I have a lot of things hanging off the coax so I needed a signal booster. This Motorola booster works well for the passive devices, but doesn't work with my cable modem setup, which was the whole reason I chose this model.

THE MOTIVATION

I have a TV, a VCR, a DVR, and the cable modem all connected to the same coax coming out of the wall. (Provider: Comcast, San Francisco Bay Area, California). Even with "good quality" passive coax splitters, the signal clearly degraded bad enough that a snowy picture on the TV was too painful to watch. Prompted by my wife, I set out to find a booster.

Now, the way I split it, was I 2-to-1 to the cable modem first, for highest quality. Since this is the only non-passive device (aka 2way), I made sure to put it highest in the tree of splits. Next up, was a 2-to-1 going to the DVR, which with it's digitization, cleans up the picture of noise quite a bit. TV still looks good on the DVR. The final split is a old 2-to-1 going to both TV and VCR. On the TV, signal is annoyingly noisy. Each splitter says about 5db loss.

CHOOSING THE MOTOROLA

For $40, the Motorola seemed to be a reputable unit which also allowed 2-way communication, the only way to be compatible with a cable modem. Lower than this cost, it was either a unknown brand, or passive only (aka cable modem won't work). So I chose this one.

This unit is a single channel booster, which means it does NOT split the signal. That meant I was going to have to still use my splitters, except this would boost the signal going into the top of the splitter tree.

The packaging clearly states that this unit is intended to be compatible with cable modems, however a disclaimer inside the user guide (after you've purchased it and opened up the packaging) says Motorola "tried their best but can't guarantee it works with everything as desired." This statement bites me.

THE UNIT

The unit is a nice black brick suited for hiding out of sight. It has 3 coax ports: antenna in, boosted antenna out, and power. I don't know why, but Motorola choose to use a wall-wort power adaptor that utilizes a standard coax cable. No big deal.

Installation was a breeze… or as a breeze as screw on coax cables go. (I hate sore fingers from spinning tight coax cables… grrrrr…)

PERFORMANCE

Instantly, the TV was clearer. Some noise was still there, but it brought picture quality into an acceptable level. Not much to say about this… it works.

Problem was, my cable modem (a Toshiba) could no longer find cable signal. I power cycled the modem a few times and it could never get a lock. That meant internet was down. I reconfigured the coax tree so that I take move the Motorola booster after the first splitter, so it is not inline with the cable modems path to the wall. On the first try, the cable modem found signal and internet was running again.

CONCLUSION

I wasted my money on a 2way booster. Period.

It does not work with my Toshiba modem and Comcast at my house. That's not to say it won't work for everyone, but I am one data point and I feel I spent an unnecessary $20 extra dollars to get a 2 way signal booster when I can only use it as a 1 way.

I give it 2 stars for boosting the signal nicely and cleanly, but that's it as it is incompatible as a 2 way in my setup, even though it is advertised to do so. All I can do is return the unit, but that hardly seems worth all the hassle. I wish I knew how "high end" a signal booster I need to make 2-way work.



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