My cable goes up and down on service. The Comcast folks pinged it and it shows bad signal to noise. Since its relatively new, any ideas on how to check my in-house cable for good connections? Is there a meter/device to do so?
My cable goes up and down on service. The Comcast folks pinged it and it shows bad signal to noise. Since its relatively new, any ideas on how to check my in-house cable for good connections? Is there a meter/device to do so?
In older homes like these, the main remodeling goal is often a more welcoming, more social, and more functional kitchen.
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Replies
Aside from your in-house cabling, you may also try to have Comcast check the cable modem itself. I have Comcast and had trouble also- worked OK sometimes, other times it didn't. They pinged it and told me to take my modem in and swap for a new one. This one works like a dream- always consistent (and faster than the old one).
Good Luck.
The main thing is to avoid splitters. The cable coming into your house should go through AT MOST one (premium quality) splitter to split it between TV and modem.
Beyond that, be sure that the cable ends are in good condition. Sometimes, especially on field-assembled cables, the center conductor "retracts" into the cable and fails to make good connection.
I am scrathing my arse and looking at the cable box. No ground wire. Should this be grounded, and if it is not, lead to more noise in the signal?
Was told to cap off any unused runs. You can buy the terminators at Wally World etc. Apparently, all those electrons get bottled up at the dead ends.
By the way, our comcast guy suggested we install our modem at the entry point in our basement. We hooked it up to a wireless router right there and its been golden no worries about bad cable runs through the walls. Right from the junction box, in to the house, to a powered splitter he installed, (pretty cool by the way because it uses coax as a power cable rather than wire), then really short cable to the modem which also connects to the router sitting right next to it.
It's best to use a "narrower" splitter vs terminating unused outputs, but unused outputs definitely should be terminated -- can cause "reflections" that might mess up the modem.
As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place. --Rabbi Sheila Peltz, on her visit to Auschwitz
I did cap them off, and I do have a surge protector, but I am wondering about grounding at the entrance to the house, at the panel if you will.
The surge protector will ground the system adequately, but actually code calls for a grounding block near where the cable enters the house. Usually this is covered by the cable company's "network access" box outside the house (or near the cable entrance inside), but some older systems may not have this.
As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place. --Rabbi Sheila Peltz, on her visit to Auschwitz
"I did cap them off, and I do have a surge protector, but I am wondering about grounding at the entrance to the house, at the panel if you will."In most cast I have seen the cable company does install a grounding block where the cable comes into the house.But they often don't do a good job of connecting to the equipment grounding system. The best is to use a ground electode (rod) that is also used by, or bonded to, the panel. Or run a bonding wire directly to the panel..
William the Geezer, the sequel to Billy the Kid - Shoe
You definitely should get one of those plug strips with a built-in surge arrester for cable, and put that ahead of your modem (or ahead of the splitter that splits between modem and TV). That will ground the system and protect the modem and anything downstream from it from lightning surges.
Alternatively, you can get something like this:
View Image
As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place. --Rabbi Sheila Peltz, on her visit to Auschwitz