Kevin's Watch

Okay. So I've had three different cable repairmen over to the house to fix our effing internet. They've all done different things to fix the problem. And it works. And then it stops after a while.

Here's the problem:

on our modem we have the PC light steady. The power light is steady and the traffic light is moving.

The problem is that every so often the Cable light will just suddenly start flashing on and off and we lose all connectivity.

Firstly what the hell does that MEAN? And how the hell do I fix it? I'm calling another repairman to come out, but honestly I want to hear what all you comp. geniuses thin.

Did you try unplugging the cable box for a couple of minutes? That is the first thing I do. It resets the box.

Get a new cable box. I had a big problem with connectivity until they gave me a new one

Damelon wrote:Did you try unplugging the cable box for a couple of minutes? That is the first thing I do. It resets the box.

Get a new cable box. I had a big problem with connectivity until they gave me a new one

Yeah, I've done all the basic attempts at fixing it. What is the cable box? Different from the modem?

It's the modem.

I just woke up. You can't expect me to scintillate this early!

Damelon wrote:It's the modem.

I just woke up. You can't expect me to scintillate this early!

If you're using words like "scintillate" you're fine.

We've replaced the modem after the first guy failed. Same problem.

I'm beginning to think it's some damned invisible house gnomes, or perhaps Sasquatch.

I had to look up the spelling on scintillate.

It could be Sasquatch. You didn't fill his hand with shaving cream like in the ad?

Well, you passed my technical skill. Maybe Esmer has a suggestion as to what's wrong.

Damelon wrote:I had to look up the spelling on scintillate.

It could be Sasquatch. You didn't fill his hand with shaving cream like in the ad?

Well, you passed my technical skill. Maybe Esmer has a suggestion as to what's wrong.

HAHA. I've been keeping a lookout so that I could mess with him.

Well, thanks for the attempt. It's really quite an oddity.

Are you using a router? Sometimes they cause similar problems.

We had a very similar problem, and we fixed it, so I hope that this helps.

It seems that the cable connection has a low tolerance for noise. If the line gets noisy, it stops working. Stuff that would never bother you're TV reception will kill your internet.

I called the cable company, and the first thing they did was do a line test, where they test the quality of the connection to the modem. (They can do it if you ask.) Ours was below the threshhold -- it explained the problem. But how to fix?

I brought the modem into the basement and plugged it in directly to where the cable comes into the house. He retested it - it was fine. So the problem was on the line somewhere after it came into our house.

Then he explained to me about splitters. Cable splitters add noise to the line, reduce the quality. So I remembered one behind the TV, which now only one side was being used. I replaced it with a straight-line connector.

Problem went away.

I haven't had any problems again, yet. But If I do, I'll try it and see if that helps.

Thanks guys.