Cable replacement

[Glenn555]

I was told that there is something wrong with the cable from the Shaw box to my condo unit.  Apparently, the signal is degrading.  Any idea on who I would contact to get this cable replaced.  I realise that it will cost.  I’m in the Canmore area.

[rstra]

@Glenn555  The cable is likely unable to be replaced without significant opening up of walls, did a Shaw technician tell you this? 

[Glenn555]

Yes, he said the signal was losing too much strength and needed to be replaced. The run is about 100 ft through the 3 other units.  Do you know if there is anyway to boost the signal. It will run the TV but apparently I will have issues with the phone.

[rstra · Accepted solution]

@Glenn555  The technician would have installed an amp, if appropriate. At 100+ feet, there could significant signal loss in the higher frequencies, and it could be worse if the building was wired with mini cable.

[Glenn555]

Thank you! I’ll follow up with technician 

[mdk · Accepted solution]

@Glenn555 -- It will run the TV but apparently I will have issues with the phone.

That is strange, because I have been told that the Shaw Phone uses just one channel, while the TV/Internet use multiple channels. The Shaw technician said that the Shaw Phone has a smaller requirement for signal-strength.

The Shaw technician can measure the signal-strength at the "wiring closet" on your floor, at your cable-modem, at your neighbour's cable-modem, and in the primary wiring-closet (where the Shaw cable enters your building).  Then, the next step might be for a Shaw "installer" to run new cable. Maybe, if you next-door neighbour has a strong signal, the new wiring could be a "split" of the neighbour's service into your unit. 

[mdk]

@Glenn555 --- I was told that there is something wrong with the cable from the Shaw box to my condo unit.

A drastic solution: contact Telus, to see if they still offer what they have repeatedly offered to me, namely "buy-out" money ($20/month for each month remaining on my two-year Value Plan), and then cancel with Shaw (costing you $20/month), and switch to Telus, to get their "new subscriber" discounted rate.

Are the Shaw coaxial-cables "daisy-chained", namely: wiring-closet to unit 301, unit 301 to unit 302, and unit 302 to your unit (303), or are there full runs: wiring-closet direct to your unit?  The latter is most likely.

Inside your unit, do you have a 1-to-3 splitter (to TV, to cable-modem, to phone-box)? Look closely at the labels on the splitter. The usual way is to connect the TV box to one of the "3.5 db" outputs, the cable-modem to the other "3.5 db" output, and the Shaw Phone to the other output (which might be "7.0 db").  But, try temporarily connecting the Shaw Phone to one of those "3.5 db" outputs, to get a lesser "drop" in signal-strength, and see the result.

P.S. If you connect the Shaw Phone box directly to the coaxial wall-socket, how good is your connection?

[Glenn555]

The run is direct from the Shaw box to my place and there is only one cable coming in.  I appreciate the insight.  I’m going to try and get Shaw to send a different tech. If necessary, I’ll cancel the phone line.