Aeolius
Adventurer
I’ve had issues with slow internet speed and bad cable TV reception for some time. Six weeks ago, I called Time-Warner about it.
They sent Cable Dude #1 out, who informed me that I needed two Flex cables buried instead of the one I currently had, so that I could have a dedicated line for TV and another for internet. He put in a work order for the cables to be buried. After a few days I called TW, who was unable to find any such work order, so they sent out Cable Dude #2, who had to start from scratch. He put a few “boosters” on the coax jacks that had cable boxes on them, which didn’t improve anything at all. Again, the call was made to bury cables.
After a few days I called TW, who was unable to find any such work order, so they sent out Cable Dude #3, who had to start from scratch (sensing a pattern, here?). He said my Flex should be fine, as it was roughly 400 feet from the pole to the house, but the junction on the utility pole should be checked. He put in a work order for that, and rescheduled burying the two Flex cables, just in case.
After a few days I called TW, who was unable to find any such work order, so they sent out Cable Dude #4, who ran a temporary cable on the ground, to test the signal. He put in a work order to bury two Flex cables.
I was beginning to think that all of those calls I had placed, protesting the proposed consumption-based billing model, had blacklisted me in TW’s database. For the record, though consumption-based billing was abandoned due to customer dissatisfaction, I blew through their their proposed “Pro” tier of 50 GB/month in under four days.
Days later, out comes Cable Dude #5, who was to bury the cable. A pity that he wasn’t told to bring Flex cable, so he left. After a few days I called TW, who assured me that Cable Dudes #6 and #7 would arrive in a few days, to bury the cables.
A few rainy days later, Cable Dudes #6 and #7 buried two Flex cables, inadvertently cutting through the temporary cable that Cable Dude #4 had laid. Of course it was not their job to hook up the cable, only to bury it, so they put in a call to have a technician come out and fix the cable that same day, as the regular technician was coming the next day to hook up the new Flex cables.
At 6:10pm (they close at 6pm) I called TW to ask where the technician was. I called four times, speaking with countless operators, before a technician was dispatched. Cable Dude #8 came out at 10pm, to fix the temporary cable.
The next day, Cable Dude #8 returned, to hook up the two Flex cables. Three different supervisors showed up that day, to insure the work had been completed.
The following day, having noticed no improvement in my internet speed or TV reception, I examined the closet where the cable feeders run from the side of the house to the interior. There are two Flex cables running to the house, now. The house has four Feeder cables running from the cable box on the side of the house to the “media closet” inside the house. Each Flex cable should have been connected to an independent Feeder cable, one for internet, one for television. Alas, one feeder cable was hooked to a splitter, split between the cable modem and a powered 8-way coax amplifier. The remaining 3 Feeder cables, (inputs, two of which are unused) were hooked into the powered 8-way amplifier outputs with 2-way and 3-way splitters. Ouch.
I noticed a marked improvement in internet speed, however, when I plugged a laptop directly into the cable modem. I got a much slower speed through the Airport WiFi. A bit of experimenting, involving moving my Mac Pro physically to five or six different locations, revealed that I had placed the desktop Macs in the one “dead zone” in my house; presumably blocked by interference from nearby HVAC ductwork. By moving my Mac Pro two feet to the left, I improved my internet speed threefold.
On my own initiative, I ordered a 1x16 powered bi-directional coax amplifier. Now I have to find the time to connect one feeder cable to the cable modem and the other to the new amplifier. Granted, none of the cables are labeled, so I’ll have to test each one, to see which room it goes to.
Thanks loads, Time-Warner. During the past six weeks, spurred by a recent 20% rate hike by TW, I looked at a few alternatives; DirecTV for television and Clearwire for internet. Verizon FIOS and AT&T U-Verse are not available in my area (just outside of Greensboro, NC) and the local DSL is too slow. One problem is that Clearwire only gives me 2 out of 5 bars of signal, though they said a new tower going up next month should fix that. Another problem is that DirecTV does not support standalone TiVo units and my wife likes her TiVo. DirecTV has been attempting to get back together with TiVo for some time, now, but there is no timetable set in stone. I'm sure by the time they work out a deal, Apple would have purchased TiVo.
They sent Cable Dude #1 out, who informed me that I needed two Flex cables buried instead of the one I currently had, so that I could have a dedicated line for TV and another for internet. He put in a work order for the cables to be buried. After a few days I called TW, who was unable to find any such work order, so they sent out Cable Dude #2, who had to start from scratch. He put a few “boosters” on the coax jacks that had cable boxes on them, which didn’t improve anything at all. Again, the call was made to bury cables.
After a few days I called TW, who was unable to find any such work order, so they sent out Cable Dude #3, who had to start from scratch (sensing a pattern, here?). He said my Flex should be fine, as it was roughly 400 feet from the pole to the house, but the junction on the utility pole should be checked. He put in a work order for that, and rescheduled burying the two Flex cables, just in case.
After a few days I called TW, who was unable to find any such work order, so they sent out Cable Dude #4, who ran a temporary cable on the ground, to test the signal. He put in a work order to bury two Flex cables.
I was beginning to think that all of those calls I had placed, protesting the proposed consumption-based billing model, had blacklisted me in TW’s database. For the record, though consumption-based billing was abandoned due to customer dissatisfaction, I blew through their their proposed “Pro” tier of 50 GB/month in under four days.
Days later, out comes Cable Dude #5, who was to bury the cable. A pity that he wasn’t told to bring Flex cable, so he left. After a few days I called TW, who assured me that Cable Dudes #6 and #7 would arrive in a few days, to bury the cables.
A few rainy days later, Cable Dudes #6 and #7 buried two Flex cables, inadvertently cutting through the temporary cable that Cable Dude #4 had laid. Of course it was not their job to hook up the cable, only to bury it, so they put in a call to have a technician come out and fix the cable that same day, as the regular technician was coming the next day to hook up the new Flex cables.
At 6:10pm (they close at 6pm) I called TW to ask where the technician was. I called four times, speaking with countless operators, before a technician was dispatched. Cable Dude #8 came out at 10pm, to fix the temporary cable.
The next day, Cable Dude #8 returned, to hook up the two Flex cables. Three different supervisors showed up that day, to insure the work had been completed.
The following day, having noticed no improvement in my internet speed or TV reception, I examined the closet where the cable feeders run from the side of the house to the interior. There are two Flex cables running to the house, now. The house has four Feeder cables running from the cable box on the side of the house to the “media closet” inside the house. Each Flex cable should have been connected to an independent Feeder cable, one for internet, one for television. Alas, one feeder cable was hooked to a splitter, split between the cable modem and a powered 8-way coax amplifier. The remaining 3 Feeder cables, (inputs, two of which are unused) were hooked into the powered 8-way amplifier outputs with 2-way and 3-way splitters. Ouch.
I noticed a marked improvement in internet speed, however, when I plugged a laptop directly into the cable modem. I got a much slower speed through the Airport WiFi. A bit of experimenting, involving moving my Mac Pro physically to five or six different locations, revealed that I had placed the desktop Macs in the one “dead zone” in my house; presumably blocked by interference from nearby HVAC ductwork. By moving my Mac Pro two feet to the left, I improved my internet speed threefold.
On my own initiative, I ordered a 1x16 powered bi-directional coax amplifier. Now I have to find the time to connect one feeder cable to the cable modem and the other to the new amplifier. Granted, none of the cables are labeled, so I’ll have to test each one, to see which room it goes to.
Thanks loads, Time-Warner. During the past six weeks, spurred by a recent 20% rate hike by TW, I looked at a few alternatives; DirecTV for television and Clearwire for internet. Verizon FIOS and AT&T U-Verse are not available in my area (just outside of Greensboro, NC) and the local DSL is too slow. One problem is that Clearwire only gives me 2 out of 5 bars of signal, though they said a new tower going up next month should fix that. Another problem is that DirecTV does not support standalone TiVo units and my wife likes her TiVo. DirecTV has been attempting to get back together with TiVo for some time, now, but there is no timetable set in stone. I'm sure by the time they work out a deal, Apple would have purchased TiVo.
