First time getting cable internet

[SirChadwick]

I am going w/ comcast and ordering tomorrow. I have my Motorola Surfboard cable modem that I plan on hooking up in my living room next to my TV since I will be on Xbox Live quite a bit. Do I just need to buy a simple cable splitter to hook up my TV (DirecTV) and modem up on the same jack? Will this slow down my connection speeds? Any suggestions?

Also, does Comcast activate service on all jacks throughout the house or just 1? I'm a little confused on how that works.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Modelworks]

Confused about the DirecTV part, what are you wanting to connect on it ?

 

[Demo24]

Generally theres 1 input going into the house from the outside, it then splits somewhere inside to go to the various rooms.

 

[nickbits]

You can't use any coax jack that is hooked to directv for cable internet. If that is all the coax jacks you have you'll need to run a new cable or put the modem where cable enters your house.

 

[Terabyte]

Originally posted by: DEMO24
Generally theres 1 input going into the house from the outside, it then splits somewhere inside to go to the various rooms.

Yep.

Basically, a line goes into the house. It's connected to a splitter, and the splitter is connected to the modem, and tv.

 

[SirChadwick]

Originally posted by: Modelworks
Confused about the DirecTV part, what are you wanting to connect on it ?

I already have DirecTV. The receiver is hooked up to the cable jack in my living room.

I'm just looking for a good way to hook up my cable modem along w/ that on the same cable jack w/out any problems or interference.

Like I said I'm a n00b at this... so I may be overthinking some things here.

And DEMO, does that mean that service is activated on all jacks throughout my house? I'm confuzzled on that.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Comcast provides a modem for you, though I guess you can use your own. As far as enabling different jacks, they charge a cubic asston for it; basic install was $100 for 1 jack, $200 for 2 or more jacks when I had it done 3 months ago.

I don't know about splitting it with DirecTV; I imagine they'd have to keep things on a different line, wouldn't they?

 

[Epic Fail]

Your DirecTV line connects to the dish, it has nothing to do with cable.

 

[SirChadwick]

Originally posted by: Atomic Playboy
Comcast provides a modem for you, though I guess you can use your own. As far as enabling different jacks, they charge a cubic asston for it; basic install was $100 for 1 jack, $200 for 2 or more jacks when I had it done 3 months ago.

I don't know about splitting it with DirecTV; I imagine they'd have to keep things on a different line, wouldn't they?

That's what I'm trying to figure out. I refuse to pay Comcast $100 to come out and plug in a few cables. So I'm doing it myself. The CSR said that's fine, they can activate service and I'll be good to go w/ my own modem since it's approved.

 

[SirChadwick]

Originally posted by: Epic Fail
Your DirecTV line connects to the dish, it has nothing to do with cable.

Lulz. Let me look at the connection closer when I get home. Maybe I'm hallucinating again.

 

[TuxDave]

Originally posted by: DEMO24
Generally theres 1 input going into the house from the outside. And then after the cable guy leaves you then split it somewhere inside to go to the various rooms.

Fixed.

Comcast can be a pain when it comes to splitting since I think the service contract is only expecting a single receiver and you pay extra per extra computer etc....

 

[Zee]

Originally posted by: SirChadwick

Originally posted by: Modelworks
Confused about the DirecTV part, what are you wanting to connect on it ?

I already have DirecTV. The receiver is hooked up to the cable jack in my living room.

I'm just looking for a good way to hook up my cable modem along w/ that on the same cable jack w/out any problems or interference.

Like I said I'm a n00b at this... so I may be overthinking some things here.

And DEMO, does that mean that service is activated on all jacks throughout my house? I'm confuzzled on that.

if you have direct tv, then you need another cable line for comcast. they can't run onthe same cable line no matter how you think you can split it because it's 2 different sources

 

[SirChadwick]

Originally posted by: TuxDave

Originally posted by: DEMO24
Generally theres 1 input going into the house from the outside. And then after the cable guy leaves you then split it somewhere inside to go to the various rooms.

Fixed.

Comcast can be a pain when it comes to splitting since I think the service contract is only expecting a single receiver and you pay extra per extra computer etc....

Pay extra per computer? LOL. Isn't that what a router is for? I told them I only have 1 computer... they said they won't even need to come inside.

 

[SirChadwick]

Originally posted by: Zee

Originally posted by: SirChadwick

Originally posted by: Modelworks
Confused about the DirecTV part, what are you wanting to connect on it ?

I already have DirecTV. The receiver is hooked up to the cable jack in my living room.

I'm just looking for a good way to hook up my cable modem along w/ that on the same cable jack w/out any problems or interference.

Like I said I'm a n00b at this... so I may be overthinking some things here.

And DEMO, does that mean that service is activated on all jacks throughout my house? I'm confuzzled on that.

if you have direct tv, then you need another cable line for comcast. they can't run onthe same cable line no matter how you think you can split it because it's 2 different sources

Ok, thanks for that input. I want to be DONE w/ DirecTV and just go w/ the Comcast Double Play.. but I'd have to pay $200 to cancel so I'm holding off until next year. But I need internet service asap and Comcast has the best deal right now at $20/mo.

 

[Modelworks]

Directv cannot be run run from the same jack as the cable for the modem. They have to be on different cables. So the cable guy will have to run a new cable.
If there are jacks in other rooms they could be connected to the Directv system or they could be left unconnected. Try to get the cable guy to tell. Or if you have a multimeter set it to VDC and go to one of the other jacks and place the black probe on the threads of the jack and the red on the center, if it reads something like 15VDC then call directv or whoever installed your system and blow them out because that is not how a installer is supposed to do it. They are not allowed to split a system install like that . Hopefully the other cables are unconnected. If so the cable installers usually will connect cable for the rooms without extra cost.

 

[TuxDave]

Originally posted by: SirChadwick

Originally posted by: TuxDave

Originally posted by: DEMO24
Generally theres 1 input going into the house from the outside. And then after the cable guy leaves you then split it somewhere inside to go to the various rooms.

Fixed.

Comcast can be a pain when it comes to splitting since I think the service contract is only expecting a single receiver and you pay extra per extra computer etc....

Pay extra per computer? LOL. Isn't that what a router is for? I told them I only have 1 computer... they said they won't even need to come inside.

A router is something that a cable guy typically puts a blind eye too but if you have someone who is a strict follower of the rules, a router to split the service isn't allowed.

 

[sswingle]

Hopefully someone living there before you had cable, so there will be a line coming in from the street already. Look where your breaker box is and see if you can see coax cables. In a best case scenario, there are two lines coming in, one cable, one direct tv. The direct tv line will be plugged into a splitter branching out through the house, and the cable line will most likely not be plugged into anything. You will need to run a line from there to where you want your modem seperatly from the lines that have direct tv. The two will NOT play well with each other if you just connect the two sources.

 

[SirChadwick]

There are also like 4 different cables on the ground that run around my house. It looks like nothing has been removed since it was built. We just bought this house 6 months ago.

Thank you for the info so far guys. I'll look into this further. I just didn't want to activate service before doing a little homework.

 

[SirChadwick]

Originally posted by: sswingle
Hopefully someone living there before you had cable, so there will be a line coming in from the street already. Look where your breaker box is and see if you can see coax cables. In a best case scenario, there are two lines coming in, one cable, one direct tv. The direct tv line will be plugged into a splitter branching out through the house, and the cable line will most likely not be plugged into anything. You will need to run a line from there to where you want your modem seperatly from the lines that have direct tv. The two will NOT play well with each other if you just connect the two sources.

They did, Comcast. I had to transfer my DirecTV service though since I had a 2 year contract w/ them. *puke*.

 

[SphinxnihpS]

I sense fail ensuing.

 

[dakels]

Originally posted by: TuxDave

Originally posted by: SirChadwick

Originally posted by: TuxDave

Originally posted by: DEMO24
Generally theres 1 input going into the house from the outside. And then after the cable guy leaves you then split it somewhere inside to go to the various rooms.

Fixed.

Comcast can be a pain when it comes to splitting since I think the service contract is only expecting a single receiver and you pay extra per extra computer etc....

Pay extra per computer? LOL. Isn't that what a router is for? I told them I only have 1 computer... they said they won't even need to come inside.

A router is something that a cable guy typically puts a blind eye too but if you have someone who is a strict follower of the rules, a router to split the service isn't allowed.

I think they have relaxed this a lot. Many ISP's provide multiport routers now. Also, Comcast usually has promotional offers that will do the install for free. If you want multiple jacks, you can either split it yourself, or have it professionally installed. If you split it yourself to a cable ready TV, only some basic stations will work. Otherwise you need a 2nd cable box to get premium encrypted channels.

 

[apac]

FYI I suggest you ditch the surfboard for one of the new modems. When I had my surfboard my service never went above 3 Mbit (down). When I got a new modem, the speed jumped to 8 Mbit. Something in the old hardware/software was bottlenecking my bandwidth.

 

[SirChadwick]

Originally posted by: apac
FYI I suggest you ditch the surfboard for one of the new modems. When I had my surfboard my service never went above 3 Mbit (down). When I got a new modem, the speed jumped to 8 Mbit. Something in the old hardware/software was bottlenecking my bandwidth.

What model did you have? I have the SB5101 and I've nothing but good things about the speed.

 

[Zedtom]

Originally posted by: apac
FYI I suggest you ditch the surfboard for one of the new modems. When I had my surfboard my service never went above 3 Mbit (down). When I got a new modem, the speed jumped to 8 Mbit. Something in the old hardware/software was bottlenecking my bandwidth.

Could you tell us what you bought?

 

[SirChadwick]

Originally posted by: Zedtom

Originally posted by: apac
FYI I suggest you ditch the surfboard for one of the new modems. When I had my surfboard my service never went above 3 Mbit (down). When I got a new modem, the speed jumped to 8 Mbit. Something in the old hardware/software was bottlenecking my bandwidth.

Could you tell us what you bought?

I'm pretty sure there will always be complaints no matter what cable modem you buy. You can fork out $200 on the top of the line and it could still give you fits. I think I'll rely on the other 100+ positive reviews I've read. Most of the negatives were most likely related to the ISP or just a flat out faulty modem.