Cable splitter sharing with neighbours

[stann0]

I've had VM cable (& predecessors) for 15 years. New people moved into the flat above last week and obviously ordered VM.

The first lot of engineers came last week and pulled a new cable under the pavement to the junction box on my basement wall. On Thursday a second engineer ran the siamese cable from the junction box to the upstairs flat.

There was crap left everywhere in my basement stairwell - cable ties, cable off-cuts, plastic bags. As I was cleaning it up I noticed the junction box was still open. I looked inside and was really surprised to see that co-ax part of the new cable from the street was not attached to anything - just the phone line (really clumsily connected to the thinner one of the siamese cables going upstairs). On further inspection it turns out they have put a splitter on my original co-ax cable from the street and are running both broadband/TV supplies off that.

What I'm wondering is:

1) Why on earth would they do that?
2) Will it affect our broadband speeds if we're both online at the same time?
3) If the answer to 2 is Yes, what can I do about it?

Cheers.

[Stephen]

They probably did that out of laziness and it won't affect your speeds in anyway.

I once had 3 TiVos and two modems running across two accounts in my home and everything worked absolutely fine.

The cable can handle it.

[stann0]

Thanks Stephen - that's good to know.

[heero_yuy]

So long as your signal strengths are in spec then there shouldn't be any problems

[jb66]

post your signal levels

[sollp]

Originally Posted by stann0

I've had VM cable (& predecessors) for 15 years. New people moved into the flat above last week and obviously ordered VM.

The first lot of engineers came last week and pulled a new cable under the pavement to the junction box on my basement wall. On Thursday a second engineer ran the siamese cable from the junction box to the upstairs flat.

There was crap left everywhere in my basement stairwell - cable ties, cable off-cuts, plastic bags. As I was cleaning it up I noticed the junction box was still open. I looked inside and was really surprised to see that co-ax part of the new cable from the street was not attached to anything - just the phone line (really clumsily connected to the thinner one of the siamese cables going upstairs). On further inspection it turns out they have put a splitter on my original co-ax cable from the street and are running both broadband/TV supplies off that.

What I'm wondering is:

1) Why on earth would they do that? I often ask the same question about many things
2) Will it affect our broadband speeds if we're both online at the same time?
3) If the answer to 2 is Yes, what can I do about it?

Cheers.

[sollp]

Originally Posted by jb66

post your signal levels

PLEASE

[stann0]

Originally Posted by jb66

post your signal levels

Downstream power levels: 3.46 - 3.84

Upstream: 46.75 - 47.50

[jb66]

Originally Posted by stann0

Downstream power levels: 3.46 - 3.84

Upstream: 46.75 - 47.50

That's perfect

[stann0]

Originally Posted by jb66

That's perfect

Good to know! Thanks all.

[Ignitionnet]

Originally Posted by stann0

Good to know! Thanks all.

The splitter actually improved your levels.

[Horizon]

I wouldn't be happy about "my" cable feeding another property and it would be out with the scissors pronto... Don't see why flats should be any different.

Each flat should fed with its own cable. Who can say what new VM services come in the future and what power they might require?

[Ignitionnet]

The future services are designed around existing networks. There isn't going to be a huge change in power level requirements, that would simply result in operators not using the technology due to cost and complication.

Vandalising VM's network is as a general rule not recommended.