Coaxial Cables.

>>1012034
Shielding isn't really a problem as long as you stay away from electrical lines. If you have to cross them do it at 90 degrees.

RG59 is probably what you have, just run some RG6 to your modem and you'll be fine.

>>1012038
It comes in right at the main electrical box. Plus it needs to run 8 ft on an external wall. It wont get much sun, but it will get pounded by storms regardless, so a good shield is paramount in everything. Again, this is old wiring so nothing is properly shielded, thus new shielding.

I feel your pain, was looking at the quad shielded. Not sure if anything will improve since the wire outside to the house is old as whats inside (not to mention the hobby box crappy cable I ran 15 years ago). Have a booster and their cable their connectors bla, bla. Now I'm going to move the modem to the front of the line in an attempt to stabilize the internet. Paying a megaasston for some BS HD package full of junk and have to kick the damn modem 1x a week and I'll be damned if I let the hacks into my house to butcher things.

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>>1012034

if you have internet problems check the splitters. those cheap ass splitters they use can go bad and cause interference with the signal.. I dont use comcrap but have ran into that problem many times.

>>1012127
We have upgraded splitters as well as a powered no-loss splitter right right after the main split for TVs. Its the cable between the main split and the no-loss that is the problem as its nearly 30 years old and runs right next to main power box. Its not meant to run on Comcast's "Blast" internet.

I just need to know what a great wire is to get the most bang for my buck, and I work in the industrial computer world so Coaxes are hard to come by so I have limited experience with them.

Also, its not just comcast telling me at this point that the wires are old. An independant contractor as well as AT&T(The only other internet company in my area, because our ridiculously white-people power/communication line codes)have all said it.

>>1012127
This. Bad splitters and bad barrel connectors are often times the source of the problem. The other problem is rodents chewing the cables. My house was built in 1971 and was wire for cable (well, it was originally for a central aerial) at the time of construction (as well as various other odd things no one uses anymore). Needless to say they are old lines. I get 250 Mbps down no problem. So, yeah, check the connections.

>>1012133
They have been checked thoroughly and replaced only a couple years ago when we started getting the faster speeds.

what is the point of having the cable drop several feet and then do fucking loops, then go straight back up?
fuck this picture triggers me. Leave the cable up, cut it, but the ends on, and a union. fuck this person.

>>1012138
Its how I wrap my audio cables; but those are different types of cables. That's also how I was taught to wrap excess Cat5 cables; thanks community schooling.

>>1012131
Your cable modem should be the first 2 way split before you start tossing an 85 way splitter at it for all your TVs
Powered splitters also will mess with the modems signal so it should be before that

>>1012147
whats the point though? Sorry for the fuck this person.. I anger easily.
is it some emf bullshit?

>>1012138
Minimum bend radius for RF. They teach you to do everything gentle in school. Also drip loops so water doesn't run down the cable to pour inside your wall, it runs down to the bottom of the loop and drips off the loop instead of pouring in the wall.

Also slack loops. If the connector breaks, you can just cut off a couple inches and put a new one on because you have slack in the loop.

>>1012034
RG-6Q is the good stuff for residential length loops. Q is for quad shielded. It's much more of a pain in the ass to strip but is better for 1-2ghz. I have no idea what spectrum comcast is.

Also make sure your loop is grounded. It should be at the main splitter or demarc junction, but comcast should have taken care of that already.

You want compression type fittings, the crimp fittings are shit tier from the 80s.

It looks like klein makes a kit now and it looks reasonable.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-Tools-Coax-Installation-and-Testing-Kit-with-Connector-VDV002818/203799415?MERCH=REC-_-PIPHorizontal1_rr-_-202276273-_-203799415-_-N

>>1012050
RG6 quad is fine. I used to install it outside all the time when I did installs. It has a PVC jacket that stands up to just about anything except being buried in the ground, although I've seen people do it.

Like everyone else said, make sure your fittings are good and you should be fine.

>>1012346
Outdoorsy cables exist as well, that don't have insulation that turns brittle in the cold or break up with UV exposure. At least in EU.

Quad shielding is rather overkill for home use. Unless you live in an industrial plant. Although if cost is no issue, then go ahead.

(At home I run a 200/20 connection along coax made in shitty Soviet Union. 25+ years old. Everything about it is horrible, but it works fine. No reason to rip up walls and floors to replace something that works.)

>>1012034
Spectrum (formerly TWC) tech here.

All the anons who are saying RG6 quad are correct, brand doesn't matter.

What you'll want to do get your house box open and make sure you have no more than a 2 way splitter in there. One of those two should be a direct run to your modem (every splitter will nab between 7 and 24 db of signal, and every barrel connector will drop another 4 db, so a straight shot is your best bet.) Make the run as short as you can to prevent loss from loop length (loop as in length of the circuit, not loop as in circles. RG6 loses 6.4db per 100 feet.) Leave a good 4-5 inches of slack.

As long as your downstream signal is -15 to 15dbmv, and upstream is 35-55 dbmv, you're in the optimal range. If after that you still have signal issues, odds are you're going to have to somehow get someone who works on the plant itself to come out and get them to adjust your signal from the tap.

>>1012034
I work for Comcast. We'll run you new wiring. You have to pay for it, but we'll do it.

Not trying to shill or anything, but it's probably better just to have us do it. It probably won't cost anything or minimal at most.

If you have older cabling, it's probably RG59 like >>1012038 mentioned. We'll run you RG6, which is the newer standard. It's also possible that with the signal coming from the tap port that you need an RG11 ran to your home (which should be free of charge since CC is responsible for the outside wiring, including the drop to your house). Shielding is important, but RG59 sucks not because of shielding, but because it has less dialectric material so it attenuates more than newer cable, thus causing you substantial signal loss.

In addition, depending on the number of lines you have, you may need an amplifier installed as well.

>>1012632
>-15 to 15

Is that what you TWC techs go by?

CC goes by -8 to 10, though it's preferable to keep it closer to -5 to 5.

Doesn't cable internet use a miniscule fraction of a coax's bandwidth? Does old coax really degrade that much?

>>1012674
There's bandwidth as well as frequency. Old RG59 is only good up through the old VHF TV frequencies (200-300 MHz). UHF and digital services can go up to 1 GHz. Satellite feeds from the LNA can be 2.5 GHz.

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>>1012674
>Doesn't cable internet use a miniscule fraction of a coax's bandwidth?
Yes
>Does old coax really degrade that much?
No. Unless the insulation is coming apart on you or something.

Most of the derps in this thread are pulling some audiophile level bullshit. Another 20 posts or so and they will be talking about using ceramic raisers to isolate the line, how you need 'Brilliant Pebbles TM" to really bring out the speed, and which direction on the compass your modem needs to be pointing for optimal throughput. Picture related.

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>>1012695

Retard.

Of course there is a difference from RG59 to RG6. The copper core size for one, and copper quality between manufacturing as well.

Some cheaper quality lines have aluminum and nickle mixed in with the copper.

However older style rg59 coaxial has a smaller core, thus meaning it cannot conduct as well as rg6. I.E. the cycles will be lower and therefore faster speeds for broadband cannot be achieved.

RG6 also has better insulation. RG6 has less attenuation or db loss.

Just like Ethernet categories there is a difference between 5, 5e, 6 and 6a... etc. It's always about the frequency cycles, shielding, and attenuation.

I would redo house with RG6.

https://www.amazon.com/82205-1000-ft-Dual-Shielded-Coaxial-Cable/dp/B000PY8KHQ

1000 foot spool, all copper core, $40 bucks.

Go crazy.

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>>1012695
Let me just log in to my modem to check.

I've got 8 channels in 800 mhz.

Wow. That's way worse than I even expected.
Fucking lose almost 14 db? On a signal that might only be 14 db to start with?

>Hurr 100 ft is so long, this is a guy's house.
Well clearly it's fucking long enough if they told him his wiring is fucked up and he should replace it.

You're not even aware that the 'miniscule' part of the bandwidth used by internet is high frequency, and is much more susceptible to loss and noise than normal channels.

>>1012705
>On a signal that might only be 14 db to start with?

u wot mate

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>>1012700
Is there a difference? Sure. Does it fucking matter for your internet connection? No. Its like arguing that copper pipe is so much better than cast iron pipe because the walls of copper pipe are so much thiner for pipes of the same exterior diameter. When you have a pipe that 8 inches across and you are using it to fill a shot glass with water it doesn't really matter as you will have plenty of water regardless of the pipe used.

I've got 40 year old cable lines in my walls and they hit 250 Mbps down, which is the faster internet Comcast offers in my area for non-business customers. If Comcast offered faster speeds I would probably have to replace my modem before my cable lines because it tops out at 343 Mbps.

>>1012705
You know how they say the maximum length of an ethernet cable is 90 meters because of signal loss? Its kind of like that. On paper stuff only works so well. In real life you can absolutely do it but its not ideal. All of these things like signal loss and such are theoretical. I've run a cable out to 150 meters without a booster and still gotten 60 Mbps sable though it. I've had runs of cat5 that are only 40 meters and still couldn't hit 100 Mbps. Shits all over the map. Sometimes, sure, you will see signal loss of that level. Sometimes, like pic related, you wont.

>>1012710
>cable modem is smart enough to detect your shit wiring so it picks low frequencies
See, there's no reason to get properly rated wire!

>>1012179
this guy. this guy knows his shit.

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>>1012710
https://www.amazon.com/Sewell-Direct-SW-30081-Cable-Shielding/dp/B00AY44FDA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1466658954&sr=8-4&keywords=rg-59
https://www.amazon.com/Southwire-56918445-500-Feet-Shields-Coaxial/dp/B0069F4H3G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466658911&sr=8-1&keywords=rg-6

Wow, you know what, you're right. Look at that price difference. There's clearly no reason to bother order the rg-6q, just get the 59.

>Op has fucking signal problems
>Gets good advice on how to fix it.

NAAAWW Dude, these guys are all dumb. Cable ratings don't matter, nothing matters. Your internet connection is actually held together by hope, coat hangers, and prayers to the machine spirit. The actual numbers on the side of the cable don't mean anything!

Get the fuck out. I'm sorry the adults are here and can give actual advice, and you're full of shit and have been totally schooled in your bullshit. So shut up and sit down. You're probably that hvac faggot that hit a 25 pair phone cable and repaired it with a fucking 66 block. You are a hack and fucking cancer to all crafts with the sort of 'knowledge' and 'craft' you practice.

>>1012176
Say three years from now you need to adjust a drop. Or maybe you need to move a wallbox a couple studs over. Having a service loop is really important here so that you can just do it, not have to add an extra coupling or rerun a new line. Depending on the application, that extra coupling can introduce interference. (IE whatever fucktard at my last job who soldered two cat5 runs together next to a fucking mains breaker.)

>>1012705
>Fucking lose almost 14 db? On a signal that might only be 14 db to start with?
That's not how decibels work.

>>1012705
>a signal that might only be 14db to start with?

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>>1012716
And yet I'm still getting full speed. So clearly the cable isn't a problem. This is the United States. Our ISP fucking suck over here. You pay 4 times as much for half the speed of people in other developed nations. The problem is not a bottleneck at the lines in your house. OP probably has damaged wire. Doesn't matter how fancy pants your wire is if a chipmunk has peeled it like a banana and you've got bare wire hanging out somewhere.

Also, what quality wire did they run from the pole? How old is that stuff? You know damn well whoever put that in used the cheapest stuff available and probably hasn't touched it since Reagen was in office.

>>1012724
I'm not arguing about price. If its the same price do whatever you like. I'm saying that it really wont matter in the real world if the wire is undamaged.

>>1012034
No idea what frequecies and distances we're talking about in your case, but one can rarely go wrong with Ecoflex 10 with N-connectors in each end. We use it at work for antenna cables up to 2.8GHz, usually around 50 meters.

>>1012034
Most of the people in this thread are tards.

Unless you're running >150ft there is little need to worry about anything more than impedance matching.

At the distances you're running, unless you're trying to broadcast at 150w on the HF Ham bands, the type of 75ohm cable you're running really doesn't matter that much.

>>1012819
>>1012716
>Trolly dumbass baits cable techs
>Enraged techs fall for it

This guy hasn't even climbed a pole. Forget about him.

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>>1012710

It's not at all like arguing like that.

It would be arguing about pipe diameter and the amount of flow through said pipe. Not only that, the longer the pipe gets, the smaller the core of the pipe restricting even more water. And it gets worse, not only the the pipe is susceptible to noise from the pipe next to it by leaking its own water into it cause the slow down of the pipes original content.

You cannot get through your dinky little head that both may be rated at 1Ghz, however, the signal degrades much faster over distances with rg59. Meaning, the longer the run, the higher the signal loss.

Why is the comprehension issue here?

However most RG6 and RG111 cables are certified up to 3Ghz, while rg59 is typically rated from 750Mhz to 1.5 Ghz.

1. RG6 cable has a thicker conductor than the RG59
2. RG6 cable has better insulation than the RG59
3. RG6 can carry signals of much higher frequencies than the RG59
4. RG6 has much lower signal losses compared to the RG59
5. RG6 cable may not operate below 50Mhz while the RG59 can
6. RG6 is better for satellite signals while RG59 is better for video signals
7. RG6 cables cost more than RG59

>>1012659
Yeah, -15 to 15, with a goal of -5 to 5 like you guys. Problem is in my area the f'ing city won't let us maintain and upgrade the plant to do it properly (fuck you, Hilton Head Island. Old Adelphia plant.) If we need to do something simple like cut in a new tap, the permitting process is 5-10 weeks. Amp? Double that. We've been trying for almost a year to get the permits to redo a single one mile loop, but because it's in a "plantation regime" area, there's extra legal steps involved. In some of those regimes we're not even allowed in the field (by city ordinance,) after 5pm M-F, and not allowed in the area at all on the weekends.

>>1013079
>what is friction losses
>what is surge flow
Don't try to out plumbass as plumber.

>>1013107
Working for the phone company has made me hate people

>Muh phone doesn't work
>Muh dsl sucks
*Drop to house just appears out of some trees so thick I can't even see the pole or run*
Yeah, no shit. Call me when you trim all that shit. Also tell the city to make it legal to trim an oak tree again, because we cannot right now. Or work on a pole if a swallow is nesting on it. Cutting three branches off the oak tree isn't going to do shit, and half a dozen sparrows a year also don't matter.

Fuck people and cities.

>>1013107
I'm confused. How does the city have control over the upgrades and maintenance of the cable system? Why do they have to permit TWC to do that shit?

That's ridiculous. Are you a maintenance/network tech (not sure what you TWC guys call them)?

>>1013539
It varies from place to place but where I live about half the poles in town are owned byPG&E and the rest are owned be the city. If its on public right of way (street, alley, etc) it was put in by the city and they maintain it. Anyone that runs cable on it needs a permit from the city to do it. They also need permits to make changes. This is only runs from pole to pole or other major work. If its a house to pole connection only then they can do it whatever with only the homeowners permission.

If the pole is on private land then it was part of a development and was probably put in sometime between the late 1940s and the 1980s. They stopped putting in alleys around here back then (mostly cul de sac streets too, ugh) and put all the poles on the back of the lots. Its a nightmare if you ever want to get a pole replaced but PG&E knew better back in 1960 or whatever, so thats how they did it. Probably why they are having such a problem keeping their gas mains from exploding. Some other swivel chair fuckwit had a good idea to save money.

Anyway. In that case the pole was sunk by the power company while the house was still owned by the developer and they had the permission of the developer to put it in. So PG&E can do what the fuck it wants when the fuck it wants but everyone else has to ask them permission to do anything. About 30 years ago the local cable outfit and PG&E had a dispute and PG&E refused to let them run new cable to any customers for something like 3 years while the court case was ongoing. The population in town went up about 15% in that same time and, monopolies being what they are, there was no other choice for cable TV. A lot of people were pretty upset about that let me tell you. So the city changed its ordinances and made all new utility poles property of the city and started requiring them to be placed out on the streets again, instead of on the back of the lot. Its uglier but until they start doing allies again it is what it is.

>>1013539
Cities have absolute control over everything

Utilities are unsightly dontcha know. And a nuisance, and gosh you're digging under our road now, and you better GIVE US SOME FUCKING MONEY OH MY GOD YESSSSSS.

It could cost thousands of dollars just to open a manhole to splice a fresh group of fibers in to serve a custome or upgrade some equipment.

The city wants $500-$1000 just to look at your permit application to close down a lane... then they'll give you some date range where you can close the lane... Then you need to close the lane which is another $500, then you need to open and clsoe the manhole which is about an hour and a half, so call it another $200.

That's just a nice manhole that you already own and have equipment in. That's not even placing anything new like a new dslam or fiber hub, or placing a new box on property your company already has a long term lease on.

A lot of shit ends up pole mounted because if it's about 7' or higher the city can't say shit about it, you just need to get the okay from edison/telco to put it on the pole, and they're much easier to work with.

(If it's too low on the pole, a blind guy will walk into it and sue you for a million dollars)

Manholes can also be incredibly toxic, so if there's plants growing in there or too much shit in the water, you have to get a hazmat crew out, which I've actually never even seen the bill for, but I'd ball park it at $1000 for 8 skilled hours and waste management bullshit.

>>1013539
Line tech is my official title. Same as a maintenance tech/plant tech at some other companies. HHI doesn't control our plant, but they sure as hell control all the rights of way. Most of our service area is buried everything, the doghouses we use are made to "blend in" instead of being the standard green used in the rest of SC.

>>1013564
Pretty much this. "Oh, you need to do a road bore. That'll be $250 for the permit, we'll call you in 10 weeks to tell you when you can actually schedule it. Oh, and remember, you have to start after 12 noon and must be clear of X Plantation by 5pm."

What's really fucked up, our customers are clamoring for fiber to the node/curb in this area, but as it stands right now we're fiber to the hub at best in most areas because holy shit, getting a permit to replace a piece of trunk is weeks, can you imagine what a 144 count fiber bundle would take?

>>1013564
This bullshit is also why utilities were so pissed at the preferential treatment google got because it was google and had Google PR.

All the incumbent utilities were like "what the fuck, we have to pay you a billion dollars in kickbacks just to exist and you're letting google come in for free? Of course they can afford to run fiber to the home you fucking dicks, if you weren't stomping on our throats the whole time we were trying to provide services to the community, we might too!"

>>1013586
>>1013564
In our system, there's no fees associated with this type of stuff. At least, if it exists, I'm completely unaware of it.