1. A method for characterizing ingress noise in a cable network, the method comprising: (a) identifying a first frequency band of a cable signal at a first location in the cable network; (b) obtaining a time trace of a first parameter of the cable signal in the first frequency band identified in step (a); and (c) computing an autocorrelation function of the time trace, wherein a first autocorrelation peak at a first non-zero time delay is indicative of a first repetitive component of the ingress noise.