OK WTH Is Up with Time Warner Cable?

Let's see if anyone has a clue as to what's going on here.

I (unfortunately) have Time Warner Cable as my internet provider. I don't bother with cable TV, but my cable is run through a splitter to the modem and to the TV so that I can get the basic 4 plus public television in case I want to watch the news.

Now, here's the weird part. Recently my internet service has started going out on me intermittently. But, if I turn on the TV, internet service is restored within a few seconds, and at full quality too (well, full quality for TWC anyway...). Similarly, sometimes a patch of bad latency and packet loss can be fixed by simply turning on the TV.

What the heck is going on here? Can anyone venture a theory for where these sudden problems came from and why turning on the TV somehow fixes them?

(And please don't even think of suggesting contacting TWC's support. If you've ever dealt with them, you know that they are utterly useless.)

Uh, call me crazy but it sounds like your TV acts as a line terminator when your turn it on now. The analog world vs the digital world really dosen't mix these days.

I have TWC and personally I love it, best ISP I've had thus far and I've had at least 6 others.

I also agree with ChrisWorld's theroy btw.

It is not the ISP. It is the wiring in your house. Try to replace the TV.

I have AT&T DSL and it works great and no downtimes.

That's what I would say..As I have the same problem with me and my roomates TWC.

Ours is not the TV though, Instead when the playstation3 is turned on or off the computer loses all connection (at least 95% of the time anyways) for about 45 seconds or so.

If you are using 1 tv and 1 internet connection, make sure you don't have a bunch of other un-used connections. A lot of people get a connection going to each room without realizing this weakens the signal at each splitter. What makes it worse is the signal reflects off the end of the cable and back down the line causing interference with the connections that are connected. You could terminate each unused connection but it is more effective to eliminate the unused ones altogether by disconnecting them at the splitter.

1. As far as I know, there's only 1 split in the line. But Grenth only knows what the TWC installer did on the other side of the wall...

2. I'd buy the theory about the TV, when on, serving as a needed line terminator, EXCEPT for the fact that this problem is sudden-onset. Up until quite recently, I never had it on and I never had serious connectivity problems.

do you live in a house or a apartment.....

also has there been any outside yard clean up type stuff (leaf raking, edging etc)....I know in the last place I lived every year when the grounds crew did edging my signal would go----

has anyone moved in by you since this started?

You know wouldn't even doubt this either. Any interference can cause odd problems... There have been times my internet would just slow down and stop for a while and wireless stuff in my house would go nuts... hmm...radiation anyone? Never figured it out. Hasn't happen in a good year now though. :P lol