Does cable modem boosters work?

tHE_0ne · Post by **tHE_0ne** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 1:23 am

http://cgi.ebay.com/MOTOROLA-SIGNAL-BOO ... dZViewItem

Do these things really work? My cable modem lights (but power) keeps on going up/down/up/down sometimes during the night, and my little brother runs upstairs to unplug/plug the power cable in... WHEN im sleeping ahhh help

tHE_0ne · Post by **tHE_0ne** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 1:26 am

http://broadband.motorola.com/consumers ... l_booster/

ghettoside · Post by **ghettoside** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 1:32 am

When comcast installed my high speed here, the tech told me, wow, there's an amplifier right on the pole outside the house, and he said that i was going to have a great connection. and i do, my connect is blazing, but then my comcast services usually are, except for the time I lived in old building and the node was kinda crappy. (I know I posted on it here too, years ago)
So I dunno for sure, but i think it's reasonable that a booster would enhance your connection.
just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents worth.

Prey521 · Post by **Prey521** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 1:32 am

I dunno, but at that price, can't hurt to try.

Loonatic · Post by **Loonatic** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 8:17 am

Before you get something like that, have a tech come out and troubleshoot your line. Dont bandage it up with that.

tHE_0ne · Post by **tHE_0ne** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 1:28 pm

I think im buying one, I read reviews for them on another site

Loonatic · Post by **Loonatic** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 1:52 pm

For what?

They wont boost your speed. Get a line tech out to troubleshoot your drop first.

Rainbow · Post by **Rainbow** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 2:20 pm

Gotta be careful with cable signal boosters, if you already have a bad signal now youll have a bigger bad signal.
They will amplify the good with the bad.

SpareX · Post by **SpareX** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 2:21 pm

Got one as an experiment just to see how well it ran.. I lost the logs in a clean install but i used speed moniter that logged variences. Ran one month on.. one month off.

only a 5-10% difference with it. but my ping time in games was the same..

the boost is marginal unless your line is noisy or problematic. if you get dropped alot, or in a high surge area.. those units are also known to be something of a surge protector but moto doesn't confirm that..

But my experience is with a good clean line too.. so if your dirty.. (and we know you are

) then this will help

knightmare · Post by **knightmare** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 3:51 pm

SpareX wrote:.. so if your dirty.. (and we know you are ) then this will help

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 4:58 pm

Rainbow wrote:Gotta be careful with cable signal boosters, if you already have a bad signal now youll have a bigger bad signal.
They will amplify the good with the bad.

this is true.. check your power levels up and downstream... main thing to do is like they have said get a tech to check the drop... your internet connection should be setup good... I would say this is mainly for TV than anything.. and yes I have one here somewhere.

ace · Post by **ace** » Sat Mar 11, 2006 9:22 pm

Honestly, if you cant get good signal from the first two way then you need to have a tech come out and take a look and maybe even run you a new dedicated line from the first splitter. As previosly mentioned if you have a noisy line this will amp the noise to. I cannot think of a time that I ever needed to amp a cable modem and I have installed at least 2,000 modems and also over 500 voip installs and not one single amp(signal booster) was needed.

Bouncer · Post by **Bouncer** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 10:08 am

Just remember you're boosting all of the cable signal data and TV, and that it has NO bearing on internet speeds. Cable is a digital service, there's either enough signal to carry data, or not. There is no "data fade".

Usually you would use an amp like this in a long run or a house with multiple splits between the cable modem and the outside termination point. Each split effectively cuts signal strength in half and adds noise. By split three or four the signal is getting pretty weak. That's where you'd want this amp. Mind you, EVERYTHING is pumped up, noise as well as signal.

I have used them before and seen a difference, but would not reccomend them unless you know for sure that lack of signal is the problem. Too MUCH signal is the same as too little with many cable modems. If it's not in the right range the modem will shut itself off to prevent damage.

Regards,
-Bouncer-

Randy · Post by **Randy** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 12:36 pm

I agree with bouncer its really only good if your running alot of cable you could put it at mid point. my neighbour ran a booster at 150 ft for 300ft of cable./sharing with neighbours heh

jdblitz · Post by **jdblitz** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 4:22 pm

yeah, I'm a CT4 for Comcast and I'm telling you unless your amp is return active, you're going to have problems with your modem at some point or another.

Best bet, call cable company, get a tech out to verify QOS and have a direct line from your demarcation point to your modem.

Good Luck,

JD

CableDude · Post by **CableDude** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 6:56 pm

Yeah, it's not going to cost you anything for them to come out and check the line and stuff.

tHE_0ne · Post by **tHE_0ne** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 5:51 pm

ace wrote:Honestly, if you cant get good signal from the first two way then you need to have a tech come out and take a look and maybe even run you a new dedicated line from the first splitter. As previosly mentioned if you have a noisy line this will amp the noise to. I cannot think of a time that I ever needed to amp a cable modem and I have installed at least 2,000 modems and also over 500 voip installs and not one single amp(signal booster) was needed.

I have a THICK heavy gage cable going to my box and only 1 spliter at the box. My signal sucks, it goes down/up/down/up every 20mins or so. This started happening after i got back from spring break, there was a outage in my whole area, my neighbors house is fine,but I have no internet at all, Im on a friends computer.

In the past my signals have not been steady, this was due to the cables in my house were small small and ment for satellite. But I ran about 150feet of thick cable wire into my box and its been fine for years.

Tech is coming tomorrow, if he does show up!!! grrrr

ace · Post by **ace** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 8:22 pm

Thats good you have a tech coming out, you REALLY shouldnt need a booster for you intarweb. If its an areial drop you could have squirrel chew or if underground it might have water in it. Can be a number of things but like previosly said its better for the tech to come and fix it. Hope all goes well for you!

tHE_0ne · Post by **tHE_0ne** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 3:25 pm

Frequency 555000000 Hz
Signal to Noise Ratio 36 dB
QAM 256
Network Access Control Object ON
Power Level -8 dBmV The Downstream Power Level reading is a snapshot taken at the time this page was requested. Please Reload/Refresh this Page for a new reading

Upstream Value
Channel ID 1
Frequency 24800000 Hz
Ranging Service ID 1322
Symbol Rate 2.560 Msym/s
Power Level 45 dBmV

that all sound good?

Unholy · Post by **Unholy** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 3:56 pm

• Downstream Power Level: -15dBmV to +15dBmV is the extreme limits that your modem should be able to operate within but ideally this should fall between -10dBmV and +10dBmV
• Downstream Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR): This number is best over 35dB, but you may not have any problems with down to 33dB. Anything less and you will probably have slow transfers, dropped connections, etc.
• Upstream Power Level: Ideally this should be within the 30dBmV to 50dBmV range. If it is between 50-55dBmV, you are approaching the upper-limits but should still be able to operate. If this is above 55dBmV or below 30dBmV, you will likely start to see frequent disconnects or modem reboots.
• Upstream Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR): Anything above 29 is considered good. The higher this number is, the better. If this number is below 25 and 29, you have a minute amount of noise leaking in somewhere. If it's anything less than 25, you want to get it fixed as you may have a lot of packet loss or slow transfer rates. note: you will need to contact customer support to find out the value of this signal level as it is not available via the cable modem status page
• Upstream Receive Power: Ideally this number should fall within the -10dBmV and +10dBmV range. note: you will need to contact customer support to find out the value of this signal level as it is not available via the cable modem status page

Those signals look okay except maybe the Downstream Power Level. You could ask the tech for an amp he might have one in his truck. Usually they'd just give it to you for free.

Do you have the logs? That might be more useful.

ace · Post by **ace** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 6:29 pm

That is good now, sure the downstream could be a tad higher but the snr and upstream levels are right on. You should have no problems now. And again no amp is needed!!

tHE_0ne · Post by **tHE_0ne** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 8:39 pm

Unholy wrote:Those signals look okay except maybe the Downstream Power Level. You could ask the tech for an amp he might have one in his truck. Usually they'd just give it to you for free. Do you have the logs? That might be more useful.

he wanted $55 for a amp! ba

tHE_0ne · Post by **tHE_0ne** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 10:27 am

700101000229 7-Information SNMP: Working in SNMP V1/2c Only NmAccess mode
700101000227 7-Information INITIALIZATION COMPLETE - MODEM IS OPERATIONAL
700101000227 7-Information B401.0 Authorized
700101000227 7-Information 7 I500.0 Registration Completed
700101000227 7-Information Standby mode disabled
700101000227 7-Information SEC: Co-Signer CVC from configuration file was verified
700101000226 7-Information REGISTRATION COMPLETE - Waiting for Operational status
700101000225 7-Information 7 D509.0 Retrieved TFTP Config SUCCESS
700101000225 7-Information Registration file - downloaded
700101000222 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
700101000221 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
700101000220 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
700101000219 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
700101000218 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
700101000217 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
700101000216 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
700101000214 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
700101000213 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
700101000212 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
700101000211 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
700101000211 7-Information Trying to download Configuration file ...
700101000210 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
700101000210 5-Warning TOD - tod failed - go on trying in the background
700101000210 5-Warning D04.1 ToD request sent - No Response received
700101000210 5-Warning TOD: select failed
700101000209 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
700101000208 3-Critical R02.0 No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
700101000204 7-Information 7 D511.0 Retrieved DHCP .......... SUCCESS
700101000204 7-Information DHCP - parameters acquired
700101000149 7-Information 7 T500.0 Acquired Upstream .......... SUCCESS
700101000149 7-Information Trying to register through CMTS...
700101000149 7-Information SYNCHRONIZED - 555000000 Hz , ucd 2
700101000146 7-Information Starting Ranging On Channel 2
700101000142 7-Information Downstream Locked - Collecting Upstream Information
700101000142 7-Information 7 T501.0 Acquired Downstream (555000000 Hz)........ SUCCESS
700101000139 7-Information Scanning frequency 555000000Hz
700101000139 7-Information Trying to synchronize ...

tHE_0ne · Post by **tHE_0ne** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 10:28 am

it keeps on resetting on its own, and it will power on and the online light will blink sometimes

BroncoSport · Post by **BroncoSport** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 11:47 am

Sounds more like possible ingress (off air signals) in your area or you drop to modem. Your posted levels that the modem is reporting dont sound too bad. a -8 on the downstream is within operating standards.... but at the far end. I would rather see a 0 on the downstream. As far as the upload... sounds about right. Here we want to see between 42 and 56. The modems are talking too close to the noise floor at something below 40 and the modems max out at 60 dBmV. As it has been stated before, call you operator and have them test the signal at the modem. The euipment they carry can sinc and test the 256 QAM downstream signal and see is you have pre or post errors.

If I had to guess, you have a signal problem on the high end (where the downstream freq is located). They will (or should) be able to troubleshoot this easily. The reason you power light is going off is part of the resinc cycle of the modem, common.

An amp (10db max) would solve the problem tempararily but I owuldn't get one until your cable company gets out there and checks it out. If you do have to buy one, because you CATV company is inept and wont or cant find the problem, make sure is says this on the amp. 55-1000mhz passive return CATV amplifier. Do not get an amp that amplifys the return path (upstream) you dont need the modem talking back any lower. And also an antenna amp is crap and will not work, the dont have a return through. Just like a VCR will not allow a digital box to talk backwards though it.

Hope this helps

btw, 11+ years in the business and I am our local Lead Field Service Tech.. so I kinda live this crap every day

tHE_0ne · Post by **tHE_0ne** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 12:23 pm

BroncoSport wrote:Sounds more like possible ingress (off air signals) in your area or you drop to modem. Your posted levels that the modem is reporting dont sound too bad. a -8 on the downstream is within operating standards.... but at the far end. I would rather see a 0 on the downstream. As far as the upload... sounds about right. Here we want to see between 42 and 56. The modems are talking too close to the noise floor at something below 40 and the modems max out at 60 dBmV. As it has been stated before, call you operator and have them test the signal at the modem. The euipment they carry can sinc and test the 256 QAM downstream signal and see is you have pre or post errors.

If I had to guess, you have a signal problem on the high end (where the downstream freq is located). They will (or should) be able to troubleshoot this easily. The reason you power light is going off is part of the resinc cycle of the modem, common.

An amp (10db max) would solve the problem tempararily but I owuldn't get one until your cable company gets out there and checks it out. If you do have to buy one, because you CATV company is inept and wont or cant find the problem, make sure is says this on the amp. 55-1000mhz passive return CATV amplifier. Do not get an amp that amplifys the return path (upstream) you dont need the modem talking back any lower. And also an antenna amp is crap and will not work, the dont have a return through. Just like a VCR will not allow a digital box to talk backwards though it.

Hope this helps

btw, 11+ years in the business and I am our local Lead Field Service Tech.. so I kinda live this crap every day

Thanks for the help! Im at work right now, but when I get home ill check up on this.

Do you know where I could buy on of these amps?

BroncoSport · Post by **BroncoSport** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 5:47 pm

Radio shack is your best bet. If you buy one, get one with a simple CATV in / CATV out. Only two ports. Also less than 15db amplification.

But, call the CATV company first. They may (sounds like) have a problem on thier end.

Leatherneck · Post by **Leatherneck** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 11:20 pm

I don't care for in house amps with any digital equipment. I got my house wired so my modem is being hit at 0dBmV downstream and about 45 power level. My 2 digital boxes are almost the same. Amps can actually be detrimental if used incorrectly.

Coming off an amp outside isn't always the best either. It means a high value tap and sometimes not enough juice to power todays homes with several outlets and 3 or more digital devices. I lke being right in the middle of a well aligned run.

There is a lot going on between the headend and the customer's modem. Miles of fiber and coax, actives, passives, people hacking into the lines and causing ingress which reeks havoc on the return in the form of noise. Then there is overcrowding on UBRs,C4s or whatever equipment a particular cable co. uses. I'm constantly balancing nodes these days to relieve congestion. At least I know I can get a quick connection at work

Rivas · Post by **Rivas** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 11:37 pm

i dunno if this is against terms of agreement but you can buy modchip for your cable modem and boost your signal,steal ip,configure your cable modem like router (because it does come with its own firmware/software) and even when your ip shows up somewhere they cant trace you.(this protection is also one feature of the modchip).I'm not saying this is what you should do i'm just pointing out there are places and technology where you can buy stuffs like this,and people should know about it not because its against the law just because ......

travis2144 · Post by **travis2144** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 2:35 pm

-8 is a noisy crappy signal and it should be repaired not amped -5 to +5 is ok to amp....you will throw your s2n amping that
edit: also good luck risking a sub band filter when you use the shack coax to hook it up and send a ton of noise onto your node.

tHE_0ne · Post by **tHE_0ne** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 3:42 pm

I just bought a booster

Frequency 555000000 Hz
Signal to Noise Ratio 36 dB
QAM 256
Network Access Control Object ON
Power Level 5 dBmV The Downstream Power Level reading is a snapshot taken at the time this page was requested. Please Reload/Refresh this Page for a new reading

Upstream Value
Channel ID 2
Frequency 21504000 Hz
Ranging Service ID 1322
Symbol Rate 2.560 Msym/s
Power Level 58 dBmV

Power Level seems really high? Cox is coming over Monday to replace my cable modem and to look at my lines in my house

Unholy · Post by **Unholy** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 4:05 pm

^ Yep.

• Upstream Power Level: Ideally this should be within the 30dBmV to 50dBmV range. If it is between 50-55dBmV, you are approaching the upper-limits but should still be able to operate. If this is above 55dBmV or below 30dBmV, you will likely start to see frequent disconnects or modem reboots.

BroncoSport · Post by **BroncoSport** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 8:43 pm

You have a problem, alright. Your upstream level drastically changed with the insersion of the amp. Shouldnt, the amp is passive reverse. The amp should have no effect on the power level (upstream).

BTW -8 is NOT the end of the world on the down stream. My personal modem ran for 2 years sitting at a -15 down stream power level. (cable guys dont want to work on their own crap after 8-10 hours of it.

, I very rarely had any problems) Now at the new house, I took the time to prewire and taylor the signal. Running +2 right now with a 55 on the upstream

If it is a new amp, you will not be inserting ANYTHING into the "whole node". All of the new amplifiers are compatible with the CATV systems through out the country. They are passive on the reverse (upstream) and therefore do not amp or add to the return signal.

rivas - I would like to see plans on how exactly this "mod" chip is supposed to work. Our modems and (99% of the providers) use DOSIS 2.0 standard. When a modem is connected physically to a CATV system, it sends a "hey Im here signal" to the server. If the MAC address has been assigned to an active account, the server remotely authorizes the modem to obtain a valid IP address and throttles the modem to the correct speed (what the customer is paying for). The modem then receives and DOSIS firmware updates and goes though the process of setting the internal amplifier for the return signal. Must reach it back to the CUDA or similar interface with a zero power level, so to do this is either rises or lower the upstream depending on teh loss in the plant. (ie splitters, distance to amplifiers / the node, coax ect.)
We also have monitors in place the 1) will not allow 2 idenical MACs or IP addresses in the same NATION wide system. We also monitor bandwidth usage to look for excessive usage and violations of the end user agreement (running a server on a personal account).

This sounds like to "free pay per view" scam. There are people selling special filters to enable free PPV. What is really is, is a return path block. Ideally the customer installs this and buys up the porn, the box cant report the purchases so they dont show up on the bill. Only problem is that after a determined purchase $$$ limit is reached, no more purchases are allowed. If they bring in the unreporting box, we will discover the purchased wehn the boxes are connected in the back room for staging. OOOPPPs

guess a billion dollar company has already thought about the "back door methods"

dang im long winded

Unholy · Post by **Unholy** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 10:35 pm

^ I think Rivas was taking about the config hack that gave you an uncapped config file for the modem...

BroncoSport · Post by **BroncoSport** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 6:42 am

Ok, but in order to utilize this you have to have a unix based server, properly configed to the CATV companies system and redo it everytime the modem gets refreshed from the actual server. I have heard of this, and IMO it would 1) be over the head of 99% or people out there and 2) is not a MOD chip persay. I was just curious because I haven't heard of a mod chip before. Although, 1 time we found a modem that was wide open and we could not shut it down, remotely. It had not been tampered with, either. It was sent to Motorola for them to look at.

tHE_0ne · Post by **tHE_0ne** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:24 pm

Ok so a tech came over today and replaced my modem, fixed something outside in the green box and disconnected my amp

Frequency 555000000 Hz
Signal to Noise Ratio 38 dB
QAM 256
Network Access Control Object ON
Power Level -6 dBmV The Downstream Power Level reading is a snapshot taken at the time this page was requested. Please Reload/Refresh this Page for a new reading

Upstream Value
Channel ID 1
Frequency 24800000 Hz
Ranging Service ID 1363
Symbol Rate 2.560 Msym/s
Power Level 36 dBmV

ace · Post by **ace** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:42 pm

tHE_0ne wrote:Ok so a tech came over today and replaced my modem, fixed something outside in the green box and disconnected my amp

Frequency 555000000 Hz
Signal to Noise Ratio 38 dB
QAM 256
Network Access Control Object ON
Power Level -6 dBmV The Downstream Power Level reading is a snapshot taken at the time this page was requested. Please Reload/Refresh this Page for a new reading

Upstream Value
Channel ID 1
Frequency 24800000 Hz
Ranging Service ID 1363
Symbol Rate 2.560 Msym/s
Power Level 36 dBmV

That looks great, leave it alone now!!!

travis2144 · Post by **travis2144** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 8:09 pm

i was talking about the noise going into the line from the store bought cables used to hook the amp up....i'm sure they are not up to his provider's specs. If i see any radio shack stuff it goes out the door....we try to keep the noise out of every house at or below -40. 20-30 noisy houses can easily fail a node being certified for noise..but i am sure you know that. and btw our converter control busted a guy for trying the sub band filter trick...they not only got the bill but disco'd. plus it only works for a few channels...most out stuff is on demand now and the filter will knock it out period.

tHE_0ne · Post by **tHE_0ne** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 4:53 pm

been steady every since I got the modem!

def not messing with this anymore, oh yeah I returned the amp back to radio shack, and I made sure my cable modem isnt next to any electronic devices, seems fine