Re: [PLUG] cable modem and a distribution amp

[James Barrett <jadoba@jadoba.net>]

A few years back I was having some trouble with my cable internet 
service. I called Comcast, and a tech came out who tested the line 
coming in. He said that the signal was strong, and mentioned something 
about strong signals being good for TV reception but bad for cable 
modems. What he did was put a resistor or dampener of some sort on the 
end of the coaxial cable as it entered the modem. It looked sort of like 
an adapter, but did not change any connectors. It solved the problem.

Sometime between then and now we have gotten a different modem, this 
time a motorola surfboard. I still get nearly flawless connection 
uptime, and right now the downstream power level is -6 dBmV (a negative 
six). The signal to noise ratio is 37dB.

Also, while calling comcast for tech support is useless, they have been 
useful for finding out if there is an outage in my area. Usually it 
requires asking to speak to a supervisor.

HTH

gyoza@comcast.net wrote:
> Hmm.  I read that digital signals could be lower than analog signals.  0 
> dBmV being ideal for analog TV.
>
> Do you know what the signal strength difference is now?  (My amp is +8 
> dB per outlet.)
>
> I had Internet trouble recently, before the amp was added.  I don't 
> think the problem was on my end.  But, I do see a new problem with the 
> amp in place.  There is some video noise; a faint vertical pattern at a 
> slight angle creating a cross hatch on some channels.
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