Noise from cable internet affects signal quality.
Noise from cable internet affects signal quality.
Hey, I was hoping someone could answer a couple of questions for me about modem noise. I have been dealing with unusable speeds for years and can never get any techs to fix it. They have blamed it on a bunch of different things over the years. Right now, they are blaming it on noise coming from people's houses. They said it only takes one house in some cases to bring everyone's quality of service down on the node. My questions are 1. Can one house really do that, as far as affecting everyone on the node? 2. Also, do they have to go by everyone's house to track down the noise? I have been told by several workers that they do have to check everyone individually. If true, I guess that at least partially explains why they don't want to try to fix it. 3. Lastly, if anyone has seen this before, what are a few common things that can cause this level of noise? Appreciate any help or suggestions. Thanks
Noise exists, but I doubt it’s the main reason since others nearby haven’t created enough disruption for your ISP to act. Performance drops often happen when many users connect to the same node and overwhelm its capacity. Would you check if speed improves after hours or during typical work times? If so, the issue likely stems from insufficient infrastructure to handle local demand.
It's not impossible, but it's a worst-case scenario with low chances. The connection to your house usually falls under the ISP's responsibility, not just the node. There might be exceptions, but typically if you signed directly with the ISP, it should cover you. If it involves a home association or another party, they might not be accountable. Updated March 1, 2021 by Bombastinator
I appreciate your feedback. Over the past couple of years, lawyers have been involved due to Suddenlink's equipment issues in my area. They seem to have made some improvements recently, though only in certain areas. A major problem that began last year was a high number of correctable and uncorrectable errors on most modem channels. My internet speeds were consistently poor, but the errors were new to me. Regarding over-saturation, it was mentioned as an issue, but it appears resolved—speeds returned to around 75 Mbps for about a week last month. Since then, both error counts and noise levels have decreased significantly. Power levels have also been stabilized, which likely helped. Now, with hundreds of millions of errors still occurring daily and speeds hovering between 0.5 and 5 Mbps, I’m starting to think the problem might be related to interference again. The noise issue seems more plausible than over-saturation. Let me know if you have any thoughts! Thanks again.
I’m not familiar with suddenlink. It seems minor, and it might apply to any country—laws could evolve over time.
1) It's possible based on what I've learned. If a homeowner uses a bigger splitter than necessary and doesn't disable unused ports, it can cause interference. Remember, coax transmits the same radio frequency as used over airwaves. Cable providers operate between 5 MHz to 950 MHz, which overlaps with radio, TV broadcasts, cellular signals, etc. If these frequencies enter the cable network, it can lead to issues.
2) Yes, they do. Since they need to identify the source of interference, they can install filters on affected customers' lines to block it.