Evening. I'm in the process of renovating my house and one of (many) jobs has been to re-run the cable for my virgin media connection. This involved a new waterproof external box, running under floorboards and chasing and cutting a hole for a socket so the router and tv box plug neatly into the wall. It looks lovely, unfortunately however it doesn't work very well. I get a lot of dropped packets and variable ping times resulting in page loads never completing or a very unreliable internet connection. On the TV side I have a few channels displaying a "problem with the signal on this channel" messages (5HD for one). I have noticed that the internet connection seems to be worse when the TV box is on (rather than in standby). The cable(35148) currently runs from the outside wall, along a skirting board for 3.5 metres, through an internal wall, under floorboards for 2 metres, then it goes through an attenuator and a tv/data splitter, and the two cables then run through chasing and to the back of the socket box which is a modular type using two of these(46007). Short runs then connect to the router and tv box. I'm also using these(17061) twist on F type connectors. From consulting several threads on other sites it would seem I may have used the wrong type of coax cable, or one more susceptible to interference. Is that the case? It looks like while this pf100 stuff that screwfix do would be a step-up from what I've used as it has a fully copper conductor, the Webro HD100 would be best, being triple shielded, alongside proper crimp-on F type connectors. Replacing the cabling with that, should I be good to go? Or is there still likely to be issues with the two cables running up the chasing to the modular plates, and should I replace that with a multimedia module similar to this that will split internally? (I appreciate that particular version doesn't) Cheers for any help!
First off, you're not very good at hyperlinking, but having said that I cant even do it. Secondly I would have thought even the cheapest co-ax would do the job over short distances, I have used cheapo cable before now on sky and virgin and it has been fine. I would be looking at the terminations if I was you as even one strand of the braiding touching the inner core will destroy the signal. You need to start where it enters the house and check the signal there, it could well be a problem with virgins equipment, its just a process of elimination.
on second thoughts.. might be better to get VM in as i have seen this type of thing where they have to put terminators on the end of their units to deal with signal strength and what not (not entirely sure how their technology works)
I've used that skinny, double barrel sky cable in the past for telly boxes and modems and it seemed to work fine, so I doubt it's got anything to do with cable quality. More likely a bad termination as has been mentioned. I'd check for wayward strands before shelling out for expensive cable.
A 75 ohm cable is more than good enough for a normal domestic project. As above re: a possible short across inner and outer cores. A little tip for fitting F connects, use a bit of Vaseline on the thread, makes it so much easier to screw on and doesn't interfere with the connection.
Is the attenuator adjustable? Remember too strong a signal can be just as bad as too weak! Mr. HandyAndy - Really
Attenuators have a fixed value Handy, the value they use is dependent upon signal readings VM take during installations.
Problem here is the run of cables have been replaced/moved, and any fixed attenuation may not now apply. Adjustable may be the answer. Mr. HandyAndy - Really
A VM engineer should be able to test the signal strength at the end terminator of the cable and fit a new attenuator.
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