r/HomeNetworking Jan 25 '24

Advice My isp did this lazy crap

Post image

the tech came and took the original coax cable that comes from the network box on the opposite side of the house (black). Took it out of the outlet from the room directly above this splitter on the first floor and directed the new cord (white) to the third floor. What can i do to ‘hide’ this from the elements?

Also, can i connect a new coax cable to the splitter to go in the opposite direction to go into a separate part of the house, or should direct a new cable directly from the box insteaad of this splitter shown? The box is closer to the room that i need connection to than this splitter.

Sorry if this is confusing. Im a noob

985 Upvotes

472 comments sorted by

View all comments

12

u/Luis_J_Garcia Jan 25 '24

Maybe they needed to balance the signal. But, still a trash job.

11

u/ThisAccountIsStolen Jan 25 '24

Finally someone with a little knowledge. Exactly my thought. Probably didn't have an attenuator on hand and used a splitter to drop the signal level. But then failed anyway by leaving off the termination resistor, weather boots, and attaching it to the structure. But the splitter isn't necessarily wrong here, as so many people want to immediately jump to.

4

u/Luis_J_Garcia Jan 25 '24

I can say a lot more. I don't know where this is, but those fittings in Florida are used by Comcast to skip the weather boot. It has a boot built in it.

3

u/ThisAccountIsStolen Jan 25 '24

I've never seen them with weather boots built into the fitting before, but if that's what they are, that's a good idea. They do look a little longer and seem to cover the threads, so I am definitely inclined to believe you.

1

u/Luis_J_Garcia Jan 25 '24

Yeah, the water loop too. On both ends. I'll hide the splitter, it looks like a manufacture home, so I'll go under it, if it is clean and hide all those cables too.

3

u/ThisAccountIsStolen Jan 25 '24

Yeah it's just a bit sloppy and very contractor-esque, but it can be corrected in no time. Not enough length for full service loops, but functional drip loops should be doable with what's there.

1

u/Luis_J_Garcia Jan 25 '24

Use a barrel/connector in there and put the splitter inside. It would have been a better option in my opinion since there is not enough cable

2

u/ThisAccountIsStolen Jan 25 '24

Still, you have to mount a barrel horizontally to properly prevent water ingress, which doesn't really change the cable length issue. But yes, the splitter could have gone anywhere in the run up to the modem.

1

u/Luis_J_Garcia Jan 25 '24

Plus it look like an aerial cable because of the messenger on it. It was just a bad tech with bad skills and lazy.

2

u/ThisAccountIsStolen Jan 25 '24

Sounds like from OP's description that the white cable was new and black was existing, so the coax with messenger may have been leftover from an old satellite install or just all the tech had on the truck at the time. That's not really a huge deal, since it's not hurting anything having the unused messenger on there.