Guide for fixing lost connection and speed issues on cable.

Cable Troubleshooting Guide

How to fix speed issues and connection loss on cable
04.26.2006 08:46 EST by Rocky_Grim

This guide contains information for fixing issues with cable, mostly compile
d from a friend who works for Adelphia cable here in New Castle, Pa. This guide
will aim at resolving lost connection and slow speed issues by yourself. You sho
uld also try tweaking in addition to those suggestions. After going through the
steps in this guide, if you are still having problems with your speed, you may n
eed your cable company to come and replace the cable line from the pole to your
house. The cable run from the pole could be damaged, old, or have water in the l
ine. If you are still having problems staying connected after that it is most li
kely on your ISP's end. Contact them and have them look into the problem. If the
y don't resolve the problem in a timely manner, or can't, changing ISP's is usua
lly possible. Anyway here are some steps you can take to ensure the best signal
levels at your end:

Remove unnecessary splitters.

1. Take a look at your cable wiring in your house. Trace the one that is hoo
ked up to your cable modem to wear it is split at.
2. Find the wire that is coming into your house. It will be plugged into a s
pliter that slits the cable to all your tv's.
3. Go to Radio shack and buy some good RG6 cable that will reach your modem.
Also get a splitter that says "IN" "OUT" and "TAP". Most cable companies call t
his a "DC" short for direct connect. Because when you use it this way it does no
t drop the signal level any amount of decibles like other splitters. Make sure i
t is a all gold plated one and goes up to 1,000mhz or better. When ever you spli
t anything you want to make sure you get a good splitter with gold plating for o
ptimal performance and good connection.
Once you have all the correct parts, follow these steps.
1. Get your main cable line that is coming in from outside and disconnect it
from the splitter that it is plugged into.
2. Take your splitter the one that is labled "IN" "OUT" and "TAP" and then y
ou are going to perform a "DC" or direct connect. This will be a direct connecti
on staight to your modem from outside. Plug the main line into the "IN" and get
one piece of cable wire long enough to go to your cable modem and plug it into t
he "OUT" and plug one peice of cable wire to where it says "TAP" and plug it int
o the main slitter in the house that goes to all your TV's.
3. Check your signal levels again and see if your signals have improved. Run
some speed tests. If you perform everything correctly you should have a better
signal level to your modem which will intern provide a faster more reliable conn
ection.

Find your cable signal level.

Many cable modems have web based self-diagnostics showing the signal leve. T
o find out how to access the signal levels on your particular brand/model, eithe
r find the manual from the manufacturer of your modem, or check the SG Hardware

Database
For example, for the Motorola SurfBoard series modems, navigate to this page
: http://192.168.100.1/ . You can post what your signal levels are in the forums
, and someone can interpret them for you. Generally, power level should be betwe
en -5db and +5db for best performace. That can tell if there is a problem on you
r end with the wiring and signal that you modem is recieving.

What do those signal levels mean?

For diagnostic purposes, the cable modem can measure and report the Downstre
am Received Power and the Downstream Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR). The SNR is imp
ortant because if there is too much noise on the cable, the data cannot be decod
ed correctly, even with downstream power levels within acceptable limits. If the
SNR is good enough so that the cable modem is working correctly, the exact powe
r level, even if slightly outside normal ranges, does not matter.
Downstream SNR: should be 30 dB or higher: the higher the better. As the SNR
decreases below 30 dB, performance will steadily decrease, and errors will incr
ease. The cable modem might stop working properly if the SNR drops below 23.5 dB
.
Downstream Received Power: the DOCSIS specification requires cable modems to
function correctly with downstream power levels in the range -15 dBmV to +15 dB
mV: power readings at or close to those extremes are likely to be unacceptable.
However, when connected to a real-life CATV network, a cable modem might be func
tional over a narrower range than this. Accordingly, cable ISPs will specify an
even narrower target range when commissioning their network: this target range w
ill differ according to ISP.
Target Commissioning Range Wider Working Range
NTL original areas -2.5 dBmV to +2.5 dBmV somewhat wider than that!
NTL ex-C&W areas -6 dBmV to -3 dBmV -12 dBmV to -3 dBmV
Provided the Downstream SNR is acceptable, the downstream power should be sa
tisfactory if your cable modem reports a figure either within these specified ra
nges or close to them.
If a cable modem reports a downstream receive power of exactly 0.0 dB, this
means that measurement of downstream power is disabled, and no information is av
ailable. In this case, you will need to judge downstream quality by SNR alone.
Upstream Transmit Power: The cable modem's Upstream Transmit Power (or retur
n power) is set by commands from the UBR so that the UBR hears the same signal l
evel from all cable modems on that upstream channel. Because of different cable
losses for each cable modem in the area, each cable modem will tend to settle on
to a different upstream transmit power level. The better the return path is, the
lower the upstream transmit power will be.
The upstream transmit power will lie within the range +8 to +58 dBmV, with m
any ISPs specifying a target commissioning level below +55 dBmV. Values in the f
orties are the most common. Many cable modems are unable to transmit any more po
werfully than +58 dBmV. One cannot tell how far this is below the figure that th
e UBR would need to see a strong enough signal at its end to maintain satisfacto
ry performance, so a figure as high as +58 dBmV is normally a sign of an unaccep
table return path. If other problem symptoms are also present, an upstream trans
mit power of +58 dBmV would constitute valid supporting evidence for requesting
technical support from a cable ISP.

The upstream SNR can be sensed only at the UBR, so cannot be discovered by e
nd-users.

Other considerations.
The external cable infrastructure is affected by weather conditions, so it i
s normal to see power levels fluctuating slowly with temperature. If your cable
signal conditions are marginal, the CM might stop working in certain weather con
ditions, and recover in others.
However, rapidly fluctuating power levels might be a sign of a failing ampli
fier in the ISP's network, or a bad cable connection, and should normally be inv
estigated.
What does a DC connector look like?
Where can I get the DC connector that I need?http://www.accessorywarehouse.c
om/sh...roductid=12958
The DC connector you buy should have no more than a -6db drop on the "TAP" e
nd preferably -4db. Any more and you could end up with static on your TV's! If t
his happens a amplifier on the line to your tv's may need to be put in.
If you have any questions please contact me and I will do my best in helping
in any ways I can. If anyone see's any errors in this guide please let me know
and I will update it.
Thanks for looking and I hope it helps.
Rocky