Recommended Tests

Visible inspection gives wonders with coax.  Look into each connector. See the white ring?  The white ring must have no chaff, or anything (dirt, water, etc.), NOT ONE strand at the white ring other than the copper strand sticking out.  As you push the connector into the panel connector, you should feel the give AND the friction.  Work on one cable and connector pair at a time. Something resting on a coax or a crimp or pinch can ruin coax at that point.  Sometimes the copper wire will break, take a pair of needle nose pliers after disconnedting both ends other the cable and each copper wire a little tug.  If it does not budge it is probably not that.  Don't work on live cables, or you may be reimbursing your provider, or buying new equipment.

If your system is paired with telphone service, look up into the sockets of the telphone connectors, are any of the wire contacts shorter than the others, crossed, of just plain missing?   Typically only two are needed, but those two must be just so.

If you have twisting coax connectors you need to get them professionally replaced.

Something that can sometimes be done is to take a multimeter with frequency measurement capability, and go to  center of the run.  Set the meter up for  frequency and wrap one of the leads around the cable a few times in a spiral, take the probe end and complete the circuit to the meter (only use one lead; both sockets on the meter).  Is the frequency correct?  Is it varying? Typically if the frequency on the dial is not rock solid unvarying you have a cable fault.  A bad cable of connector  This ones an exception, don't disconnect anything, don't turn the devices off, and don't break the coax circuit in any way

Anything else, you'll have to call a technician.

!Good luck!

ItPROPENDER

Omega says that one's provider may have an internal cable test within their ISP service, rather than the cable wrapped with a multimeter lead wire and the multimeter lead connected back into the meter at the free post female socket.  Check with your ISP.
!Don't go over and cut an installer installed cable, EVER!

Has anyone tried the turning a meter lead around the coax?  You can tell it's handshaking, but shouldn't be like Bill and Teds Wild Adventure of meter readings!  Rock Solid means if sometrhing varies within reason, the action is transmitted to another reasonable facet of a system. And, generally lessening in hazardous nature to the system.  Also at the same time examine current generated and voltage by the rule of hand tech trick.

Yeah im gonna have to agree on that one, i work for dishnetwork and ive seen some crappy installs,

Now that has to get frustrating as heck. 

Its very frustrating. We don't even let them do the installs anymore. For a dish we do 100% of the install. Directv is ok, but there guys are way too noisy and they pick at everything, ask too many questions, they don't understand what a NDA is. for cable installs they bring it too the house we do the rest in most cases its not worth it to us for them to do it. Comcast guys like to cut holes into too many things, they have no clue how to run wires. A Comcast tech was doing a install a few months back for us, and all he had to do was run 2 lines down one wall and through another, he was doing good, I left to start putting stuff away, I come back 20 minutes later and he cut 6 holes in $2000 worth of acoustical panels   


They where dishnetwork techs. no sub contractors are allowed, You have to be an employee of the company hired, or you don't get through the gate in these places. 

Subs are really bad. GC's hate them for the homes we are going into. Well most of the time the homes I go into are brand new and have no lines run where we need them too be so they have to be redone. And in my book, there should never be a whole you can see. Hell you can't even see where our equipment is, even tho its right next too you behind a hidden door. 

The best is when a dishnetwork or directv tech will come in and try and rip or the Comcast guys work, or tell us its S#!tty, same for the Comcast tech. They never learn.