BlankThese questions are almost on-topic since they deal with techie
parts of how we choose to connect sometimes...   :-)



1) do cable modems have very different sensitivity or dynamic range
specs?

Problem: My old linksys BEFCMU10 (no version number) occasionally
suffers from too low a signal and I must either wait until Charter's
signal rises some, or remove the power splitter allowing my TV and cable
modem each to get signal.  The cable modem is normally attached after
two two-port splitters, and removing one is enough to get adequate
signal level on "bad days at Charter".  Both spillters are pretty new
and adequate.

Questions:

1a) Charter says they can read what my modem "sees" as signal level.
That would account for all path losses (if true).  Can I read this
somehow so I could tell whether the Charter signal is marginal?

1b) Is this old Linksys cable modem known to have problems?

1c) Is the Motorola Surfboard SB5100 any better?  I have one of those
also, but have never used this one.  The SB5120 is current for Comcast.



2) Roughly how big is a "cell" for cell phones?  Actually a hard
question to ask because I'm curious about the "effective size" of a cell
in the midst of a planned cell coverage, and the criteria of size is the
approximate point where the phone makes a logical switch from one cell
to the next as one signal fades but hasn't dropped out, but the next is
stronger.



3) An ad for the Verizon Razr phone sez GPS, video, & music

3a) does it actually have storage for offline videos and music or just
keep web links for these things?  Seems like too much memory is needed.

3b) Is it a full and independent GPS or a partial implementation (like a
Winmodem) using some unique cell network data?

ie, if I had such a phone and took it to the Boundary Waters where there
is no signal, can I play stored videos and music and use the GPS or some
or all of that dead when out of range?



Chuck
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