Need a coaxial cable?

[jives]

Thoughts on this problem. . . After finally getting 4 of 6 kids out of the house, a room has been freed up for a home office. This room, upstairs, was specifically designed with phone and cable TV (coaxial) jacks. Well, we moved all of our computer equipment -- including modem and router -- from the downstairs bedroom to the new upstairs office, only to find that the coaxial receptacle actually has no cable attached to it. And none in the wall. A quick look in the mechanical room shows only three cables in the house -- and should be four. We got shafted 12 years ago when the house was built (okay, just an oversight).

So. . . all our internet and TV and phone landline (digital phone) comes through the coaxial from the only provider in the area. We can leave the modem and router in the downstairs bedroom and WIFI to the upstairs computer, but we cannot get cable TV. Is it worth it to run a coax cable from the mechanical room (up a wall, within a ceiling joist bay of 34', with some blocking), up through a second floor wall), or what other alternative?

 

[Sumboodie]

Thoughts on this problem. . . After finally getting 4 of 6 kids out of the house, a room has been freed up for a home office. This room, upstairs, was specifically designed with phone and cable TV (coaxial) jacks. Well, we moved all of our computer equipment -- including modem and router -- from the downstairs bedroom to the new upstairs office, only to find that the coaxial receptacle actually has no cable attached to it. And none in the wall. A quick look in the mechanical room shows only three cables in the house -- and should be four. We got shafted 12 years ago when the house was built (okay, just an oversight).

So. . . all our internet and TV and phone landline (digital phone) comes through the coaxial from the only provider in the area. We can leave the modem and router in the downstairs bedroom and WIFI to the upstairs computer, but we cannot get cable TV. Is it worth it to run a coax cable from the mechanical room (up a wall, within a ceiling joist bay of 34', with some blocking), up through a second floor wall), or what other alternative?

Ditch the cable and use streaming. They don't even offer cable hear anymore. "Cable" is a streaming package.

 

[QtheGenius]

Agree with cutting the cord. Honestly look at services like YouTubeTV or Hulu or Roku, amongst others, and see if the lines they provide are adequate for what you want to watch. We have YouTubeTV, Amazon Prime, Netflix, and are about to get Disney+ as our kids are now a little older. All that plus internet is a little over $100/month. Cable TV service alone is over $75, and even if I bundled it with Internet, I'd still be paying more without Amazon or Netflix.

 

[billconner]

ditto to cut the cord. We have a T-Mobile wireless internet modem and only use wifi to 2 tvs and a bunch of devices. Wish I had a use for to the coax in our 1994 house but don't.

 

[pattenp]

I say if you are going to continue with cable tv service then run the cable. I have cable tv and also do streaming. I do streaming using google chromecast on tv's that I only have cable digital adapters on for basic channels. On my primary tv I get everything without having to stream anything.

 

[alfredeneuman]

I have a Roku streaming device.
Pluto TV alone gets 1015 channels.
The search function will pull up literally thousands more TV programs.
In addition I have Tubi TV with hundreds more stations
The Roku station shows hundreds of movies, and about the same number of TV channels as Pluto.
And there is even a dedicated channel for documentary movies
All for the price of a internet connection. At $30 it's the best investment I've ever made.

 

[pattenp]

I have a Roku streaming device.
Pluto TV alone gets 1015 channels.
The search function will pull up literally thousands more TV programs.
In addition I have Tubi TV with hundreds more stations
The Roku station shows hundreds of movies, and about the same number of TV channels as Pluto.
And there is even a dedicated channel for documentary movies
All for the price of a internet connection. At $30 it's the best investment I've ever made.

I wish I could get internet for $30. Internet alone for me is $75 a month.

 

[ycgoat]

I am about to replace all of my coaxial cable feeds due to age and I am getting some signal loss, but may go with CAT6 cable and use adapters to convert to the coaxial.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LNLETMA/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[alfredeneuman]

I wish I could get internet for $30. Internet alone for me is $75 a month.

A 1 time payment of $30 for the Roku Stick. My net connection costs $60/mo.

 

[billconner]

T Mobile is again advertising $50 month. I may call and ask for it, as we're paying $55. Not one failure (not counting unplugging the device - but a battery back up is available as well)

 

[wyliesdiesels]

so many free and low cost TV streaming services whats the point in paying for regular wired cable?

Pluto, peacock, youtube, comcast app, Slingbox, etc etc

 

[wyliesdiesels]

I wish I could get internet for $30. Internet alone for me is $75 a month.

I pay $80/mon for 600mbps/15 and get 720/18....

 

[u2slow]

The only coax I use is the feed from the utility to the internet box. Cat5/6 and Wi-Fi after that.

 

[ddawg16]

Don't be so quick to jump on the 'wireless' option.

When you have 'cable' coming to the house, it typically has 2 components.....video for TV's and internet.
With internet....you have the ability to 'stream' content...which means you are using wireless.

My house has 2 'cables'....
Cable service from my provider. It goes to the cable modem which converts it to Ethernet.
I also have a cable from the antenna on top of my house for local TV content.

So...my TV's can show 'antenna' content or Ethernet content. I have all my TV's wired with Ethernet.
Why? Because it's faster than wireless.

If you use 'wireless' to the TV's while you have 3 or more teenagers online using wireless....it's not going to be pretty

AMHIK

 

[jives]

OP here. The coax coming into the house is eventually attached directly to our modem, router, phone, and TV. Provides internet, TV, and phone. At present we can wifi the internet throughout the house. But, directly hardwired to the modem/computer we have no wifi issues, which we have had.
So, it seems that the hassle of fishing a coax cable is not worth it?

 

[CoogarXR]

See if your cable company has a Roku app. Spectrum/Comcast does. You buy a Roku for your TV, and you add the Spectrum app (free), and you watch cable wirelessly.

I only have actual "cable" run to my modem in the basement. All the TVs are wireless with Rokus.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

See if your cable company has a Roku app. Spectrum/Comcast does. You buy a Roku for your TV, and you add the Spectrum app (free), and you watch cable wirelessly.

I only have actual "cable" run to my modem in the basement. All the TVs are wireless with Rokus.

Spectrum is a brand of charter and thus different than comcast which has the xfinity brand name.

 

[CoogarXR]

Spectrum is a brand of charter and thus different than comcast which has the xfinity brand name.

Yeah, I got my c-words mixed up. I meant "charter". Half the time I still call them Time Warner, lol. At least I quit calling them "Adelphia".

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Yeah, I got my c-words mixed up. I meant "charter". Half the time I still call them Time Warner, lol. At least I quit calling them "Adelphia".

Comcast used to be AT&T broadband systems out here along time ago before comcast bought them....

 

[rjn2649]

Myself, a fan of hardwired connections. I still think they are more secure. I would get some thin fiberglass fish sticks and spend a couple hours. Look for alternative paths. We have closets that line up vertically, also lots of gaps (usually) down the plumbing stink stack, maybe get you there better?
As far as paying for streaming as opposed to cable? Anything can add up to stupid high bills.

 

[ybnormal]

Don't be so quick to jump on the 'wireless' option.

When you have 'cable' coming to the house, it typically has 2 components.....video for TV's and internet.
With internet....you have the ability to 'stream' content...which means you are using wireless.

My house has 2 'cables'....
Cable service from my provider. It goes to the cable modem which converts it to Ethernet.
I also have a cable from the antenna on top of my house for local TV content.

So...my TV's can show 'antenna' content or Ethernet content. I have all my TV's wired with Ethernet.
Why? Because it's faster than wireless.

If you use 'wireless' to the TV's while you have 3 or more teenagers online using wireless....it's not going to be pretty

AMHIK

first person I've ever seen on any forum I belong to who upfront knows that wifi is nowhere near as fast or reliable as cable

next house I build will have pvc channels in the walls to run cables, or to remove and upgrade cabling

 

[kj_mustang]

Chances of you needing cable spec'd above cat 6 during most peoples home ownership is pretty slim to none. 10g internet to the home is only offered in a few places in the country right now and has been worked on for years. How long is it going to take to get faster than that in your area?

 

[justsam]

was specifically designed with phone and cable TV (coaxial) jacks.

If the coax is not there, take a look at your phone jack. Is it wired with cat 5 cable perhaps? If it is I would use this to make a wired ethernet connection from your modem in your mechanical room to the office area. Use a switch as necessary located in the office if you need multiple ethernet connections in your office.

 

[u2slow]

first person I've ever seen on any forum I belong to who upfront knows that wifi is nowhere near as fast or reliable as cable

I share in that opinion.

If you're not doing a lot of Wi-Fi otherwise, you can likely get by with a Wi-Fi link to one extra TV.

 

[ycgoat]

I share in that opinion.

If you're not doing a lot of Wi-Fi otherwise, you can likely get by with a Wi-Fi link to one extra TV.

5G is supposed to narrow that gap, my 5G Wi-fi streams to 2 TVs and a tablet running U-tube fine.

 

[ybnormal]

"5G WiFi max’s out at 3.466 Gbps while Ethernet goes up to 100Gbps"

Why is 5G wifi faster than ethernet, how is that possible?

David Kra's answer: It isn’t possible. 5G WiFi max’s out at 3.466 Gbps while Ethernet goes up to 100Gbps. Ethernet: Ethernet has data rates from 10Mbps to 100Gbps. see 100 Gigabit Ethernet - Wikipedia WiFI5: Published in 2013, IEEE 802.11ac, know also called WiFi5 has data rates ranging from 6...

www.quora.com

if true, how narrow is that gap now?

 

[u3b3rg33k]

T Mobile is again advertising $50 month. I may call and ask for it, as we're paying $55. Not one failure (not counting unplugging the device - but a battery back up is available as well)

it seems decent. they also offer a decent upload. AT&T fiber is decent too. their base plan is 300/300. if you do anything that uses upload, 10-20 mbit is basically inadequate.

"5G WiFi max’s out at 3.466 Gbps while Ethernet goes up to 100Gbps"

Why is 5G wifi faster than ethernet, how is that possible?

David Kra's answer: It isn’t possible. 5G WiFi max’s out at 3.466 Gbps while Ethernet goes up to 100Gbps. Ethernet: Ethernet has data rates from 10Mbps to 100Gbps. see 100 Gigabit Ethernet - Wikipedia WiFI5: Published in 2013, IEEE 802.11ac, know also called WiFi5 has data rates ranging from 6...

www.quora.com

if true, how narrow is that gap now?

that's the "wire rate" not the actual throughput. you never get the wire rate. plus, no one has 100gig at home. extreme nerds might have 40gig, regular nerds might have 10gig. budget nerds might have 2.5/5gig.

Don't be so quick to jump on the 'wireless' option.

When you have 'cable' coming to the house, it typically has 2 components.....video for TV's and internet.
With internet....you have the ability to 'stream' content...which means you are using wireless.

My house has 2 'cables'....
Cable service from my provider. It goes to the cable modem which converts it to Ethernet.
I also have a cable from the antenna on top of my house for local TV content.

So...my TV's can show 'antenna' content or Ethernet content. I have all my TV's wired with Ethernet.
Why? Because it's faster than wireless.

If you use 'wireless' to the TV's while you have 3 or more teenagers online using wireless....it's not going to be pretty

AMHIK

a lot of smart TVs only have 10/100 wired but have ac/ax wifi. lots of people with Plex have noted issues with streaming because of that.

first person I've ever seen on any forum I belong to who upfront knows that wifi is nowhere near as fast or reliable as cable

next house I build will have pvc channels in the walls to run cables, or to remove and upgrade cabling

I have multiple APs so that devices can connect to the AP that gives them the best signal. a big difference vs having one router in the basement corner and hating life. I still put things on a wire when it makes sense, but that's not much these days.

 

[jives]

We'll figure it out. . .

 

[u2slow]

We'll figure it out. . .

If you do run coax, run at least a cat5/6 with it (or two) or blaze yourself a path/chase that's easy to add cables to later.

 

[ddawg16]

first person I've ever seen on any forum I belong to who upfront knows that wifi is nowhere near as fast or reliable as cable

next house I build will have pvc channels in the walls to run cables, or to remove and upgrade cabling

I wish I had ran more 'pvc channels' in my house.

My 'Data Central' is a space under the stairs and is 'almost' in the middle of the house.

My internet cable goes to the garage (detached in the back) then goes down a wall and into conduit that goes underground to the new crawl space in my addition. Then up the inner wall to a panel where I have wall plates going to each part of the house with pre-wired coax and CAT 6. I ended up installing a 16 port Netgear switch.....which is about 2/3rds full.

Behind that board I have a 1.25 PVC conduit to the crawl space....and a 2" going to the existing attic. That one has saved me a ton of time...especially when I installed 6 POE security cameras.

We have a pretty decent Mesh setup....3-module Asus system. But for TV's and fixed computers and servers, hardwired Ethernet is the best way to go.

 

[ycgoat]

Wow DDawg16 that is an impressive infrastructure for a house

 

[Jinks]

Thoughts on this problem. . . After finally getting 4 of 6 kids out of the house, a room has been freed up for a home office. This room, upstairs, was specifically designed with phone and cable TV (coaxial) jacks. Well, we moved all of our computer equipment -- including modem and router -- from the downstairs bedroom to the new upstairs office, only to find that the coaxial receptacle actually has no cable attached to it. And none in the wall. A quick look in the mechanical room shows only three cables in the house -- and should be four. We got shafted 12 years ago when the house was built (okay, just an oversight).

So. . . all our internet and TV and phone landline (digital phone) comes through the coaxial from the only provider in the area. We can leave the modem and router in the downstairs bedroom and WIFI to the upstairs computer, but we cannot get cable TV. Is it worth it to run a coax cable from the mechanical room (up a wall, within a ceiling joist bay of 34', with some blocking), up through a second floor wall), or what other alternative?

Need a picture of your house to be specific, but could you split the coax feed on the outside (or at a place that would be easy to take outside), run it up to the second floor attic, maybe in conduit, & fish only the wall in the second floor office? A coax cable isn't very big & once painted to blend, won't detract from the house appearance.

I cut the cable years ago & installed an antenna in the second floor attic. Everything you read about TV tells you that splitting the signal is bad. Well I wired coax everywhere when we built so I have a lot of it. I used an amplified antenna to feed splitters. Those splitters feed six television sets without problems, but anything other than OTA television is streamed wireless. We have good TV & internet through the whole house......

 

[wyliesdiesels]

I wish I had ran more 'pvc channels' in my house.

My 'Data Central' is a space under the stairs and is 'almost' in the middle of the house.

My internet cable goes to the garage (detached in the back) then goes down a wall and into conduit that goes underground to the new crawl space in my addition. Then up the inner wall to a panel where I have wall plates going to each part of the house with pre-wired coax and CAT 6. I ended up installing a 16 port Netgear switch.....which is about 2/3rds full.

Behind that board I have a 1.25 PVC conduit to the crawl space....and a 2" going to the existing attic. That one has saved me a ton of time...especially when I installed 6 POE security cameras.

We have a pretty decent Mesh setup....3-module Asus system. But for TV's and fixed computers and servers, hardwired Ethernet is the best way to go.

why did you use so many low voltage brackets? couldve used a couple double gang brackets and had less holes in the wall

 

[ddawg16]

why did you use so many low voltage brackets? couldve used a couple double gang brackets and had less holes in the wall

That is actually not a wall. It's a board covering up an empty space made where the wall and entertainment center meet at a 45.
I can take out the screws and pull the panel out which gives me access to the PVC conduit
It's a pretty good sized cavity...


Some of those have 3-4 connections.
Each bracket = one drop and/or room
The one to my son's room has 2 coax and 3 Ethernets in one plate
A couple of them have speaker wires....one for the family room and the other for outside speakers
Security cameras...6

 

[ybnormal]

it seems decent. they also offer a decent upload. AT&T fiber is decent too. their base plan is 300/300. if you do anything that uses upload, 10-20 mbit is basically inadequate.

I've only got about 1 option in my 'hood and it *****

that's the "wire rate" not the actual throughput. you never get the wire rate. plus, no one has 100gig at home. extreme nerds might have 40gig, regular nerds might have 10gig. budget nerds might have 2.5/5gig.

hmmm, I don't consider myself an extreme nerd even though I work in IT. the only wireless stuff in my house is laptops and smart phones, everything else, including the Roku, TV, NAS, printers, and desktops is wired

a lot of smart TVs only have 10/100 wired but have ac/ax wifi. lots of people with Plex have noted issues with streaming because of that.

I have multiple APs so that devices can connect to the AP that gives them the best signal. a big difference vs having one router in the basement corner and hating life. I still put things on a wire when it makes sense, but that's not much these days.

what makes sense putting stuff on a wire? any computers I use with sensitive information. I don't even use wireless administration of my wifi router and have MAC filtering and SSID turned off

 

[u3b3rg33k]

I've only got about 1 option in my 'hood and it *****

hmmm, I don't consider myself an extreme nerd even though I work in IT. the only wireless stuff in my house is laptops and smart phones, everything else, including the Roku, TV, NAS, printers, and desktops is wired

what makes sense putting stuff on a wire? any computers I use with sensitive information. I don't even use wireless administration of my wifi router and have MAC filtering and SSID turned off

I had only one option before, I feel your pain. I switched almost as soon as it was possible.

"extreme nerd" was a joke. The last time held a 100Gb/s SFP in my hand, it was worth $25k. Name brand, of course.

turning off SSID broadcast on your AP doesn't hide your SSID from leet hackerz
(this guy)


all it does is not show YOU the SSID. your devices are literally constantly asking "is XYZnet there?", even when you're not home with them. anywhere you've been with your phone could have a record of your home SSID.

grab one of these:

WiFi Pineapple

The industry standard WiFi pentest platform has evolved. Equip your red team with the WiFi Pineapple® Mark VII. Newly refined. Enterprise ready.

shop.hak5.org

turn it on, open your laptop, and look at the list of wifi networks. anything you've ever connected to will show up as available/in the logs on the pineapple. When your laptop/phone/tablet/wifi enabled dishwasher goes "are you there, XYZnet?" it says "Hi, I'm here!"

mac filtering can be spoofed easily. (my laptop can do it from the command line without any custom firmware or "hacking"). set up your wifi as standards compliant and use enterprise WPA2 or better if you want 'real' security, otherwise rotate a nice long passphrase occasionally. unless the NSA is outside in an unmarked van, they'll just get your data the easy way - from your ISP.

 

[steves_001]

See if your cable company has a Roku app. Spectrum/Comcast does. You buy a Roku for your TV, and you add the Spectrum app (free), and you watch cable wirelessly.

How is it you get to watch spectrum content free with the roku app? I pay monthly for access to use the app and channels. While the app was free, it did not allow me to watch anything until I paid a subscription monthly. Same for you?

 

[CoogarXR]

How is it you get to watch spectrum content free with the roku app? I pay monthly for access to use the app and channels. While the app was free, it did not allow me to watch anything until I paid a subscription monthly. Same for you?

I mean the app is free if you're already paying for cable (which is sounds like the OP is). The OP was looking for a way to watch cable that he already pays for, and I'm trying to tell him, don't bother running an actual cable when a roku box is like $30, it's wireless, and it gives you the same channels a hard-wired connection gives you.

I have 3 TVs running Rokus on an old-*** netgear router, and it works just fine. Never buffers or glitches.

 

[alfredeneuman]

everything else, including the Roku, TV, NAS, printers, and desktops is wired

How did you get a wired Roku? Mine connects with wireless....and there isn't even a place to plug in an RJ45. It works flawlessly even with only a 10mbps connection

 

[CoogarXR]

How did you get a wired Roku? Mine connects with wireless....and there isn't even a place to plug in an RJ45. It works flawlessly even with only a 10mbps connection

Older Rokus had an RJ45 jack. And some smart TVs with built-in Roku have RJ45 too. I have a Sharp TV that has the wired ethernet with Roku.