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janesylvia

Comcast or electrician does ethernet wiring?

janesylvia
11 years ago

I'd like to have my house ethernet wired (cat6a or cat6 line), so all the computers in each room can be wire-connected. It's a 30-year-old house in the bay area with flat roof and underground crawl space. I don't know if comcast or electrician would do it.

Thank you very much.

Comments (15)

  • weedmeister
    11 years ago

    Handyman.

  • tjdabomb
    11 years ago

    I live in the bay area, I can for it for a price. :)

  • randy427
    11 years ago

    Basic handyman skills to run the cable.
    Basic techie skills, tools and knowledge to install the connectors on the ends of the cables and, if needed, assist in hooking up your network.
    I would expect the COMCAST hourly rate to be a lot more than you should have to pay.

  • yosemitebill
    11 years ago

    If this is the Bay Area, as in California, you want somebody experienced in low voltage installations and that has the proper equipment for terminating and then testing the network wiring.

    That can either be somebody that specializes in home theater/network installations (licensed in CA by BEAR) or a C7 licensed low voltage contractor.

  • User
    11 years ago

    My house has cat5e in all the rooms (actually 2 cat5e and two RG6). One cat5e is for wired internet and the other is for telephone. Handyman to run the wires. If you look at Youtube, you can find all sorts of videos to help you crimp connectors and use punchdown blocks to add the end connectors.

    Practice on extra pieces with the connectors.

  • petey_racer
    11 years ago

    I wouldn't let a handyman touch network wiring. I don't care how easy you all think it is to run.

  • stash-hdy
    11 years ago

    Get someone that is experienced in termination, ran the wires myself and then found that termination is not at all easy. If I was to do it again I would have an experienced person do the entire job. There is nothing like having to go back and troubleshoot connections when you find they do not work.

  • janesylvia
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thank you so much for all the responses. I found the Netgear Powerline adapter for wired connection, Netgear XAVB2501-100NAS Powerline. Is it good enough for a house of 1800 sq ft or is ethernet still the better way to go?

    I found A telephone Jacks Company and Custom Home Theater who can run the ethernet wire and have good reviews on yelp in the bay area.

    I need to choose a comcast internet plan, then arrange the ethernet wiring.

    Really appreciate all your kindly help.

  • Ron Natalie
    11 years ago

    The one issue between electrician and "telephone jacks" people is that cat5 wiring is not just phone or electrical wiring. Assuming people are professionals they will read the instructions and install things correctly, but even in my own house I had to chase behind the electrical contractor pointing out that he wasn't quite doing cat5 terminations right. (It would have been fine for phone, but it wasn't going to work for networkng).

  • yosemitebill
    11 years ago

    Wired Ethernet is always going to be your most reliable and secure choice.

    The power line adapter will not work during a power outage - your modem and router can always be put on a relatively small UPS.

    And of course you can still have a WiFi network at the same time with a wired/wireless router.

  • Ron Natalie
    11 years ago

    The one issue between electrician and "telephone jacks" people is that cat5 wiring is not just phone or electrical wiring. Assuming people are professionals they will read the instructions and install things correctly, but even in my own house I had to chase behind the electrical contractor pointing out that he wasn't quite doing cat5 terminations right. (It would have been fine for phone, but it wasn't going to work for networkng).

  • janesylvia
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thank you very much for all the responses.

    Is it enough to have my office and family room added ethernet outlets or is it better to have all the bedrooms ethernet outlets added? Living room has a cable modem coax cable outlet, do I still need to add a ethernet outlet?

    Really appreciate all your kindly help.

  • yosemitebill
    11 years ago

    "Is it enough to have my office and family room added ethernet outlets or is it better to have all the bedrooms ethernet outlets added?"

    Wired Ethernet in the bedrooms is a good idea since it can allow for streaming video to Blu-Ray players/televisions from services such as Netflix and Hulu. It can also allow for streaming of audio & video from network attached storage devices or for video security systems.

    "Living room has a cable modem coax cable outlet, do I still need to add a ethernet outlet?

    Yes, unless you want all those cables coming into your living room. Typically you pick some type of utility space with AC power to place the router. Then, the cables from each of the rooms terminates at this point where they are connected to the router. The output from the cable modem is also fed to the input to the router.

    If they router does not have enough RJ45 connections, you can expand it with a network switch or only plug in the connections which will currently be used.

  • alan_s_thefirst
    11 years ago

    Whilst you're doing it, go for it. I'd wire for all possible contingencies, so more is more.

    I'd use a low-voltage/media specialist over an electrician and definitely over a cable co person. Electricians tend not (in my experience) to be a little less particular about media/data wiring, and for best results, especially if you're wanting gigabit speeds, you need to do it right.

    Comcast et al techs are usually paid for piece work, so they're not usually into clean, well-hidden wiring. Expect lots of ugly surface wiring.

  • janesylvia
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    yosemitebill and alan_s_thefirst, thank you very much for your help.