Anyone understand cable very well?

[Necronic]

So I have been having some issues with my cable recently. At one point it flat out shut off, due to someone literally disconnecting it at the telephone pole. Not sure how that happened. The tech who came by and found out about that also told me that the signal coming from my cable box was really low (0.0 I think is what he said) which would cause other problems like my on demand movies not always working. I called comcast specifically describing what the last tech said, and they sent some new techs out. I wasn't home at the time, and my girl told me that they just played with the inside modem and said everything was fine.

I think the problem is that I wasn't clear to the CSR on the phone. Specifically what I thought I needed was for someone to look at the signal source on the telephone pole outside my apartment and check the signal like the last tech did, and if there is a problem boost the signal or something.

I don't really understand the technology very well, and that could have led to the miscommunication, does anyone understand how cable works well enough to decipher what I am talking about here?

 

[The Messiah]

Yes, I had the exact same problem. get the tech back out and insist that he run new cable to the house from the junction box and don't take no for an answer. Lazy contractors always try to get out of any real work. They will tell you all kinds of BS about you have too many splitters, you need an amplifier, etc. Don't buy that load of crap, insist on new cabling from the box to the house. After that, I would bet you will be just fine.

 

[Necronic]

Junction box, that's the name of the thing. I remember that.

 

[Thread Necromancer]

You may have low signal at the tap. If that's the case there is nothing you can do but put in a complaint and hope they will fix it. If you have a bad drop (the wire from the pole to the house) they can check that as well. You should only have a minimal drop in signal from the tap to your customer connection.

Tell the CSR you need a service call for low levels. Get a tech out there with a meter to check at the tap, at your connection past the drop, and behind your tv/computer. In the past for the plant I worked for our signals were calibrated that the minimum acceptable signal strength was 0 DB behind the tv. I know that's counter intuitive to say 0, but that's just the way the meters were callibrated. Even at 0 you still have fine picture and etc. I used to complain constantly because it's a stupid. Seriously, if you have a negative reading are you sending signal?!?!? .... ok, getting off my rant.