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Forum Discussion
CM1150V and coax line amplifier: passive or active return??
Hi All. After *a lot* of futzing with Xfinity regarding slow cable modem speeds, working with Netgear folks, and reading on this and other forums, I've concluded that I need a powered cable signal a...
Amplifying a bad signal doesn't give you a good signal. It just gives you an overpowered bad signal. Its a recipe for spotty/slow service.
Your isp needs to get a decent signal to your home. If they can't do that, then they need to fix whatever is causing the power drop coming to the home. Whether that means running a new cable, fixing whats wrong at the box. That's a better plan than putting a powered amplifier on a poor signal.
Yes, I've been round with Xfinity/Comcast on this and they say it's good to the house. Based on a lot of reading, relying on them to fix is mostly likely futile, and I need to be sure my in-house lines are ship-shape.
do you have a screen snip of your logs and the cable connection page?
You can be over/under powered and still have a good connection.
yes, I believe the SNR is good, just power issues. I'm trying to attach PDF of the page that highlights the good SNR and bad power levels. My core question, however, is with a +10dB amp, can passive return work, or should I do active return.
Your power levels should be within 3.5dbmv of each other. You're going from -6.4 to -11.3 (4.9dbmv difference) on the standard channels and up to -15.6dbmv on the ofdm. If you've got a low signal, adding an amplifier isn't likely to make the signal quality better. A signal amplifier is nice if you've got a good signal coming in and need extended runs or multiple splits. So you bump up the signal and it self attenuates by distance/splitting.
But you're not getting a bunch of errors which is a good sign. You can try the amplifier but I'd be watching closely for errors or problems.
I'd probably give a bit more push back on comcast to get the signal improved. If you're going to try it, I'd try the passive return first.