except each of the 3 output terminals says -5.5 dB (none say -7 or -3.5) which from googling seems to be called a balanced splitter. Since I had a laptop and extension cord, I decided to test out the average downstream power levels using the modem at various points in the coaxial cable wiring:
If the estimate of 40 ft of wiring is correct, the signal loss according to
this scales linearly, and the modem uses frequencies around 1000 Mhz (not sure?), then 40 ft of RG-59 cable would provide about a 8.6 dB drop just due to the wiring itself. This seems to agree with the amount of signal attenuation from immediately after the 3 way splitter, to just before the 2 way splitter after ~40 ft of wiring.
Based on this, I have a couple questions:
1) The 3 way splitter seems to be attenuating the signal more than 5.5 dB. Does this indicate the splitter is malfunctioning and should be replaced? Or is the listed attenuation not always accurate?
2) There is a large signal attenuation due to the cable from the output terminals of the 3 way splitter to the input of the 2 way splitter. Would it make sense to replace the 3 way splitter with a 4 way splitter, and then run RG-6 cable from the 4th terminal directly to the modem? In other words the following diagram:
If so, should the cable company provide these things or would I have to purchase/install them myself (something like this »
www.monoprice.com/produc ··· format=2) ? I haven't called Comcast yet but I plan to soon.
Thanks again for all the help.