Internet Question?

Question

My friend lives on a boat in a marina. Along with the others, he gets cable TV. There is one cable company for the whole town, and they also have cable internet. The surrounding buildings not 60 feet away have cable TV & Internet, yet they tell him that he cannot get internet in the marina. This does not make any sense to me. Theoretically, if he can get cable tv, they should be able to throw internet to him through the same cable, with a modem of course, just like up on the land. I'm not a cable guy, but does anyone actually know why they say he can't get internet on his boat?

Answer 1

Well, I am a cable guy and it takes a stronger signal strength to provide the internet than it does cable TV and they have a line of demarcation where they say the cannot go past and even though it is 60 feet if it past their line they will not provide it for signal strength issues. If he has a friend who is within a 1/8 of a mile from his boat who has internet they could put a Router on thier connection and secure it and give him the access key info and he could use their service wirelessly..

Answer 2

Yes, theoretically, you are correct. you usually can get cable internet through the same cable service for the television. however, you might look into checking the "terms" of service for the company. maybe they have something against boats? or something like only a certain area in the neighborhood can receive the internet, and the marina could be out of that area. who knows though. did your friend try simply asking them why he is unable to?

Answer 3

I'm just guessing here. I know that the signal needs boosting along the pipeline, for both TV and internet. It could be that separate boosting equipment is used for each signal and boosters for internet haven't been installed at the points needed to get the signal to the marina. The company isn't likely to install them for only one user. Again, just a guess.