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[Kaladin]

Today I had Mediacom over for the third time in a month looking at my internet (cable internet). The internet would go down every night the temperature drops to around or below 45 degrees F. They said the signal we were getting from them was too high.

First guy that came out looked at the numbers and determined there was nothing he could do, but had a crew out in the neighborhood the next day to look at the lines and fix the signal that way....that didn't work.

Second guy that came out looked at the same numbers the first guy did and changed out our connectors and added a splitter to the internet saying we were good to go....we weren't.

This time, the second guy came with another guy whom I'm assuming was his supervisor and they worked together to get the numbers down. They added stuff on the connection with the house more than the actual modem this time. I didn't see what the one guy did on the side of the house because I was inside watching the guy there. I don't know much about the readings other than they were actually lower than they have been the other two times, but they said it should be in the range where it won't go down anymore. I'll know Thursday night when it gets down to 29.


Has anyone had any similar issues and did it get fixed? I've read up a bit on it and it sounds like people never get this problem fixed.

Edit: There is an update

 

[Sanjuro]

Just got to heat up the connection a bit. Here.

My area it's just strong weather.

 

[joelseph]

It sounds like they are checking signal strength. The more splits you put on that line from the d-mark the bigger chances of signal degradation.

If you also have television through the same provider you should turn the channel to the lowest channel on your guide during these problem times. If it's the signal dropping you will see issues with channels low on the dial.

 

[Kaladin]

It sounds like they are checking signal strength. The more splits you put on that line from the d-mark the bigger chances of signal degradation.

If you also have television through the same provider you should turn the channel to the lowest channel on your guide during these problem times. If it's the signal dropping you will see issues with channels low on the dial.

From what I've been told, it's too high. The TV has light snow on a lot of channels during the problem times, even higher ones.

 

[clav]

Can you post your modem #s here?

Usually the address is: http://192.168.100.1/

 

[Kaladin]

Can you post your modem #s here?

Usually the address is: http://192.168.100.1/

Perhaps when I get home.....I'm not there anymore.

 

[Icefire1424]

Believe it or not, this is actually pretty common when the weather gets really cold, or cold quickly. I've heard it referred to as "suck out" - basically when the weather turns cold, cable lines contract and in some cases can actually pull away from their connectors on the tap (the metal box up on the lines). When that happens, signal "leakage" occurs, which is exactly what it sounds like - RF signal either leaking from the cable (egress), or other interference leaking into the cable (ingress). It's usually fixed by line technicians checking connectors at the tap to ensure they haven't pulled away, or there is no other evidence of leakage detected (squirrel chew, cable theft, stuff like that).

Sometimes it's easy to identify, other times...not so much. Especially when it warms during the day, causing the lines to expand again - the cause usually isn't as apparent.

As far as what to do - couldn't hurt to ask your neighbors if they've noticed the same problem. Several houses reporting similar problems usually indicates a mainline problem that might need to be addressed at the tap, or beyond. If it's just you, problem is between the tap and your house. Might give the tech more information to triage the problem.

The more splits you put on that line from the d-mark the bigger chances of signal degradation.

100% true, except more splits doesn't increase the chance of degradation, it actually causes dB loss through every split. Depends on the quality of the splitter, the number of ports, and if the splitter has any open ports. It's possible to determine if the split itself might be the culprit through bypassing it altogether - plug the TV or the Modem directly into the coax coming from the wall, and see if the signal improves.

If you also have television through the same provider you should turn the channel to the lowest channel on your guide during these problem times. If it's the signal dropping you will see issues with channels low on the dial.

For an analog set (no digital box), this is still accurate. If OP has a digital box however, lower channels don't necessarily equate to a lower frequency (due to switched digital video and other factors).

 

[teruterubozu]

I thought I had the same problem - cold weather affecting my internet. But it was actually peak-time degradation. It gets cold at night, so I thought it was the temp, but it was really when my neighbors were all at home using the internet. Also, people tend to stay home on cold days.

TWC came out yesterday and gave me a new modem - no problems since. The tech guy said the older modems tend to bunch up on a singular node, whereas the newer modems can access several nodes depending on traffic. I would get a new modem.

I live in Maine where temps go to -20 degrees at night. 45 degrees shouldn't fuck up your internet

 

[Buddha Beam]

This happens to us all the time too. Soon as it gets cold or if a thunder storm rolls through, our internet connection gets really choppy. I have AT&T Uverse.

I'd switch, but my only alternative is Time Warner, and I know they're worse.

 

[Kaladin]

Believe it or not, this is actually pretty common when the weather gets really cold, or cold quickly. I've heard it referred to as "suck out" - basically when the weather turns cold, cable lines contract and in some cases can actually pull away from their connectors on the tap (the metal box up on the lines). When that happens, signal "leakage" occurs, which is exactly what it sounds like - RF signal either leaking from the cable (egress), or other interference leaking into the cable (ingress). It's usually fixed by line technicians checking connectors at the tap to ensure they haven't pulled away, or there is no other evidence of leakage detected (squirrel chew, cable theft, stuff like that).

Sometimes it's easy to identify, other times...not so much. Especially when it warms during the day, causing the lines to expand again - the cause usually isn't as apparent.

As far as what to do - couldn't hurt to ask your neighbors if they've noticed the same problem. Several houses reporting similar problems usually indicates a mainline problem that might need to be addressed at the tap, or beyond. If it's just you, problem is between the tap and your house. Might give the tech more information to triage the problem.

We know the issue. It took us a bit to correctly identify it though. We had a really cold day early January where it didn't get much above 40 and the internet never came back. That's when we knew it was weather related.

Our neighbors we knoiw don't get internet from the same provider so we can't really ask them.

 

[clav]

This happens to us all the time too. Soon as it gets cold or if a thunder storm rolls through, our internet connection gets really choppy. I have AT&T Uverse.

I'd switch, but my only alternative is Time Warner, and I know they're worse.

How much are you paying for Uverse and for what speeds?

I thought I had the same problem - cold weather affecting my internet. But it was actually peak-time degradation. It gets cold at night, so I thought it was the temp, but it was really when my neighbors were all at home using the internet.

TWC came out yesterday and gave me a new modem - no problems since. The tech guy said the older modems tend to bunch up on a singular node, whereas the newer modems can access several nodes depending on traffic. I would get a new modem.

I live in Maine where temps go to -20 degrees at night.

There are some SoCs that are more sensitive to signal level changes than others when comparing modems. There are even RAM and ROM sizes, too.

As for the tech, he's just talking about channel bonding and congestion.

 

[teruterubozu]

There are some SoCs that are more sensitive to signal level changes than others when comparing modems. There's even RAM and ROM sizes, too.

As for the tech, he's just talking about channel bonding and congestion.

Yeah that's what he was talking about. Either way, it fixed my problem.

 

[clav]

Yeah that's what he was talking about. Either way, it fixed my problem.

FYI, when DOCSIS 3.1 rolls out, you'll need to change out the modem again to take advantage of higher tier (and perhaps more reliable) speeds due to a new modulation format.

 

[Kaladin]

So as an update.....yesterday I saw Mediacom had a truck not far from our house working near the lines that connect to our house. Thought nothing of it, which is why it wasn't included here.....today....

These numbers are even lower, and I'm assuming that is a good thing. They were 6.3 at the lowest when the techs left. The bottom numbers haven't dropped much....but I think it's the top numbers they were trying to get down.

 

[knightfolk]

Here are the numbers from my modem below for comparison:

Downstream Channels:

Power Level: Signal to Noise Ratio:
Channel 1: -6.3 dBmV 39.5 dB
Channel 2: -6.2 dBmV 39.7 dB
Channel 3: -6.0 dBmV 39.4 dB
Channel 4: -6.0 dBmV 39.4 dB
Channel 5: -6.1 dBmV 39.3 dB
Channel 6: -6.2 dBmV 39.4 dB
Channel 7: -6.3 dBmV 38.9 dB
Channel 8: -6.3 dBmV 39.0 dB


Upstream Channels:

Power Level:
Channel 1: 52.5 dBmV
Channel 2: 50.9 dBmV
Channel 3: 0.0 dBmV
Channel 4: 0.0 dBmV

I have readings in the 6's and everything is working okay. It is very cold here in ND, Currently -1F.



The following page does a good job IMO of explaining what the number all mean:
http://www.dslreports.com/faq/16085

As you can see your numbers are much stronger than mine so I would say you are good to go at those levels. If you drop again check and see if any numbers are out of range.

 

[Kaladin]

My internet is jealous.