS also, but since they provide the routes to even DNS, they can return whatever they want. In my experience, service is granted to cable modems by MAC address. It could be that their setup page is functioning similar to the captive portals used in public wifi hot-spots. Once the initial setup is done, I wouldn't expect to see it again though.

 

Also, it's definitely worth updating the DNS records. It's annoying (to me, at least) and deceiving when ISPs return search results when a domain name isn't found.

[G+_Rud Dog]

This has interrupted my other projects due to the knowledge hole filling that needs to take place. This morning did another search and that pesty xfinity site showed up yet again, so now am taking the time to figure this out.

Ben you mention updating DNS records how does one do that will continue to google for the answer but so far have not succeeded in finding how to accomplish this task.

[G+_Ben Reese]

Not necessarily updating DNS records. The "records" are what say yoursite.com is at 243.85.201.6. But every DHCP server will assign IPs (from the IP range), tell where the gateway to the Internet is (default gateway), and tell the device what DNS server to use. For most people, that DHCP server is their router.

 

Every router manufacturer is a little different, but there is a section in your router config for DHCP settings. Your router should have a primary and secondary, but may also have a thirdary (?) DNS. As Jason said, Google's DNS is the easy one to remember, but there are probably a dozen good options. I'd probably set it to Google's (then reboot the router) and see if that fixes your problem. After that, you might play with Steve Gibson's DNS benchmark to see if there's a better DNS server to use. I recently switched to Open DNS because it has some simple parental controls built in to help keep my family safer.

[G+_Rud Dog]

Thank you Ben this has been resolved.

 

Hate being forced to do something on my computer by anything not me!

But after flushing everything including both toilets in the house decided to give in.

(also tried google's DNS servers)

 

The call I made to Comcast for the initial switch over from their modem/router to my Asus router and lInksys modem, went flawlessly and I had complete Internet access.

 

But as mentioned there were google searches when selected would bring back a message from Comcast rather from the intended selected item.

 

As I trouble shot this problem it got worse, came down to every thing I typed, the browser would come back with that annoying comcast url website.

 

So I caved in and followed the Comcastazi instructions to the end and that got rid of the nightmare that was Comcast.

 

If only the Comcast Tech had told me this but as we all know it rolls down hill.

 

Again thank you for your suggestions and help now back to the motor, battery and other fun projects.

[G+_Steve Martin]

You followed what instructions exactly? Just curious what you left out that resolved this issue. I've never used a Comcast Modem/Router, always opting to buy my own.

[G+_Rud Dog]

Steve Martin Hey Steve, sorry for the confusion. One of the pictures uploaded shows a screen with a 'Continue' button this screen is impossible to eliminate once you begin the process which is initiated when Tech support instructs you to go the url in question.

That button is the key to getting rid of the annoyance described in my earlier posts. It is Comcasts way of capturing and controlling your browsing till you follow the steps on that webpage. Which is odd due to the fact the switch over was carried out over the phone and completed it was not till later the problem started to confuse the hell out of me.

So if you or anyone else decided to switch over to your own equipment and witness the screens shown the simple fix if to follow the steps in the screen shots provided.