Internet issues.

[Rologton]

People (mostly the mumble crew) have heard me bitch countless times about the internet connection at my house. Having just got back for Winter Break, I'm experiencing the annoyance all over again.

The issue is that it suddenly stops connecting. It's actually normally really quality, high speed internet, and it's not something you notice all that bad when just browsing. But then when you're playing a game, or on Skype, or trying to watch a YouTube video, you feel the full effect. Basically, it'll be going perfectly fine and then suddenly the connection will drop. On TF2 I get the "Connection Lost" message in the top right, and when I get it there's nothing I can do but disconnect from the server and reconnect again and just wait for the next drop. Sometimes I'll be able to play for two hours without a problem, other times every 5 minutes I'm losing it.

Any advice? I know a lot of you guys are much better with tech shit than I am. My dad tells me he's called Time Warner (It's Time Warner service, btw) and was told that there should be no problem. I thought it might be our WiFi router because we've had it for a while, but the same thing happens when I plug right in to the internet modem. Anything I should try, or is it an issue with the modem?

[Beartato]

My only tip is to type "retry" in console when you get the connection lost thing in TF2. Saves you the hassle of waiting out the timer, loading the title screen, and looking through your server browser.

[Failhorse]

did you check the printer cable?

[Failhorse]

But seriously. This can happen because the signal isn't strong enough. There's a formula for how much wire/splitter ect can be in a house. Less spending 40 dollars for a tester. I suggest following cable wires. If they look thinner than what should be normal, it's an RG-4 wire and should be replaced with the modern one RG-6 (more shielding.) Also Every connection you make off the main cable coming into the house reduces the output by 20%. So if you have 2 splitters you reduce the signal by 40%. Anything greater than 20% can cause intermittent internet issues. So if you have more than 4 tvs connected to the cable + internet your fucked.

What to do? You can buy a booster and use that as the first splitter. if you don't have 4+ TVs in the house. You can put a 4 way splitter, then run wires individually to wherever they need to go. You cannot split again after a splitter w/o a booster. Though sometimes you can get away with it if the signal is strong enough. at Most you have a 4 way splitter. 1 wire directly to the internet modem- 2 directly to TVs. Then 1 other splitter can be on the 4th (no more than a double splitter) to go elsewhere.