Internet Bad with Rain

Do all techs have the same meter and do techs attend training classes to operate and interpret information provided by the meter ?

I am thinking not. If you are a trouble shooting tech, then you should have the dB meter and should be trained to use it. If you read the other experiences on this thread, not many techs seem to have that meter or know how to use one.

If you had an unknown electrical problem and called an electrician who did not have a multi meter, would you feel confident he will solve the problem. Maybe he'll get lucky and problem will be obvious.

The db meter is a tool of the trade for cable trouble shooting techs, to me, no different then a multi meter or amp meter for and electrician.

I doubt that. My favorite meter for network and rf was over 4k.. and this wasn't even "top of the line".. but it was sure the hell up there.

In a word, no.

Is FIOS available in your area?

Yeah AFAIK they can't measure the signal strength over the phone/from their desk - they have to have a tech come and measure that. I bet it is exactly what JPool has already mentioned, and that's really crummy of them to not realize this and fix it - let alone charge you for their failed attempts! I would look into another ISP, but you probably already have. :(

So yeah taking a look at the connections yourself and tidying it up is looking like your next/only option with their terrible customer support. Post pics of the problem and/or fix!

Exactly why I don't have Comcast anymore. Multiple phone calls and tech visits, only the 4th one brought the meter. You could visually see corrosion in the cable at the connector. The copper wire was green and dark and the shielding had white oxide on it.

He tried cutting it back, but it went about 6 inches in and made the cable too short. He just replaced it all.

I went to ATT. Get the same speed through 2 wires as coax, and a lot less headaches.

Let me guess, they're the only ISP in the area...

Yep, except for Dish. The hell of it is Comcast's Xfinity service is really fine. Master DVR can record 4 shows, the remote has voice commands, etc.

I used to put a moisture displacement compound inside these connections before the rubber gaskets we're available.

..also is there a drip loop that keeps the connection from being at a low or travel point for wata?

Do all you neighbors get on line in the rain?

Age of the cable from pole to home?

In the home? How many splits before router? Splits per splitter? DB loss? Bi - directional

RG6QS SCCC

quad shield solid copper center conductor or other? No RG59!

When did this start?

Yes, that is most likely when all his neighbors are downloading unmentionable material on the internet.

Seems to be a common problem...

Check signal strength...

http://www.dslreports.com/faq/16085

http://www.qsl.net/pa2ohh/jsdbmdbu.htm

Aha! We have a culprit. I have a large spool of RG6 and the connectors and tools and I just bypassed the buried cable from the Comcast terminal to the house and SHAZAM! Lightning response. Now one might ask why couldn't Comcast do that and find the problem after numerous trouble calls.

I imagine Comcast brass might not appreciate my getting into their terminal, but I don't care. Now I call CS and tell them to come put in a new cable.

Thanks to all for the idea.

Same here. They ran our cable across our side yard and buried it about an inch deep.

After our oldest got a full sized 4 dr truck he ran over it every day, and it came to the surface. I just let him keep running over it for a year, then after it didn't fail, I just threw some more dirt over it and forgot it.

Sounds like SOP. Our cable was laid on the ground in winter and Comcast said they would be back in Spring to bury it. Took some calls, but they cut a slit and stuffed it in. Wonder if they will lay a new one now...

It's avarice.

I remember when repairmen wore clean uniforms and did diligent work. Now, everything is subbed out to the lowest bidder.

Some service guys are still great, some, not so great.

10, or so years ago we had a new dishwasher installed. The guy that did it was a slob, dripped water across the kitchen floor on the way out. Last year, another guy came who was fantastic. Clean, courteous and didn't leave until I was happy. You just never know.

Cable guys????????? Same thing, just roll the dice.

I replied that's the problem, I can see it. It was buried 3 days later.

That was just before I had Rabies......

I don't have and would not have buried cable. I want to know where it is, and I could give less than a d... about how it looks above ground. Thank me once again for being the sane curmudgeon in the group.

JPool^{, thank you, you made my day. "Thats the problem, I can see it"}

If you're going to have to dig a trench for new cable....... put some PVC conduit in place and the next replacement will go swimmingly easy. That's what I did and I have had to replace the RG-6 3 times for various reasons.

1. The neighbor had the electric meter replaced and they poured concrete over the direct burial coax.

2. I built raised landscape planters in the front yard and the foundation went over the coax

3. Sprinkler install cut the coax with a shovel.

The RG-6 is now in PVC conduit and travels from sidewalk to under the house.

As Peter Venkman once said, "I love this plan! I'm excited to be a part of it!"

Then again, I AM a Chicagoan, and we REALLY like putting wires inside of pipes in this town.

Such bad service these days. So few from the younger generation take pride in their jobs. I think they have lost hope. Perhaps we didn't take enough time with them.

Looks like you got a solution. Good on ya! I will definitely keep this great fix in mind for future problems. Thanks JPool, and thanks SSCpal for starting the thread.

I'm lucky. I got fibre a couple years back and the only issue I've had was caused by a rat!

You can't go around calling names to the installer like that. It will upset the rodent identity group.

When the tech was installing FIOS at my house, he asked for my help. When I had all the tools and everything right there and drilled holes for him, he asked me to help some more. I got into the crawlspace and fed ethernet cable, made the connections, etc.

Next day I called and told them all the work I (happily) did, and how friendly the technician was - so they tripled my speed. So now I'm at 150/150 mbps for $40 /m. (Until the contract runs out, of course.) I'm a pretty satisfied FIOS customer.

You are one of the FEW that would do that.... Most of the time the company sends out a single worker when there should be two.

I'm getting a bit cynical these days and have a hard time working for free when the companies keep charging me $$$$$$$ for my internet / TV / mobile phone service. All the modern convenience sure costs a lot of money every month! TV broadcasts used to be FREE!!! you just needed a TV and an antenna! Hmmmmm... and even though I pay for TV broadcast, the commercials are getting longer and more of them, or they are sped up to where you cannot understand the words when they fit a 1 minute commercial into a 15 second time slot!

In the age of dinosaurs when FM radio first came into being, it was touted to always be commercial free too. That's what got people to pay outrageous prices for the receivers. That didn't last long.

But, I agree that it is deplorable that we pay money to listen to commercial adverts when we should be just watching the news.

And, as a hearing aid wearer, it really, really, really pisses me off when I have to adjust the volume when these &%#(^$# commercials are running on and on. Congress, as usual, left the door open to increased volume during commercials while crowing that they had outlawed such.

Apparently, that happens on all news channels, because you and I both know we are not watching the same one, LOL. It affects me the same way, but wifey finally figured out where the mute button is, and she keeps trying it on me, but it never works.

What's needed is a hearing aid with a mute button for tv viewing. Only $19.99 plus handling!

"Congress, as usual, left the door open to increased volume during commercials while crowing that they had outlawed such."

Well, what they legislated was that the PEAK volume of the commercial could not exceed the PEAK volume of the previous 'act' of the show. That led to two things:

• Advertisers, as a class insisted that every 'act' of a show have one moment of sound over a set threshold.
• Commercials started using 'Dynamic Range Compression.' while the show bay use a volume range of 0dB-60dB, the commercial uses a range of 55dB-59dB (to show that their 'peak' is quieter than the show's 'peak').

I'm sure most here know the difference between measuring the Peak value of a signal, the Peak-to-Peak (P-P), and the Root-Mean-Square (RMS). With Dynamic Range Compression, they are able to maintain the Peak, reduce the P-P, and increase the RMS.

The law needs to be rewritten so that the commercial is not allowed to exceed either the Peak or the Time-Weighted Average of the show, that would force the commercial to remain no more obtrusive than the show itself.

Thank you for the reply!

So sorry for your "loss", re. the burial. Will you be holding trench-side services?

For the burial... I'm not sure if I should send a card or flowers?

Send Champagne!!!

Don't feel bad, our cable internet acts up when it rains, too.

It used to act up when the wind blew because the cable ran through our neighbor's tree and it rubbed through the insulation (I had to find that problem for them).

The last excuse for poor service was high temperatures. They told me that in hot weather, expansion of the cable changed it's impedance, which caused a weaker signal (seriously???).

After about 2 weeks of intermittent, mostly inoperative cable internet, I had enough and went to the cable repair office for a man-to-man talk with the supervisor. He admitted that the cable in my neighborhood was about 20 years old and was rotten, but it wasn't budgeted for replacement for several years.

One of the repair guys that came out said my signal was too weak and I needed a TX Pad to boost the signal. I told him to go ahead and put one on. He said that they were expensive and the company wouldn't let them carry them. Well, I got one for less than a dollar and the service guy was quite surprised the next time he came out and I told him to install it for me.

Now I've even installed a powered signal booster. It seems to help.

My cable still quits working for half an hour at a time, several days per week.

Internet cable dependencies:

(1) sun shining

(2) sun not shining

(3) raining

(4) not raining

(5)too hot (pronounced with a hard "h").

(6) too cold

(7) just right

(8) age

(9) not old enough

(10) cranky electrons

(11) relativistic electrons

(12) electrons holding a family reunion

(13) isolated electrons

(14) white insulation layer not the right plastic

(15) white insulation layer is the right plastic

(16) brittle copper

(17) soft copper

(18)ferrule installed improperly

(19) ferrule previously installed correctly

(20) technician has his monthly "visitor"

I had the same problem every time it rained...A source of cable problems is the way the cables are installed when running them along the edge of the roof, cable-tying them to the gutter nails. After 3 visits by cable company "techs" who were unable to find the problem, I ended up finding and repairing the problem myself. A cable tie (that was too tightly attached) had split the outer insulation on the coax. Replacement of the cable solved the problem--no thanks to the cable company...

If it ain't fixed, then you should shake your head and say no $75 dolla.

Go to http://www.dslreports.com/tools . Run a smokeping test to document the packet loss. This should tell you when the problem occurs and you should be able to correlate to the rain. You may have to create an account. I did this about a year ago when I was experiencing the same problem to show the ISP.

Just an update on my new cable: Comcast tried to bill me $70, but I called and explained how the cable from their terminal to my house is their property and their responsibility. The agent had no authority or brains to do anything (why do they have those people?), but I got to a supervisor and she took it off. Lesson: read the detail in your bill, that's where the devil lies.