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:
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.