[Discuss] Cable Modem Woes / Looking to Compare Notes

[Rick Umali]

Tom, et al.

Thank you for the thoughts on this thread! And Tom, to respond to your
questions:

 > I'm not following whether your in-wall wiring is still in the circuit
 > going to your cable modem, or if it is only being used for the TV. Was
 > the hookup to "the side of the house" temporary to prove you had a good
 > signal, or did he run a new line?

The in-wall wiring is no longer in the circuit. The hookup to the side of
our house is permanent.

>From the side of our house, the line goes to a 3-way splitter: one to the
cable modem, one to the 1st floor, and one to the 2nd floor. Before that,
the 1st floor line was split at the TV to feed the cable modem.

I appreciate the recommendations, especially the one about the admin
interface to the cable modem. I logged into it once, but didn't understand
what I was looking at. The link to dslreports.com helped!

On Thu, Apr 25, 2013 at 8:53 PM, Tom Metro <tmetro+blu at gmail.com> wrote:

> Rick Umali wrote:
> > When our TV began to exhibit tiling, we called Comcast, and the
> > technician determined our signal wasn't strong enough. He put in new
> > coax "from the pole" to the side of our house.
>
> Makes sense, as coax cable does seem to degrade with age.
>
> When I upgraded to digital TV service several years back, Comcast techs
> also replaced the coax from the pole drop due to signal loss.
>
>
> > ...said the signal to our cable modem was weak, and he took the coax
> > from the side of the house and directly connected it to the cable
> > modem.
> >
> > ...technician said that the coax in our house walls are of an older
> > generation.
>
> I'm not following whether your in-wall wiring is still in the circuit
> going to your cable modem, or if it is only being used for the TV. Was
> the hookup to "the side of the house" temporary to prove you had a good
> signal, or did he run a new line?
>
> It seems they have repeatedly proven that they are delivering an
> inadequate signal to you. Do their signal measurements still show a weak
> signal at the current location of your cable modem?
>
>
> > He recommended that we replace it...
>
> If it is working adequately for your TV service, I'd probably leave it
> as-is and run a separate line for the modem. With the modem you have the
> flexibility of relocating it to the basement or other out of the way
> location that happens to be close to where the cable enters your house.
> (Then distribute by CAT5 or WiFi from there.)
>
> If there is concern that the old wiring is attenuating the signal, you
> can use a distribution amplifier to isolate the branch going to the
> in-wall wiring.
>
>
> > ...but it's something an electrician would have to do.
>
> I believe from a building code and insurance perspective, a homeowner is
> free to do any low-voltage wiring they wish, even if it is in-wall.
> Whether that's a job you *prefer* an electrician to do, is another matter.
>
>
> > ...Comcast has suggested we replace the cable modem.>
> > My big fear is that replacing the cable modem won't fix anything.
>
> Given the signal problems uncovered so far, a modem replacement doesn't
> sound promising. I'd probably take another stab at improving the wiring
> first. Then try the rental modem approach that someone suggested. You
> might also be able to pick up a modem for close to free n Craigslist
> from someone who has switched to FIOS.
>
> I would also suggest looking into the administration interface on your
> cable modem to see if it has signal strength and quality reporting. (You
> may need to dig around on forums like http://www.dslreports.com/ to find
> out how to access this.) That could help you pin down whether the loss
> of net connectivity is in fact due to poor signal, as you are assuming.
>
>  -Tom
>
> --
> Tom Metro
> Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
> "Enterprise solutions through open source."
> Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/
>



-- 
Rick Umali / www.rickumali.com