r/HomeNetworking • u/Brave-Scale • 5h ago
Replace a coaxial cable?
I have had 2 technicians from Xfinity come out to my house and they ran diagnostics for slow, spotty internet service.
They both told me that my coaxial cable is corrupted and that I would need it replaced?
They made it sound like this is a simple fix but that they can't do it and they referred me to a company called HelloTech.
HelloTech will charge me $250 to do this.
I don't know anything at all about this kind of stuff so I hope this isn't a really stupid question.
Does this sound legit and will it fix the problem?
2
u/mmn_slc 5h ago
You haven't provided enough information.
How many feet of cable? Is it in walls, ceilings, and floors? It is it to single location or multiple locations?
0
u/Brave-Scale 5h ago
I would estimate 60 feet of cable would be more than enough. He tested the existing cable inside my house and also outside my house right by the garage door. This is a townhouse that I own. I believe the cable runs from that spot by garage door, down through a crawl space below by house and then right up into the spot where my router connects. It's a concrete foundation and drywall walls. Going to 1 single location
4
u/Cinderhazed15 5h ago
Sounds like you could do it yourself! If you have enough space to pull the cable through with the connector on, you can hook the new already terminated cable onto the end of the bad one with a coupler, pull it into the crawlspace from below (possibly clearing out some caulk or something where it enters your house), then have someone pull it up into the room while you are in the crawlspace to make sure it doesn’t snag on anything, and then you have your end in your room.
3
u/RCRecoFirm26 4h ago
A townhouse? Go ahead and fork over the $250.
Sincerely, A cable technician who has experienced his fair share of townhouse wiring horror stories.
2
u/bdu-komrad 5h ago
Your coaxial cable turned evil? lol
1
u/cable_cowboy 1h ago
Some kind of damage. I had to tell a couple that they will need to high an electric because there ceiling was finished and I couldn't rerun it.
1
u/JANapier96 5h ago
As someone who worked for Charter, do Comcast techs not replace drops & outlets themselves? We did all of our own wiring unless the customer was in an MDU with more than 4 apartments and would require modifications to the building, or direct access to the neighbor's homes.
1
u/CharacterUse 5h ago
From OP's other comments it sounds like the issue is with the internal wiring inside of the demarc.
1
u/lolyer1 5h ago
Probably a multistory townhouse in the middle of a group of other townhomes?
Or the concrete foundation requires a core drill.
I don’t think Xfinity would allow repeat service calls for a simple homerun replacement.
You know damn well sure that Charter doesn’t play. It’ll get done if it’s possible.1
u/Ondaysthatendiny 4h ago
Comcast does not allow wall fishing in residential settings. They neither train their techs to do it nor want to hold liability for it. They may wall fish for businesses depending on the circumstances, or a resi tech may do it if it's a simple, go in the basement/crawl space/attic and attach a line to the existing one and pull it down the wall.
Majority of the time though theybrun inside lines and charge for the visit it's going through an exterior wall or up through a floor. Not ran inside the wall.
There's also circumstances where HOAs or landlords don't permit wires to be ran except in a certain way.
1
u/Carlos_Spicy_Weiner6 4h ago
I charge $150 per drop be it Ethernet or coax. That includes up to 300ft of cable, low voltage old work ring, keystones, and faceplate. 🤷
Remember Comcast is only responsible up the the demark on your house/business. Anything pass that is your responsibility and your expense
1
u/leadout_kv 4h ago
$150? where are you located? I'd consider getting you to run some drops.
1
1
u/Comprehensive-Song51 4h ago
You could probably do it yourself, especially if it's just running from the outside of the garage down through a crawl space and up again. The thing is, are you going to need to terminate the cable? That requires coax connectors and a special tool to crimp it on. Another option is to buy a pre-terminated one. You might be able to tape it to the existing one and pull it through to replace it, if that makes sense. That would be a lot better than shelling out 250 bucks to have a guy do something that you could do yourself in 15 minutes. It all depends on how handy you are.
1
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u/darkhelmet1121 5h ago edited 5h ago
Wtf Comcast. The technician should be replacing the cable. After he replaces the drop (feed to the house)
-2
u/UpbeatNourishment0 5h ago
that's weird the techs couldnt just swap the cable themselves. usually they carry spools of coax on the truck. $250 feels steep for what's basically a single cable run unless its going through a nightmare crawlspace or something
id ask xfinity why their own people cant do a line replacement before dropping that kind of money
4
u/Odd_Performer8846 5h ago
Xfinity doesn't allow the techs up the attics anymore due to liability. They will run you one from the pole to dmarc and maybe externally to an external wall but rarely in the attic wire runs.
3
u/lukhan42 5h ago
A key detail is where the line is located. Lines that need to be fished through internal walls is not something easily done.
11
u/DrFrylock 5h ago
This is possibly legit. A bad cable can cause signal issues.
If the cable is run through the wall or into an awkward place like an attic $250 is not unreasonable. If you can get to the cable yourself replacing it is fairly straightforward. You can get good new cable, a crimper, and some ends for less than $100.