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Gabe asked: “I’m a customer of Comcast cable. One of the reasons I switched, is I was told it would be impervious to weather disruptions as my DirecTV was. I found that to be untrue. Weather seems to affect my cable service every bit as much as my satellite. Now, I’ve been told this is because cable actually gets its signal from satellite. Help me with my confusion.”
Gabe, we haven’t heard of Comcast using satellites, but we have heard of Comcast service going out in the rain. A lot!
The problem is surprisingly difficult to diagnose. You’d think that it’d be because something it’s getting wet and shorting out, and that it would be easy to track down what it is, but there are a lot of parts that could be having an issue.
The problem is surprisingly difficult to diagnose.
The point where a line connects from their pole to your house is called a multitap. That could be failing when it rains, but it would most likely mean that your neighbors would have trouble too. Talk to them and ask, if they’re seeing the same issue, then you can probably rule out problems at your house.
There could be problems with the cable itself, so you may need a whole new line installed. The problem may be at your end too, it could be a connector or cable in your home.
Ultimately, cable should normally work during storms, and if it doesn’t you will probably need to have a tech stop by and check for you. The problem you’re going to face here is that if it’s not storming at the time, everything will probably seem functional. We’re not saying you should check the weather report and schedule a visit on a day that’s forecast to see rain all day, but it wouldn’t be the worst idea.