So what's occurring?

[kwikbreaks]

In the past my connection had a high upstream power level (varying up to 58dBmV) and was put on a lower attenuation tap and fitted with a 6dB FPA. It then sat around 50dBmV for ages.

Then came congestion. There was some sort of relief work done which put me on a different CMTS and changed my IP but didn't move the power level noticeably. It also didn't properly fix the congestion issues but as I'd downgraded to 10Mbps at least I saw speeds in line with what I pay although I suspect gamers wouldn't be happy bunnies.

Since then I've seen a several short outages and a couple of small downshifts in upstream power until it sat at ~ 45dBmV. Last night at around 2am there was an hour outage. I'm still on the same IP and channels but the upstream is now 35.25dBmV. Downstreams unchanged at 3-4dBmV.

So....
Should I remove the FPA?

[jb66]

No, if you remove the fpa then your upstream would stay the same and your downstream would go too high. Sounds like your area has a nice shiny new amp, when my area got done my upstream shot right down

[General Maximus]

i thought it should be 37 minimum though

[kwikbreaks]

No, if you remove the fpa then your upstream would stay the same and your downstream would go too high. Sounds like your area has a nice shiny new amp, when my area got done my upstream shot right down
Yeah - I should have engaged my brain... Thanks.
I should also have been more careful with my sausage fingers reputation thanks - not sure what you actually got in that as it got sent while I was editing it.

[jb66]

i thought it should be 37 minimum though

35 to 55

[kwikbreaks]

Something else occurs to me on this - why wouldn't they set the amp gain the same as the one being replaced? Won't modems nearer the cab have very low upstream power (I know I'm 100m away)?

Is the higher power to cope at the RF level with the excess number of modems? Any chance they might do a follow up to ease local congestion or will this be the end of it until there's either a fault or the nationwide speed doubling upgrade comes along?

[General Maximus]

I think they are doing relief work in line with the upgrades which is why there is another 2 year rollout schedule

[kwikbreaks]

Sorry mate but that was like Shakespeare to me - I understood all the words but couldn't make any sense out of the combination.

[jb66]

A low upstream is usually a good thing, distance isn't really a big issue for upstream as it uses a low frequency carrier so doesn't loose much. It's the fact loads of customers are using 4 or 5 devices now when it goes through splitters the upstream rises.

[General Maximus]

Sorry mate but that was like Shakespeare to me - I understood all the words but couldn't make any sense out of the combination.

of what said I?