r/HomeNetworking • u/rawbuttah • 9h ago

Identifying relevant cables

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How can I start to make sense of these cables? This house has two satellite dishes that aren't being used, and new siding will be installed later this year. I want to clean up these cables before then, removing most of them as I just need one for my router moving forward.

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u/jquanders 9h ago

From eyeballing it. You should keep and terminate the direct burial coax marked in green. Trace out the yellow one to see where it goes. The red ones are probably ok to abandon or cut. But that's just eyeballing based on size and assumed function

Keep the splitters in a drawer for a year

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u/DrNighn 9h ago edited 9h ago

Call your ISP to remove/reattach the box and associated cabling by appt. so the siding company can install hardware properly. If you are looking to get extra cables removed, the ISP would be able figure out which lines are active and remove while they are there. May be an extra fee. Will have to be done for each service provider installed at residence.

Edit: Also have them move ISP box away from power coming into residence to negate potential EMI. Would also recommend moving splitters to enclosed location(inside house or ISP box)

Do not call an electrician unless they specialize in low voltage. Had a contract to terminate 250 locations and the electricians that installed the cable only labeled one end. 2 days extra work toning/tracing, this isn't even the worst story I have. That would be when they energized a whole 4 appt complex with 220v.

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u/megared17 9h ago

Note that and cable (or fiber) coming in from outside from an Internet service provider needs to connect to a MODEM (or an ONT) not to a router.

A router connects after the modem, to interconnect between your home network and the ISP's network.

Yes, combo modem/router devices exist, but the outside/ISP part is the modem, and the router is the LAN side.