I'm going to be moving into my newly built house in about a month and wasn't sure about this. I'm going to be renting some of the rooms out and all the rooms have cable outlets. Will every room be activated so that it can get all the channels? Or do i have to pay some kind of extra fee for that?
When I buy cable TV service, are all outlets activated?
- Thread starter TripleAAA
- Start date
In my old place (apartment) I had two outlets hooked up. At my new house I have six so I had to pay for four more. It wasn't expensive, though. This is with Time Warner Cable. Your place might be different.
If your outlets are in a series wiring scheme, their cable ready TVs will all receive the entire Cable package. Any additional services may require a set top box.
If you want each room to be a discrete circuit on it's own, you will need to access that romms Coax feed where it goes to the outlet, and re-wire it to wherever the cable TV enters the house. This might avoid someone ordering a bunch of pay per view and not paying, and service being interrupted.
To answer your question though, Most probably , when you turn the Cable "On", all jacks in the house will be "On".
Thanks. Being that this is a brand new house, I would hopefully assume that my cable outlets are all linked. Panzer, how much did activating those cost you? Do you remember?
TripleAAA, as I recall it was like $53.00. You see all of the rooms were already wired except my daughters. As I mentioned I already had two at my old apartment so to activate the three more plus install the one in her room that's what they charged. Then again he hooked up my cable modem too which I transferred from my old place so maybe that added to some of the expense. I had too much going on when I moved in two months ago to care that much to be honest so maybe I am confusing things.
Well I've been in apartments and other places before where some rooms such as the living room had cable, but other rooms (even though they had cable outlets), didn't have cable service or all the channels.
MBony
Platinum Member
- Sep 16, 2003
- 2,990
- 0
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As a former cable installer, you will most likely be charged to activate each room. But I would suggest asking for one hookup, then going outside and manually turning on the other rooms and saving ~$15-$20 per outlet. That can be more difficult if you have a box...
Yeah, Mbony can you please elaborate? I'm a total noob when it comes to this stuff. What does it mean to have a box? Does that mean the black box on top of your TV or the "cable box" outside somewhere. Is there a lot of electrical work involved or is it just a switch of some sort?
Thanks
hmm, we have basically one min line, that my father has split about 8 times, we have 3 4 way splitters every room basically has a cable line that works to it. they are all in series though off of the first wire if you want to say that.
MIKE
MIKE
Pepsei
Lifer
- Dec 14, 2001
- 12,895
- 1
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Short answer: yes.
long answer: if you have the regular analog service, cable company plugs in one coax per household. if there are 5 outlets, you can plug in 5 tvs and get basic package. if you have premium services which requires a "decoder box", only the outlet with the decoder box can get those premium channels.
if you have digital service, it is more complicated, you'll probably need a "reciever" for the outlet to work.
long answer: if you have the regular analog service, cable company plugs in one coax per household. if there are 5 outlets, you can plug in 5 tvs and get basic package. if you have premium services which requires a "decoder box", only the outlet with the decoder box can get those premium channels.
if you have digital service, it is more complicated, you'll probably need a "reciever" for the outlet to work.
In my parents new house all the cable and CAT 5e cables (for network/phone) all went into a central box which also had feeds for cable/phone/satellite pre-wired. See if you can find this box at your new house (should be in a closet or basement). In my case the main cable wire is connected to a splitter that feeds the cable modem and the other feeds all the other cable connections in the house. I also keep my router in there and hooked up to all the network ports I want activated. New homes should have structured wiring like this if your builder is any good. I'll try to take a pic of the box so you can see...
- Mar 20, 2000
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i just have a switch up in the attic and when i had to screw in the wires, that was all that was involved. of course the cable company would have charged like $50 to do so, bastards. hell, they might have charged an additional room monthly fee. bitches.
So if I do get digital service, then can I buy the boxes outright or do I have to rent them from Charter? I know, I know...I should probably just call them up but I haven't received straight answers from them or other similar companies in the past about other stuff so thats why I'm doing a bit 'o research beforehand.
You can get analog cable on the other jacks but if you want digital you need the boxes for each TV and you will have to rent the additional ones.
HomeDirector1.jpg
HomeDirector2.jpg
Here is the box I was talking about in my house. Sorry about the pic quality (no flash)
HomeDirector2.jpg
Here is the box I was talking about in my house. Sorry about the pic quality (no flash)
Most cable companies in the US put a grey box on the outside of the house, typically branded with the name of the cable company, that contains a splitter and a grounding block. The main feed from the cable company runs into the box (whether it be from the pole, or from the ground), and connects to the splitter in the box. From the splitter, a cable will run to each room. In many places, it is against code to link from outlet to outlet, so if each room has a cable jack, then there should be a matching end on the outside of your house. If you do have the "box" on the outside of your house, it is "locked" with a special nut, that takes a special socket to remove, making it very difficult for you to make any changes.
The other way it is done, if your house is fairly new, is running a single cable from the outside to a junction box on the inside. Usually, this box will contain a punchdown panel for your telephone or network hookups, and a splitter to branch off your cable. If this is the case, the cable company making the connection outside will activate all jacks (unless, for some reason, they aren't connected in your junction box).
Shoot me a PM if you have any questions about my post.
Radiation
The other way it is done, if your house is fairly new, is running a single cable from the outside to a junction box on the inside. Usually, this box will contain a punchdown panel for your telephone or network hookups, and a splitter to branch off your cable. If this is the case, the cable company making the connection outside will activate all jacks (unless, for some reason, they aren't connected in your junction box).
Shoot me a PM if you have any questions about my post.
Radiation
TripleAAA - I'll explain:
I installed cable modems for the past four years (been there, done that).
Your house is new, which means that it should be pre-wired for cable. Meaning, you probably will have cable jacks/plates on walls scattered throughout the house. Behind these jacks, the coaxial cable is ran through your walls and they ALL will end up at a common starting point. About 95% of the time, this "junction" of cables is located in a utility room where your fuse box, furnace, etc is. If you have a basement, it will be in an unfinished part of that. You'll see a bunch of black cable hanging out somewhere.
When a cable guy comes to turn cable on for the first time, he'll run you a cable line (called the drop) from the cable system interface point in your yard (usually a light-green box somewhere) or above the street (if you have aerial utilities in that area), to your house. The entry-point should be right near where all of those cables meet within the house. Some new houses have a pre-fed line that goes outside and is sitting there waiting to be tapped into. What I mean is... say you have 10 cables sitting there. 9 will be cable outlets throughout your house, and 1 will be a line that goes outside (right on the other side of that wall) and the cable guy uses this to splice into instead of drilling a hole and running his own line in.
Either way, you're going to end up with a "hot" line sitting right there by all of your other cables. Hot meaning that one of them is from outside, and is directly from the main cable lines... and you just have to screw it into a tv to get a picture. But of course you're not going to have a tv sitting right there in your utility room. So what you have to do is "split" the signal in that hot line to feed all of the cable outlets in your house. This is done with a little device called a splitter. A splitter has various amounts of ports on it. You will screw the the hot, active line from outside into the only port labeled "in". You will be left with X amount of ports that are all labeled "out". You screw the desired cables lines (the ones that all meet up right there, from throughout the house) into these "out" ports. Doing so splices those cable jacks into the active line, and they'll now be "hot."
What a cable company will do to get as much money out of people, is to act like "activating" each outlet is a big deal, and will charge a per/outlet activation fee. Yes, if you're understanding this correctly, this "activation" is simply screwing a cable line into an "out" port on that splitter. That's it. That's a one-time activation charge, and after that you'll just get a normal cable bill. When I worked, each activation cost about $12 for the customer.
If you get a contractor on the job, they usually get paid per "thing" they do at the site. A standard, well-paying thing for them is to activate each outlet. They'll try to sell you on just getting them all turned on so you don't have to deal with it in the future. Well, you'll be armed with knowledge now and will know that activating outlets is a ripoff and easy to do. ... *unless*... those cable ends don't have the fitting on them (the metal part that allows the screw-in mechanism). That is a pain to do by yourself. You need specific tools, and if you don't know what you're doing... you can easily make a faulty fitting, resulting in a snowy, crappy picture on that cable line.
Here's what I suggest doing if you want to activate all of your outlets. Just tell whoever comes out that you want one outlet activated (probably your main tv). If you don't have fittings on your cable ends (at both the end at the cable jack on the wall, and at the other end of the cable at that common junction point downstairs), you might be able to get the cable guy to do it for you while he's there. Just slip him a $10 or something. If you already have those cable ends, then you're good to go. Just tell him to hook up one outlet, and get him out of there.
If that's the case, you're going to go downstairs and take a look. What you'll see is that the "hot" cable line from outside is connected to the one cable line that has the newly activated TV (whichever one you told the cable guy to turn on). All of the other cables will be hanging there still, not connected to anything. To activate all of these outlets yourself, you just need to add that splitter into the mess. You can buy a splitter (they usually come with 2, 3, 4, and 9 ports) at many stores. General rule: the heavier the splitter, the more solid and dependable it is. Just unscrew the hot line from the lone tv line, and screw that into the in-port. All of the others go into the out-ports. There you go.
Phew - long winded, I know. Was trying to be thorough though. Let me know if something is unclear.
I installed cable modems for the past four years (been there, done that).
Your house is new, which means that it should be pre-wired for cable. Meaning, you probably will have cable jacks/plates on walls scattered throughout the house. Behind these jacks, the coaxial cable is ran through your walls and they ALL will end up at a common starting point. About 95% of the time, this "junction" of cables is located in a utility room where your fuse box, furnace, etc is. If you have a basement, it will be in an unfinished part of that. You'll see a bunch of black cable hanging out somewhere.
When a cable guy comes to turn cable on for the first time, he'll run you a cable line (called the drop) from the cable system interface point in your yard (usually a light-green box somewhere) or above the street (if you have aerial utilities in that area), to your house. The entry-point should be right near where all of those cables meet within the house. Some new houses have a pre-fed line that goes outside and is sitting there waiting to be tapped into. What I mean is... say you have 10 cables sitting there. 9 will be cable outlets throughout your house, and 1 will be a line that goes outside (right on the other side of that wall) and the cable guy uses this to splice into instead of drilling a hole and running his own line in.
Either way, you're going to end up with a "hot" line sitting right there by all of your other cables. Hot meaning that one of them is from outside, and is directly from the main cable lines... and you just have to screw it into a tv to get a picture. But of course you're not going to have a tv sitting right there in your utility room. So what you have to do is "split" the signal in that hot line to feed all of the cable outlets in your house. This is done with a little device called a splitter. A splitter has various amounts of ports on it. You will screw the the hot, active line from outside into the only port labeled "in". You will be left with X amount of ports that are all labeled "out". You screw the desired cables lines (the ones that all meet up right there, from throughout the house) into these "out" ports. Doing so splices those cable jacks into the active line, and they'll now be "hot."
What a cable company will do to get as much money out of people, is to act like "activating" each outlet is a big deal, and will charge a per/outlet activation fee. Yes, if you're understanding this correctly, this "activation" is simply screwing a cable line into an "out" port on that splitter. That's it. That's a one-time activation charge, and after that you'll just get a normal cable bill. When I worked, each activation cost about $12 for the customer.
If you get a contractor on the job, they usually get paid per "thing" they do at the site. A standard, well-paying thing for them is to activate each outlet. They'll try to sell you on just getting them all turned on so you don't have to deal with it in the future. Well, you'll be armed with knowledge now and will know that activating outlets is a ripoff and easy to do. ... *unless*... those cable ends don't have the fitting on them (the metal part that allows the screw-in mechanism). That is a pain to do by yourself. You need specific tools, and if you don't know what you're doing... you can easily make a faulty fitting, resulting in a snowy, crappy picture on that cable line.
Here's what I suggest doing if you want to activate all of your outlets. Just tell whoever comes out that you want one outlet activated (probably your main tv). If you don't have fittings on your cable ends (at both the end at the cable jack on the wall, and at the other end of the cable at that common junction point downstairs), you might be able to get the cable guy to do it for you while he's there. Just slip him a $10 or something. If you already have those cable ends, then you're good to go. Just tell him to hook up one outlet, and get him out of there.
If that's the case, you're going to go downstairs and take a look. What you'll see is that the "hot" cable line from outside is connected to the one cable line that has the newly activated TV (whichever one you told the cable guy to turn on). All of the other cables will be hanging there still, not connected to anything. To activate all of these outlets yourself, you just need to add that splitter into the mess. You can buy a splitter (they usually come with 2, 3, 4, and 9 ports) at many stores. General rule: the heavier the splitter, the more solid and dependable it is. Just unscrew the hot line from the lone tv line, and screw that into the in-port. All of the others go into the out-ports. There you go.
Phew - long winded, I know. Was trying to be thorough though. Let me know if something is unclear.
Wow, thanks for the detailed responses. I think I have a general idea of what to do now. I currently have a splitter in my apartment; one of which goes to the TV and the other which goes to my cable modem. Essentially, it sounds like the same idea with the cable jacks. Just find that one "source" wire or hot cable, add the splitter to it, then connect the remaining dangling cables to the the splitter. Hopefully I can get into the box or get the cable guy to accidentally leave it open. =)
I would assume that since this is a brand new house, the cable outlets should all have their appropriate connectors/fittings. When I do the "final walk through", if that hasn't been done, I'll whine and make a fuss about it
Any recommendations of specific places to get a really good splitter for a decent price? I got my last one from Radioshack and its worked out OK, but I've heard they can definitely make a difference.
Thanks again!
I would assume that since this is a brand new house, the cable outlets should all have their appropriate connectors/fittings. When I do the "final walk through", if that hasn't been done, I'll whine and make a fuss about it
Any recommendations of specific places to get a really good splitter for a decent price? I got my last one from Radioshack and its worked out OK, but I've heard they can definitely make a difference.
Thanks again!
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