Wiring Home for Cable TV - Upgrading to "ORANGE?" Cable?

[Demhimoss]

My home was wired for cable TV sometimes in the 80's with the black coax. There are a couple of signal boosters in the system as the wiring covers 3 stores. We tried to upgrade our Xfinity/Comcast DVR Box but it didn't work and after 3 days of trouble shooting the tech said it was due to the old wiring running to the house and that we should upgrade the wiring in the house. My question is about rewiring the home with he new cable....I think the coaxial is orange but I'm not sure if this is the current coax in use. Is this something I can buy at Home Depot or Lowes? No radio shack please if I can help it. What is so great about the new coax? It seems to me if I can get DSL over a single pair of twisted copper wires, the cable company should be able to provide ungodly speeds with coax regardless of how old it is. I don't need all the rooms wired but should I just run the coax from the rooms I do use to a central location and tie them in to a splitter. Then have the cable company run a new wire to the splitter?

I'll continue to do some research online regarding this matter but I thought someone may know a bit and could chime in. Thanks for anyone willing to pass along a bit of knowledge.

[Frank]

Maybe you can get Comcast to do the rewiring for free. If they are forcing the upgrade and it does not work they should be obligated to do the rewiring required.

I have Comcast and they are forcing us into X1 as if we kept older HD connections they would not work in the future. They started with self install but people had problems and now they will install the change for free which I did. The tech checked signal strength and did minor changes to connectors. They tried to bill us but removed charge after we called them (typical Comcast dealings).

Another possibility, if your system does not work, you could call Comcast and sign up for in home insurance, have them come out and do the work and cancel the insurance thereafter.

A few years back I was forced to hard wire (ether-net) a clients company computer as they did not want to use my home WIFI. I hired Comcast to install the wiring, catercorner from 2nd floor bedroom to 1st floor den and it only cost $20 which was the cost of the install plus the wire. Temporary wire I was using strung out between the two rooms cost more than that.

When you call Comcast, ask to talk to Customer Solutions, they usually get you what you want. Last month I was about to cancel HBO as I could not extend my service deal to a year. Person I talked to would not budge and wife told me to call for Customer Solutions there and they came across with no argument.

[gfretwell]

Orange cable is just what Comcast uses for buried service although they may be using it in other places if that is all they have on the truck. The orange is just easier to see if they just string it across the yard for a few days to a few years before they finally get someone to dig it in under the sod. I have a spool of this that they left behind a years ago and I got tired of moving every time I cut the grass.

If you are just stringing cable around the house, any quad shield RG-6 should work for you and people even get by with normal RG-6 or even RG

1. Just be sure you get the right ends, there at least 3 different sizes.

[Ralph Mowery]

The color of the coax does not matter. That just depends on who makes it. What you want to check on is if the old coax is marked RG-59. It will be 1/4 of an inch in diameter. The newer coax willbe marked RG-6. It will be slightly larger in diameter. I am not sure about all the bosters you have. Depending on how far your house is from the main line, it may need a larger cable . Much of the older stuff was small. The newer cable will be about 1/2 of inch in diameter. The company may be able to change the tap from the main line going to your house to one that sends you more signal.

If it is the cable and you want to do it yourself, you may be able to talk them into giving you enough cable to do the job.

[gfretwell]

[cable_shill]

Color matters in UV. Don't put white out doors. Orange my hold up but looks may matter too.

Orange is used for underground. The color is there for when it gets dug up (called "Backhoe Fades") and can be identified as low voltage communications wire.

Cable intended for underground will have the shielding infused with a sticky moisture repellant. Flooded Cable they call it. Won't really affect the use or signal if used indoors but may not be as flexible as inhouse cable. In the old days heat would thin out the flooding compound and it would seep out of the coax at the back of the TV or wall plate.

[trader_4]

That must be a new Trumpet conservative position. The cable company offers services that require decent cable, so they should have to pay for it. Go figure. I take responsibility for the wiring inside my house, why should I have to pay for yours too?

Another good example of a Trumpet conservative. Cheat, it's OK. I suppose you think it's a great idea to have health insurance like the righty loons want, where insurance companies have to cover pre-existing conditions, but people are not required to have coverage. So, you just avoid paying for insurance until you have liver disease and you know it's going to cost $50K a year for treatment. Then you sign up for insurance. Sadly, this is how Trump and the Trumpets think insurance works.

[gfretwell]

Comcast does the inside wiring here as part of the installation. It ends up saving them money in the long run. They get fewer nuisance calls about bad pictures and bad internet service. I They get enough calls for their own problems.

[Diesel]

And make sure you get good connectors and the proper crimp tool to attach them. Using the best cable won't do you much good if you go cheap/screw up the connectors.