Sky Installation - Cabling Issues

dowlinj

Hi,

I was looking at getting Sky+ installed in my house but have had some issues with where the cables are going to be run. Basically, I ordered Sky+, install guy came out and said he'd need to stick a dish out the back (which was fine) and would then have to run two cables through the attic and down the front of the house. Issue is:- House is terraced and the side of the house where the tv is has no drain pipe, hence 2 big cables running down the front of the house. This would look pretty bad and I was against the idea, so I cancelled. The install guy gave me the impression that if I just got regular Sky installed (1 cable), that I could use the current cabling in the house and not have to run cables down the front as was required for Sky+.

OK, so I go and order regular Sky, new install guy comes out (from same company) says he won't get in the attic (due to insurance risk - other guy with same company had insurance!) and that he'd have to run the cable over the roof and down the front of the house. At this stage, I'm confused to say the least, I tell him his work colleague has said it was possible to piggyback on the current cabling if I was just to get regular Sky installed. He didn't seem to be able to offer any opinion on this and didn't seem to think it could be done.

I looked in the attic and there's a cable up there which feeds to the upstairs cable point. The downstairs point seems to come from outside.

Right, so my questions is:

Is it possible to piggyback on the existing cabling in the house without having to run cables down the front? Could I maybe run a cable from the dish into the attic and connect to the cable that's up there?

Any other possible solutions?

Excuse my ignorance on this subject!

Thanks in advance...

Tony

I would suggest getting some ct100 or similar cable and run it in yourself that way the attic issue is removed and all the installer has to do is install the dish. Do you know what type the existing cable is?

dowlinj wrote: »

Hi,

I was looking at getting Sky+ installed in my house but have had some issues with where the cables are going to be run. Basically, I ordered Sky+, install guy came out and said he'd need to stick a dish out the back (which was fine) and would then have to run two cables through the attic and down the front of the house. Issue is:- House is terraced and the side of the house where the tv is has no drain pipe, hence 2 big cables running down the front of the house. This would look pretty bad and I was against the idea, so I cancelled. The install guy gave me the impression that if I just got regular Sky installed (1 cable), that I could use the current cabling in the house and not have to run cables down the front as was required for Sky+.

OK, so I go and order regular Sky, new install guy comes out (from same company) says he won't get in the attic (due to insurance risk - other guy with same company had insurance!) and that he'd have to run the cable over the roof and down the front of the house. At this stage, I'm confused to say the least, I tell him his work colleague has said it was possible to piggyback on the current cabling if I was just to get regular Sky installed. He didn't seem to be able to offer any opinion on this and didn't seem to think it could be done.

I looked in the attic and there's a cable up there which feeds to the upstairs cable point. The downstairs point seems to come from outside.

Right, so my questions is:

Is it possible to piggyback on the existing cabling in the house without having to run cables down the front? Could I maybe run a cable from the dish into the attic and connect to the cable that's up there?

Any other possible solutions?

Excuse my ignorance on this subject!

Thanks in advance...

dowlinj

Tony wrote: »

I would suggest getting some ct100 or similar cable and run it in yourself that way the attic issue is removed and all the installer has to do is install the dish. Do you know what type the existing cable is?

Can't say I do...looks like standard coaxial cable to me! Not really too au fait with this type of cabling. Do you know if the upstairs and downstairs NTL points would be directly connected, i.e. could I run cable from the dish into the attic, connect to the cabling there and then this would act as a feed to the downstairs point?

byte

If it's NTL cabling, it's unlikely to be very suitable for satellite signals. Personally I'd suggest running two new lengths of CT100 (or equivalent) yourself. Maybe there is some way you can run the cables indoors that won't be too conspicuous? Like, perhaps through hot press or cupboards, etc.

If you do need to end up running the cable outside, do NOT let them just throw the cable over the roof, as this wouldn't be ideal at all. The cable would just get torn against tiles and ridgetiles with winds blowing at it, letting water inside.

cauliflower69

The cable in the attic should be fine if you connect to it it'll be fine 80-90 percent of the time, can you see is it shielded i.e. does it have a tin foil coating on the outer part of the cable?

byte

cauliflower69 wrote: »

The cable in the attic should be fine if you connect to it it'll be fine 80-90 percent of the time, can you see is it shielded i.e. does it have a tin foil coating on the outer part of the cable?

But the cable in the attic only feeds the bedroom TV. His downstairs TV is fed from outside, he believes, so connecting to the visible cable in the attic would be fruitless.

dowlinj

I'll have to suss out the type of cable. One thing I do know is that other people in my estate have managed to get Sky installed without running cables on the outside of their houses. I have asked one neighbour about their installation, but they weren't too sure how this was achieved! Me thinks, some door knocking is required!

One thing I'm really confused about...I'm assuming the NTL cable comes in from the street? The SKy installer said that the downstairs cable would come in this way. However, he seemed to think the upstairs cable was run along the attics in all the houses. So could these 2 cables be disconnected? If so, where would the source for the upstairs be? Is the signal being sent into each house via these cables, always the same regardless of address?

I'm also assumming that if the upstairs and downstairs are connected, I can achieve what I want by just connecting to the cabling in the attic?

dkane

Is there a box on the front of your house (similar to what is used for phone lines etc) where the tv cables in the house are terminated? Most new builds have this. Basically the builder pulls cables into the sitting room and to one or two bedrooms in the house and leaves the other ends in this box. Then when the cable company come in they can just connect into these cables with their drop from the street.
If this is the case you might be able to pull the cable up from the point upstarts and use this to connect to the dish. Then connect the other end of this cable to the one feeding the sitting room at the box outside.

Sam Radford

What colour is your house wall? You can get WF100 cable in six different colours. Also, you (someone) can paint the cable to match the colour of the wall.

dowlinj

dkane wrote: »

Is there a box on the front of your house (similar to what is used for phone lines etc) where the tv cables in the house are terminated?

Yep, I opened it up there and it's got one cable in it which is connected to the street. I assume this is the one running into the living room.

dkane wrote: »

If this is the case you might be able to pull the cable up from the point upstarts and use this to connect to the dish. Then connect the other end of this cable to the one feeding the sitting room at the box outside.

This could be an option. I'd have to run a cable from upstairs to the downstairs point which would probably involve a good bit of drilling etc. Something which I'm trying to avoid to be honest.

dowlinj

Sam Radford wrote: »

What colour is your house wall? You can get WF100 cable in six different colours. Also, you (someone) can paint the cable to match the colour of the wall.

Yeah, I reckon this might be the only valid option for me at the moment. Run the cable through the attic and down the front, lick o' paint and Bob's your uncle. The other possibilities are too involved for my liking. Better to keep the satellite cabling separate from the NTL cabling anyway, may need it down the line...

byte

dowlinj wrote: »

Yeah, I reckon this might be the only valid option for me at the moment. Run the cable through the attic and down the front, lick o' paint and Bob's your uncle. The other possibilities are too involved for my liking. Better to keep the satellite cabling separate from the NTL cabling anyway, may need it down the line...

Yup, I believe this to be the best option, avoid using the NTL cable at all.

dkane

If theres a cable to the street and a cable to each room in that box the only drilling you would need to do is one hole to bring the cable from the attic to the dish at the back.

Connect the sitting room cable to the upstairs cable at the box. Then pull the other end of the upstairs cable up into the attic and out to the dish

dowlinj

dkane wrote: »

If theres a cable to the street and a cable to each room in that box the only drilling you would need to do is one hole to bring the cable from the attic to the dish at the back.

Connect the sitting room cable to the upstairs cable at the box. Then pull the other end of the upstairs cable up into the attic and out to the dish

Only 1 cable in the box which seems to be the sitting room one connected out to the street. Don't think I can do this, though it would be ideal.

Sam Radford

You can get WF100 in "shotgun" (twin) form, too (but only in black). It looks neater and might be easier to handle. There's also a really thin version of "shotgun" sold as (I think) WF65. However, this is quite lossy so it's really only suitable for short runs up to about 20 metres. It needs special 'F' plugs.

dowlinj

Would it be possible to request from Sky, an installer who will run cable through the attic and use a particular colour cable? The latter isn't so much an issue as I can buy this myself, but I may as well get the installer to do the installing!

Tony

I seriously doubt it

dowlinj wrote: »

Would it be possible to request from Sky, an installer who will run cable through the attic and use a particular colour cable? The latter isn't so much an issue as I can buy this myself, but I may as well get the installer to do the installing!

Saruman

Your best bet might be to get an electrician or cable person to simply run a Co ax cable (pretty standard) from the back, through attic and then downstairs. It should not cost too much. You could do it yourself if you have the time, tools and just a little diy knowledge..
I have run Cat5 Ethernet cable through my house and installed wall panels. I also recently installed a CCTV system in my house consisting of 4 camera's all going back to a point in a spare room wher my computer stuff is. These connect in to a DVR for recording etc.
I also ran a telephone ext from the existing telephone box back into the spare room for the broadband.

All of this cable work gos in the attic and down through the drywall and out holes i punched through. Its straight forward enough.. you just need something long and thin to bring the cables down with while stuck with tape.
It helps i live in a detached bungalow of course so only the one floor... but if should not be too big a deal in a two story.

If its too much work, hire someone to run the cable.

Otherwise, have sky install it and then paint the cable to blend in.

maxg

dowlinj wrote: »

Would it be possible to request from Sky, an installer who will run cable through the attic and use a particular colour cable? The latter isn't so much an issue as I can buy this myself, but I may as well get the installer to do the installing!

Ask an free sky installer.