The other day I mentioned that I was having trouble with my internet connection. It seems like I’ve had the same problems with my cable modem every summer for the last 5 years. I’ve been convinced that heat was a factor somewhere along the line. I’ve tried aiming a fan at my modem and blasting the A/C. (My office is the hottest room in the house, and nearly impossible to cool without turning the entire house into an icebox.) Each of the last 2 summers I’ve had my cable company (originally Comcast, then AT&T, now Comcast again) come out for a service visit. Both times they did something outside of the house, like changing a splitter, or the connector on the end of a cable. Those efforts typically have boosted my signal strength enough to make the disconnects much less frequent. During each of those visits, they also ‘upgraded’ me to the latest & greatest modem.

So yesterday I finally broke down and called Comcast to tell them that I was having this problem again. After explaining my problem I asked the rep if there was any chance that my problems were heat related. She quickly said no and scheduled a service call for me for today. When the cable showed up today I mentioned to him my theory about the heat and how I’ve had this problem every summer. (Oddly enough the problem started at the end of May last year, just when it really starts to heat up here in Atlanta.) I told him how I’ve asked people about the heat factor before and they all acted like I was out of my damn mind. (I do have an Electrical Engineering degree!) What he said next, “oh yeah, heat could definitely be the problem” was music to my ears.

He proceeded to do the standard signal strength tests at the jack and modem in my office. Then he went outside and did the same at the box sticking out of my front yard. Next thing I know he’s pulling out a huge spool of black cable and running around to the other side of my house where all the cables enter the house. When he came back in he retested the signal in my office and said that it has increased dramatically. He also said that that old orange cable that’s running through my yard is the problem. He said that they stopped using that type of cable years ago and that it’s terrible for underground use and has problems handling the heat. (I can only imagine what some nice hot Georgia clay has done to that cable.) All I could do was laugh. So thanks to the one cable guy that really knows what he’s doing my disconnects have ceased. I just hope I don’t have to go through this again next summer.