Cable Bandwidth

I live in a college town with high cable internet use. It seems that the bandwidth is unstable for every speed I have tried. I currently have 5 meg cable and it seems to hold the connection similiar to the .7 meg connection.

Furthermore I have used other cable services and 5 megs would be more than enough. I am concerned the splitters running to the house are poor quality or that my modem is not connected to the right frequency on the splitter.

Its a three way splitter downstairs with two-7db and one -3.5 db really what I want to do is get the cable modem on the right frequency or simply just get rid of the splitter.

What frequency do I need the coaxial cable running to my modem to be(if I keep the splitter)?

Also if i just get a female to female coaxial adapter (and do away with the splitter) will this increase the noise and reduce bandwidth? Would I need a filter and/or would a bidirectional coaxial amplifier in place of the splitter be the best bet?

Thanks

Frank007

 

For best cable broadband performance, there should be a two-way splitter before anything else-- one side going to only the modem (no other splits on this leg), and the other side going to the TVs in your house. The dB labels on the splitter you have refer to the amount of signal reduction that will occur at that tap below the original input strength-- lower number is better.

If your broadband is not working reasonably close to advertised specs given the above scenario, and all your inside cabling is up to snuff, you should consider getting a cable company tech out to test the signal from the street.

(BTW, the big font-- not helpful.)

 

I readjusted the room with the cable modem to the lowest # on the splitter as described. After review of the cables connected to the splitter I noticed that there are two different types of cables running back there. Both coaxial but the input to the house (actually a condo)and one of the rooms upstairs are with a thicker cable.

I wanted to get some thoughts on a female to female connector between the house input and the room with the modem(on the smaller cable)We use satellite tv so all other coaxial outputs in the house are useless.

If you want to service only 1 coaxial output in the house for the modem what would be the best most efficient way to connect the input with as little noise as possible to ensure stable bandwidth?

 

Any problem will come not so much from inserting a connector in the line but if the connectors on the cable ends attached to it don't have the appropriate length center conductor, which should project beyond the threaded ring by about 1/4". The different thickness cables you are observing are of different specifications. The heavier stuff the cable company uses, for best performance, and minimal ingress (leakage of over-the-air TV signals into the cable line) are designated RG-6 or -6U, and sometimes with the additional specification "Quad" or "Quad-shielded". Look on the cable jacket-- it's normally printed on there-- other types usually seen are RG-59, and -58.