Welcome to the sucky world of Cable TV. I too am 200' + back from the road and I never got cable really reliable (solved only when the phone company put fiber optic local loops in and got TV and internet from them).

The best bet is to keep after them with service calls. In practice they need to put an amplifier closer to the distribution point for your house. What you can do if they won't help is put an amplifier in your house to feed the TV's but you either will have to get a bidirectional one (EXPENSIVE) or pluck off the internet before the bulk of the splitters.

Once the wire gets to your house it is yours, unless the law has changed in the last 10 years or so. The same federal standard that governs signal strength says that a 6 inch pigtail outside your house and all inside wire is yours after installation. You may have some kind of agreement with your CATV company where they maintain inside wire, and all CATV boxes etc. inside are very likely CATV company owned. But the inside wire IS yours. You can add any number of outlets you care to, and an amplifier to increase the signal if you want.

First, call the CATV people back and ask to speak with a supervisor about this issue. Calmly explain your problem to him/her, and you may be pleased with the results. DO NOT threaten or even say you might disconnect if the issue is not fixed- it sounds as if you are in a situation where the costs to upgrade your service greatly exceeds your value as a subscriber. A disconnect order for your service would be just what most CATV techs and accountants would hope for, CATV makes its money in apartment buildings and densely populated areas- they only hook up the remaining parts of town with 300ft drops because they must to keep the franchise.

If you are still unsuccessful, you probably have a city or other municipal authority that granted the above mentioned CATV franchise. Find out who, and talk (once again calmly) to them. A call from the franchise authority has caused me to install many dollars worth of equipment that was otherwise un-needed, often just to make the issue go away.

Are your TV pictures satisfactory? I so, then do some checking to locate the first splitter in your line. Make sure the location for the VOIP box is in the very first leg of your system, then just split the signal AFTER this point to your TV setups. If you need amplifiers to improve the TV signals, they are cheaper than the bi-directional ones to accommodate internet signals.

My cable/high speed was reliable until yesterday. I don't know if it's the addition of the VOIP, but my high speed is no longer speedy. Everything, except the most bare bones pages (like Google), hangs up until it loads. Before it just loaded pretty much instantly. It's been less than 24 hours and I'm already annoyed by it. Is this because the VOIP was added?

The cable guy gave me the impression there was nothing I could do to strengthen the signal short of spending like $20k. I curious about the amplifier. Is there one you recommend?

Another thing is that my (very non-technical) father told me he thinks all this is only an issue if I want cable boxes, that if I just have regular cable it won't be an issue. That doesn't make sense to me (after all, you still need the splitters in the basement, you just don't have the cable box), but I'd like to know what you all think.

The cable guy also told me I abolsutely cannot add Tivo, that it will cause all kinds of issues. Opinions?

Our TV picture is fine now. It's just a regular TV, not HDTV. We are getting an HDTV flat screen shortly, that would be the 3rd TV in the house.

look at where teh cable enters your house. the first splitter should be a 2 port and have 1 side feeding your TVs and one side feeding NOTHING but your cable modem. if it is a multi port splitter, then you should have it changed out to a 2 port setup as i just described. you will need a larger splitter after the first one for the TVs, but you do not want a bunch of loss in front of teh modem so in low signal cases you use 1 2 port splitter only before the modem.

you can get bi directional amps, but they are pricey, though certainly WAY less than teh 20k the cable co wants.

just to give you a detailed example of a layout, here is how my parent's house is wired:

cable in feeds a 2 port splitter.
1 port goes directly to cable modem
1 port feeds a 30DB one way amp that feeds a 12 port splitter.
this 12port feeds every room in teh house, and 1 additional amp that inturn feeds a 4 port splitter going to the sunroom and 2 rear bedrooms.

yes, that is a lot of ports. the amps are there due to fact that with so many ports the signal goes to crap to teh tvs. figure it this way, a 2 port splitter will give just UNDER 1/2 the incoming signal strength to each port, with a little bit just flat out lost. a 3 port gives under 1/3 signal stregth to each port, and a 4 port gives under 1/4. and so on and so forth.

(a) Who is your cable provider?
(b) Do you get anything if you go to the following URL:

http://192.168.100.1/

(Also linked below)

For some cable co (Comcast), that link will bring up the Cable modem status page that can provide all sorts of goodies about the signal strength.

Here is a link that might be useful: Possible URL for Cable Modem status

If you do have an issue, get an amp for the CATV signal, and then hook up all devices after it.

The VOIP occupies bandwidth on your High-speed connection that was previously available to your PC so, yes, it can slow down your computer's connection a bit. This has almost NOTHING to do with signal strength on your line and more to do with the default settings you have in your VOIP setup. Typically, you can adjust the bandwidth reserved for the phone and let the computer have more of a share.

Chech this site for more info:

Here is a link that might be useful: dsl tools

ok.

Your cable provider is most likely Time-Warner.

Your situation is not difficult to deal with, at all.

Your cable wire comes in. Run it to a 2-way splitter. Attach your cable modem / VOIP box (if it's TWC, in Maine, and you've got only one telephone line, hooked up recently, then you've probably got a Scientific Atlanta DPC2203) to one side of the splitter. Attach the other side to the input of a generic VHF amplifier (which you can pick up at Radio Shack). The output of this amplifier goes to another, larger splitter, which all of your TVs in your house attach to.

I have no idea what the cable guy thinks he's going to gain by telling you that you can't add any more TVs - or maybe he just doesn't know. Either way, you can, without any incredibly huge cost. (What are those amplifiers anyway? Maybe $20?)

When I set this up at a residence several years back (also in rural Maine), I was worried that the digital cable parts might be on some RF band that wouldn't get through the VHF amplifier, but they all worked just fine, so that's apparently not the case.

Hi,

What you need is an amplifier to boost the signal from where it comes into the house *AND* boost the signal going the other way for your VOIP and internet access.

I bought one of these like 2 years ago. Very reliable and no trouble. I bought the 8 socket dual-directional one. EDA-FT08100 XSP Active Return, ELECTROLINE. I bought it from CABLETVAMPS from Ebay. He also has his own web site which I have attached. He explains all the techy stuff if you want to wade through it all. The cost is $US 99 +S&H. He shipped fast and no complaints at all.

This gadget solve my issues for me anyway.

Warmest regards, Mike.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cable TV Amps

stinkytiger's $99 solution will, indeed, solve your problem.

So will my $20 one.

I'm always wary of anyone posting specific sources for anything, hence the reason I didn't, originally, but since stinkytiger has started the ball rolling, Here is what you need from an actual commercial company that I order a lot of electronics from, but have no affiliation with.

There is no need to provide bidirectional amplification for your entire cable TV system, unless, for some really weird reason, you've got a cable modem in every room. That wouldn't make much sense.

If your signal coming into the house meets the required standard (even if just barely), then you shouldn't have a problem with your cable modem / voip as long as it is connected to the -3dB tap of the very first splitter. You then provide UNIdirectional amplification to the other devices that don't need to transmit (ie, televisions) and save yourself nearly $80.00 in the process.

Here is a link that might be useful: 4 Output RF Amplifier - 2834 - Distributed BY MCM

At the risk of getting too far into the weeds, contrary to what Pharkus proposes, you may need bidirectional amplification if you have cable boxes on any of the TVs and want to use Pay-per-View, Video on Demand, or have an interactive programming guide.

In my experience, it's the cable company's job to provide adequate signal strength to your house. I'd ask them to help before I started to solve their problem. Four TVs and a cable modem is not an excessive load for a properly configured cable service.

Thanks for the help everyone. I meant to stop back in, but I was waiting for a resolution. It ends up we are already fully amped, none more available. The cable company (Comcast) agreed to run a new line. We have underground utilities so they required we dig to expose the large conduit (it transitions to a small conduit about 1' below ground). We did that and then promptly got and ice storm and 25" of snow. They didn't show up (not surprising since there were thousands without power and cable) and didn't call. So, that's where I am.