JasonU
join:2006-01-06
Memphis, TN
| reply to Turbocpe
Re: [Cable TV] Des Moines - Headend issues & Mediacom's Response
I actually had the TV on today to see this channel cutout exactly as Turbocpe has described. Today at 12:30 PM, the following channels went off - no tiling, just an abrupt cutoff. After hearing a couple of crackles, they came back on at 12:38.
2
25
26
27
32
35
36
37
40
44
45
47
48
49
50
52
53
54
55
57
58
63
67
69
72
77
There may have been other channels affected, as I have some removed from my lineup. I'm on analog expanded basic, no DCT or anything, just using the TV's built in tuner. All my TVs were affected. |
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Service Tech
join:2008-01-25
Des Moines, IA | reply to Turbocpe
It is sunspot season again |
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Turbocpe
Premium
join:2001-12-22
IA
1 edit | That it is. And while that may explain the past few days worth of outages, it does not explain the root issue that dates back to last summer, which Mediacom confirms to be at their head-end.
Curious, though. If these past few days have simply been "sunspot" issues, why aren't all the channels affected? While that's a rather large list that has been affected, for the past few days, it's not all channels.
Aren't those the digital channels that Mediacom rebroadcasts to the analog customers? That's been the root issue, the digital channels that Mediacom is redistributing to analog customers - their equipment continues to cause these issues. |
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rekrdskratcher
@mchsi.com
| I've seen tiling more and more in the last month or so. Had to change out our cable modem (although probably unrelated, but anyway.) Now for the last three or four days, I have no video on channel 53 (in Iowa City, Cartoon Network) but I've got audio. Let me tell you, there is nothing more depressing than hearing Family Guy and not seeing it. We have, I believe, the expanded basic digital package (not going into a digital TV but with a cable box and some VOD options included.) Anybody else having channels with just audio and no video? |
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wth
Premium
join:2002-02-20
Iowa City, IA
 ·Mediacom
| said by rekrdskratcher :
I have no video on channel 53 (in Iowa City, Cartoon Network) Don't know about 53, but on 38 (animal planet) there's been a half inch wide noise bar in the middle of the screen towards the left side. |
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Turbocpe
Premium
join:2001-12-22
IA
| reply to Turbocpe
Well, this afternoon after 2:50PM CT, the following channels starting tiling, then freezing, then went offair:
17
23
29
30
31
43
43 shown Poor Quality Signal then No signal.
They were offline for a good 10-15 minutes. |
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burner50
Pinlifter
Premium,VIP
join:2002-06-05
EN22wm
·Mediacom
 ·FrontierNet Intern..
1 edit | reply to Service Tech
said by Service Tech  :It is sunspot season again Thats got nothing to do with it.
EDIT: If you are INDEED an actual service tech from mediacom you would know the difference between sunspots and sunfade and the indications of such problems...
apparently you do not....
There is a serious issue with the des moines master headend as has been detailed here over and over again...
If the cable franchise people wont deal with it then Everybody needs to show up to the DSM city council meeting next week and make a LARGE ORGANIZED show of disgust. And repeat over and over again until the city puts some pressure on mediacom. |
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Service Tech
join:2008-01-25
Des Moines, IA | reply to Turbocpe
Re: [Cable TV] Des Moines - Headend issues & Mediacom's Response
My suggestion is that you go to your mediacom local office when you have a problem and meet with a supervisor to discuss you isssue instead of posting here |
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Turbocpe
Premium
join:2001-12-22
IA
2 edits | reply to Service Tech
Re: [Cable TV] Des Moines - Headend issues & Mediacom's Response
said by Service Tech :My suggestion is that you go to your mediacom local office when you have a problem and meet with a supervisor to discuss you isssue instead of posting here The thing of it is, it's not just my problem. It has been proved to be a global issue (Des Moines), thus, it impacts a large amount of customers. |
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crcustomer
@spcsdns.net
| reply to Turbocpe
service tech this is not a single customer's issue. the real knowledgeable people on this website; and at mediacom, admit the issues are system wide problems. all customers on mediacom's des moines head-end are affected.
if you have no interest, please do not read or post to this thread; leave it for those who understand sunspots. this forum exists for customers to ask questions and to interact with other customers. this thread has shown that the issues in the des moines head-end have moved to other head-ends in the iowa area. |
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Axilla
Finger, Finger
Premium,Mod
join:2001-03-26
Schofield, WI
clubs:
Host:
Mediacom
Weather
| said by crcustomer :
if you have no interest, please do not read or post to this thread; leave it for those who understand sunspots.
What sunspots??? We are at solar minimum.
some links...
»www.eham.net/DX/propagation |
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Turbocpe
Premium
join:2001-12-22
IA
| said by Axilla :said by crcustomer :
if you have no interest, please do not read or post to this thread; leave it for those who understand sunspots.
What sunspots??? We are at solar minimum. said by Service Tech :It is sunspot season again It sounded like Service Tech was suggesting the problems in this thread were "sunspot" issues. I think that's the 2nd time that had been suggested, which apparently is incorrect. |
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Axilla
Finger, Finger
Premium,Mod
join:2001-03-26
Schofield, WI
clubs:
Host:
Mediacom
Weather
1 edit | Thank you. i was trying to find the reference.
On the sunspot issue sunspots imped satellite to surface communication due to ionization of the ionosphere. As a ham radio operator I rely on that ionization to bounce signals off the ionosphere for long range communication.
However the opposite is true for TV applications, which rely on the ionosphere having low electron absorption to pass signals.
The current fact is that we are at solar minimum, and we seem to be stuck in this state for longer than is normally expected. For the most part TV communication is not interrupted at least until the cycle starts to rise.
For reference a solar sunspot cycle is generally a eleven year process from peak to peak or valley to valley. |
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burner50
Pinlifter
Premium,VIP
join:2002-06-05
EN22wm
·Mediacom
·FrontierNet Intern..
| I'm thinking he was referring to a Sun outage, where the satellite lines up directly in front of the sun and the sun overpowers the satellite signal, which generally happens 2x per year.... and it is also too early...
I'm thinking service tech is either not a tech at all or a 1st year installer at best... |
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Turbocpe
Premium
join:2001-12-22
IA
| reply to Turbocpe
Thought I'd update this thread. Although it appeared that the issues were becoming less common, there was still several times where I'd see the issues listed here occur.
Then, early this morning just before 1:30AM (05/01/08), the following channels went offair:
2
17
20
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
35
36
37
40
41
42
44
45
47
48
49
50
52
53
54
55
57
58
63
67
69
70
71
72
77
They returned about 10 minutes later, then went back offair and have been offair for atleast another 10 minutes now.
I've heard from a lot of Mediacom TV customers that find this just as disturbing that a traditional service is becoming so difficult for Mediacom to provide. |
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drslash
Goya Asma
Premium
join:2002-02-18
Marion, IA
| reply to Turbocpe
I, too, have reported issues with the TV service since the first of the year; tiling, freezing, pixelation, garbled audio etc. etc. Up until last week I have not seen channel outages. Over the weekend and on Tuesday evening Marion had about one third of the channels go off air for about 10 minutes at a time. The number of channels is an approximation, I didn't take the time to do a complete audit.
It only seems like yesterday that Mediacom ran commercials very frequently that were critical of the picture and signal quality of dish systems. I have two friends whose families watch a lot of TV from a dish service and they both report that they have no signal issues except in the most severe snow or rain conditions.
--
Save water...drink beer! |
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Anonymous
Premium
join:2004-06-01
IA | reply to Turbocpe
I think they are simply not focusing on analog service any more... |
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Turbocpe
Premium
join:2001-12-22
IA
3 edits | said by Anonymous :I think they are simply not focusing on analog service any more... Last I checked, this is Mediacom's largest market (speaking of product). I understand Analog is on limited time, but what type of successful company basically blows off the largest part of their market assuming that in a few years, "all will be well"?
That's exactly what appears to be going on. These issues started last summer. It is my understanding that Mediacom plans to go to digital in 2009. Mediacom had problems with the service in 2007.
So what type of business blows off their largest market and just believes that in 2 years, if things go as planned, that all will be well in the end? 
I find it hard to believe that any well run company basically has a "to __ with it plan" for 2 years, speaking of something that has been their bread and butter and is where the majority of their customers belong to.
BTW, this isn't against you Anon. |
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