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Hardware

Cable Modem Amplifiers? 13

Posted by Cliff from the digital-snake-oil-solutions dept.
A concerned Anonymous Coward asks: "Now that my cable modem system is filling up with users I cannot always get "online". The service provider's tech support says that my upstream signal power is borderline acceptable. They suggest that I buy a signal amplifier from them. I'm assuming they're trying to rip me off to offset capital investment costs. I've searched google for half and hour but cannot find anyone selling or anyplace to purchase a cable modem amplifier. Does anyone know where a cable modem amplifier can be purchased? Any advice on price, specs, quality, setup?" Cable modem amplifiers? I haven't heard of such things, but of course, that doesn't mean that they don't exist. Have any of you heard of such things, or is this just another attempt to separate the consumer from their money?
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Cable Modem Amplifiers? More

Cable Modem Amplifiers?

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  • Ask Google: Cable Modem Amplifiers? (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Does no-one ever look at a search engine for results [ustecnet.com] before asking Cliff?

  • Nutty (Score:2, Insightful)

    by T. ( 128661 )
    There is no such thing as a cable *modem* amplifier. This is baseband. Accept it. Reducing S/N is the only thing you can do. Why not just unplug the 32 TV sets you already have connected to your home cable service? Or get the cable company to remove the odd staple or two from the cable drop over your roof that might interfere with you favorite dub-dub site?

    Either way is is probably just a ground loop attenutaing signal. It is their problem. But you seem to simpy to deal with it. Think DEMARC here. You have a PC, you subscribe to a service, it fails.

    Grow balls. Call them. Tell them to FIX MY F'IN' CABLE INTERNET...NOW!

    That's what you pay them for. It is likely simple physics and it not your concern.
    • Actually... there is. What you need is a bidirectional signal amp. They sell them at Best Buy. If you have a cable splitter, the drain on the signal is enough to give cable modems, "digital cable" and TiVos a problem. I took the cheap route and got a simple (non-bidirectional) amp and put it between the passive splitter and all my A/V equipment. The cable modem uses the other leg on the passive splitter. No problems.

      Bidirectional amps are not cheap. Best buy sells a one-output unit. Time Warner sells a 4-output bidirectional splitter/amp for $75. It's actually not a bad price.
  • Hmm, this is something that they could have done for you. If your upstream transmission power is a bit low, they should be sending a technician out there to check the lines in your house and install an amp himself.

    Call them back, let them know that your power might be too low.

    If you're on High Speed Access or RoadRunner, good luck, as they try to never send techs out.

  • I've worked both tech support and field support for high speed data. You have two dbmv (decibels per millivolt) levels to worry about. TX and RX. It sounds like they are talking about a TX problem if they are talking Upstream. Now, when they say borderline, do they mean borderline low or borderline high. Generally with DOCSIS modems you want a TX level of 36 to 52. Above or below will cause intermittent connection problems. There are a couple of causes of out of whack TX problems. One is the cable company's node/amplifiers on the main lines need to be swept and balanced. If your TX is too high, you might have too many splitters between your cable modem and your demarcation point (the point where the drop from the main line enters your house). If it's too low, a simple 3db or 6db pad will generally put you right in the right level range. There are cable amps, but they are for RX only and generally will interfere slightly with cable modem operation. So, your best bet. Tell the cable company to get a tech out there to check your household out. Make sure they check levels both TX and RX, connectors/fittings, look for crappy RG59 cable line (you should be using RG6 for less attenuation of signal).

  • Here in Ohio, cable modem service through AOL/Time Warner requires an attenuator. It's a 6dB drop--helps keep the Motorola modems from getting signals far in excess of what they can handle. Generally, the 6dB "tap" is made near where the cable comes into the house or apartment and then goes to your modem directly. Find that little deally and see if your cable modem will sync up properly without it. If not, you may need something in between--like a 4 or 5dB drop. Either way, it's not your fault--so they should fix the problem for you. Sometimes it's really worth it to just play dumb and say "It don't work. Fix it."

  • They are completely responsible for the cable outside your home, you are responsible for the cable inside. They are providing you service over their cable. Hook your cable modem up to the outside access point and see if you still have problems. If you do, it is THEIR concern, and THEY are violating THEIR service agreement. If you don't have problems, then you should try using a splitter at that point, with one cable to your modem, another cable to a one-way filter (makes sure signals in your house don't get on the cable line - chances are they already have one in place) then to the rest of your house. Make sure all the connections are really good. A bad connection is often more a problem than one might think.

    -Adam
  • My cable(ATT@HOME) company installed one for the very reason you discribe. I was getting prgressively lower bandwidth and then irratic connections at peak usage time. So they put an amp in. Basically it's a nine volt wall wort power supply connected to a little booster in the cable box outside. They did this for free to return my servces to normal. YMMV

    BTW for normal analog cable Radio shack does sell a cable amp for abut 20$US


  • Check out http://DSLreports.com

    Despite the name, they have active forums concerning cable equipment & service.

    From the posts here, it sounds like its either a weak signal or too much line noise. You could try using a signal amplifier on the central cable line. Then try a cable signal filter on the cable modem line.

    After that, its the cable company's job to fix their lines.

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