Grounding: Necessary or Not

[JSheridan]

Dish Network tech support says my cable resistance looks ok from their end, but couldn't give me a number for either what I have or what it should be. I suspect they won't see anything amiss until my system is completely dead. Can someone give me a nominal value for normal cable resistance?

On 30 to 40 feet of good cable we've seen resistance of about 1 ohm.

[gman]

I have bout 35 foot of cable and have always had resistance of 1 ohm, and have never had system problems

[wm4bama]

I agree...resistance should be 1.0 to 1.5 ohms..when the problem is fixed the lights will stop blinking in unison.

Somewhere there is a bad connection, or water in a connector, or a damaged coax cable..maybe pinched or crimped somewhere...one customer found the problem was where his dog had chewed on the coax..

[jimcoe]

I can't see any thing obviously wrong with the cable, though I haven't checked the run up on the roof yet. Will I have to pay for a service call for Dish Network to take care of this?

If this was an upgrade and the second cable is still there, try switching the cable at each end (modem and TRIA). If only one cable is damaged, this could do the trick. Good luck.

[Meganano]

If this was an upgrade and the second cable is still there, try switching the cable at each end (modem and TRIA). If only one cable is damaged, this could do the trick. Good luck.

This is a new installation. I avoided satellite internet until Exede came out. I figured dialup was preferable to frustration over what was previously available.

However I have do some cable laying around. RG6?

[jimcoe]

RG6 with solid copper center conductor rated at minimum of 2.2 GHz. WB has a list of approved cables. Post inscription from cable jacket and someone on here can tell you if it's approved.

[anonanimal]

Meganano, you can attempt to replace that cable if you like, but since this is a relatively new install (within 90 days, correct?) you should strongly consider getting them to send a tech out while it's free to replace the faulty cable (as that seems to be the consensus).

If you replaced the cable with a sub-standard one and something went terribly wrong with the system it seems like they may not be willing to replace or repair any damaged components (I'm speculating here, but it seems likely).

[MarkTwain]

I contacted Dish support (again, very helpful and very courteous support through them) and they informed me that I am, in fact, on Beam 319 using the Winnipeg gateway.

So now you know . It seems Dish doesn’t assign beams exactly the same as Exede. I’ve wondered ever since I learned Dish sold Exede how much autonomy they had.

Service calls are free the first 90 days so by all means have them keep sending installers out until they get it right.

I'm on the border of beams 364 and 369. My download speeds were averaging >17mb/sec. I'd been thinking that overlapping 2 beams was why my performance was so great.

A modem can communicate with only a single beam, the one it’s provisioned for. Each beam sends/receives unique information. When you request a web page, that page comes back on only a single beam, not all beams in the country.

I avoided satellite internet until Exede came out. I figured dialup was preferable to frustration over what was previously available.

Likewise I rejected satellite Internet until Exede when VoIP became feasible. Hughes’ and Wildblue’s Legacy speed never impressed me. I could do about anything with dialup if I had the patience. Sure it took me a week of downloading every night to get a 2 or 3 GB file (but I’ve had software that could resume downloads for many, many years and timers to automate these downloads when I wasn’t using the net). It took me 25 or 30 minutes to download a few minute video that I could then play it back in real time -- buffering just didn’t work with dialup. To me speed is a novelty, a sales gimmick of no value to me. I think Exede’s VoIP when (and if) it gets here will be the real attraction to bring in new customers.

Another off topic sidenote to stick in here -- much is said about distances from servers/gateways. The location isn’t that important as far as speed goes. I get about the same results on speed tests in Europe and Australia as I do on ones in Arizona and Texas. This is from PC Weld in Germany. Uploads were slow today everywhere.

[MarkTwain]

I agree...resistance should be 1.0 to 1.5 ohms...

My cable resistance has been a consistent 0.5 ohm since installation, about 45 feet.

[wm4bama]

My cable resistance has been a consistent 0.5 ohm since installation, about 45 feet.

Wow! That's the first time I've seen anyone with .5 ohms, which may even be slightly lower than that since the resolution is +/- .5 ohms..

Good reading...was it a new installation or an upgrade where the installer reused one of your existing Legacy cables?

My cable run is about 35-40', an upgrade with a re-used cable from my Legacy installation with a 1.0 to 1.5 ohm reading, but have above average speeds...quite pleased..

Who installed your Exede service? Great job, and others may be interested in what ID is stamped on your coax...it must be one of the best choices..