Not sure if the anyone knows it or not but in the last picture is one of Comcast's cable amps laying on the ground. (The grey bit with the heat sink) Note, I d

Not sure if the anyone knows it or not but in the last picture is one of Comcast's cable amps laying on the ground. (The grey bit with the heat sink) Note, I don't work for Comcast, but I used to work for the local cable provider. I didn't spend much time in the field but from what I recall that grey box is either, a cable amp, or the fibre to cable converter. Most cable plants now have fibre from within 1 km of your house. One of the other really crappy things about cable is that squirrels will chew the cable until they hit the sheath of the cable, once that happens when it rains the water will eventually suck all the way to the amp as the cables heat and cool. It massively degrades the signal quality while this happens and if left long enough will eventually kill the amp. The water travels both directions and if your connections are tight enough will actually go all the way to your house. It usually doesn't penetrate the house as the temperature fluctuations aren't great enough inside.