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george1531's avatar
george1531
On our wavelength
3 months ago
Solved

Old cable & wireless under drive 1997/coax questions

Just a quick few questions

I know a few things about technical stuff, but I haven't posted here so I will try to get a quick reply

The cable that goes under my drive has been laid by cable and wireless 1997 , this cable was then attached again to our house about 2013, broadband only from VM.

I'm not sure what cable was used as it's buried under the drive and just comes straight into the property but I was wanting to know, even though I have not had any problems on a 1 GB connection (1150mbps to router all the time) does this ever need to be repulled as suggested by virgin, the offer has been made and I declined it.

Is it a simple case of "if you don't have any problems you don't need to fix it" or is it a case of the cable is nearly 30 years old so it needs to be changed regardless. It has never been disturbed by anyone.

I have Broadband only I always use modem mode and have my own wireless setup but this is more a question about how virgin deal with things.

I have had the isolation box replaced recently because the old one was , well old., basically and also the attenuator was changed to one that looks like an inline one compared to the old one that was a bit bigger... is there really any difference... it is the correct wideband one (why did another vm tech put forward path one before?)

I just want to know other new ones better attenuator wise?

Main question here is the internal cable that comes from the wall to the super Hub has now been changed from rg59 to RG6 and I have bent it a little bit without even thinking

I just want to know if this is okay also 

should I be concerned about the cable outside if there is no problems or should I just forget about it

I have to admit all of my power levels and speeds are 100% fine?

Black cable is new RGB6, old is white RG59. Length is 2metres to hub.

  • asim18's avatar
    asim18
    3 months ago

    They both perform the same basic function. Both types of attenuator will attenuate the forward path as well as the return path. It's just that the newer ones aren't labelled as "forward path" but it is still technically a forward path attenuator because the return attenuation does not vary and stays consistent whether you're using a 3db attenuator or a 20db attenuator. (this is confirmed in the datasheet on the technetix product pages for both attenuators).

    The only difference between the newer one and the old one are bandwidth tolerances. The newer ones can tolerate much higher frequencies.

  • george1531's avatar
    george1531
    On our wavelength
    3 months ago

    When you read on here about so many people having issues, I am glad I keep an eye on my connection when some dont.

    I checked and I am about 30metres from the cabinet so I am assuming the changed the cable outside before just not the one going to my house.

    If its buried and not visible like now Id rather leave it but wondering what cable it is?

    Do you guys think the cable under the drive from 1997 is RG59 then

    • Roger_Gooner's avatar
      Roger_Gooner
      Alessandro Volta
      3 months ago

      RG6 is suitable for drop cables due to its construction. In contrast RG59 cables are thinner (so more flexible and cheaper) and although more susceptible to attenaution this matters less for the short runs inside premises. Also RG59's shielding is adequate for the modest amout of signal interference typically found inside most homes.

  • nodrogd's avatar
    nodrogd
    Very Insightful Person
    3 months ago

    VM uses Amphenol triple screened white coax in most internal installations. Keeps out Freeview & DAB radio ingress, not to mention that their frequencies now overlap 4/5G mobile phone traffic outside the cable. Most SNR issues are caused by poor screening from the outside world.

    • george1531's avatar
      george1531
      On our wavelength
      3 months ago

      Yes, as I have a lot of other cables in that area, HDMI, Dolby Atmos, speaker wires, Freeview (not used) sky Q, list goes on.

      So, this Amphenol triple screened white coax, is it RG6, same thing as my one is black, what's the difference.

      I try not to buy my own cables and use the ones VM put in, but I will change it if there is a better one.

      I recall one, brand new cat6a cable after 1 year went funny. Whole house stopped working, all 60 devices after much work with an Asus mesh system, many devices....one small Ethernet cable from SH5 to router killed it all.

      Luckily, I found the issue in 5mins, so cables are important

  • nodrogd's avatar
    nodrogd
    Very Insightful Person
    3 months ago

    It is RG6. Freeview, DAB & 4/5G use the same frequencies as VM. Ingress from these these can not only disrupt services of the customer where the issue is. If it tracks back to the cabinet amplifier the whole network segment ends up with issues as well.

    • george1531's avatar
      george1531
      On our wavelength
      3 months ago

      Oh ok...So it is best ( for me and others? ) to leave the cable that VM use in place...also anyone have an ideas what cable the black one is that goes from the wall plate to the isolater (installed 2013?)

      Tech guy was going to change that but its painted on the wall so would have made a mess so I said leave it

  • george1531's avatar
    george1531
    On our wavelength
    3 months ago

    ALSO ...what is the official stance on this....what should the Superhub 5 power levels be?

    so much confusing information online. Mine are mainly +5-+6 ...there is 31 downstream channels (snr 41/41 on all)

    one 3.1 channel says PLC Power (dBmV) 4.4 (Rxmer is 41db)

    is this what its meant to be.... 

    all this -10 to +10 is ok.... Im not buying that, there must be a specific acceptable range?anyone know?

     

  • george1531's avatar
    george1531
    On our wavelength
    3 months ago

    Wait, you cant edit posts here, thats odd... very odd

     

    Forgot to add, upstream is at 46-47.....just need clarification this is all correct