UPC cable behind wall

Alwayson

I have lived in a second floor apartment which I do not own for the last seven years and my UPC broadband and TV has been acting erratically for some time - no TV, no broadband, or both - they come and go unpredictably. UPC technicians have been here several time checking inside and outside.

There is a "hub" in the entrance hall of the apartment building from where the supply is fed to the different apartments. They told me the cable going from the ground floor hub to my apartment starts as a black cable but has become a white cable by the time it emerges behind the UPC connection box in my apartment on the second floor. They reckon that two cables have been joined together somewhere behind the wall between somewhere along the way and that the join must be faulty causing the signal strength to dissipate by the time it gets up to me.

They told me they can't fix this as they don't "go behind walls" and I need to get an electrician. To me this means an electrician will then assume responsibility for supplying the service UPC is supposed to provide. I also asked if they could check their records to see if any other residents had similar problems but they just told me to ask them myself. Before I incur the cost of an electrician, has anyone experienced this, does anyone know if UPC is entitled to pass the buck on this, and finally does anyone any ideas as to what the cause might be?

coylemj

I can see their point. The wiring inside the building is not their problem and if the signal is deteriorating from the point where it enters the building to the point where it enters your apartment, you can't really expect UPC to sort it out.

By the looks of it there is a dodgy 'join' between two co-ax cables and it's embedded somewhere in the walls of the building, it's really the landlord's problem to fix. My guess as to the cause is that when the building was being wired, the electrician miscalculated the distance from the distribution board to your apartment and rather than rip out the cable he had already laid, he patched up a solution by adding another length of cable to complete the run and he made a bad job of joining the two cables.

Why should UPC bear the expense of fixing a problem which is not of their creation?

Alwayson

Thanks, I've written to UPC asking them to confirm in writing what the technician said so I can ask the landlord to get the electrician in. I'm not technical but can't figure out why a cable thats been in the wall for at least seven years should start giving trouble now and why my TV and broadband are going on an off intermittently - both were totally out this morning but are now back to full strength. Perhaps the cable itself needs to be replaced to keep up with UPC's enhancements over the last few years - I would understand that if they keep improving broadband speed, number of channels, digiboxes etc that the service is only going to be as good as the weakest link in the chain - such as old cables that were embeded in apartment blocks like mine 10 or 20 years ago.

coylemj

It's possible that the join was wrapped up with plastic insulating tape which has started to perish so damp and dust are starting to cause the connection to deteriorate.

Another explanation and one which you alluded to is that the connection was ok for the bandwidth required up to now but more and more TV channels, HD and faster broadband are combining to highlight the shortcomings of the join and overall quality of the cable i.e. the link just isn't up to it any more.

NewHillel

It could be a faulty cable, interference, a faulty port on equipment... Personally, I'd look for an experienced TV installer to sort this one out. They have access to equipment that an electrician wouldn't have. With the right equipment they could also get a very good estimate of where the joint in the cable is. That would help determine whether it was accessible.

If you pop a post in the terrestrial forum theres a number of experienced installers who regularly post there, and should be able to help. IMO the problem has nothing to do with UPC.