Running RG6 and Cat6 in a new house

[Keyser S0ze]

Hi, first-time poster here.

I'm buying a new house, and I'm having a lot of remodeling/renovations done. Today I had a guy from Best Buy walk through the house with me to get an estimate of moving our 5 TVs from our old house to the new one. During the walk-though he found that the house has RG59 cables which need to be replaced. We also talked about eventually (maybe) putting all the devices (receivers, cable boxes) in one central location in the basement, and he would do the pre-wiring for that. He also mentioned that he'll run Cat6 in the house, and I think he said that he'll put three ethernet connections behind each of the 5 TVs. I'm not even sure what they're all for. Would it just be for "future-proofing"? I guess it would be nice to plug my PS4 straight into an ethernet jack and have a direct line rather than use the wi-fi, I just think it's a bit weird that he offered to do all that when I brought him in for something else entirely.

Anyway, for mounting 5 TVS, running new RG6 and Cat6 cables, removing my in-ceiling speakers from the old house and installing them in the new house (5.1 system), and 9(!) HDMI cables (now that I think of it I can probably use my existing cables) he charged me $5000.

I asked him to give me a quote without running RG6 or Cat6 and he said $3100. Maybe there was some miscommunication, but does running new RG6 and Cat6 throughout the house really cost $2000? They did say they'll conceal the cables in the walls and make them look all pretty.

I called my Dish and they said they charge a $60 flat rate to run new RG6. I'm not really sure he knew what he was talking about, but in any case I don't think they go through the walls, correct? I had Dish run a new cable in a room in my old house, and they ran it on the floor along the wall.

I didn't mention this earlier, but only 2 of the rooms in the new house are wired for cable (RG59). The other 3 don't have any connection.

Any insight into my current situation would be appreciated. Am I crazy for going with Best Buy? Should I go with the less expensive option and just have Dish run the RG6?

 

[boba]

$5,000 seems high but your description really says nothing about the complexity of rewiring your new/old house. $60 from DISH doesn't seem like a valid quote. You need a real quote stating labor to be performed, how many feet of what cable and any boxes, switches, amplifiers to be included.

 

[osu1991]

I would call around if there are any custom installers or sound shops around even electricians and get quotes for the wiring before going with BestBuy. I've found their services to be over priced the few times friends have checked or had things done.

 

[HipKat]

$5000 stops sounding when when you realize it's Best Buy. I would probably call an electrician whom may be better suited for fishing cable through walls, etc.






Still trying to figure out 3 Ethernet ports behind each TV.........

 

[charlesrshell]

$5000 stops sounding when when you realize it's Best Buy. I would probably call an electrician whom may be better suited for fishing cable through walls, etc.






Still trying to figure out 3 Ethernet ports behind each TV.........

I just have one wall mounted Ethernet port behind my main TVs. For more Ethernet ports at a TV location where needed I have eight port Linksys Switch.

 

[ncted]

The going rate for fishing a low-voltage line through a wall in my area is $120 each through a licensed electrician. A handyman will generally do it for less. YMMV.

FWIW: I just bought a new (to me) house. I am using Bonded MoCA 2.0 with the existing RG59 to get around 500-600Mbps low-latency throughput. It is costing me about $60 per outlet to do this. The Dish installer can use or replace the old RG6 that DirecTV ran at some point for the Hopper and Joeys. Everything else can run off the MoCA network. Would I rather have real Cat 6 UTP run everywhere? Yes, but I am under a time crunch and I am trying to save where I can as the old house has not sold yet.

As charlesrshell stated, I recommend you just use a cheap Gigabit switch where you would need to connect more than one device.

 

[sam_gordon]

$5000 stops sounding when when you realize it's Best Buy. I would probably call an electrician whom may be better suited for fishing cable through walls, etc.

This. Get quotes from other installers.

Still trying to figure out 3 Ethernet ports behind each TV.........

1- Smart TV
2- DVR
3- Game System/Future proofing/redundancy

Yes, you can use a switch. The difference between pulling one line and three really shouldn't be much for a professional.

 

[navychop]

BestBuy would be so far down my list of who to call, they wouldn't even BE on the list.

Actually, I do all my own work.

The standard is two drops per location.

Now behind my MBR HT I have connected to the house wired LAN: TV, HWS, BD player, CM DVR+, WAP and printer. Seems to me there is one other thing, but I can't recall. All but three go thru a switch.

New house and they ran RG59? What other corners did they cut? Odd.

 

[ncted]

FWIW: Amazon is having a sale on these today:

http://a.co/9O6PlQh

 

[KAB]

New house and they ran RG59? What other corners did they cut? Odd.

New to him. He said he was doing remodeling/renovations.

 

[kwindrem]

Hi, first-time poster here.

I'm buying a new house, and I'm having a lot of remodeling/renovations done. Today I had a guy from Best Buy walk through the house with me to get an estimate of moving our 5 TVs from our old house to the new one. During the walk-though he found that the house has RG59 cables which need to be replaced. We also talked about eventually (maybe) putting all the devices (receivers, cable boxes) in one central location in the basement, and he would do the pre-wiring for that. He also mentioned that he'll run Cat6 in the house, and I think he said that he'll put three ethernet connections behind each of the 5 TVs. I'm not even sure what they're all for. Would it just be for "future-proofing"? I guess it would be nice to plug my PS4 straight into an ethernet jack and have a direct line rather than use the wi-fi, I just think it's a bit weird that he offered to do all that when I brought him in for something else entirely.

Anyway, for mounting 5 TVS, running new RG6 and Cat6 cables, removing my in-ceiling speakers from the old house and installing them in the new house (5.1 system), and 9(!) HDMI cables (now that I think of it I can probably use my existing cables) he charged me $5000.

I asked him to give me a quote without running RG6 or Cat6 and he said $3100. Maybe there was some miscommunication, but does running new RG6 and Cat6 throughout the house really cost $2000? They did say they'll conceal the cables in the walls and make them look all pretty.

I called my Dish and they said they charge a $60 flat rate to run new RG6. I'm not really sure he knew what he was talking about, but in any case I don't think they go through the walls, correct? I had Dish run a new cable in a room in my old house, and they ran it on the floor along the wall.

I didn't mention this earlier, but only 2 of the rooms in the new house are wired for cable (RG59). The other 3 don't have any connection.

Any insight into my current situation would be appreciated. Am I crazy for going with Best Buy? Should I go with the less expensive option and just have Dish run the RG6?

My initial reaction is that putting all receivers, etc. in a central location might be a bad idea. It certainly means long HDMI cable runs as well as remote extenders. For Dish receivers and other devices that use RF rather than IR, extending remotes could be problematic. Most modern TV gear really does not need to be seen to function well (on screen displays and the like) so finding a place like a closet close to the viewing area, but well ventilated is probably a better approach.

Insist that any HDMI cabling can be easily replaced at some future time. This usually means conduit for in-wall/ceiling/floor installation. We are finding that HDMI especially long runs are very sensitive to the cable at the highest 4K rates. HDMI 2.1 ups the bandwidth again (HDMI 2.0 is 18 Gb/s, HDMI 2.1 is 4k Gb/s!!!) and nothing that exists today will work with HDMI 2.1 rates.

There are good reasons to home run all ethernet connections to a connection closet. That allows the cable to be used for other purposes. A central switch with enough ports gets expensive but could provide better performance than distributing switches at each location. Wired ethernet is generally better than Wi-Fi so having a flexible cable structure in place should be part of any house remodel. You might consider CAT 7 cabling as it would support 10 Gb/s speeds and shouldn't be much more expensive than CAT 6.

Make sure any RG-6 runs are rated at 3 GHz and terminate in a central location. Generally, one connection to each location is sufficient with modern Dish receivers. Even one coax to the dish location is sufficient even with multiple dish configurations. But it wouldn't hurt to run a 2 or 3 just in case.

$5,000 seems a lot for just cabling. See what else is included. Best Buy tends to sell expensive HDMI cables and you can do better elsewhere (e.g., MonoPrice) for lots less. ALL long HDMI cables that function at the highest rates are active and don't support joining so running HDMI cabling to a central location and interconnecting there probably won't work. Don't be fooled by manufacturer's claims that their passive cable works at 18 Gb/s and 50 feet!

 

[Keyser S0ze]

Thanks for your help, everyone. I don't really have the time to call around and get other quotes, so I ended up going with Best Buy. They were charging me like $500 for HDMI cables, though, so I'm at least saving that much by using my own cables.

 

[EarDemon]

Wow that is just crazy! As a former disgruntled employee of Best Buy, I say STAY AWAY!

While I am a fan of good ole’ hardwire Ethernet any day over wifi, and agree with the guy to mention it, here’s the reason he did. $$$$. Best Buy’s business model is all about the upselling of additional services. When reeling potential customers in, my dipstick of a manager told me to give the cost of all of the additional BS services as a three year plan, if the customer balks, take it down to two years to make it look like you want to save the customer money. Sounds like they’re doing something similar with you. Did you ask them what it would be for just coax, not Ethernet?

Last year at work we opened up three regional offices around the country, two utilized existing buildings, one was a brand new build and was slated to be larger than the other two and have multiple training rooms and conference rooms for employees and customers alike. I called the builders and got a few recommendations from them of companies they know of that deal with data and voice wiring in the area, and then got a few quotes. The outfit I decided on was not the lowest priced, but had awesome reviews. For 28 CAT6 lines, a patch panel in a wall mounted network rack, the mounting of three ceiling projectors with both HDMI and VGA cables fished through the walls, the total coast came to a few dollars under $4200 for all parts are labor and don’t forget that was for a commercial building.

Here at our main facility in Upstate NY we have a local one man business that takes care of our Ethernet and phone wiring. He charges $35 for a site visit and $60/hour. All cabling and ends are included, things like amplifiers, wall plates and junctions boxes are not.

Things I would not allow Best Buy to touch: My house, my car, my computer, my garbage can, the weeds growing in my ditch.

 

[ncted]

I've actually had a pretty reasonable experience with BB, including professional services, but I also go over every line item with the salesperson before I sign and remove all the crap they try to add. Then again, I do that with all vendors I deal with, so it isn't really any different.

 

[KAB]

Thanks for your help, everyone. I don't really have the time to call around and get other quotes, so I ended up going with Best Buy. They were charging me like $500 for HDMI cables, though, so I'm at least saving that much by using my own cables.

For that amount of money, I would have made the time!!!