amateur/pro cable techs in here...

[2001Ponypower]

We finally have cable where I'm living but it still sort of sucks since it originally goes into one room. Well, I decided to try and split it and got mixed results not limited to but including bad reception on local channels and ghosting and bad reception on channels numbering in the 50s.

I know that when a signal is split, it will indeed lose its strength and that a signal amp is an option, yet I've heard that a signal amp is pointless if you're making only two splits (one to the VCR/TV and the other to another room).

I was using a 1 ghz splitter too.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

[sport the war]

amplifiers do nothing for return signal, if that's where the problem is at, chances are you're to far away from the ped, a amplifier can trick the box to think the signal is good, but really it's not. most companies use amplifiers in apartment buildings. apartmentbuildings have a single cable coming in and 90% of the time the cables that are ran inside the building are the same cables from when the building was built, they're rotten and do not support digital. they use the amplifier in those cases to trick the cable box/modem to thinking it's signal is strong. i use an amplifier just for picking up extra megs on my modem. idealy the house/apartment will have a 0 - 5 for digital/HD boxes, if you're in the - X signal strenth you're going to have latiency issues that will not always show up as pingtimes more of a lost data.

universal way to enter your modem is 192.168.100.1 in internet exploder. you never want to split anything before the modem and the drop, the drop can have a spliter, but nothing after that splitter should be going to your modem or HD boxes. splitters are usually 3.5 to 5.0 a Bar or "Female to Female" is a 2.0 signal drop. if you're running multiple boxes you can lose up to 2-4 signal strenth each time a box is active or on. so technically you're ideal signal strenth with a couple of boxes would be plus 10 at the point of entry to the house off each side of the 2 way splitter, a 3 way splitter will see drops of 7 or greater. never run a modem off your VCR or other TV Out. you're going to see upwards of 10 signal strenth loss.

ideally speaking you would want something like this,

Downstream
Freq/Power: 729.000 MHz 20 dBmV
Signal to Noise Ratio: 36 dB
Modulation: QAM256

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Upstream
Freq/Power: 37.008 MHz 42 dBmV
Channel Type: DOCSIS 1.x (TDMA)

Symbol Rate: 2560 kSym/sec

Modulation: QAM16


that's a copy of what my modem is currently sitting at.

[Video_Master]

We finally have cable where I'm living but it still sort of sucks since it originally goes into one room. Well, I decided to try and split it and got mixed results not limited to but including bad reception on local channels and ghosting and bad reception on channels numbering in the 50s.

I know that when a signal is split, it will indeed lose its strength and that a signal amp is an option, yet I've heard that a signal amp is pointless if you're making only two splits (one to the VCR/TV and the other to another room).

I was using a 1 ghz splitter too.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Are you in an apartment?
Is this just for TV or for Internet also?

[2001Ponypower]

Apt. and I'm interested in only Tvs right now.

sport the war, I'm keeping your post for when/if I do hook up a cable modem.

[MisterCMK]

I've had problems with Comcast and signal strength in the past in Maple Grove. Have them check the signal strength going into your house to make sure its at acceptable levels. If they are you will need an amp. I can help you check out the wiring in your house and getting the right splitter/taps/amps next time I am home.

[Video_Master]

Apt. and I'm interested in only Tvs right now.

sport the war, I'm keeping your post for when/if I do hook up a cable modem.

Apartment buildings are notorious for a poor signal cause they split off so many times in the building itself. Just add a booster before the splitter and you will be just fine.

[2001Ponypower]

Apartment buildings are notorious for a poor signal cause they split off so many times in the building itself. Just add a booster before the splitter and you will be just fine.

We can try that.

And I'll probably take MisterCMK up on his idea too. PM me next time you're around and I'll actually look at the board more this month, I promise.

Oh and yeah he'll call me even more ghetto now that he knows exactly where I live considering there's only one apartment complex near Eagle Lake

[68GTO]

ideally speaking you would want something like this,

Downstream
Freq/Power: 729.000 MHz 20 dBmV
Signal to Noise Ratio: 36 dB
Modulation: QAM256

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Upstream
Freq/Power: 37.008 MHz 42 dBmV
Channel Type: DOCSIS 1.x (TDMA)

Symbol Rate: 2560 kSym/sec

Modulation: QAM16


that's a copy of what my modem is currently sitting at.

How does this look?

[Joe M]

Hrmm,
The new house we just moved into, has good cableing, but ive got a shitty Cable connection. Running various speed tests, im lucky to see 4 MB on a 6 mB connection.

I do know that I am a couple of blocks from the nearest box, so that may be an issue.
If that is the case, would it be comcast's responsibility for getting my connection to me better?

[sport the war]

nice, what model surfboard? hopefully a 51. it's actually pretty good, the signal is at 6, anything that says - x is garbage, you want to be around 0-10, if you're looking for crazy fast speeds, im sitting at 20 signal strenth. but that's also running an amplifier. the signal to noise makes me think you might have some minor latiency issues, the noise is really how clean the signal is, you're sitting right about dead center in the middle of good and bad but other then that it looks really good.

judging by your signal i'd say you're in a house. apartments are notorious for -10 - 15 signal and 56 noise.

[68GTO]

nice, what model surfboard? hopefully a 51. it's actually pretty good, the signal is at 6, anything that says - x is garbage, you want to be around 0-10, if you're looking for crazy fast speeds, im sitting at 20 signal strenth. but that's also running an amplifier. the signal to noise makes me think you might have some minor latiency issues, the noise is really how clean the signal is, you're sitting right about dead center in the middle of good and bad but other then that it looks really good.

judging by your signal i'd say you're in a house. apartments are notorious for -10 - 15 signal and 56 noise.

If that comment is to me, I'm in a house. I have a 5100. The signal comes into a splitter, one to computer, the other to a "block" with 4 other splits. It seem pretty good.

[MisterCMK]

We can try that.

And I'll probably take MisterCMK up on his idea too. PM me next time you're around and I'll actually look at the board more this month, I promise.

Oh and yeah he'll call me even more ghetto now that he knows exactly where I live considering there's only one apartment complex near Eagle Lake

Sounds good. I'll even get ahold of a dB meter from work so we can meter everything out.

[sport the war]

If that comment is to me, I'm in a house. I have a 5100. The signal comes into a splitter, one to computer, the other to a "block" with 4 other splits. It seem pretty good.

nice, that's the way it should be. what are you seeing for speed?

www.dslreports.com click on tools and speed tests then on the view all tests and check out the burnsville location, seems to be one of the better tests

[68GTO]

nice, that's the way it should be. what are you seeing for speed?

www.dslreports.com click on tools and speed tests then on the view all tests and check out the burnsville location, seems to be one of the better tests

Could not find "view all tests..." Got 5000 download with 364 upload. They said this was 20% down from average download and 14% down on upload.

[tim]

Apartment buildings are notorious for a poor signal cause they split off so many times in the building itself. Just add a booster before the splitter and you will be just fine.

Please link me to a booster. My cable sucks in my apartment. It is the original shit from like 1970 when they built them. When the cable guy came he said the strength was below what it should be but it still 'should' work fine Well, it doesnt always work fine and they want to charge me to come look at it.