Problem with splitting incoming cable and vonage

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 29, 2008 Posts: 2

ok, cable comes into the house, then it goes into my cable modem, from there it goes into Vonage.

i want the cable to come into the house, get split between a TV and the cable modem, then goto vonage... whenever i hook it up this way with a splitter Vonage doesnt work.

HELP!

Posts: 373 · Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 6:18 pm Post subject:

That sounds like the splitter is bad. Otherwise your cable signal is poor.

Posts: 18 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jul 05, 2007 Posts: 18

You're going to get ~4db of loss for each port on the splitter. If you incoming signal is low in the first place then the splitter will compound that. From what I've read it doesn't seem to matter what splitter you buy, they're all about the same. Not sure what options are available to bump the signal up other than hitting up your ISP/cable company to make an adjustment.

Posts: 433 · Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 7:51 pm Post subject:

Also, its real easy to screw up a cable signal with the do it yourself junk from most home improvement stores. If you are making the cables and connections, make sure you inspect the connectors very good. Make sure there is no foil or insulation strands wrapped around or touching the center copper wire.

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 8:10 pm Post subject:

I'm going to go with signal loss. Most, if not all, splitters are going to cut the signal strength in half on either side of the split, plus a bit of extra loss for the extra connections.

Your cable/ISP should support having your cable modem on its own connection, which they have wired and prepared specifically for your modem, and you should not mess with that connection. If you are trying to re-use a dedicated cable modem line to split it out to TV to save some wiring from your actual TV hookup, take my advice and don't. Many cable companies put a good bit of effort into getting the signal strength just right for a cable modem.

I know mine ran a whole second cable in from the pole and spent a good bit of time fiddling with filters and signal strengths to get the modem exactly in the middle of the ideal signal strength range. I'm a good distance from the cable company, though, so signal strength was already a concern. Installation took 3 hours, but I haven't had a single outage in well over two years, and my signal and latency have been top notch. And that's on my own really old (5+ years) DOCSIS 1.0 modem, no less.

Posts: 4777 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4777

Nesy, I assume that when you have this problem your internet service also doesn't work. Is that correct?

Posts: 832 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Jun 08, 2007 Posts: 832

The Linksys BEFCMU10 v2 (DOCSIS 1.0) is a problem, regardless of anything else. Per Vonage:

DOCSIS 1.0 was designed for "best effort", meaning there were no guarantees that the data would reach its destination quickly or reliably. It wasn't until DOCSIS 1.1 that features such as QoS (Quality of Service) were implemented into the modems. QoS is basically a guarantee that the network will deliver predictable results. Because Voip requires reliable data transfer to operate smoothly, Vonage service works best with modems that are either DOCSIS 1.1 or 2.0.

See http://www.vonage.com/help.php?article=1097&category=124&nav=5&refer_id=WEBTS0706010003W1&promo_id=USVONRPFMF

Tme Warner upgraded my Cable Modem from a Toshiba 1000 to my current Motorola Surfboard when I found this out.

Posts: 832 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Jun 08, 2007 Posts: 832

BTW, I have multiple splitters in the house (6 cable TV hookups and 1 hookup to internet).

The Time Warner people put an amplifier in fron the the TV run, making sure there was NOT a signal amplifier in front of the internet connection run.

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 29, 2008 Posts: 2

yeah, the cable cuts out too when i split it.

the cable guy is comign out today anyhow- i will mention the situation and ask what can be done short of installign another line.

thanks guys for all your help.

Posts: 2257 · Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 7:24 am Post subject:

ed56 wrote:

The Linksys BEFCMU10 v2 (DOCSIS 1.0) is a problem, regardless of anything else. Per Vonage:

DOCSIS 1.0 was designed for "best effort", meaning there were no guarantees that the data would reach its destination quickly or reliably. It wasn't until DOCSIS 1.1 that features such as QoS (Quality of Service) were implemented into the modems. QoS is basically a guarantee that the network will deliver predictable results. Because Voip requires reliable data transfer to operate smoothly, Vonage service works best with modems that are either DOCSIS 1.1 or 2.0.

See http://www.vonage.com/help.php?article=1097&category=124&nav=5&refer_id=WEBTS0706010003W1&promo_id=USVONRPFMF

Tme Warner upgraded my Cable Modem from a Toshiba 1000 to my current Motorola Surfboard when I found this out.

My BEFCMU10 V2 works wonderfully. Has been for 5 years. DOCSIS 2.0 may be better, but Vonage works great with 1.0 provided you have a decent router.