I have a house that isnt wired for any cable, I contracted with Comcast to instal cable in 5 rooms but canceled the instal because nobody at comcast would give me any type of estimate on cost. I emailed and spoke to severasl people at comcast and could get no idea on price, they have no office in my area of Chicago. What could the aproximate cost be for running 5 rooms, a 60ft brick 2 story house, all cable would come in one side easily accesable. Trees block satelite dishes, UVerse isnt here yet, so its comcast. If its 500 or over I could hire a friend and do it cheaper, does anyone have any idea on what they will charge me. Without any estimate I could imagine a 1000$ bill I dont want.
It's hard to say but they should be able to give you an hourly charge.
I've had them do work for a new internet hard wire required by a client of mine a couple of years ago and it only took an hour for $20. It was a fairly complex stringing. They did not charge for materials.
Later I had a couple of TV cables restrung and I think it was only $40. It, too was complex, as they had to go in and out of rooms and attic and outside.
I could do the work when I was young and agile but now pay to have it done. They're also adept at making good cable connections and can check signal strength, which I can't.
I can't speak to the cost, but I wouldn't let comcast or any other cable/satt company do the in-house wiring on a bet. Every 'company' install I have ever seen was done the cheapest most hillbilly way possible, usually on the outside of the house, or if it was in the basement or attic, the cable was just draped or stapled wherever. Comcast uses subcontractors for work like that, at least around here, and they are paid by the drop. No in-wall boxes ever, just holes in wall or floor with the cable stuck through them. I would definitely call your friend for a walk-through, and see what he says. Is basement ceiling open? If putting boxes in walls is too complex, you can still do a through-the floor to a wiremold-style box attached to baseboard, and have it look halfway decent. If there is no good path to attic from basement, you can do one outside wire from demarc location up the side of house to soffit, and get into attic that way. Tuck it behind a downspout or something, and then come down from attic through walls, or even tucked in a blind corner of the bedroom closets, and have it look halfway decent. If your friend seems hesitant, look in local ad paper for that part of town- almost all have semi-retired or moonlighting ma bell or other wire-pullers that do jobs like this. Insist on a name brand rg6 quad cable, not the cheap generic stuff, and good quality compression, not crimped, connectors.
Are you sure you can't get Satt at the location? If you can't see SW sky, Dish has other birds where you can point to the SE and get signal. The dish also does not have to be on the roof- it can be on a post in the yard, assuming the neighbors won't break or steal it.
I would also keep a roof or attic antenna for OTA reception as a backup, even if you have to buy converter boxes for old TVs. Lotsa local stations around metro Chicago, so you would still have TV when the cable was out or the dish was iced up.
At least in my market Comcast will tell you up front that they aren't set up to do the sort of work you describe due to the fishing and fussiness of old work. Also some folks are looking for a new paint job or carpeting out of the deal and that further discourages them.
If you hire your friend make sure they use good connectors such as snap seals (same thing the cable company uses) and not those novelty class twist on connectors.
My impression is that Comcast doesn't charge to put in cable (for a couple rooms or so), they also don't do a very good job. At least no one I know has had to pay one.
The parts are cheap, I'd be inclined to get it done yourself, rather than have someone drilling holes through your walls. You may wish to have them do as much free as possible, that doesn't wreck your home.
I've run cabling the right way, through walls and such, and I've never seen a Comcast installer do that. At least, I'd get to know the installer and cut a deal and perhaps pay him. Here, they all appear to be contractors, and a little extra money would be good. You'd be surprised what people will do for $20 off the books, let alone $100. All people respond to attitude, be nice.
YMMV, and your location may be different. And my experience is not recent.
Ditto that. Some of the 'installations' I've seen were so bad they were _almost_ funny. One house they ran the cable up the house wall, into the gutter and along the bottom of the gutter, out the gutter, wrapped around the back of the house, back down the wall, along the wall, up the wall, and straight in through a hole poked in the stucco. There must have been 150' of cable. This when the basement was open, unfinished, and the house was balloon-framed with no insulation.
I ran my cable under the house. Didn't have to drill, specially through that stupid short shag carpeting. Jes put a 44 mag round through the floor. Big fun and worked great!
Double Ditto that. This happened a bunch of year ago in an apartment building near Chicago. They put the main drop into the attic for the whole building and then came into each apartment through a closet. In my mother's apartment they proceeded to run black coax along the white baseboard, up and around 5 windows, down again to the baseboard, along the baseboard on another wall, up over the front door, along the baseboard of another wall, turn the corner, along the baseboard of that wall and finally to the TV, stapling it all the way. I sure hope they do better today.
A year ago I asked Dish if they had a satelite SE they said no, is this a relatively new sattelite, in Chicago here all I see are SW pointing dishes, although I saw one or 2 pointing SE. I had an exterior antenna I took down and will put up a new one and run two cables when I do this. I would rather have dish, its cheaper and HD is free unlike comcast.
No they dont do better, at my building I even have signs up denying cable companies work unless I approve it, they dont care what they do as long as its fast.
If you do it yourself, talk to Comcast first. They well may supply you with cable, connectors, and splitters for free. The tool to install connectors will probably be your problem.
Last I heard from them was $80/hr and that was 5 years ago. They would NEVER commit to particular time onsite so that still leaves the total figure unresolved. Other posters here suggested that they would in fact run 1-2 cables for free if the locations aren't too bad. In my case their interpretation of "not too bad" was that they could run a cable on the OUTSIDE of the house and poke it right into the outlet, through the siding, insulation and all. They have also spliced the cable and left the splice unprotected to the elements AND laying on the ground. I wasn't home to supervise this install and this was the last time I let anyone run a cable in my house. A year after that Verizon brought FIOS and I never looked back.
If you have a friend you can hire (conscript/bribe/cajole) to help, this would definitely be the best way to handle the situation. Spend a day or so crawling through the attic, basement and such finding the best route. This way you will not only be able to install the cables better and save your house's structure from abuse but may also discover some other things that need attention.
Anyone can run a cable. The trickier part is to terminate its ends and if you are not comfortable doing it yourself (or don't have the compression tool and don't want to mess with screw-on), just let them terminate it. They will definitely do it for free ('cause it's quick) but they can still botch even that, so review the work after it's done.
Good luck!
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At one time I used twist on connectors. They didn't work very well. They pulled off too easily, and the connections have poor shielding. Crimp connectors help, but compression connectors are better.
They (the local subcontractor) installed mine for free at the time I got it for TV and internet a number of years ago. Two penetrations (living room, computer room), with a different wire for each. Each cable was installed neatly, along the outside of the house, with frequent use of cable staples. Took her about an hour.
I would never expect a free installation to run a wire under a house of within a wall, and they did a fine enough job with mine with the wires on the outside.
As much as I like to complain about Comcast, they have given me much better service than any other internet provider, and their customer service has always bent over backwards, 24/7, whenever I needed them.
If you want the cable to enter the attic then branch to five different rooms through the walls, I can't offer a suggestion. BUT...
If the cable drop terminates at the facia, you can run cable on the exterior to the target room and punch in through the wall. This technique is, by far, the fastest, cheapest, and easiest way to get a cable to the target room.
Whether you can stand the TV being against the outside wall is another story.
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