"Free" cable

[dattaway at attaway.net]

On Wed, 17 Jul 2002, Adam Davis wrote:

> I know there is a difference between what the TVs get and the cable gets,
> and the power with which they get them.  I got a 4 way splitter from TWC
> about a month ago.  The 4 splits were each labeled 7.0 [I can't remember
> the units, I'm not at home so I can't check ;)].  After a day, my internet
> died.  I had to go back and get a splitter than fed the cable modem 3.5.
> That fixed the problem.  Not sure exactly why that was.  In fact, the TWC
> idiots told me when I got the first one that it wouldn't be a problem, and
> stared at me for awhile when I told them I needed a splitter with a 3.5
> output.  TWC people never seem to know what they're talking about.

Were those numbers labeled as 3.5dB and 7dB?  The higher the number, the 
higher the attenuation (signal loss from splitting.)  If the number is too 
high, there won't be much signal getting to the other side.  Cable is also 
rated this way per length.  The object is to get a good signal going both 
ways.

It needs to be a good quality splitter.  My cablemodem is currently using
747MHz down and a much lower frequency of 37MHz up.  That's quite a
difference in frequencies.  The better splitters have the frequency range
and attenuation stamped on them, say 30-900MHz, 3dB.  And if you have too 
many splitters in the line connecting lengths of cable together, the 
signal that's left isn't much.  Cable and splitters are lossy.  Its best 
to minimize the length and part count for best signal.  Some televisions 
and cablemodems will display the signal strength in dB if you want to see 
what works or not.

Why drive a car when you can ride a bike?
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