Ok to make a long story short, I had to relocate my PC to the living room and I am no splitting a cable coax cable three ways and i now get a crappy picture on channels 2,3,4 & 5 as well as more loss in my connection (gaming , etc), whereas in the past I had an unsplit line and no picture issues and flawless ping. Would adding a gain to the line where I relocated to improve my signal for the net (gaming and TV)? or is their an amplifier I can get to increase line signal quality?
thanks,
David
Cable internet, cable TV & ATI AIW
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FlyingPenguin
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You should not amplify a line used for a modem. Amplifiers introduce noise. Any amplification, if you do use it, should be done at the source BEFORE the main house splitter, to indroduce as little noise as possible. You amplify at the source where it's stongest. You NEVER amplify a weak signal - all you'll do is amplify a noisy signal and get an even noisier one.
The reason you have a bad signal is because you split the line. Everytime you split a line you HALVE to signal strength.
The modem should be on a home run to the main splitter outside the house and should NOT be split again. The modem needs more signal than any TV. The reliability of the connection and the bandwidth is directly related to signal strength.
You can SOMETIMES get away with splitting the signal to the modem, but you need a hot signal to start with.
If you have a weak signal coming in then the cable company should install a special "unbalanced" splitter outside where the main feed comes in. This splitter provides more signal to one output tap than all the others, and THAT tap should be connected directly to the modem.
If the cable company originally installed your modem, chances are that there's already an unbalanced splitter outside, BUT the hot signal is going to your old modem location. Look at the splitter outside - see if there's numbers on the outputs (like "-3" db for example). If one tap has a higher number, then you have an unbalanced splitter and that's the tap that should go to your modem.
Did you make the cables for the splitter yourself? You should buy - or have made at a TV shop - professional grade cables. It's a fine art making a proper low-loss coax jumper and it takes the proper tools and good quality wire (cheapass thin RG-59 cable from Rat Shack with cheap tools and connectors won't cut it for your cable modem).
Better yet, just call the cable company and have them send someone out. They should not charge you. Let them set split the signal properly with the proper gear and put a signal tester on it.
Hope this helps...
The reason you have a bad signal is because you split the line. Everytime you split a line you HALVE to signal strength.
The modem should be on a home run to the main splitter outside the house and should NOT be split again. The modem needs more signal than any TV. The reliability of the connection and the bandwidth is directly related to signal strength.
You can SOMETIMES get away with splitting the signal to the modem, but you need a hot signal to start with.
If you have a weak signal coming in then the cable company should install a special "unbalanced" splitter outside where the main feed comes in. This splitter provides more signal to one output tap than all the others, and THAT tap should be connected directly to the modem.
If the cable company originally installed your modem, chances are that there's already an unbalanced splitter outside, BUT the hot signal is going to your old modem location. Look at the splitter outside - see if there's numbers on the outputs (like "-3" db for example). If one tap has a higher number, then you have an unbalanced splitter and that's the tap that should go to your modem.
Did you make the cables for the splitter yourself? You should buy - or have made at a TV shop - professional grade cables. It's a fine art making a proper low-loss coax jumper and it takes the proper tools and good quality wire (cheapass thin RG-59 cable from Rat Shack with cheap tools and connectors won't cut it for your cable modem).
Better yet, just call the cable company and have them send someone out. They should not charge you. Let them set split the signal properly with the proper gear and put a signal tester on it.
Hope this helps...
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“The Government of Spain will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket.” - Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez
“The Government of Spain will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket.” - Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez
