So here is the deal. My internet will randomly go out for a period of 5 minutes 3 or so times a day. Also, im getting some freezing and distortion on my hd channels, along with audio drop-out.

Currently, my source cable comes in and is then split 3 ways. 1 goes to my HDTV, one goes to an analog tv, another goes to a splitter, which feeds my cable modem and another analog tv.

I checked out the first splitter, and it the outputs are marked 7db, 7db, and 3.5db. the hd tv is on 7db, modem & analog tv on 7db, and another analog tv on 3.5db. I am still new to this stuff so forgive my stupidity.

I tech for my cable company (Charter) came out yesterday and got rid of a bunch of unneccesary lines. Originally the source line was split into 8 lines, now it is just the 3 as i described. I thought the problem was solved, but once again, my hd channels and internet are having the same problems.

I have another tech coming out tomorrow, but I would like to know if you guys could give me some pointers, heads up, etc so I can pick the techs brain so he doesn't ultimately leave me with my original problem.

If you keep the current three way splitter - Put the modem on the 3.5db and the TVs on the 7db. You can split the signal at the wall if your 3rd TV is colocated with your modem. If not co-located split one of the other TV lines.

You may also have a two way splitter, with one 3.5 leg going to your cable modem. The other 3.5 leg will go to a 3 way splitter for your TVs.

"If" one of the other TVs is co-located with your modem then you can split that line at the wall and feed one side to the TV and the other to the modem. Then you would only need to split the other line into two outputs, both to feed your other TVs.

is it possible to have someone run new cables? splitting is bad since you degrade your signal however many ways you look at it.

i'm not sure if i can get new cables run throughout the entire house. that would be optimal, but honestly i am not sure what the tech is willing to do. It seems that around here, only one cable is run from the source to the house, and after that it is split however many ways. the tech who came out yesterday was nice enough to run me a new cable from the source all the way to the first splitter. unfortunately now i have a bright orange coax running along the entire side of my house. the tech said he was coming back to neaten things up a bit.

quick question- the splitter has 7db, 7db, and 3.5 db marked on the coax outputs. what exactly does this mean. i really need to check out some type of beginners guide.

nmlobo- your first recommendation is how the tech set it up, but i was still experiencing problems. just for kicks i went out and changed the modem to the 7db, and put my hdtv on the 3.5db one. it seemed to help somewhat, as the occurrence of these problems went away by a good percentage.

I constantly hear that splitting is not a good way to get the best signal, but i just moved out an apartment, where the signal was being split by a far greater amount. i suppose the signal i am receiving just is not that great.

btw, is there anyway i can check the signal strength myself? when i was using the qam tuner on my tv... most hd channels were receiving a strength of around 70... slightly lower than what i recieved at my old apartment. i know i can log into my cable modem using this http://192.168.100.1/

but i have no idea what the log-in information is.

quick question- the splitter has 7db, 7db, and 3.5 db marked on the coax outputs. what exactly does this mean. i really need to check out some type of beginners guide.
The numbers indicate how much signal loss will occur from the splitter on those ports


i know i can log into my cable modem using this http://192.168.100.1/ but i have no idea what the log-in information is.
Here is a link that Ratman posted earlier that provides details on what the cable modem signal levels should be.

http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=1197

Oh ok... I was thinking the higher the less loss of quality, woops. I will check out that link.

Downstream SNR: 34.5 dB has been holding steady with a variation of 1dB.

Downstream Receive Power Level: -2.2 dBmV and holding steady with .1dB variation

Upstream Transmit Power Level: 41.5 dBmV

couldn't find the upstream SNR...

so it looks like all those numbers are fine and i am getting a good signal.

:confused: