Why does the cable go out?

[Mark Strube]

So last night there was a big storm in the area as most of you know. During this storm, the power went out for about 5 seconds, and came back on, flickering a bit. Within about 20 seconds it stopped flickering and we had solid power. However, the cable was out, and it continued to be out until sometime after 5am this morning. I missed the season premieres of House, Bones, Gilmore Girls, and Supernatural.

This also means absolutely no internet. I called support to get one of their dial-up numbers, but was completely lost without their software, it won't let you connect using simple Mac dial-up.

In other words, if I had satellite & dsl, I'd still happily have all services.

So, the power was on, the gas was on, the water was on, the phone was on, all but the cable. What gives Time Warner? I thought your big selling point was it works during storms, "unlike satellite." I have a mind to call them and demand a credit for at least a few days. And to anyone who might know - what makes cable so vulnerable to going out? This doesn't make sense to me. This is the 2nd or 3rd time this summer in this area... although the first time it took only 3 hours to get it fixed. :rolleyes:

[Doug Mohr]

Be glad you don't use them for your phones as well  :bang:

As for why it goes out, this is only my hunch, but I figure they don't have a grid system like other utilities that can re-route in case of a line problem. Or perhaps they just don't have 48V equipment and batteries at their substations.

I don't know but it does seem like a pretty poor business model. But since politicians refuse to open up the cable market to competition, this is what we get.

Doug

[tekdredger]

Aren't you glad you don't have digital phone service from TWC?  If you did you wouldn't be able to call to tell them that your service was out!  

[Mark Strube]

Well we're with the rest of the world in having cell phones, so even if we had digital phone we'd have a backup. Funny... now what used to be unreliable years ago is going to be people's backup when crummy digital phone service goes out.  :rofl:

[gparris]

I have made frequent stays in cities on Texas and Florida over the past several years and discussing it with friends, co-workers and relatives about the whole dish vs. cable thing, I found the following:
Those that have dishes systems and dish mounted (even on rooftops) keep their service once the storm goes past, usually in about 30 minutes or less.  
Local OTA setups (antennas)  have interference, but if they want to watch the storm's location (to take cover) they have portable TVs or radios for power outages ready and once the storm clears, providing they have power, they got TV on the big screen again.

Cable folks usually have antennas or satellite, too, or just wait for it to go on again in an couple of hours (or days). Those I discussed this with said they always had some sort of backup, either way.
One comment was cable (basic) for locals when the storm came knocking out their dish reception and dish for the times cable went out.  Lots of times they used the cable for HD locals and more recently, recording HD.

I mention these areas since they get more storms than we do up here on average and if their dish is securely mounted, it doesn't need much or any adjustments, either.

[kevbeck122]

For Menomonee Falls, from what I heard, the central building's (if there is such a thing?) power got knocked out and now we're running on generator power in order to have cable services.  What I don't understand is why the generator didn't kick in for 8+ hours.  At least I could watch my recorded shows and OTA...

Dialup was painful.. I'm glad I have roadrunner back.

[brewtownska]

Poor guys...no cable to keep you busy.  I really got the short end of the stick, as I'm one of the people still without POWER in Waukesha (at least as of 1pm when I went home to check on lunch).  Sad thing is I can SEE the problem up on the power pole...one of the breakers opened up and just needs to be snapped back into place.  But apparently nobody has the time to get out to do it as they're all taking care of more important problems like downed wires.

I had a hard time making it through last night...bored out of my mind.  If I still have no power this evening, I'll probably have to go out to a movie to keep myself from going insane.  Thank goodness for internet access at work!

Mike

[Doug Mohr]

Poor guys...no cable to keep you busy.  I really got the short end of the stick, as I'm one of the people still without POWER in Waukesha (at least as of 1pm when I went home to check on lunch).  Sad thing is I can SEE the problem up on the power pole...one of the breakers opened up and just needs to be snapped back into place.  But apparently nobody has the time to get out to do it as they're all taking care of more important problems like downed wires.

I had a hard time making it through last night...bored out of my mind.  If I still have no power this evening, I'll probably have to go out to a movie to keep myself from going insane.  Thank goodness for internet access at work!

Mike

Why didn't your generator kick in?

Sorry, that was mean, but I couldn't resist. I've had too much coffee today.

Doug

[jfelbab]

...I had a hard time making it through last night...bored out of my mind.  If I still have no power this evening, I'll probably have to go out to a movie to keep myself from going insane.  Thank goodness for internet access at work!

Mike

There is always a little Jack Daniels neat.    Jack can be a good friend.  He knows how to pick up ones spirits.

[Doug Mohr]

There is always a little Jack Daniels neat.    Jack can be a good friend.  He knows how to pick up ones spirits.

You Barbarian!  

The only real drink is 30 year old single malt scotch.

Doug

[techguy1975]

So, the power was on, the gas was on, the water was on, the phone was on, all but the cable. What gives Time Warner? I thought your big selling point was it works during storms, "unlike satellite." I have a mind to call them and demand a credit for at least a few days. And to anyone who might know - what makes cable so vulnerable to going out? This doesn't make sense to me. This is the 2nd or 3rd time this summer in this area... although the first time it took only 3 hours to get it fixed. :rolleyes:

I've never had any major problems with cable during storms.   There was 70mph winds, it could ot taken down a feeder line to your house/area, some equipment could gotten hit or lost power.  Satellite will usually fad and break up even during just a little wind/rain.   Yes, it is frustrating when service goes down.  Actually, they are very good about issuing credits for lost service.   My roadrunner went down once awhile back (first and only time), I called them up, they admitted it was a known issue, yet they gave me a credit for a day, I didnt even have to ask!

[Mark Strube]

I'm now also considering getting a UPS backup for my main PC... I was encoding some video from HD to DVD, it had about 1 hour left in the process (it had been going for around 30 hours) when the power went out, everything lost. I was not happy.

[mhz40]

Be glad you don't use them for your phones as well  :bang:

As for why it goes out, this is only my hunch, but I figure they don't have a grid system like other utilities that can re-route in case of a line problem. Or perhaps they just don't have 48V equipment and batteries at their substations.

I don't know but it does seem like a pretty poor business model. But since politicians refuse to open up the cable market to competition, this is what we get.

Doug

Sorry to hear about the extended outages some of you are experiencing. I don't know any specifics regarding what is out and where, but I know crews are working 24x7.  Believe me Doug, cable "substations" do have backup systems.  At the local level, stand-by systems mounted on the poles have their limits. These power outages have now lasted way beyond those design limits.
All of the outages were/are local in nature. Since phone & cable lines are lowest on the utility poles, they are generally more subject to trees & branches taking them out. When power lines are taken down with them, cable and local phone crews sometimes have to wait for WE energies & their contractors to complete their own work (setting new poles & replacing power lines) before the workspace is safe and clear of other maintenance vehicles around the poles.
I'm not giving excuses, just dispelling some of the conjecture posted here and providing more pragmatic reasons for the lingering issues reported here.

PS- If the business model for cable is so bad, why would politicians even expect any competition if they 'open up' the market? The whole paragraph seems contradictory & inflammatory to me.  As for satellite services, I truly hope the recent burst of sun spot activity does not affect any of those systems... I don't think any ladders reach that high (Little Giant included). :eek:

[Mark Strube]

Thank you for the inside info!!

I think Doug was referring to the way TWC conducts their business & repairs, not cable television in general. The fact that overall service & repair times would improve if there was competition within the cable market is just that - a fact.

[mhz40]

I'm now also considering getting a UPS backup for my main PC... I was encoding some video from HD to DVD, it had about 1 hour left in the process (it had been going for around 30 hours) when the power went out, everything lost. I was not happy.

Bummer!  Instead, maybe you can justify a new tera-hertz PC that could just encode it faster!  
Seriously though, it seems to me you would have to get a pretty beefy unit to run a PC for even an hour or two.  I've got a decent UPS... it still cost well over $200 when I got it a few years ago.  When the batteries were new, I calculated I could only get 10-20 minutes on it (pc, cable modem, printer & monitor).  Now it's probably less than 5, but it's better than nothing for the short power interuptions I get once or twice a year.