Moving Blueyonder cable modem

[adam_cheney]

Hi there Cable Forum,

Apologies for the rambling post.

We have had Telewest cable TV services for about 3 years now. A couple of years back we asked for Blueyonder as well. The engineer installed a run of about 8m from initial wall inlet, leading to the splitter, then about 5m to the cable TV box and about 15m to a wall-socket upstairs, followed by about 5m from wall to cable modem.

Now we've done quite a bit of work on the house and we're about to rejig things a bit. We want to site the cable modem next to where the cable comes into the house and run cat5e upstairs instead of the very untidy cabling job the telewest engineer installed.

New (proposed) configuration will have about 1m coax from wall inlet to splitter, about 12m to cable TV box and a very short (50cm?) run to the cable modem, which will then feed a wireless router via cat5e. I've bought some screw-on ct100 type-f connectors from maplin, and intend reusing the existing ct100 cable.

Are there any obvious problems with my plan
?
Is there a significant difference between the connectors that Telewest use and the ones I'm getting from Maplin?
The upstairs wall socket had inside a Tratec TRIS-102a - I assume this is a (bandpass) filter - am I right? Do I need to need to ensure it stays in the system now that the run of cable to the modem is much shorter?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Adam...

[* I know that, tecnically, it is probably against the rules to do this myself, but I've spoken to three Telewest operatives on their support phone line - one said it was totally against the rules and if they found out they would charge us £75 to send an engineer out; one said there was no problem with doing it myself but the cabling and connectors are unique to Telewest and I wouldn't be able to get hold of them; the last said it was no problem and that standard f-type connectors on ct100 cabling would work fine and that if there were any problems I could just pay the £75 for an engineer.]

[ctxited]

Hi

I did a similar thing to what you are suggesting but without the branching. I moved the original location of the cable modem from where it was (about 1 meter from the wall box) to an understairs closet. This involved junking the short run of cable originally installed by Telewest and substituing it with some shielded coax I got from the web with standard connectors.

It works fine and dandy.

when I had Telewest out recently to instal my TV drive, the engineer had a look at what I had done cos they were having difficulty in getting the TV Drive to work and he said basically what I had done was fine and wasnt causing the problem.

So go ahead, and so long as it works you wont hear anything from Telewwest

Cheers
Ctx

[adam_cheney]

Thanks Ctxited - I'll go ahead and try. I can't see any reason why my proposal shouldn't work fine as I'm basically shortening all the cables...

[MovedGoalPosts]

Main issue with doing this, (yes fiddling with the cable on the cable co's side of any modem / STB / master phone socket is a breach of the terms of supply), is making sure the connections you make are very sound. If you don't get it right you can introduce interference that can affect your own and your neighbour's services.

[adam_cheney]

Thanks for the info Rob - I'll bear that in mind and take care with putting together the cables. Is there anything in particular I should look out for?

Is it possible that I can affect my neighbour's service without seriously troubling my own? Obviously, if my signal is stuffed I'll know I've got to do something about it...

Cheers - Adam...

[MovedGoalPosts]

You may well not know if you've got it wrong. The engineers carry meters to check for poor signal levels.

Main thing, just from playing about with ordinary co-axial TV arials must be to ensure that there are no stray strands of wire creating crossed circuits, that you don't change the resistance of the connections, and that everything has a good mechanical joint.

[adam_cheney]

You may well not know if you've got it wrong. The engineers carry meters to check for poor signal levels.
Aaah. Bugger!

Main thing, just from playing about with ordinary co-axial TV arials must be to ensure that there are no stray strands of wire creating crossed circuits,
OK, will do - I'll be very careful putting the plugs on. These are Maplin screw-on ct100 type f connectors, as per http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=10447&criteria=ct100. Any reason that these wouldn't be OK?

that you don't change the resistance of the connections,
Hmm - I don't think I'l be doing that, although I am dramatically shortening many of the cable runs. I'm using all the same bits of kit.

and that everything has a good mechanical joint.
OK, will check that.

Thanks for all the info Rob.

Cheers - Adam...

[paulpaddison]

try ebay look for people selling rg6 leads. ready made with the snap & seal f connectors. email then with lengh and colour ( black or white ) you need and they will post one made for your in a couple of days. best thing its exactly what us telewest engineers use.:D

[paulpaddison]

SCRAP WHAT I SAID !
look on ebay for ntl or look for telewest it will show splitters modems cable tv boxes leads connectors anything you need to safley move your cable tv box or modem. :Yikes: *beware if you are moving equipment a great distance you may need your signal boosting or if your moving equipment closer to the point of entry you may need the equipment atenuating ( however its spelled )
this can only be done by a telewest or ntl engineer with the meters and tools. my advice is if you spot a technican or fitter passing ask him to call and do the job cash in hand. they wont mind and all work will comply with telewest or ntl standards too.

[keithzxc]

Hi,
I realise it's a bit late to add to this thread now, but it's very relevant to me because the cable to my modem runs through my garage and the loft of a single-story extension, both of which are about to have another storey added!
To answer one of the original questions, the Tratec TRIS-102a is not a filter. It provides DC and low frequency isolation between the cable system and the modem. Without it I guess the cables in the street could finish up joining together the mains earths of all the houses connected to it, and you could have considerable 50 cycle currents flowing. (I once tried to feed analogue video between 2 adjacent buildings and got several volts of mains hum - far bigger than the video signal). The point about the cable length is a good one. I intend to move my modem, at least while the building work is going on, so I'll keep to the same cable length, even if it's mostly coiled on the floor!

[the-cable-guy]

i moved mine upstairs to our bedroom, luckily they had given me enough cable for it to reach without having to do anything really other then to run it up the side of the house.