slow internet, too much coax cable?

[durkadurkastan]

hey guys, i have been having a problem with my internet being too slow ever since i got it. i have comcast cable internet with a 15mbps connection and two of my neighbors on the same street have the same ISP with 15mbps but their internet is much faster. comcast is the fastest ISP in my area

my theory is that there is way too much coax cable because the cable from ISP is on the other side of the house and the cable is about 80-90' long, part of that is because comcast will not do wall fishing which adds another 30' to the cable length. half of it is newer cable the other half is from the 70's.

i think i might need a signal amplifier.

what are your thoughts and theories?

[digip]

Signal amplifier won't help, but running actual Ethernet across the house would, if you cut and split at the entrance to the house and run the modem from another room to a router in another would work better than a signal amplifier. Ehternet is more forgiving then coax. Especially with respect to cable that is from the 70's? Really? Repeaters would be faster than an amplifier, since the amplifiers usually only helped with analog signals, and not so much digital. Longer the cable though, the worse the attenuation and chance of running by other electrical boxes in the house, which impede signal with electronic interference. I would say get some Cat-6, place the modem near the closest point of entry to the house from the street, and run your ethernet to the router as far as you can go to the other side of your house or network area, to a router, and work from there. Other issues could also be the modem itself.

Docsis 2.0 is much slower than Docsis 3.0. What do you have now for a modem? Iv'e upgraded my modem a few times, and always buy my own. You'll get crazy fast speeds for a while until the ISP logs in and sets their own bin and config file on it, which unless you jtag and lock it down ahead of time, all ISP's will do, but for the most part, better off with a newer Docsis 3.0 modem of your own, vs ones you get from the ISP. The ones they rent, are always junk and slow anyways, and tend to be last generation devices, re-purposed and re-rented. If you don't already own your own modem, look into getting a Docsis 3, newer model, just make sure its one your ISP will allow. Be surprised how some are. I bought a Zoom modem once, they wouldn;t allow it on their network, since it doesn;t let the ISP into it since it was a PCI card model for one device. Sb6120's are fairly common and allowed on most cable providers, and fast. They maker newer ones than that model, but depends on what you want to spend too. Nice thing about Docsis 3 vs 2, is channel bonding, so you get more down stream channels which usually doubles your speeds if the ISP allows the newer specs, which most today do.

Edited December 3, 2012 by digip

[Pwnd2Pwnr]

RJ45 FTW! :) . More speed, more security, 'nuff said!

[durkadurkastan]

i was thinking out getting a docsis 3.0 surf board a few months ago, should have went with my gut feeling on that and got it, the stock comcast modem is crap. i found a spot near the original ISP box where i can put a modem. ill have to drill a few holes and fish down a wall and get a sh*t load of cat6.

guess i should say the rest of my networking equipment, from the modem i hook up an airport extreme base station, and i have a vonage VOIP box connected to that and i have around 10 wireless devices that connect to the airport extreme, 2 computers connected through ethernet. at one time there are usually 4-5 devices using the internet, one is usually an xbox/neflix box. the whole setup is really stable with the airport extreme, everything else had issues with vonage.

[digip]

The more devices on the network in general, the slower things will become too though. Shared resources only go so far, but a Docsis 3.0 modem would def help with the work load if the current modem they rented you is Docsis 2 and you have a number of other devices. Also, any wireless will reduce speed too, since thats just the nature of wireless, interference, walls, etc, all play a factor but I would say running cat from the closest point of access from the street to your network side of the house would probably be more reliable, so long as you don't run it near anything electrical for interference.

Shielded twisted pair ethernet cable is a bit more expensive then say unshielded twisted pair cat-5 cable, but its worth every penny for long stretch of line. I have a 50 foot cable from the bedroom to the living room to feed my DVD player netflix from the router, but even ethernet has a limit in length. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_6_cable#Maximum_length

[durkadurkastan]

everything i have is cat6, it can be had for pretty cheap on amazon. my airport extreme has been very good to me when it comes to range and walls

[barry99705]

My whole house is cat-5e. Don't really see the advantage of running cat-6 in a house. I get gigabit speeds over 5e. Maybe my next house I'll do 6, maybe not. I do know punching down cat-6 can be a bitch. I have to repunch more patch panels with that than I ever did with 5 due to the panels not cutting through the insulation.

[digip]

My whole house is cat-5e. Don't really see the advantage of running cat-6 in a house. I get gigabit speeds over 5e. Maybe my next house I'll do 6, maybe not. I do know punching down cat-6 can be a bitch. I have to repunch more patch panels with that than I ever did with 5 due to the panels not cutting through the insulation.

Cat5e is great, and yes, you'll get 10/1000 over it just fine. Cat6 is sort of future proof for 10/100/1000/10,000gb, and usually more shielded than most off the shelf stuff, but cat5e works just as well for home use. Just make sure you use shielded cable and if possible the high end commercial stuff that has the fire ratings for helping to minimize the spread of fire inside the pvc if fishing through walls all over the house and around electrical outlets (plenum, rated cables are required by law in places, but at home, who's going to know).

Edited December 6, 2012 by digip

[barry99705]

Cat5e is great, and yes, you'll get 10/1000 over it just fine. Cat6 is sort of future proof for 10/100/1000/10,000gb, and usually more shielded than most off the shelf stuff, but cat5e works just as well for home use. Just make sure you use shielded cable and if possible the high end commercial stuff that has the fire ratings for helping to minimize the spread of fire inside the pvc if fishing through walls all over the house and around electrical outlets (plenum, rated cables are required by law in places, but at home, who's going to know).

Here's something most people don't think about when pulling cable. Cat-6 weighs more! You pull a bundle of that crap down a hallway ceiling, or cable up a whole building, you know you were working at the end of the day!

[digip]

Here's something most people don't think about when pulling cable. Cat-6 weighs more! You pull a bundle of that crap down a hallway ceiling, or cable up a whole building, you know you were working at the end of the day!

Yeah, they use a bit more copper in the cables. Cat6a is even thicker, and more shielding. They also make flat cat6, but i believe its unshielded cable, but don't quote me on that. Being his house has older cable from the 70's just thinking go for the best grade now, vs waiting another 20-30 years to upgrade that cat5 cable. Never know when we might get 10GB internet to our door(probably not for a LONG time) but its also for less interference in the line running around walls and electrical outlets. In a single room, sure, cat5, even unshielded would be way cheaper and do the trick but I'm just thinking long term and overall quality, I'd want the best in line solution. Other then going fiber channel in the house and optical cables(which don't really like 90 degree turns and is easily broken), cat6 is where I would go with it.

[Radau]

I cheated and went through the attic with mine and dropped a cable right behind my gaming desktop then the other one down the laundry chute by the garage in another room, then ran it through the fire wall in the garage where I keep my servers. But don't tell any inspectors about that... lol.

[barry99705]

I cheated and went through the attic with mine and dropped a cable right behind my gaming desktop then the other one down the laundry chute by the garage in another room, then ran it through the fire wall in the garage where I keep my servers. But don't tell any inspectors about that... lol.

I use this for when I break fire walls.

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202023037/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=great+stuff&storeId=10051#.UMEhyIPO2gw

[Radau]

I use this for when I break fire walls.

http://www.homedepot...51#.UMEhyIPO2gw

We have some sealant for when I'm positive that I have enough cable out there (still need to hook up security systems), I bet an inspector would still hate to see it even afterwards lol.

[01000010]

Ok, all this is guessing as you go.

You should dial into the modem and see what kinda of signal your are actually getting.

I have a docsis 3 from comcast, it is made by arris. if i punch in 192.168.100.1 into my browser it takes me to the modem status pages.

there are two numbers that are important and will help you determine if the cable is any good or not.

Now its been a while but I believe your downstream should be somewhere around 0 or so -- mine is -3 to -4 and I no longer remember what the SNR should be but mine is around 37

On the upstream it is is at 50. Now again its been a while but i think at the pole its 64 or so and anything lower than 45 will give you some hassle.

Also I get called all the time about my internet being slow and normally trace it down to someone on wifi B or if its just the page loading its the DNS servers.

I would try to download a DVD from ubuntu or someone that can swamp your connection and see what kind of speeds your are getting, Plug right into the modem or something so you are sure it is not your network. I find this better than speedtest.net and others because it will give you a real world idea with more than 45 seconds to determine the real speed.

I am unsure of the connection I am currently paying for but I get 1.3 megs a second which is the max for my connection. I believe we are also on the 15 meg setup but will have to ask what we are paying for.

So without any numbers or data saying your internet is slow is like saying I pee faster when drinking beer than water.

Edited December 7, 2012 by leapole

[badbass]

Just my gut feeling how many times has the cable been split? If it must get a good quality 1000mhz splitter. Try replacing ethernet cable on the modem. If this is your house not a rental. Move the modem as close as you can to the wall box. Look for a good quality router search on line. If you can go up in the attic run cat 5 cable across the attic. Find a friend that can help you if you need it. I am sure you know someone who can help you fish a cat 5 or coax rg-6 quad sheld. Consider running cat-5 in case you find a need for voice. I also ran speaker wire at the same time. Use a tooless jack to terminate the cat 5. Also consider a new surfboard modem. Again look online for a wireless router if you must not a good idea.

[badbass]

With 802.11n at my bar where I live with ubuntu getting the 1w of power I get 150m. Just another thought. I am still a fan of ethernet. Less interference and other issues. Let us know what you come up with.