[colug-432] talking to your ISP

[Rick Hornsby]

On Dec 28, 2012, at 09:10 , yanovich.1 at osu.edu wrote:

> Another metric you may want to look at is the Power Level being reported
> by your cable modem from TWC.
> 
> In the past I've been able to access it by using this address when
> behind the cable modem: http://192.168.0.1/
> 
> Look for a status page that contains some of this information:
> 
> Downstream Status
> Channel ID
> Downstream Frequency
> Modulation
> Bit Rate
> Power Level
> Signal to Noise Ratio
> ----------
> Upstream Status
> Channel ID
> Upstream Frequency
> Modulation
> Bit Rate
> Power Level


Thanks for the very detailed explanation.  That actually helps a great deal.  This is all that I can get at on the cable modem, the rest of the information is locked out:

Name CISCO DPC2100R2
Modem Serial Number  200949341
Cable Modem MAC Address  00:11:e6:xx:xx:xx
Hardware Version 2.0
Software Version dpc2100rx-v202r1256-110531Uas-TWC
Receive Power Level -14.7 dBmV
Signal to Noise Ratio 32.4 dBmV
Transmit Power Level 42.8 dBmV
Cable Modem Status Operational

It would be pretty simple to fetch this information every 30 minutes (or more often) and log it somewhere.  This seems like a good little project to teach myself some Ruby.

> Specifically, from my experience with TWC and according to the numerous
> techs I've talked to when dealing with crappy speeds the number to look
> for is the Downstream Power Level. This number is in units of dBmV and
> should be between -7.0 and +7.0, if it is outside of this range CALL
> THEM UP.


A -14.7 rx level (now showing 14.8) then is well outside the acceptable range.  I did some googling, and it sounds like -15 to +15 is the rated operational range of most cable modems.  So I'm right on the edge of internet no workie it would seem.

Having some data to record and be able to present is something I've been trying to figure out how to get at.