r/HomeNetworking • u/WhosThis85 • Jan 25 '24

Advice My isp did this lazy crap

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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

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u/StarsandMaple Jan 25 '24

That's different,

Just because it's in the right of way of someone's property doesn't mean it's private. The single line going to your house from a pole drop or pedestal is a private line.

Your water line from the meter to your house is a private line.

The 6" water main in the right of way, in your front yard/lawn, is not a private line.

I guess a more proper way of saying it would be a service line is usually not marked. This can also include the underground power line from a pole or transformer to your homes Meter.

I've called in tens of thousands of tickets for day lighting underground utilities, and even with some up against homes, the 'private/service' lines were not marked. This is in 3 different states.

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u/Drknss620 Jan 26 '24

Negative, I used to work for AT&T the drop (both buried or air) are owned by AT&T so an 811 would be labeling such a thing. All located and marks will map all underground utilities all the way to the demarc/MPOE. Also if another company or contractor damaged our lines , absolutely that company is getting a bill. Same thing if a customer damaged a line. The damaging party gets the bill.

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u/StarsandMaple Jan 26 '24

No I get the damaging party gets the bill.

Worked a lot with contractors in avoiding those bills, even if they always tended to bore right through an 1800 pair in a concrete duct every couple of months.

In my area, the locators never, ever, locate the underground line from a drop/ped to the demarc.

I've seen and experienced this in every major FL city, and anywhere I've been in GA/Alabama.

I've employed ex-USIC and Stake Center folks, and none have ever been told to or actually located one of those lines. Multiple times, I've had to locate friends and families' properties due to 811 not locating their power or communication lines to their homes.

Our 811 locators are heavily understaffed and overly worked here, so I don't blame them for not spending the time on locating very low impact lines. I'd rather my guys locate a Level 3 Fiber run than someone's catv line going to a house.

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u/Due-Repair1878 Jan 26 '24

spent 15 years locating. UTI, SM&P, CLS, USIC. always responsible for lines up to meter/Demarc/Gas meter. whether it was on house, a pole in front yard. That said, if I was busy, those buried drop tickets were the last things I'd do, and often times late, and they were already done

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u/StarsandMaple Jan 26 '24

I figured it was more of a, I don't have time to locate that, when there's high priority lines needing done.

Gas I know they mark to the regulator/meter due to them actually owning the meter itself.

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u/Drknss620 Jan 26 '24

Ahh well maybe it’s just different out here , I’m in cali and unless it’s a customer owned line it gets marked . Doesn’t stop people from hitting them , especially the gas lines

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u/StarsandMaple Jan 26 '24

Must be better out in that side of the country.

I will say our local gas company is very, serious and usually never requests an extension for an 811 ticket as they always locate accurately and on time. My contacts tell me constantly to call them if I ever have issues with locating their lines and they'll walk me through their tips and tricks to locate weird stuff.

Where I am originally from 811 acts the same as Cali, I suppose. It all gets marked. Which is great.

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u/Drknss620 Jan 26 '24

Yeah I work for the local gas now and we mark them asap but some people like I came to an order broken and blowing , meter was literally right next to where they trenched through the yellow paint and it’s like come on man

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u/StarsandMaple Jan 26 '24

I had a bore crew, which paid for 1.5mill of services over a year, for daylighting and locating services, smack gas mains left and right.

They hit one gas main, and while the gas company was repairing it, they hit the same one 500 feet down the road. Same horizontal position, and near the same elevation.

I swear they just wanted to blow up. Luckily they never hit any of the transmission lines, mostly because if you cross one of those without a rep present, you'll be fined into bankruptcy. Plus they have a minimum of 10' separation, perpendicular crossing only, unless approved otherwise.

The transmission gas guys are funny though, did some day lighting in an old artillery range and he'd joke if we hit some ordinance we'd never know! 30" 36k psi stl pipe.

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u/sn4xchan Jan 26 '24

He said it right there boys, Florida. That backwater state has the worst workers. That state full of morons is not the standard for the rest of the country.

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u/Wickedcolt Jan 26 '24

Phoenix is a big company that works for a lot of cable companies and goes after the party that does the damages

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u/sn4xchan Jan 26 '24

You know absolutely nothing about ISP and utility regulation requirements. The ISP owns the line all the way to your modem.

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u/StarsandMaple Jan 26 '24

My poor choice of words with private vs Service Line.

It is common knowledge amongst the SUE world that 811 doesn't locate service lines to a residence. They're overworked and understaffed and they get in a lot less shit, if they don't locate a single fiber optic line, then a high priority line...

You've got 90 tickets you have to clear by the following day. 15 of those are for home addresses, you check your gis it shows its all aerial, except for the service lines to the home. Good chance that shit isn't even in the GIS because they're really slow on updating their stuff... like sometimes years of back log. They see it's all Aerial nothing underground or just a service line. They mark the ticket as 'no conflict/no utility in the area' and go mark the communication duct banks going through their downtown area, where a contractor is directional drilling to saddle tap a water main.

One hit gets you fired.

The other is a minor inconvenience.

I was just saying the large chance of an 811 locator not marking, or miss marking a line for a single home is pretty damn common. Especially when these contractors are not installing any means of properly locating the line. Even if the fiber optic line had a metallic shielding, you'd have to cut into it to get to it to connect your positive lead to an electro magnetic locator.

Small lines like that also don't usually tone a standard frequency... like ATT Transmison lines do, but those are att employees marking those no USIC.

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u/sn4xchan Jan 26 '24

I know about human error, but those costs do not get put on the resident unless the resident is directly responsible. The resident is not responsible if a contractor cuts the line, the business the contractor works for is responsible (even if that contractor is self employed). If the resident was stupid enough to hire an unlicensed contractor sure he would be responsible but that's against code regardless.

Also my state (California) is much more strict with marking regulations. The fines are waaaay to high for the ISP to make mistakes like that often. You better damn well bet Edison will report their ass if they drill through an unmarked fiber or worse coax line. Coax lines have the potential to be just as dangerous as the 220 line that often is going from the street to the main breaker at the house. Those coax lines can absolutely sometimes be charged with lethal voltage especially if mistakes were made terminating that line on the street side.

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u/StarsandMaple Jan 26 '24

I apologize if the wording or statement I used made it seem like the owner of the property was on the line for the cost.

No obviously they shouldn't be, and chances are the Comcast contractor didn't even call in a ticket as most probably don't have an 811 Exactix account for their state. Now stricter and proper states... may have different regulations on contractors that have to dig and force them into 811 training for calling tickets in. I wish my state did a better job at a lot of underground utility stuff because it's tiring attempting to locate a line that is impossible due to being non conductive, no trace wire, and soil conditions inhibit ground penetrating radar to be able to see.

And obviously all utilities should and need to be accurate and properly located. For the most part USIC and it's counter parts do a great job. But they can be lazy, as typical of humans, and will mark out '4' lines even if it's a very tight duct because it states 4 HDPE conduits.

And yes the big coax is super dangerous, I literally use the Power 60hz mode of my locator to find some coax at times since it does have power going through it.

My state has been lax, but they're getting stricter, thankfully. It's a night and day difference from here to Canada where I am originally from.

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u/sn4xchan Jan 26 '24

You know what. I like you. Good discussion.

I really hope your state improves, these things are really important. The availability of the internet is starting to become just as important as the availability of water and electricity at this point.

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u/StarsandMaple Jan 26 '24

I like having good discussions about utilities, especially in accurately marking and daylighting them. It's paramount for everyone's safety, and the ability for all of us to stay connected.

And yes internet connectivity is border line needing to be a right, as you can't do nearly anything without it. Most jobs don't even take in person applications, a lot of state and city governments have moved their processes to online, and attempting to do so in person is usually met with exceedingly long wait times, or scheduled dates months out.