Hi guys,
I've been a loyal TWC/Spectrum customer since the late 90's. Have had signal issues for over a decade and I'm extremely frustrated.
tldr; Cable Modem will drop connection and/or have lag spikes. Certain TV channels that are more signal level sensitive will be blank (Unavailable, try again later msg) or will pause/look scrambled.
Technicians come out once or twice a year to "fix" this. Each and every time (over a decade mind you) they say the problem is outside the house and its the signal level.
During the TWC days a very good technician told me what the problem was. He said it was the Thermal Gain Control in a box that handles several residences on my side of the street. He said they never have this problem on the other side of the street. He scheduled maintenance to come adjust the signal level and all issues were fixed until the weather changed drastically. In the winter the signal is too high, summer signal too low.
Under TWC they would come adjust it no problem. Now with Spectrum things have changed. They too say there's a signal problem outside the house but WILL NOT ADMIT its the thermal controls on their box!
Instead of calling maintenance to adjust their box they put an amplifier in when the signal is too low. It's ok for a time but not as stable as when TWC adjusted their box. When it gets cold the technicians say "Whats this amplifier doing here? It's causing the signal to be too high!" They don't care when I tell them about the thermal gain and remove the amplifier.
So when the weather changes guess what? A technician says I need an amplifier to "balance out the signal". They have added and removed the amplifier a bunch of times now. One technician even told me the thermal gain isnt in a box and I didn't know what I was talking about!
I only had one good Spectrum technician who took some extra time to investigate. He inspected the cable lines outside the house and told me they needed to be replaced. He set up an install team (contractors, not Spectrum employees) to come. When they got here they said "What are we here for?".
I was shocked they didn't know and explained from the top. Guess what? They said Spectrum would need to break into the walls to replace the lines and they are not in that kind of business. They looked at my lines and disagreed with the Spectrum technician saying there is absolutely nothing wrong with the cable lines. So it was back to putting in and taking out the amplifier!
Currently the amplifier is in. My cable modem is dropping connection or lagging in the morning and seems more stable when it gets hot outside. I'm tired of calling Spectrum since it does no good.
Please please, someone offer advice on how to get Spectrum to finally fix this mess. And I'd love to know the full truth about those thermal controls. Either TWC or Spectrum has lied to me or they simply don't want to do an expensive fix to whatever box is causing this mess.
Here's info from my modem right after a lag spike. It happend around 9:50 am and was in the 70's outside.
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Those downstream signal levels are borderline high. Also, it may benefit you to upgrade the modem. You only have 8 downstream channels. Most areas now are utilizing 24 or 32 downstream channels.
Are you still on a legacy TWC internet plan or a new Spectrum plan?
The modem is about a year old. He told me it was a great modem and could handle all the speeds Spectrum offers.
Had to replace the old one, it was dropping connection very often. A technician told me the high signal could have damaged it. Not sure if that's true after getting so many different stories.
Not sure about the legacy internet. I know I was on legacy TWC pricing but it has been switched over to Spectrum pricing.
FYI, yesterday when it was hot in the 90's the highest was 8.3 dBmV. I will post another readout when the temperature peaks.
My connection was mostly fine today. It didn't get that hot and started raining, signal never went below 12 dBmV.
Here's the current reading, it's in the 70's again outside.
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Interesting, the Spectrum tech who told me my lines are bad said they were introducing noise into the system. He was outside when he inspected the lines and showed me the inside where a white part was cracked.
He said if I dont get the lines replaced the noise is sure to come back and cause the same issues. But when they sent the contractor out they said they are not in the business of tearing down my walls to replace the lines.
Both the contractor and another Spectrum tech inspected the lines and said absolutely nothing is wrong with the lines. Even after speaking with a supervisor nothing was done.
I'd have to call Spectrum to get the amp removed. It's the kind they hook up outside and must be powered inside. But that solves nothing as well. They have removed and re-added the amplifier many times over the years. Each time they have no record of previous troubleshoots.
So basically I need "Smoking Gun Proof" that their line or equiment is introducing signal noise.
Forgive my ignorance about the readout but is there something incontrovertible there to show them?
Also, when the problem occurs several channels come in blank with an Unavailable message. I know how to press the Select button & Up Arrow to bring up the technician's screen. Is there anything there I can take a picture of to prove the problem?
What often happens is when I make an appointment the weather isn't severe enough to affect the signal. For example, today its cool again and everything is working fine. They would not do anything to help me.
There are definitely some signal level issues. First step would be a service call. For assistance getting one scheduled, you can contact us by private message at @Forums_Help.