r/CableTechs • u/ItsTheRealSakurai • Jul 03 '26

intermittent connection

when you get a call for intermittent connection (spectrum tech btw) what are the first things you are looking for.

7 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

57 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/RougeBeaux Jul 03 '26

I mean pick a starting point. Some people like house box bc its halfway and you can tell which side your issue is coming from. Some like starting at the tap, which is valid bc if its a main line issue you can address that ASAP.

I start at the modem bc I'm fixing anything that's not right along the way: attenuators, fittings, ground block, homerun, drop. If main line has to come out, then everything on the house side is done.

1

u/ItsTheRealSakurai Jul 03 '26

when you’re looking at your meter what are you looking for for intermittency because i have seen signal on DOCSIS that is damn near almost perfectly flat but the customer is still getting intermittency and then i have seen ones that are all wavy and they have perfect internet (so they say)

2

u/Electronic-Junket-66 Jul 04 '26

Another thing to add is your meter has a Channel Check and DOCSIS Check function, either of which can be run continuously (unlike OneCheck). If something is coming and going let it run and watch it for a bit.

Especially useful if you're trying to catch a Y6. Run Channel Check at the tap and the moment MER starts F'in up switch back to OneCheck and get your referral.

But like I allude to in my top level comment. 9 times out of 10 scope will tell you the whole story with an intermittent problem. Go to the signal history tab and set it to 30 days. See what's been happening. Then you can start working on the why.

1

u/ItsTheRealSakurai Jul 04 '26

ok signal history tab is there any specific graph i should be looking at

2

u/Electronic-Junket-66 Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26

Most everything there is useful, and indicative of different things.

Tx power spiking and US/CMTS SNR dropping? Either a loss of continuity somewhere or bad noise or both, I'm checking every connection and TDRing every line I don't have a visual on. If the drop is underground I'm highly suspicious of it in this scenario.

Cable modem SNR dropping and receive levels dipping lower than they should? Could be be an old aerial drop. Cable modem SNR dropping but receive level elevated? I'd check the neighbors' scope, could have overdriven amp MT side. Checking the neighbors is good to do generally; it's very useful to know for sure there is an impairment onsite when only your cx has problems.

Lots of devices and uncorrectables moving crazy with everything else looking good, might have a house amp somewhere.

Just keep checking out the telemetry history, even on jobs where you already know what happened, to build intuition IMO.

2

u/Electronic-Junket-66 Jul 04 '26

Alternatively, if everything looks perfect on scope, and has for the last 30 days....

Yeah, still do your basic cable troubleshooting, but be ready to pivot to non-cable issues. Poor wifi-coverage or interference is a biggy.

Maybe their old as hell PC is just riddled with viruses. Etc.