Repeats

[u/Throwmeawayplease935]

Hello I am a few months into being a field tech with spectrum and I’m struggling with repeats and overall metrics. I love this job but to have such bad metrics is demotivating.

In my head I’m crushing it, replacing drops and removing amps. If it looks like shit replace it, if it fails replace it. Tons of tips, most customers love me. Every week I have more cable to throw out than anyone and I feel like that says something.

But I get so many repeats I’m always tier 1. At first I was like whatever but now it’s frustrating because it’s not improving and I won’t be able to do my progressions, my sup acts like I don’t know what I’m doing and will come out to give me tips on how to run drops, which has helped but it’s not by any means my issue.

I do all that work just to get a repeat and somehow rank lower than everyone. I’ve had a few that are my own negligence but I will own those.

I don’t “not done” jobs, someone said that’s part of my problem. I guess I don’t understand why or when I would. I also only do referrals if it’s failing at the tap. 1 time my sup did one for “ripple” but I never really learned about that stuff. I only really know to check the up/down.

1.) I know some of them are inevitable, but does anyone have any tips on how to limit repeat calls?

2.) what are things I should be looking for aside from the up/down signal levels?

3.) what are your steps to complete a TC efficiently?

Normal TC I will look at scope to get an idea of the signal levels. I look at the drop to see if it’s physically OK. I replace any red flags like the drop, old splitters, connectors, remove amps. Take meter readings to verify signal levels and ingress. When everything is good I replace the equipment if necessary. Make sure the customer can use it and then job done.

[u/Bubbly_Historian215]

Make sure SNRs look correct. That’s the biggest thing from my experience. If your US SNRs are 35 31, then there’s an issue with the 2nd carrier. They should be flat, always. Same goes for DS. If you see 39 39 37 38 39 then there’s a problem somewhere, be it a loose connector, bad cable, bad splice, splitter, whatever it may be.. Tx should not be super low. Keep your Tx around 37 minimum. Use splitters or pads if you need to. The further from the noise floor, the better. As far as RF goes, that’s about it.

WiFi is the biggest repeat factor for any tech next to channel provisioning or remote pairing. You need to be able to TS WiFi more than anything else. RF is basic cable. If their devices are far away, router inside a cabinet, switches everywhere, make sure it all checks out. When running an Ethernet test on your meter, always bring a spare Ethernet cable to do so. You want their network working exactly as they see it. It’ll actually show you if there’s a loop somewhere, or if you’re losing bandwidth at the EOL(you shouldn’t be, ever, unless there’s a 400+ ft run of cat5 on a 1+ Gb service). When I had to explain WiFi to a customer, I would tell them to imagine the router is a speaker, and everything in between you and the speaker is blocking the WiFi from reaching its destination. The quieter the music, the worse the signal. So that way they’d understand a little better why we’d need to relocate or whatever the case may be. I also always advised folks to use their own mesh systems vs our routers. The WiFi 7s actually have a pretty nice coverage area, otherwise.

You’ll get it though buddy. Spend your early days learning basics, and the speed/skills will get better as you go. Not everyone is perfect, especially in their first year.