What needs to be done in order to make my house cable ready?

My house was built in the 1970's and is not wired for cable. It's a condo, and my 2 neighbors on the sides of me both have cable but they weren't the original people. I've been using Windstream DSL for the past few years and I am far too heavy of an internet user to be stuck with 3mbps at a shitty price.

If I don't have cable lines, is it a big process getting a line to my house and installing it? I was on Time Warner's website (they're the only cable company in my town) and I get the feeling the 15$ installation fee doesn't include drilling a hole in my house and making a coaxial outlet. I'm trying to get their word on things as well but I am seeking [H]'s wisdom.

If I have the choice I *NEVER* let the install monkeys do the "install". Because they will literally do just that... drill a hole in the side of your house wherever you want the cable and put in a grommet. I prefer to do the work myself so it is done properly.

4x4not said:

If I have the choice I *NEVER* let the install monkeys do the "install". Because they will literally do just that... drill a hole in the side of your house wherever you want the cable and put in a grommet. I prefer to do the work myself so it is done properly.

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So true. We have an apartment building and every time the new tenants switch providers some half-wit "professional installer" is out there with a 3 foot long drill bit drilling holes through our metal siding, hardwood floors, window trim, etc. They make sure to use half a gallon of tar to seal all the holes with too. Wouldn't want any water getting in there...

If you have the time, the tools and cable aren't that expensive. You can usually find nice places to hide runs if you don't feel comfortable snaking cabling through walls. A house built in the '70s shouldn't be too bad as far as adhering to modern building codes.

i install cabling (mainly cat5 and coax) in homes for a living. Personally, I try never to run anything outside, but that's just me. I know my colleges sometimes feel differently.

Don't run single shield coax, buy at least double shield RG-6 (tri-shield would be better), but don't bother with quad shield.

If i was in your situation I would run the cables from the device you want hooked up all the way back to your power panel. Remember, no splices or anything, just "point a" to "point b". I say run it to the power panel because 99.9% of the time, this is where any installer will put it because of bonding & grounding.

Take the time to label both ends so you know what is what. Don't bother terminating the cable either, let the installer do that. Every cable company has "approved" ends, and if you ever have a problem that's what they will blame first.

It's easy enough to buy a few "low voltage boxes" from a local big box store, cut your wall, put them in and fish a cable up to them.

If you are really serious, run cat5 along with coax. You don't have to terminate it, just leave it in the wall till you need it.

The problem with you guys telling me to install it myself is unrealistic because I don't even have a clue where the cabling is around my house. :\

blgdinger said:

The problem with you guys telling me to install it myself is unrealistic because I don't even have a clue where the cabling is around my house. :\

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There is a very very good chance that you don't have ANY cable running in the house. You will have to hire someone to run it, run it yourself, or have the cable company run it and deal with holes in the floors and walls with no wall-plates and wiring running outside your house.

I think we all assumed that you wanted to install it yourself but had no clue what you needed to do it and/or where to run the wires.

It really is a simple process, but if you aren't comfortable with running wires in walls then just hire someone to do it before you have the cable company come out. A large electrician company will usually have a few data-only guys. That's a good place to start. If you go this route be sure to tell them that you don't need any wall-plates or anything terminated, just both ends labeled and spring for Cat5 and coax. The cable company will be more than happy to terminate the coax for you. It'll be cheapest that way.

If you do hire someone, just be sure they follow the guidelines that I outlined in my last post.

bds1904 said:

There is a very very good chance that you don't have ANY cable running in the house. You will have to hire someone to run it, run it yourself, or have the cable company run it and deal with holes in the floors and walls with no wall-plates and wiring running outside your house.

I think we all assumed that you wanted to install it yourself but had no clue what you needed to do it and/or where to run the wires.

It really is a simple process, but if you aren't comfortable with running wires in walls then just hire someone to do it before you have the cable company come out. A large electrician company will usually have a few data-only guys. That's a good place to start. If you go this route be sure to tell them that you don't need any wall-plates or anything terminated, just both ends labeled and spring for Cat5 and coax. The cable company will be more than happy to terminate the coax for you. It'll be cheapest that way.

If you do hire someone, just be sure they follow the guidelines that I outlined in my last post.

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Well like you're talking about the power panel and such, and I'm like what?

It's because I feel like someone needs to physically dig a cable up from the ground and make it go into my house somehow. I just have no idea how big or small of a job this is since there's no cables running through my walls,

blgdinger said:

Well like you're talking about the power panel and such, and I'm like what?

It's because I feel like someone needs to physically dig a cable up from the ground and make it go into my house somehow. I just have no idea how big or small of a job this is since there's no cables running through my walls,

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The cable company will take care of the cable to the house, it is their responsibility.

The cable company will also take care of the cables in the house (including installing them) for a fee, but it will be low quality work. The cable company will just drill holes in the floor (ugly) and run cable that way, or they will drill from inside to outside (through the wall) and you will end up with cables running outside your house along the siding (ugly).

If you want it done "right" follow my previous advice. If you just want it hooked up and don't care how it's done, let the cable company do it.

Hmm, that's weird if your two neighbor's have cable then just call the cable company and they'll hook up the cable, give you the modem and then just throw a router and be done with it.

Disregard

Call the cable company first and tell them what you want to do, but that you plan to have the inside cable run yourself. Ask them to have someone come out and spec trenching and where to install the hookup on the side of your house. e.g. one of these:

http://www.floridacable.com/resources/images/support/phone1.jpg

Next call a good electrician and tell them you want coax run nicely from your office to that location on the side of your house (you're paying for it, so be particular). Have the electrician install an outlet and terminate the coax in the office, but have the cable installer pull the plate and double check the fitting because electricians don't always use the best ones.

Ehren8879 said:

Call the cable company first and tell them what you want to do, but that you plan to have the inside cable run yourself. Ask them to have someone come out and spec trenching and where to install the hookup on the side of your house. e.g. one of these:

http://www.floridacable.com/resources/images/support/phone1.jpg
.

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I disagree, locate one end of all the drops inside the house next to the power panel. Regardless of where the cable enters the prem, if it is installed correctly it MUST BE BONDED TO THE SAME GROUND AS THE POWER PANEL. That means that it can't be farther than 10ft from that ground, aka, near the power panel.

Ehren8879 said:

Call the cable company first and tell them what you want to do, but that you plan to have the inside cable run yourself. Ask them to have someone come out and spec trenching and where to install the hookup on the side of your house. e.g. one of these:

http://www.floridacable.com/resources/images/support/phone1.jpg

Next call a good electrician and tell them you want coax run nicely from your office to that location on the side of your house (you're paying for it, so be particular). Have the electrician install an outlet and terminate the coax in the office, but have the cable installer pull the plate and double check the fitting because electricians don't always use the best ones.

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Shit mang, I don't have one of those.

blgdinger said:

Shit mang, I don't have one of those.

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What, an electrician?

Get out the phone book or Google some in your area.

Choose a central location in your house, preferably with line of vision to the overhead cables (electrical, telco, cable etc) and put in a patch panel if there is not one already. Run one or more Coax from the patch panel to various jacks around the house where you'd like a TV. Then tell the installer when he comes you want the cable entering the house at that location. (that's why line of sight to over head cables is important as they may not be able to otherwise) Taht way they just have to install a single jack and you can use a splitter or w/e to feed the rest.

To install any kind of jack or even an electrical outlet on old construction what I normally do is decide where I want it, make sure there is no stud nearby and cut my hole. I'll use a long drill bit to drill as straight down as I can, go downstairs, look for the hole in the ceiling then fish the wire up and run it to the patch panel. I use metal wire from end to end to keep the wire snug, and use velcro straps to keep it in place. this is good especially when traveling from stud to stud. For coax, you can skip that part, but I find ethernet can sag a little without the extra support. (sounds like I'm talking about boobies)

For electrical outlets I do it a bit differently, I make sure the hole I cut is directly next to a stud, that way I can screw the box to it. They do make old work electrical boxes but I like my way better.

They will staple the cables on your walls no problems. My aunt works for Comcast and that's how they installed her service!

4x4not said:

If I have the choice I *NEVER* let the install monkeys do the "install". Because they will literally do just that... drill a hole in the side of your house wherever you want the cable and put in a grommet. I prefer to do the work myself so it is done properly.

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I don't take too much offense to what you just said. But I would like a chance to defend it.


I worked for Comcast and Knology cable co's. I can assure you they have standards. If you fail site inspections via your supervisor you get writen up.....get too many fails....you get fired.

A fail could be anything from not having a service loop, to not issuing a house box. To not leaving a welcome kit, and if its a surprise inspection not having your cones out.


Also, the coax you buy most likely comes from Lowes or Home Depo? Yeah....have fun with your crappy service. The coax provided by cable co's are made for their set up.

Knology's differed from Comcast. Not because budget, because the system. Same for Direct TV. I think they use pure copper coax.

Also, they train us about the bend radius of coax, and which angles can kill signal. Please don't assume all installers are "monkeys".

Now, that said.


OP: Just pay the fee and do you best to ensure the cable isnt showing much. If you have a crawl space let them drill into that and then drill up from the floor right in front of the tv. If just an attic, you will see the cable outside, but you wont see it inside after doing a wall fish.

Doing it yourself is wasteful because its your time. Time is money. 15 bucks vs 3-5 hours of your time? Yeah.....not worth it.

Take what your hourly rate is at your job now, what would you make in those 3-4 hours? Vs an "install monkey" taking 1-2 hours (because he/shes been doing it longer) and paying 15 bucks.

Most times install fee's are waved anyway. Find the right salesman and you're gold.

Ehren8879 said:

Call the cable company first and tell them what you want to do, but that you plan to have the inside cable run yourself. Ask them to have someone come out and spec trenching and where to install the hookup on the side of your house. e.g. one of these:

http://www.floridacable.com/resources/images/support/phone1.jpg

Next call a good electrician and tell them you want coax run nicely from your office to that location on the side of your house (you're paying for it, so be particular). Have the electrician install an outlet and terminate the coax in the office, but have the cable installer pull the plate and double check the fitting because electricians don't always use the best ones.

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1) Electricians use the cheapest coax ever.....I mean ever....I mean a 2 year old could bend and break the center conductor. Bad advice.
2) The image you shown is called a house box. Also, no cable company allows a ground wire to exceed the footage of the gauge. So we used 12 gauge. No ground wires could be longer than 12ft. From the ground rod.


OP, Just let TW install the cable......you have a choice where they run it, and how they run it. Just throw the idea out you have in your mind and they can assist.


Or send me some pics of how your set up is and I can tell you how I would want to do it if it were my house.

bds1904 said:

There is a very very good chance that you don't have ANY cable running in the house. You will have to hire someone to run it, run it yourself, or have the cable company run it and deal with holes in the floors and walls with no wall-plates and wiring running outside your house.

I think we all assumed that you wanted to install it yourself but had no clue what you needed to do it and/or where to run the wires.

It really is a simple process, but if you aren't comfortable with running wires in walls then just hire someone to do it before you have the cable company come out. A large electrician company will usually have a few data-only guys. That's a good place to start. If you go this route be sure to tell them that you don't need any wall-plates or anything terminated, just both ends labeled and spring for Cat5 and coax. The cable company will be more than happy to terminate the coax for you. It'll be cheapest that way.

If you do hire someone, just be sure they follow the guidelines that I outlined in my last post.

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This is also piss poor advice for the OP.



Want to know why? Because TW did not install the cable. So if they installer comes out and sees ingress spikes that are not acceptable for their market area, the installer will have to replace those lines spitting ingress. IE OP will have to pay for it to be re-run.


Look, let the cable company install it. UNLESS you're building a brand new house. Let the cable company do the install. Who cares about the holes? You will have holes either way there is no avoiding it.


edit: When working for Comcast, our biggest money maker were the new house builds. They would use what the low volt electricians used, this cheap flimsy coax......would spit enough ingress to shut down a node. So since it was not our coax, we charged truck rolls for replacing with our good coax. Fun times when you tell them their house was built with cheap supplies not even good enough for CCTV lulz....

JPF_ said:

This is also piss poor advice for the OP.



Want to know why? Because TW did not install the cable. So if they installer comes out and sees ingress spikes that are not acceptable for their market area, the installer will have to replace those lines spitting ingress. IE OP will have to pay for it to be re-run.


Look, let the cable company install it. UNLESS you're building a brand new house. Let the cable company do the install. Who cares about the holes? You will have holes either way there is no avoiding it.


edit: When working for Comcast, our biggest money maker were the new house builds. They would use what the low volt electricians used, this cheap flimsy coax......would spit enough ingress to shut down a node. So since it was not our coax, we charged truck rolls for replacing with our good coax. Fun times when you tell them their house was built with cheap supplies not even good enough for CCTV lulz....

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Learn to read, I said to use Double shield (or better) RG6

Comcast only uses single shield copper clad aluminum on their drops and CCA cable all throughout the home.

Believe me, I know. I rip out TW, comcast and Charter cable all day long. They all use shit cable.

Insight and DirecTV are the only 2 that I have ever seen that still use Solid Copper Dual-Shield or better.