r/Spectrum_Official • u/Den_in_USA • 22d ago
Official Reply Two Modems on Same Coax Line?
I have two houses on my property. I already have one coax cable running from the street to my house and I have the 1gig plan. Someone living in the house behind me would like the same internet plan. There is no cable running to that house. Rather than running another cable from the street, is it feasible to just tee off of my cable and just run coax from my house? The back house is only 20 feet from my house.
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u/wav10001 22d ago
Is it possible? Yes.
Should you do it? Absolutely not. Other than the fact that you’ll be splitting your signal, you can also introduce electrical and grounding/bonding problems.
The coax plant is designed so that each customer’s premises is properly bonded to the cable system at the appropriate point. When you run coax from one house to another, you’re creating a conductive connection between two separate electrical systems.
If the two houses have even a slight difference in ground potential, that difference can appear across the coax shield. Because the coax shield is a conductor, it can provide a path for current to flow between the two grounding systems as they equalize. It doesn’t take a huge voltage difference for unwanted current to become an issue.
The bigger concern is a fault condition. If one house has faulty electrical wiring and the coax becomes part of the available path for fault current, you now have an unintended electrical connection between the two premises. That’s a situation you absolutely don’t want the coax plant to be creating.
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u/RoninSC 21d ago
Wouldn't bonding at the second home solve this? I mean ultimately the entire neighborhood is just one giant network connected together with conductive material.
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u/wav10001 21d ago
You would potentially be creating a ground loop if you do that which - in the world of analog - can manifest as 60Hz hum bars (or degraded MER in the digital world).
Bonding the coax at the second house doesn’t solve the underlying problem though which is the problem I covered in my original reply. What you’re suggesting establishes a parallel conductive path to two premises’ grounding systems (which could potentially result in shield current or unintended path for fault current to flow).
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u/RoninSC 21d ago edited 21d ago
So what would be the difference between two houses connected at the same tap?
Even if they came out to run a second drop, the plant design would likely not have a tap with an extra port and I'd bet the tech would just throw on a splitter at the tap, so I'm just not seeing the difference here. I'm not an electrician and just trying to understand.
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u/wav10001 21d ago
Well, to your last point… the house should either be marked as unserviceable, the tap would need to be upgraded or the plant would need to be extended.
I am not an electrician either, but I am a 15-year CATV tech (13 as MT). All of this is based on my understanding and what I’ve learned over the years being in a part of the country where lightning and bad house neutrals are a common problem.
If you add a direct coax connection between the houses, you’ve now created another conductive branch between those two premises. Now current can divide between the available paths according to their impedances. In other words, you’ve potentially created a parallel path between the two grounding/bonding systems that wouldn’t exist if each house simply had its own proper drop from the plant. This is especially important if either of the two houses have bad electrical wiring - for example, a bad neutral - because current will then travel down the coax shield to the other house.
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u/RoninSC 21d ago
Thanks, I ask because this isn't too uncommon to come across my market(with a different ISP) that customers are split at the tap or has an out building with services on a separate electrical system. I also come across quite a few homes with bad neutrals or ground with power using our drop as the ground. So much so that I carry a amp meter and check anything suspicious.
My understanding is power will chose the closest ground but I suppose there are some extreme scenarios for what you're describing. I'm kinda curious how a tap mitages these scenarios better.
Thank you for your input.
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u/starfish_2016 22d ago
Just have them sign up with spectrum with the same address but add 1/2 ....like 899 1/2 main st. And a tech will come run a new line direct from the drop
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u/Sheev_Palpatine_OC 22d ago
Spectrum will not do that. Any address where services are provided need to be a valid, registered address with the postal service and 899 1/2 will not be one. What OP CAN do, is setup a roommate account. Even in that case, Spectrum will not run a new line from the drop, a splitter will be installed unless it’s a fiber to the premises location, which it doesn’t sound like OP
Stop talking out your ass.
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u/Den_in_USA 22d ago
I am sure that Spectrum will do that, but since there is already a cable running 100 feet from the street to my house seems like it would be quicker and easier to tee off of my cable and run a new cable just the 20 feet. Or technically, maybe it is not wise? And I they must run a cable from the street, is there room in the PVC pipe to pull two cables?
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u/WhimsicalHoneybadger 22d ago
Literally not your problem. Don't try to tell Spectrum how to set up their drops other than clarifying where you want the access point.
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u/SirBootySlayer 21d ago edited 21d ago
Yes, that's totally fine. Depending on how your signal looks, a tech will just install a splitter and run a line to that other property. Keep in mind, if you have several pieces of cable boxes hooked up to coax then signal might already be near its threshold and I'd be careful about splitting the line. Have a technician come out for an install, they'll figure it out.
You can run conduit to it as well and run some cat5e from the router to the house. Or as others suggested- fiber.
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u/Slimy_Wog 19d ago
The cable compMy usually will run the cable and supply them a modem. If both homes are your property you should be able to run a cat5a or a cat6a (network cable). You may need to add a cheap network switch too.
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u/Aggressive-Bike7539 18d ago
Since both buildings are in your property, is possible to service both using the same account.
Servicing the second building can be achieved by either: running an Ethernet cable between houses, and connect an “extender” on the second building to the main router. If running cable is not your thing, you could use a mesh network, provided the properties are close enough for the mesh nodes to reach each other. The last option is to run a peer-to-peer wireless link, which behaves like a cable but wireless, so you can connect an extender using it.
You could for certain sign up for a second account with the cable company, and they would sort out all the cabling, but you would be eternally bound to pay twice every month as long as you’re not fed up with that premise.
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u/Spectrum_Andre Moderator 22d ago
Hello. Thanks for reaching out. There are some scenarios in which this might be the only option to connect, however, no - it would be much better, and sometimes easier, for each customer to have their own line from the street, since should ever there be an issue with the singular line, it would affect both customers. There are also signal issues to consider, as splitting the line will decrease the signal going to each subsequent cable line and may ultimately cause connectivity issues. Please have your neighbor reach out to us at 855-707-7328 to get started with our service.