Jumping To Conclusions - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: sleemanj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 06, 2017, 03:13:45 am
content: Last Thursday my cable internet went dead. It's not an uncommon occurrence to get an outage now and then, but after a couple hours I was getting annoyed. In the wee hours that morning had been a planned downtime, so my assumption was "they have screwed something up, I am a very old account and use one of the old modems they used to provide, I wonder if they have changed something". I was getting a downlink, but the modem couldn't get an uplink,Tweeted them, which is usually the quickest way to get support attention, "no we have nothing reported, send your account id" so I do, and didnt' hear back, so that evening I waited on the helpdesk queue and finally talked to somebody who couldn't see anything but booked a tech.A couple of hours later, it just comes right. So the next evening i let them know it's ok and to cancel the tech.7 days later, again right between clicks, it goes dead again. This time there is no downlink either. Grr. So I don't muck about this time, thinking "dammit cable company what are you faffing about at", there was some construction down the street and I thought "ahh I bet this is spade-fade or something". Once again they have no reports, and they say they will book a tech. Mutter mutter, back into chewing mobile data.Getting frustrated I think "ok I'll just be sensible here, let's see if something simple can sort it out", I start with wiggling the coax from the modem to the wall, reseating it, inspecting it. No good. Ok, I pull the wall plate off, and find a splitter in behind, ok maybe that's bad, removing the splitter and things come back to life! Great must have been a bad splitter.Not so fast, I check the signal levels on the modem and they are right on the raggedy edge, I'm thinking at this point that something is bad upstream and removing the -3.5dB on the splitter has bought me enough signal to function, barely. Go to lunch and figure I'd grab a new F connector cable for the modem, just in case. Get back, check the signals and it's gone again. Nothing can bring it back. All night I'm swapping cables, I removed the wall plate and connected directly to the F connector on the drop.... all the while thinking "why am I doing this it's OBVIOUSLY something further up the chain or it's a bad modem, one or the other".I start thinking about pulling the modem to bits "I bet there's like a bad electrolytic in there, I bet that's it" but it doesn't look easy to disassemble without being obvious, I check the power supply can provide the rated current, I consider fitting some extra capacitance in but I don't have a 5.5/2.5mm socket or plug to do it right.So I resign myself to waiting for the few days until a tech arrives, where I'm sure he'll probably find that the problem is "on the street", and I'll probably have to get one of their new modems and I'll probably lose my static IP, stew stew stew.And then... the next morning, I had the thought I should have thought 10 days ago... "back in 2000/2001 whenever it was, the installer put that coax on the outside of the house, down the side, where nobody ever goes, maybe I should check that cable", and suddenly the problem became rather obvious....Well, there's yer problem.An hour of digging out some RG6 from the depths of the shed, a couple of joiners, cable staples and some wire mesh to armour against any future bored dogs, signal integrity restored.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 06, 2017, 03:21:27 am
content: Rattus norvegicus?

author: sleemanj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 06, 2017, 04:15:59 am
content: Quote from: tautech on May 06, 2017, 03:21:27 amNot that there are not a few of those around the place, but in this case, it's canine for sure, which canine I can't be certain but I have my suspicion

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2017, 02:11:30 pm
content: Canis familiaris electrophagus?

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2017, 03:10:58 pm
content: Before we blame our canine friends for everything, remember this story...An elderly lady phoned her telephone company to report that her telephone failed to ring when her friends called - and that on the few occasions when it did ring, her pet dog always moaned right before the phone rang. The telephone repairman proceeded to the scene, curious to see this psychic dog or senile elderly lady.He climbed a nearby telephone pole, hooked in his test set, and dialed the subscriber's house. The phone didn't ring right away, but then the dog moaned loudly and the telephone began to ring.Climbing down from the pole, the telephone repairman found:1. The dog was tied to the telephone system's ground wire via a steel chain and collar.2. The wire connection to the ground rod was loose.3. The dog was receiving 90 volts of signaling current when the phone number was called.4. After a couple of such jolts, the dog would start moaning and then urinate on himself and the ground.5. The wet ground would complete the circuit, thus causing the phone to ring.Which demonstrates that some problems CAN be fixed by pissing and moaning.

author: whitevamp
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2017, 03:51:04 pm
content: Quote from: Richard Crowley on May 09, 2017, 03:10:58 pmgood laugh this morning..

author: retrolefty
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2017, 04:39:02 pm
content: QuoteOh my, once read can never be unread.

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2017, 05:01:56 pm
content: In another version of that story, the dog pees on the ground rod, restoring the earth connection which had corroded over the decades.

author: dSolder
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: May 10, 2017, 06:24:06 am
content: QuoteDo you have foxes down there ? Here in London we have a lot of foxes and they are forever chewing the coax antenna cables running down the walls.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2017, 04:18:29 pm
content: Or martens. They love chewing on rubber.

author: Falcon69
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2017, 04:23:28 pm
content: Quote from: Richard Crowley on May 09, 2017, 03:10:58 pmThanks for the laugh, that is too funny.

author: Cerebus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2017, 04:41:59 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on May 10, 2017, 04:18:29 pmNope, not a single Marten of any species (or even, I believe, any member of the Mustelidae family) in Australia outside of a zoo. This leaves me with the perfect excuse to say that: Weasels are weasily recognised but stoats are stotally different.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2017, 06:16:28 pm
content: Quote from: Cerebus on May 10, 2017, 04:41:59 pmD'oh! When I first read the OP, I only glanced at the flag and mistakenly remembered it as being UK!

author: Cerebus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2017, 08:19:04 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on May 10, 2017, 06:16:28 pmSadly not too many in the wild in the UK nowadays either. There has been a resurgence in Pine Marten numbers in parts of the UK in recent years; strangely this has been accompanied by a drop in numbers of the invasive American Grey Squirrel and a rise in the numbers of the native Red Squirrel. A current hypothesis is that Red Squirrels are somehow better at avoiding predation by Martens (having 'grown up' with them) than grey Squirrels. So, good news for native squirrels, bad news for cables.

author: sleemanj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2017, 09:34:17 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on May 10, 2017, 06:16:28 pmMy flag is neither UK nor AU, but no foxes here either, well, there's Rachel Hunter but you know, I should be so lucky.

author: BBBbbb
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 10, 2017, 10:30:25 pm
content: I used to have problem with crows and isolation on the aircon pipes. I had about 1m of pipes running on the outside that were completely bare, with just traces of the thick isolation left, just before the summer season started.Changed the outer layer now to a harder one, so no more problems.

author: flynwill
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2017, 04:06:13 am
content: Last time my cable internet service went out I did wait a few hours before calling for service on the assumption the outage wasn't local.When I did call, a nice young lad came out, took the symptoms (no link of any sort) and proceeded to climb the pole behind the house.After a few minutes he shouted down from the pole "Well I found the problem!""What?" I shouted back."Your drop is not plugged in" he replied."How did that happen" I shouted back."Well I don't know, but here are no free connections on the splitter up here" he replied.Seems that some previous "cable guy" getting one of my neighbors online decided to just unplug my connection and plug neighbor's in.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2017, 06:05:10 am
content: FWIW, I had an outage a couple weeks ago; but in this case, the reason was rather obvious. Cable modem not booting after a thunderstorm. It was rather old, and had probably seem one too many. Of course, it took the better part of an hour fiddling with the device, walking through the automated tech support state machine twice, and convincing the tech thatit's dead, Tim. I was back online by the end of the day, at least.Tim

author: CJay
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2017, 09:48:41 am
content: Quote from: flynwill on May 11, 2017, 04:06:13 amMy partner had a similar experience when her DSL Internet and phone went off, seems some lazy installer had disconnected her in the exchange to 'patch' in another user when they couldn't find a 'pair', apparently it happens rather often.Ever since BT were forced to open up their infrastructure to competitors the quality of a lot of the people working on their kit has plummeted.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2017, 10:58:17 am
content: Quote from: Cerebus on May 10, 2017, 08:19:04 pmYeah, introducing the American gray squirrel to Europe was disastrous. Good to hear the indigenous red ones are recovering! (I mean, I grew up in USA with gray squirrels everywhere, and they are very cute. But they are native there!)I saw a marten hopping down my street last fall. It was cute.

author: CJay
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2017, 11:13:11 am
content: Quote from: tooki on May 11, 2017, 10:58:17 amHaven't they got a nasty habit of eating cabling or at least the insulation on it?They are cute though, saw some golden Martens during a recent zoo visit with my kids, beautiful things.The kids are fairly OK too but I may be biased...

author: Electro Detective
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2017, 11:29:18 am
content: Quote from: CJay on May 11, 2017, 09:48:41 amThese installer @$$holes must either be tired of living or it's their last week on the job.Either way they deserve a good rodgering in public for messing with peoples connections in such a foul uncaring manner

author: akis
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2017, 07:16:28 pm
content: My coax runs inside heavy duty conduits. No stray dogs here, but an inordinate number of foxes and a few lone badgers. Currently I have 6 fox cubs in my garden and no idea how to get rid of them. My wife is not allowing me to harm them! I cannot chase them off because they have nowhere to go. I ended up feeding them today. My cat is terrified and too scared to venture outdoors. I am seriously thinking of getting a dog.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2017, 07:18:26 pm
content: Quote from: CJay on May 11, 2017, 11:13:11 amYeah, they like to chew on rubber, which is why I mentioned them to begin with. (Here in Europe, you can get a marten rider on your car insurance, because if one gets in the engine compartment to chew, they can cause a ton of damage in very little time, between the hoses, belts, and wires.)