U-Verse Installation questions

PFDarkside · 11-17-2009, 07:22 AM

I'm just moving into a new (old) house, and I think I'll be going U-Verse for TV and Internet service. The house was owned by older people and had only one cable connection in the house, coming up through the floor in the corner of the living room. There are two telepone jacks, one in the bedroom and one in the kitchen on the wall.

Ideally I'd like to have a main TV area in the family room, an office with my desktop with a wired connection to the modem, TV connections in the other two bedrooms and possibly a TV connection in the kitchen and/or the living room. Most of that stuff is down the road, for now I need the main TV, Office and two bedrooms wired.

What is the typical way that U-Verse is installed? Is there one main box that is the TV reciever and modem or are they separate? How is it all distributed throughout the house? Ethernet or Coax connections? Either way, I'd like to do it right and install jacks in the wall in appropriate locations. Will the U-Verse tech do this or will he just want to pull it though the floor like Bright House did? If he won't do jacks in the wall, I'll wire it up before I set up the appointment, but I need to know a general "schematic" of how everything is going to flow. (Split in the basement, or at the main box in the TV room, etc.)

Thanks for any help you can provide. By the way, it's a Ranch with an unfinished basement and pretty good attic access.

awol · 11-17-2009, 08:55 AM

I don't know for sure if the tech will install the jacks for you now. When U-verse was first rolled out, they would do almost anything during the install at no charge. But now... I don't know if that's the same or not.

For what it's worth, I would recommend going with Ethernet connections for everything. You can do coax, but if you're going to have to drop new jacks anyway, I would just go with Ethernet from the get go. Since it will be all new wiring, you won't have to worry at all about any kind of signal degradation.

I'm sure others will weigh in, but this is what I would do.

davecramer74 · 11-17-2009, 04:19 PM

There is 2 seperate boxes. One is your gateway and one is your local DVR. As an FYI, if you reboot that gateway, you lose all service through them (tv, internet, etc). With that said, i had them hook up my gateway in my office so i could hardwire my main pc (i play games online, etc). Their wireless router though is VERY good. I get full bars throughout my house on my laptops. Way better than my netgear i had.

As for the wiring, id just ask them when you call them. They want a new customer, they probably do it. I had ethernet and coax already wired (newer house) so i couldnt answer that. But as for lacation of boxes, it seems everything runs off the gateway and They used existing wall jacks. The 2 other peoples house i have been to had both the gateway and the DVR in the front room. I'm not sure why they do that. Maybe because i specifically requested i be hardwired in my office....

I am pretty sure that if you dont have the wiring in place, theyll wire it. But it will be co-ax and not ethernet id imagine. Otherwise they'd have to add a patch panel for your ethernet. Which = more time and work. My house was easy for them, my cable and cat6 were both on the same patch panel in my closet.

awol · 11-18-2009, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davecramer74

I am pretty sure that if you dont have the wiring in place, theyll wire it. But it will be co-ax and not ethernet id imagine. Otherwise they'd have to add a patch panel for your ethernet. Which = more time and work. My house was easy for them, my cable and cat6 were both on the same patch panel in my closet.

Not necessarily. It depends on if the homeowner already has or is getting traditional land-line service or U-verse Voice. We don't use any phone service at all so the tech was able to just change the jack in the living room and make it an Ethernet jack. He did the same to the jack near the Gateway/Router and we're using the existing phone lines as Ethernet wiring. This works great as our house is pretty old (1952) and it's a real pain in the ass to get under it to do any wiring.

11-17-2009, 07:22 AM	#1
PFDarkside My plasma is High Def. Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 6	U-Verse Installation questions I'm just moving into a new (old) house, and I think I'll be going U-Verse for TV and Internet service. The house was owned by older people and had only one cable connection in the house, coming up through the floor in the corner of the living room. There are two telepone jacks, one in the bedroom and one in the kitchen on the wall. Ideally I'd like to have a main TV area in the family room, an office with my desktop with a wired connection to the modem, TV connections in the other two bedrooms and possibly a TV connection in the kitchen and/or the living room. Most of that stuff is down the road, for now I need the main TV, Office and two bedrooms wired. What is the typical way that U-Verse is installed? Is there one main box that is the TV reciever and modem or are they separate? How is it all distributed throughout the house? Ethernet or Coax connections? Either way, I'd like to do it right and install jacks in the wall in appropriate locations. Will the U-Verse tech do this or will he just want to pull it though the floor like Bright House did? If he won't do jacks in the wall, I'll wire it up before I set up the appointment, but I need to know a general "schematic" of how everything is going to flow. (Split in the basement, or at the main box in the TV room, etc.) Thanks for any help you can provide. By the way, it's a Ranch with an unfinished basement and pretty good attic access.

11-17-2009, 04:19 PM	#3
davecramer74 High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Bay Area California Age: 35 Posts: 1,053	There is 2 seperate boxes. One is your gateway and one is your local DVR. As an FYI, if you reboot that gateway, you lose all service through them (tv, internet, etc). With that said, i had them hook up my gateway in my office so i could hardwire my main pc (i play games online, etc). Their wireless router though is VERY good. I get full bars throughout my house on my laptops. Way better than my netgear i had. As for the wiring, id just ask them when you call them. They want a new customer, they probably do it. I had ethernet and coax already wired (newer house) so i couldnt answer that. But as for lacation of boxes, it seems everything runs off the gateway and They used existing wall jacks. The 2 other peoples house i have been to had both the gateway and the DVR in the front room. I'm not sure why they do that. Maybe because i specifically requested i be hardwired in my office.... I am pretty sure that if you dont have the wiring in place, theyll wire it. But it will be co-ax and not ethernet id imagine. Otherwise they'd have to add a patch panel for your ethernet. Which = more time and work. My house was easy for them, my cable and cat6 were both on the same patch panel in my closet. __________________ Vizio 42" LCD Phillips 50" plasma Last edited by davecramer74; 11-17-2009 at 04:22 PM.

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11-17-2009, 08:55 AM	#2
awol I'm Fabulous. Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 4,018	I don't know for sure if the tech will install the jacks for you now. When U-verse was first rolled out, they would do almost anything during the install at no charge. But now... I don't know if that's the same or not. For what it's worth, I would recommend going with Ethernet connections for everything. You can do coax, but if you're going to have to drop new jacks anyway, I would just go with Ethernet from the get go. Since it will be all new wiring, you won't have to worry at all about any kind of signal degradation. I'm sure others will weigh in, but this is what I would do.