[Cialug] Des Moines Area ISPs

[Alan Maupin]

I've had Mediacom since I moved here 18 months ago.    The only real problem
I've experienced the entire time was during the past month.    My cable
Internet service was frequently going in and out.    Eventually I was told
by a service tech that Mediacom had dialed the frequency down 3 db (whatever
that means) in order to prepare the system for telephone service.    I was
surprised to find out that having other items such as TV's, VCR's, Cable
Boxes connected to other cable outlets in your home reduced the overall
signal.    This combined with Mediacom turning down the frequency output
caused the cable modem to stop working.    The service tech hard wired one
cable outlet independent of the other outlets which were previously all tied
together by an 8 way splitter.  

Has anyone else experienced anything like this, and does anyone have a clue
on what turning the frequency amplification 3 db does.    Also, what
telephone service runs off cable?

Another side effect of the frequency or signal dilution is blocky images on
digital cable ... yep I had that issue too.





-----Original Message-----
From: cialug-admin@cialug.org [mailto:cialug-admin@cialug.org] On Behalf Of
Tim Perdue
Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 3:37 PM
To: cialug@cialug.org
Subject: Re: [Cialug] Des Moines Area ISPs

timwilson011@mchsi.com wrote:
> Mediacom, basically because that's what I signed up with 4+ years ago.  At
that
> time, DSL couldn't give the bandwidth cable could.  It still can't, but it
is
> much better than it used to be.  I've been toying with the idea of
switching to
> DSL (and InternetSolver), but just haven't been pushed (read: pissed off)
enough
> I guess.
> 
> I wonder whatever happened to multiple ISPs on cable...

I had really good luck with Mediacom for ~4 years, but switched to DSL 
(freese notis) so I could have a fixed IP and servers online. VOIP seems 
to be happier with DSL too. The cable modem network apparently has no 
UPS anywhere, as it is offline as soon as your house lights dim.

DSL was going offline a lot whenever the phone would ring, but I finally 
just canceled the phone service and it works fine now.

Tim
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