Can the number of splitters that my coax is running through degrade my speed?

[Jschmuck2]

Hypothetically, let's say I was running through three splitters right now...how much of an effect could that have on my internet speed?

 

[Modelworks]

Yes it can effect the speed.
Each time a cable (RF) signal runs through a splitter there is some loss of signal.
If the signal drops low enough that the cable modem is having to overly error correct the data then that is bandwidth that you will lose.

Check out the forums here:
http://www.dslreports.com/

 

[tomt4535]

I was having some speed/connectivity issues a while back and after some troubleshooting with the cablevision rep for a little bit, I switched around the cables on my splitters so that the cable modem was on the first split from the outside. After that, I havent had any problems.

 

[Markbnj]

The loss across a splitter is just about original/number of splits, if I remember correctly, i.e. a 2-way cuts the signal in half.

A number of splitter characteristics can affect signal quality: the quality of the splitter; the bandwidth of the splitter (you want like 10-1100 Mhz); certainly the number of splitters; the quality of the coax and connectors between splitters, etc.

Best thing is to ask the cableco to come out and check things over. They can measure the signal at the drop and take it from there.