c/cable-installers

Hit 500 cable terminations this month and actually kept count for once

I've been doing installs for about 8 years now and never bothered tracking numbers until a job last week where I had to log every drop for a commercial building in Austin. Turns out I averaged 12 terminations a day just on that site alone, and it made me realize how much my speed has changed without me even noticing. Has anyone else ever actually counted their daily numbers and been surprised by it?

A customer called me out for lazy cable bundles and it stung

Last Tuesday in Phoenix, a guy pointed at my zip ties and said "you're just making it worse for the next guy." I started leaving service loops on every drop and it's saved me at least 2 callbacks since then. Anyone else get humbled by a homeowner who knew their stuff?

Discovered you can use a zip tie to fish cable through insulated walls way faster

Been fighting with this one house all week, old fiberglass insulation everywhere. Tried the glow rods, tried a fish tape, took like 20 mins per drop. On a whim I taped a zip tie to the end of my fish tape so it would slide through the insulation instead of snagging. First try it went through in like 3 seconds. Has anyone else found a random hack like that that just works better than the proper tools?

Lost $150 on a cheap toner probe that died after 2 jobs

Bought one of those $30 toner and probe kits off Amazon to save money. Worked okay for the first two days, then the probe just stopped picking up any signal at all. Ended up borrowing a Fluke from a buddy and it worked perfect. Anyone else get burned by those bargain toners?

Remember when we used to fish cables with just a glow rod and a prayer?

I had a job last Tuesday in an old building with no drop ceiling and realized how much easier those magnetic push rods make it compared to the old days of taping fish tapes together. Has anyone else gone back to an old building and felt glad for modern tools?

Appreciation post: That time I used a cheap crimper and regretted it for 2 hours

I figured a $12 crimper from the hardware store would be fine for a quick coax job last Saturday. But it kept slipping and I mangled three ends before I got one that actually passed signal. The customer's modem kept dropping connection until I went back and redid all four connections. Lesson learned the hard way: spend the $40 on a proper hex crimper if you're doing more than one cable. Has anyone else gotten burned by saving a few bucks on tools?

Warning: That cheap coax compression tool nearly ruined my whole job

Last Thursday I was out on a new build in Riverside, using a $12 compression tool I grabbed off Amazon. It slipped on the connector and I smashed my thumb pretty bad, then the fitting came loose inside the wall. Spent 3 hours pulling a new 100ft run of RG6 because of it. Has anyone else had a cheap tool cost them time like this?

Wasted $400 on a fancy toner probe - shoulda stuck with my old one

Bought one of those high-end toner and probe kits from Greenlee about 6 months ago. Thought it would save me time on tracing lines in those messy apartment buildings. First week it started giving false beeps on dead pairs and I ended up cutting the wrong coax twice. Anyone else run into this or did I just get a lemon unit?

Debate: Should we tell homeowners when their wiring is dangerous or just fix it and move on?

I had a job last month in a house near Portland where the owner had rigged up his own cable splitters with electrical tape and exposed copper. I showed him and said it was a fire risk. He got defensive and told me to just hook up his internet and leave. I fixed it anyway but it made me wonder if we have a duty to push back when we see unsafe stuff. On the flip side, some guys say just do the job and don't make waves especially if you want repeat business. What do you all do when you find janky wiring that could cause problems down the line?

After 8 years of running cable, I still think fish sticks are way better than glow rods for tight attic spaces.

Glow rods just don't flex the same way and they always get stuck on insulation, so has anyone else found a better alternative for pulling through blown-in stuff?

Stopped using the old crimp-and-pray method after a call back last Tuesday

I used to just twist and tape coax connections by hand, figured it was fine. Switched to a $40 compression tool and now my signal readings actually hold steady - anyone else waste years on bad ends?

That apartment complex in Phoenix where I found exposed coax buried in the dirt

Was pulling new lines for a unit there last month and found the old cables just laying in mud with no conduit at all. It was only 2 months old and already corroded. Anyone else run into property managers who cheap out on the install specs?

That moment I realized I was over-tightening coax fittings all these years

Was on a job in a condo building near downtown Cleveland last Tuesday, checking a weak signal on a third floor unit. I took off the barrel connector and saw the center conductor was crushed flat on three different fittings. That's when it hit me that I'd been cranking them down with a wrench instead of just hand-tightening plus a quarter turn with a tool. Has anyone else had a similar realization about something simple you were doing wrong for years?

My uncle's advice on vertical cable runs finally clicked after a job last Tuesday

He always told me to leave a service loop at the top of every vertical run, but I figured it was just extra work. Then I had to pull a new line through a 3-story office building in Portland and the old runs were so tight I had to cut and splice every single one. Has anyone else found a trick for convincing new guys to follow the standard practices before they learn the hard way?

The switch from RG6 to RG11 has been wild in older neighborhoods

I've been noticing a huge before and after difference in signal strength since we started using RG11 on long runs in the old parts of town. Over the last 6 months, I'd say about 40% of my trouble calls have been from houses built before 1980 where the original cable just can't handle modern speeds. Has anyone else seen a big drop in rework tickets since making the switch?

Customer asked why I don't use a toner and probe on every job

Old guy who used to install for the phone company watched me fish a line through a drop ceiling for 20 minutes. He said why don't you just clip the toner on the far end and walk it out. I told him I only break that out for terminations or dead pairs. He just shook his head and said you're wasting half your day guessing. So I tried using it on a routine run last Tuesday and finished in 11 minutes flat. Now I clip the toner on every pull before I even start. Has anyone else had a senior installer point out a simple habit that cut their time way down?

Spent 45 minutes chasing a ground fault that turned out to be a loose neutral in a jbox I swear I checked twice already

The customer's modem kept dropping and I replaced two barrels and recrimped three ends before I finally got out the toner and found that crappy push-in connector on the back of the wall plate, has anyone else had those things fail like that?

That splitter I used to throw on every drop for extra runs

Switched to using a single direct line with a tap in the box three years ago after too many noise complaints in the same neighborhood, and now I rarely even bring splitters on the truck anymore - anyone else ditch the old way after a bad call back?

Debate: that nasty 45 degree bend behind a fireplace insert

Ngl, I spent 2 hours trying to fish a coax through a tight crawlspace that should have taken 20 minutes. Ended up drilling a new hole and patching the drywall. Anyone else just cut their losses or do you keep fighting the old path?

Remember when we all thought fiber was a gimmick?

Back in 2012 I was still running copper in new builds around Austin and swore fiber was just overpriced hype for data centers. Told my boss he was crazy for buying that fusion splicer. Then we got a job for a school district that needed 10 gig runs and I ate my words after the first clean termination. Any of you old timers change your mind on something you were dead set against?

My cheap fish tape snapped and cost me a whole afternoon

I bought a $15 fish tape from a discount hardware store to save money, and the thing broke inside a wall after only two uses. Had to cut a new access panel and spent 4 hours fishing the line by hand. Anyone have a brand of fish tape that can actually handle a tight bend?

The way some guys run coax through a soffit without a grommet is just asking for a callback in six months.

I've seen three jobs this month where the outer jacket got chewed up by sharp aluminum edges, and the customer called back with signal issues after the first big rain in Charlotte.

I was working in an old apartment building in Boston and saw a trick with zip ties

I was running a new drop for a customer on the third floor. The building is from the 1920s, so the walls are plaster and lath, and the closets are a mess of old wires. The main cable chase was totally packed. I noticed the last installer had used a bunch of small zip ties to bundle the existing coax and phone lines together really tight against the back wall. It looked clean, but it left zero room for my new line. I had to cut about fifteen of those ties just to make a path. The lesson is, when you bundle in a tight space, leave some slack or use a velcro strap instead. That way the next guy isn't fighting your work for half an hour. Has anyone else run into this kind of thing in those old Northeast buildings?

Finally got a proper cable toner and it was worth every penny

I was tired of guessing which line was which in those big bundles, so I dropped about $150 on a good quality toner and probe set. Used it yesterday on a job in a three story office building with a mess of old Cat5 and coax. Found the right line for a new drop in under two minutes instead of half an hour of trial and error. The time saved on just that one call basically paid for the tool. Anyone have a favorite brand for this kind of gear, or is there something else I should be looking at?

I used to think a 6-foot ladder was fine for most attic drops, but a job in a 1950s house changed my mind