Can I Get Cable?

[fromadistance]

My house is in the woods,i have a gravel driveway,From the main road to my house is approximately 1800 feet.
Comcast customer service keeps telling me i am serviceable as my neighbor (about 800ft away) has service.
Yet when the installer comes out,he just says no way,sorry and leaves.Is it because my signal would degrade from the big distance?Can't they use a bigger cable like rg11?
So sick of dish tv and fixed wireless internet.Not like a mobile home where they run cable then next month i move the house.This is a lifelong possible customer for them yet they won't even consider hooking me up...:rant:
Hell,i'd get a trencher and run the dang stuff myself if it's feasible.

 

[Bobby]

Tell me a bit more about your situation. Is the Comcast cable on the main road pole mounted and in the air? Is it underground? If it is aerial, is there a pole in front of your property or on the property line? If it is underground, is there a Comcast box or pedestal in front of your property or on the property line? When you have answered these questions I have access to a Comcast engineer, here in California, who I can ask about your situation. The technical parameters will be the same no matter where they serve their customers.

 

[fromadistance]

Tell me a bit more about your situation. Is the Comcast cable on the main road pole mounted and in the air? Is it underground? If it is aerial, is there a pole in front of your property or on the property line? If it is underground, is there a Comcast box or pedestal in front of your property or on the property line? When you have answered these questions I have access to a Comcast engineer, here in California, who I can ask about your situation. The technical parameters will be the same no matter where they serve their customers.

It is mounted on a pole in the air by the road which is about 1800 foot to pole from my house.My neighbors that have comcast had their cable buried from the pole to their house.i was assuming that comcast could tap into their line which would be about 600-700 feet from my house.
There is no pole in my yard and none in theirs.i was told a tap was set on their property fr them to be able to get the service.
there is no comcast box in my yard.
our home was built 6 years ago on this property.we had the whole house wired for cable but nothing on the property itself for cable.Basically comcast came out after we got our occupancy permit and said no way we can get cable.
we were put on a list as not serviceable,i've called every couple of months for 6 years.Last time the customer service rep told me that our neighbors now had service and my home was now serviceable.
but the installer is saying the run is to long.

thanks for the assist

 

[jayn_j]

... but the installer is saying the run is to long.

Have you had more than one installer come out? I have found that some percentage of installers will refuse doable installs because they are too much work to be profitable.

Was the installer a Comcast employee or a contractor? If a contractor, he likely was being paid flat rate per job. A good chance he would lose money on your install.

Talk again to Comcast and offer to dig the ditch and pay a long line premium install. Or when the installer says "no", offer to rent the ditch witch and pay an extra $100. I suspect that will turn "no" into "sure"

 

[fromadistance]

Have you had more than one installer come out? I have found that some percentage of installers will refuse doable installs because they are too much work to be profitable.

Was the installer a Comcast employee or a contractor? If a contractor, he likely was being paid flat rate per job. A good chance he would lose money on your install.

Talk again to Comcast and offer to dig the ditch and pay a long line premium install. Or when the installer says "no", offer to rent the ditch witch and pay an extra $100. I suspect that will turn "no" into "sure"

ok,so my really basic question was, would the signal degrade over a long run of cable.I was thinking this was why i was getting a negative response from the installer.He drove a comcast van so i assumed he was a comcast employee.
I would have no problem trenching,laying the cable myself.I am trying to arm myself with as much information as possible so that when i call them i can offer to do these things to make this happen.

 

[Bobby]

First, no, you will not be able to tap off of your neighbor's cable. Your service must come directly from the public franchise (the street) to your property. That is why I asked the questions that I did. I will check with my contact about the length of service drop question.

 

[fromadistance]

well i just talked to comcast agin,told them i would run the cable to where ever it needed to go to.I said i would sign a 3yr contract for phone,internet and t.v. and that would pay for some of the installation costs and deposits up to 1500 dollars.
She said it wasn't about the cable run,it's about the distance.At more than 700 feet they would have to install trunk line to a pedestal then to a drop and then from there they would go to rg11 to the house.
She said i would not be able to purchase trunk line anywhere as a consumer and there was still the matter of the pedestals.So it does not look promising for me.Doubt they are going to go through all that for one customer.
I think i have offered all i can offer.I'll check back for other comments,i appreciate the help and will take any other information i get to them.

 

[jayn_j]

Is ther neighbor's trunk line within the 700' ? Are you on good enough terms with him that he might be willing to lease you an easement to use his trunk line for a second drop?

If you could fget that in writing, it might turn it into possible.

 

[jayn_j]

Is the issue actually the internet access? I currently have the Comcast HD DVR and would switch back to DISH in a heartbeat if I could find a spot that had a view of the 129 satellite. Big trees in the neighbor's yard.

Are you anywhere close to a wireless high speed provider. They generally show service areas of<6 miles or so to the access point, but I have had several friends who have extended this to 15-20 miles through the use of a 3' dish to concentrate the signal.

Not trying to second guess you, just trying to offer some possible alternatives.

 

[fromadistance]

Is the issue actually the internet access? I currently have the Comcast HD DVR and would switch back to DISH in a heartbeat if I could find a spot that had a view of the 129 satellite. Big trees in the neighbor's yard.

Are you anywhere close to a wireless high speed provider. They generally show service areas of<6 miles or so to the access point, but I have had several friends who have extended this to 15-20 miles through the use of a 3' dish to concentrate the signal.

Not trying to second guess you, just trying to offer some possible alternatives.

Main goal is internet,just trying to show them that i would be willing to be a long term customer not just looking for the basics.That i would be worth their time and effort to install me.
I have fixed wireless now,i believe that's the correct terminology.Basically yes wireless internet.There are 2 towers within 3 miles from me.The isp has the worst customer service of any company i have ever dealt with.Like you we built our house in a clearing surrounded by trees.These guys told me for 2 years that wireless was not an option because of my location.After constant nagging,2 years later they come out and Aha!Well the Aha came with them bolting a 30 foot tower to the top of my house.From ground to peak it is 25' add the 30' tower and my modem is up there 55'.first year i had a 2.5 mgz modem,then they said because of the trees i had to go to a 900k motorola modem with canopy software because the trees don't interfere with the signal.
It works great when it works,then for a few days it drops to 500k downloads,then it's back to 2meg.They tell me it's the trees interfering to which i say did the trees grow 5' overnight then shrink back down?They talk to me like i am an idiot,they come out to service it in pretty polo shirts and slacks and say,wow that's high,must be the trees and sorry.I get sorry alot lol
i've had them for 4 years and when i call they still tell me to unplug the modem and plug it in again: They charge me the premium rate and i get half the advertised service/speed and i have to take it because it's all i can get.
I don't have a problem with Dish other than my wife hates it,never seems to drop.We had to get the new extreme angle dish that came out this year because the trees were in path of their older dish.We had directv before that.She like Directv.Personally i hate having to pay for tv when you can get it for free and would throw up an antanae if only i could get those 2 channels she likes for free
Been a pretty frustrating day,i been at 500k download speed for 2 weeks and the day that my isp comes to inspect,it magically jumps to 1.9meg.Of course it's the trees Lol
Comcast i din't have high hopes for,just wishful thinking,so i guess ill turn the rant off now.
This seems to be a very nice site with lots of good info.

 

[Bobby]

OK, I've had some email action with my Comcast engineer and it goes as follows:

Paul,

I have a question that doesn't relate to any work I am doing but was asked of me by a friend. This friend has a home that is about 1800 feet from the cable in the public franchise. Is that too far for a service drop? Would a cable tap need to be placed somewhere within his property to support service? Obviously a pull box or two would be needed in any event.

And the answer:

Yes, that is way too far.
Hard line would have to be placed within at least 150’ feet of his home.
A few pull vaults would be needed.

So, given the action that has happened here since my post, here are my thoughts. First, Jayn_J thought that maybe with an easement you might be able to use your neighbors hard line (trunk) as a step off point. There might be some truth to that but not as a lease. Comcast would want that easement built into the property record as permanent. Next, the distance is still too far.

What Comcast is telling you is correct, although you could use underground boxes (13"x24"x12"D) as well as pedestals. The main issue here is the placement of trunk cable to about 150' of your home. That is very expensive. Cable companies might, and I say might, be willing to place that cable at your cost.

You might ask your neighbor if it cost him anything to have Comcast place the trunk line into his property and if so, how much.

There are ways, but it will probably get expensive.

 

[fromadistance]

OK, I've had some email action with my Comcast engineer and it goes as follows:

Paul,

I have a question that doesn't relate to any work I am doing but was asked of me by a friend. This friend has a home that is about 1800 feet from the cable in the public franchise. Is that too far for a service drop? Would a cable tap need to be placed somewhere within his property to support service? Obviously a pull box or two would be needed in any event.

And the answer:

Yes, that is way too far.
Hard line would have to be placed within at least 150’ feet of his home.
A few pull vaults would be needed.

So, given the action that has happened here since my post, here are my thoughts. First, Jayn_J thought that maybe with an easement you might be able to use your neighbors hard line (trunk) as a step off point. There might be some truth to that but not as a lease. Comcast would want that easement built into the property record as permanent. Next, the distance is still too far.

What Comcast is telling you is correct, although you could use underground boxes (13"x24"x12"D) as well as pedestals. The main issue here is the placement of trunk cable to about 150' of your home. That is very expensive. Cable companies might, and I say might, be willing to place that cable at your cost.

You might ask your neighbor if it cost him anything to have Comcast place the trunk line into his property and if so, how much.

There are ways, but it will probably get expensive.

Thanks for the reply,i could see it heading in this direction.Pretty much giving up,like i said,no way would they do that for a single customer and i am not gonna turn my property into a subdivision! That's probably the only way this could happen.

 

[jayn_j]

Well, I think we both agree that 1800 ft is too far for an RG-11 drop, but members here have regularly run LNB drops for DISH and DTV around 200'. Therefore, I think 150' is way conservative, especially since the OP's Comcast says 700'. Remember, cable frequencies are significantly lower than DBS IF freqs. I do think 700' is iffy though.

At 150', an awful lot of existing suburban subdivisions couldn't be served, and they all have cable feeds. I would tend to put a reliable cable limit at around 400-500'. Maybe 700' if your Comcast isn't running over 1 GHz.

Yeah, I believe that Comcast would want a permanent easement, not only from you, but from your neighbor as well. Tough to do once the deed is executed, since you need to get the bank to buy off on it as well.

Sorry fromadistance, it looks like you already have the best solution available to you.

FWIW, I can run off a list of 50 things I hate about Comcast, especially their garbage DVR. Unfortunately, there is no magic answer.

 

[Bobby]

The person I contacted is not a technician, and not a CSR. He is a design engineer for Comcast. I have worked with him in my job as an underground utility designer for many years. I work with electrical, gas, telephone and cable TV designers for a living. I, myself am a retired telephone company outside plant engineer. I might agree that 150' is a bit conservative and is an ideal that can't be served in many places in America. A 700' service drop is more than iffy, it is probably not serviceable even at RG11. You have to believe that a service company is not about to enter into service if any part of the equation is iffy.

 

[fromadistance]

Update

Well i got a hold of a Comcast manager and it appears that,Yes they will absolutely run cable and get me all hooked up!There is a pedestal at the road!
Man i am psyched!!:clap




Then, he said...............

$9 a foot from the pedestal

The pedestal is 1796 feet from where they need to make the drop by my house,of course i will likely need amplifiers(not included) and a couple more items.:

So i can get cable and it will only cost me $16,000.00 to $17,000.00 :yikes

I am not feeling real Comcastic about this deal :rant:

Thanks again everyone for the help and input,looks like this ordeal is finally over.

 

[Bobby]

There are ways, but it will probably get expensive.

Update

Well i got a hold of a Comcast manager and it appears that,Yes they will absolutely run cable and get me all hooked up!There is a pedestal at the road!
Man i am psyched!!:clap




Then, he said...............

$9 a foot from the pedestal

The pedestal is 1796 feet from where they need to make the drop by my house,of course i will likely need amplifiers(not included) and a couple more items.:

So i can get cable and it will only cost me $16,000.00 to $17,000.00 :yikes

I am not feeling real Comcastic about this deal :rant:

Thanks again everyone for the help and input,looks like this ordeal is finally over.

Like I said, it could get expensive...

It's too bad, but there you have it.

 

[jayn_j]

Well, at least you got a straight answer. Sorry it wasn't workable.

 

[The Insider]

Well, I think we both agree that 1800 ft is too far for an RG-11 drop, but members here have regularly run LNB drops for DISH and DTV around 200'. Therefore, I think 150' is way conservative, especially since the OP's Comcast says 700'. Remember, cable frequencies are significantly lower than DBS IF freqs. I do think 700' is iffy though.

At 150', an awful lot of existing suburban subdivisions couldn't be served, and they all have cable feeds. I would tend to put a reliable cable limit at around 400-500'. Maybe 700' if your Comcast isn't running over 1 GHz.

Yeah, I believe that Comcast would want a permanent easement, not only from you, but from your neighbor as well. Tough to do once the deed is executed, since you need to get the bank to buy off on it as well.

Sorry fromadistance, it looks like you already have the best solution available to you.

FWIW, I can run off a list of 50 things I hate about Comcast, especially their garbage DVR. Unfortunately, there is no magic answer.

No way 400ft is way to far. Look at it this way. at 750mhz (which is what most cable systems max out at) an RG11 cable will lose almost 5 DB per 100ft depending on the cable type. At 400ft thats 20db of signal lost.. Most taps do not even send out 20db of signal on ch116 (which is the highest channel in a 750mhz plant)(however some cable companies push over 750 even on their 750gear)

So you really do not want to go farther then 250 or so ft from the service point, or you will really start to have some problems. Ive seen drops upwards of 300 to 350 but that is really pushing it.