There is an aerial cable that comes to this splitter (from the left) that splits out two cables. The one powering my modem is the one that’s damaged.
I’ve been having internet issues during the day for the last few days (I live in the northeast US, so very cold right now if that’s relevant). It’s only during the day. Internet speed is VERY slow when it’s connected (<10mbps download, <1 upload) and it is constantly disconnecting. But at nights internet is normal with no interruptions (160mbsp download, 10 upload). I had a tech scheduled to come out to fix the cable today but the guy never showed up (I could do it on my own but don’t fully trust myself with it) but it seems weird it’s only happening during the day. Is this actually the issue?
The other cable from the splitter goes nowhere, so is not an option. This is a rented house so there’s only so much I can do.
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Yes, ingress and egress. Needs new fitting
Not “could”, it definitely is.
Replace the splitter. Splitters go bad. I just replace them to be safe if having any issues.
Absolutely
Looks pretty poor. If the 2nd cable from the splitter doesn’t go anywhere useful, you could just get rid of the splitter, and join the two ends with a straight-thru connector instead of that rusty old splitter. That and fixing the cable sound like good first steps to fixing your problem.
Yes, and regarding the appointment, it has been a busy week for ISPs and understaffed techOps, I am tech support not dispatch and a poor tech called my at 8:00pm still working on a cx house, (with no dispatch assistance bc they left at 6:00pm)
Try to reschedule the appointment, having that exposed may be being affected by humidity, change of temperature during the day, etc
Just make the cable company fix it. Cable must be sealed and dry to work properly.
Everyone is forgetting grounding and a mocca filter and a weather box. So not spec. Also just because you remove a splitter means you fix the issue. Sometimes putting a spliter in place actually helps. There is a sweet spot where the signal strength needs to be. Unless you have the appropriate meter you will not know what your measurements are.
Broken shielded cable usually means RF ingress and water intrusion that destroys the high band frequencies which most MSO operators use for Downstream. So broken shielding effects both TX and RX.
That one head of coax needs to be replaced immediately. With the split in the shield, signal interference is highly likely with that. In fact, That whole junction should be replaced and updated with new equipment.
Yes. Coax is very fickle. It’s really easy to cause interference or mess up the signal one way or another. Even the change in temperature over the seasons has a strong effect on signal strength.
Call the ISP to get it fixed. Or if you’re up for the challenge, buy a coax stripper, a coax crimper, and some outdoor rated type-F connectors and fix it yourself.
1Dbmv per 10 degrees. Massive change between winter and summer. An open shield like this is terrible. Moisture, water, signal ingress, and egress. I’m surprised it’s allowing the modem to lock in at all.
You’d be surprised what “works”. I’ve seen cable stripped back to 3" of center conductor and duct taped into an amplifier, no fitting at all, just jammed in there. Their Internet was “working fine” but none of the Spanish language channels were working, because they were carried on 99 MHz, same channel as local radio channels. But I was blown away the modem was locking on.
Yes, that is most likely why. Moisture does weird stuff depending on temperature. Also you may have to replace the whole cable because moisture really likes to wick into the braid and corrode. I have seen the outer braid corroded back several feet.
Also if you dont have the tools to do a proper compression connector, wait for the tech. Screw on connectors might be even worse than what you have now.
Yea, 100%. Easy fix with the right tools. Just call your ISP to come out and fix it for free.
100% coax is super susceptible to cuts and exposure to weather. You’re probably degrading the whole node with that. even a little bit of loss of shield can compromise the low band return spectrum and the whole nodes upstream. this is why cable modem is the new DSL. it sucks for performance and reliability. Any one customer without even trying can cause an outage on coax. Lets unplug that TV with cable card and a center pin thats too long … boom antenna. coax not tightened down enough on a splitter, modem or set top box. If your not using a PPC SignalTight or SignalTight Clone it will ingress low band. At some point you almost have to look at a coax like its a water pipe. We had a video headend that had leaks like this … was so bad we either have to replace all cable or just put in filters. the filters worked better than expected and lowered the noise floor 5-8 db more than before the ingress problem even existed.
i have my hands in some coax hub and headend work but mostly hard troubleshooting like odd leaks/ingress problems that stuff like this picture cause.
there was a video by Brady Volp a well known expert in the docsis/coax space about how even cable staples will cause signal reflections. its a hard space to keep functional and the more stringent the requirements get the harder it is.
As was said earlier, this is an easy fix if the correct tools and a replacement compression RG6 coaxial cable connector are available.
I see some other piece of hardware in the top left corner of the picture. Is that a grounding block?
If it were me, I’d request to have the splitter and the two cable runs replaced as they look fairly weathered. But the technician will be able to make a determination once onsite.