Random disconnects - internet and TV

[ancyuber]

I have random disconnects throughout the day. It affects both my tv/internet, though tv to a much less extent. The tv will just get a line through it for a second, the internet disconnects for about 30 seconds. This has been going on for half a year. Ive had comcast to the house 6+ times and they cant seem to find the problem. They replaced the line outside to the box but the issue is still happening. They said that our noise ratio was high compared to our neighbors in the area. I first noticed the issue after a week after a really big storm hit our area. Disconnects happened a lot during the summer, seemed to only happen once or twice a day during the fall, but so far this winter they have been picking up again.

i'm really at my wits end on this, i cant really change my isp because there are no better choices in my area. i havent gone to any forums to gather any ideas so i figured i would try since the disconnects are happening more often. again this happens to my tv+internet at the same time but affects the internet much more.

there is one idea thats been in the back of my head but i really dont know if it could have any affect as i know little about electricity. I know that from one of our outlets in our basement that if you any electronics in the outlet, when touching the metal on said electronic emits a continuous shock and numb feeling. now from information gathering i believe this is caused due to a bad ground? could a bad electrical ground be causing feedback into our cable lines and creating a high noise and causing my disconnects? is this why comcast cannot find our problem?

sorry if i rambled at all... any help or ideas of what the issue is would be greatly appreciated.

 

[immiller]

When I was living in Lancaster, PA, I too had comcast and I battled with them for nearly 8 months about the quality of my internet and the fuzziness of my non hd and the blockiness of the hd signals. I finally got the contractor manager to call and have one of the comcast managers meet with both of us, they agreed they would check my line all the way back out of the development to the main road, what they found was a damaged repeater. They refunded my 8 months of cable 100% and issues 1/2 price till they could replace the repeater. I lived there another 5 months with no replacement,

I highly recomend having your ground checked for your house as well as for any circuits off your main panel that you are using. Not only will it prolong your electical devices it could very well save your life one day. In most installations the cable is grounded to the same electrical ground your power is.

I did not have this happen to me but my older brother had his internet and tv dropping in and out like clock work every day. He worked with a contractor for charter communications for about 7 weeks to find the root cause, they found improper cable from transmission pole to his house, (fixed by downgrading his line) a bad ground at his electrical meter, Power company came out and put new copper ground rod in. and that helped a. Except his internet kept dropping out, tv was fine. found out the neighbor next door was stealing cable and had an improper sat dish installation that was causing feedback to the cable system.

I'm not saying this is your problem but if it's things you have not looked at it might be an option to check out.

 

[immiller]

Something else to think about, your random disconnects, can you find a device in your house that is turning on when it happens? like hvac unit, fridge, stove, dishwasher, washer, dryer or anything else?

*do not try this if you don't know/comfortable in how to do this*

If you are handy with a dvom you can open your panel and check for voltage to ground and current with an amp meter. Then it's really easy to track down the mysterious device by turning off all breakers and then one at a time back on till you see the current resume to the ground. then isolate that circuit and check all outlets for loose wires/plugs then proceed to unplug everything from the outlets and retest one device at a time.