Recurring issue - Burnt Coax Cable

Reading the DSLReports thread referenced below, it appears to be the same problem -- an open neutral on your electrical service. Since your electrical service neutral is open, the coax is serving as the neutral return path and is carrying a lot of current. 

The only way coax gets that hot is if a lot of current is running through it -- which is not normal (under normal operation, the current is miniscule). 

This is a life safety issue and requires immediate attention.

• Call your power company immediately and report you have an open neutral, which is causing your cable coax line to carry current and catch fire. They should respond immediately.
• Do not touch it. You don't want to become part of the return path for your power service. 
• Don't let a cable technician touch it -- same reason, it's an electrocution hazard.

Let us know what happens.

• Among any other issues you may be experiencing, although I'm no expert, that is the most horrifying box I've seen in my life. Your ground wire is going up---to what?!? The ground wire does not have a drip loop. If a wire must run upward it should run downward then upward so water drips off of the resulting loop instead of running toward a circuit.

A (real) professional installer wouldn't cut holes in the box. Any wire entering or exiting the box should be running through the rubber (ugh the word escapes me)-thingy that has been cut from both sides of the bottom of the box. You really need a complete, professional reinstall.

How do you know the cable from the street is burning?  Does it smell burnt?

bad ground seems likely.. 

there is a ground wire on your service pole that is frequently stolen by copper scavengers. problem will be finding whether cox guy is responsible for fixing or the telephone or electric company locally.

do not be surprised of problem reoccurs.. fow are your other electrical systems working. this has cost me an a/c compressor and numerous internet aggravations. the guy across the street had a fire in his wall so check that ground occasionally. 

Hi all - I wanted to come back and advise what the issue was.  I worked with a local electrician who troubleshoot the issue down to the retail purchased modem itself.  

He said he found it strange that my parents never had an issue but I did.  The only difference is I purchased my modem and they rented theirs from Cox.  

I picked up a rental modem from Cox and measured the voltage on the line, nothing.  I had spare unsupported modem lying around which I also used to test, 0.04 volts going back out, which was determined to be acceptable.

I'm not sure why my retail modem was kicking out so many volts but it has been sent in for a warranty replacement.  I should have looked at that sooner but, hopefully this post will help someone else look at their equipment when trying to find out what may be going wrong for them if they have the same problem.