Thursday, July 22, 2004

Cable Connection Cabashed - Service Stymied - Periodic Posts Prevented - MrGadgets Muted


The lack of postings the last few days is not for lack of topics (big surprise!) but rather, a lack of connectivity. The girls complained about spotty cable modem behavior during my Pittsburgh trip a few weeks back. After returning from DC last week, it was once again 'acting up'. By Sunday evening, there was no connection at all. The infamous blinking CABLE LED... :-(

Call to the week-end RoadRunner support resulted in no joy, but a suggestion that an equipment swap was in order.

Acquired new cable modem (the third model so far) on Monday and tried it out that evening after rehearsal. Still no go...

No evening/weekend times available yet. I did go downstairs and remove the ceiling panel where the cable modem line was tapped during installation. I hooked up the modem more directly (no easy task) and the modem DID manage to get a sufficient signal. However even with the shorter feed-line, the signal fails after a few minutes. I even got a solid CABLE LED signal once upstairs in the computer room. Once again, only for a few minutes.

No changes to any wiring. Just a mysterious lack of signal. The degradation did seem to take place over time. I have to disconnect cable to the entire house to run the next test. I may try that late tonight, once everyone is going to sleep, to see if there is any difference in removing the T connector (provided by the Cable company installer, and part of the connection from day one of high-speed cable operation) . If the signal stays strong, then the T or other cabling must be at fault, although I can't see how. If not, and I suspect it won't, either the path to the outside box has degraded, (once again, I don't see how) or, most likely, the connection from the house to their local nexus is at fault. I like this idea best, as it is their sole responsibility.

Really frustrating. And not having the connection, with various WiFi computers sharing same is a REAL bummer...

This posting is via RoadRunner Dial Up, which I arranged to use while on the road. Ironically, my connection in the Marriott in DC last week was better than I have had since...


More L8r (I Hope!)

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