# Low cable signal?



## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

This applies to my TV as well as my computer I noticed the other day the modem kept resetting itself like if you remove the power supply , and the tv looked like Dish network during a rain storm, so we call COX, over teh phone they said we have a low signal but when they came out last night to change all my splitters and install a signal amp for the TV's. it showed good signal.

Well. my internet is fast as hell now ( probably was a problem,) but channels 29-32 on TV still have the little squares every now and then, on the phone cox said we have low signal strength but when Th guy tested both inside and outside his machine said we're good, he said it may be a filter in the cable box that's outside, its an old phone/cable combination box, I opened it up last night and found an old HBO filter still there, he said to remove that and it should be good, should I remove that I have the connectors to completely remove that box fro the system.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Well, it seems clear that you want to remove that filter, what's the problem?


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

I removed the filter, now there's just cable and it doesn't need the box, my internet seems fine, but my cable TV looks like Dish network on a rainy day, every channel now they all have intermediate problems of the little squares you get when there's little or no signal.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

You still have low signal, that's why it you see pixilation. There must still be a wiring issue.


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

Then it has to be cox's cable from the pole to the house cause its on all the tv's, but wouldn't that affect the computer connection also since I have cable Internet?


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

It depends. If there is enough signal for the modem, it might work fine. Are there additional splitters to distribute the signal to the TV's? Remember, a 2:1 splitter has a 6dB attenuation.


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

I found the problem, its not my equipment, its their signal, they say I have full signal, but if I plug the cable tv into a tv without their cable box the picture sux a**
however the computer doesn't use as much signal as the tv due to the lack of required graphics like my tv's do.
So I have solved the problem I called Dish network and they will be out tomorrow between 8-12 am, and I'll only have cox for my high speed internet.
I still have no idea why the computer works and the tv's don't, when it comes to that kind of stuff I come here and ask.
there's only one cable coming to my modem, the cable is split into modem cable and tv cable, the tv cable goes into a amp then out to the tv's the modem cable goes straight to the modem, the kids and my wife's laptop[ all run through a router, and with all of us on the computer at once there's no slowdown.


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

Ok Last update I need to post on this thread as it will be fixed Monday (supposedly) I called Cox again this morning at 0730 as I tried to check my email and had nothing, well,,,apparently the young man I talked to needs a raise, he checked my modem connection and said I have an intermittent signal loss, I guess I tiped him off when I said the TV's and Internet both go bad at the same time, well he posted on the W/O to have the incoming cable to my house replaced, which is the problem, Dish network will be out today to hook up Sat tv for us so hopefully I can go home and use my last piece of cable to run the modem , I'm next door right now, theres nothing at my house, hopefully after the tv's are out of the line the signal to teh modem will increase, enough that I can get online.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Glad you're on the trail of it. :smile:


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

Yea so am I, the Dish Network guys came out today and now I have tv so clear that I will NEVER use cox cable for tv again in my life, I used to think that cox's hd was great cause I could see the grass in a football game, but with this system I can see the imprints of the players shoes in the grass.

I'm on my computer currently, cox is coming out tomorrow to fix the cable and all it is hooked up to now is the modem, but on teh internet speed check I'm about even between a sat signal and isdn, so cox has 2 choices, either fix my high speed internet or I get a phone line for the computer and they can kiss me rear. I'm so sick of them telling me its my cable box causing the problem when my cable box is next to the door with the power cord wrapped around it.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Welcome to the world of ISP tech support. :grin:


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

johnwill said:


> Welcome to the world of ISP tech support. :grin:


yea no kidding.

I'm on mine now the kid that came out today fixed the problem at my end, apparently I had to much signal and too low of a transmit, so he hooks up this weird looking machine up to my modem punches a few buttons, cuts my cable end off adds a little thing that reduces my connection signal to where its supposed to be and says lets go look outside, he goes outside fixes the old phone box that cox uses, turns out they still use that as a internet hub, turns out the guy that disconnected my cox phone 2 years ago was supposed to leave the cable hooked up there , well.this kid ( like the one I talked to on the phone) deserves a raise, and this kid deserves a promotion or a field supervisor also, he read my incoming signal determines that I do indeed have too much signal and not enough transmit, so he did the right thing inside my house, he informs me that the little thing he added to my modem will NOT reduce my signal more than its supposed to have coming into the modem, but if its spiking this thing will limit the amount of spike so modem doesn't fry anything, then he writes a work order to have the trees cut back away from the cable line ( gee ), then he informs me that even though everything is as fast as its supposed to be now he is still ordering the 15 year old cable to be replaced, at this point I'm really thinking of adopting this kid 
Now h's gone me and the wife are driving down to the store when my phone rings, it was the cox guy, he informs me that there is a truck about two streets away from my house that has been working on the cable line for 5 days now fixing what the trees did to it during the Nor Easter we had last month. I like this kid, I'm glad he gave me his card 

Oh another thing he told me was that moving to Dish Network was the best move I could have made as far as quality and picture, he said he has Dish Network at his house LOL (works for cox, imagine that) and he told me that the sat tv picture I have now is way better than cox, so as we weer turning in out cable boxes at the store today I watched a Football game on their in store tv that's a Visio LCD just lie mine, and sure as anything the picture I have now is 100 times better on all channels. but I'm back up and running again, if I have any problems at all he said call the cell number on his card and he'll diagnose it right there on the spot 

Now why couldn't somebody tel me that we had main line problems during the last months worth of calls I made to Cox?


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Sounds like my experience with Comcast a few years ago. I knew what the problem was, but they kept sending idiots. Finally, I got a guy that actually knew what was going on, we worked together to sort out their cable mess and got it working. This was also a time where the final fix involved burying another 300 foot of cable to my house to replace the old one that was put in when I built the house about 15 years before. Too bad that a couple years later I switched to Verizon FiOS with fiber connections. :grin:


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

Yea I would have called Version instead of Dish Network, but I had them for phone right after contel went under back in the 90's and every time Virginia Power has the trees trimmed my entire street on my side has no phone lines for a month.
My current setup is:
TV: Dish Network ( so far crystal clear and no problems)

Phone ATT wireless ( don't surf the web on my phone so the whole 3G map doesn't bother me

Internet: Cox communications running at 2meg

And now that that kid did what he did my internet has been flying like a F18 Hornet.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Actually, the F18 flies like this.


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

Holy bat guano batman what level of connection do you have?
If mine was that fast, I could download windows 7, and XP SP3 from Microsoft before they even process the confirm email back to me LOL


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

I have a Verizon FiOS fiber connection. :smile: Actually, they offer stuff as fast as 50/20, but that would be overkill. :grin:


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

Must be nice, I have two choices here I either get Cox Phone or a cell phone, Version here is version South, which is a totally different company according to them, but all the trucks say version on them. the only reason I can't get a regular phone line is the wires behind the houses on my street ate in trees that regularly break the phone lines, and when the Virginia Powers contractors for trees come out they cut the phone lines in several places cause they can't do a descent job, so I opted for ATT wireless cause the signal I had with the cox phone was a good as the cable tv was.
And I can't get phone service with anybody else using the hard lines anyway cause Version South used to be contel and all the lines ownership and contracts are still in court after 16 years, so nobody will touch us here. And of course Version South doesn't offer fios in this area.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

I suffered during the early rollout of broadband, couldn't get anything. Then Comcast came around, and I had them for a few years. When Verizon FiOS became available for the same price, it was an easy choice! Now I actually have a choice... :smile:


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## wolfen1086 (Oct 4, 2007)

All I know is now that I have Dish Network for TV, I may never go back to cox, I always thought cox cable was the best tv there was, I even argued that with others, but now that I have seen cox on HD tv and Dish on a HD tv, I have seen the light.
For internet I have two current choices, Version phone dial up, or Cox, and since the dial up is a phone half the time it wouldn't work anyway, so I'm waiting to see if Dish ever serves Sat internet in my area  then I'll see about another dish in my back yard LOL.
depends on who is faster.


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