1 Message
building a new home
I’m home and I want to put Xfinity into the home along with Wi-Fi what should I be running in the walls to my smart TV?
Cat 6 cable or coax cable
[Edited: Personal information]
1 Message
I’m home and I want to put Xfinity into the home along with Wi-Fi what should I be running in the walls to my smart TV?
Cat 6 cable or coax cable
[Edited: Personal information]
zandor60657
Contributor
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204 Messages
2 years ago
I'd say both, actually. You need coax to wherever the modem is going to go. You can stream TV over the internet if you have an Xfinity TV account, so you don't necessarily need coaxial everywhere you might want to watch TV. I'm not sure if streaming TV counts towards the data cap. Anyone know? That said current cable boxes still connect to coaxial. The last one I had also had an ethernet connector for on-demand streaming. I suspect this will change eventually and TV subscriptions will just use tcp/ip or multicast.
I'd also put in some cat6, especially if the house is large enough that you'll need more than one WiFi access point (commercial access point, mesh kit, pod or range extender in addition to a router, etc.) or you'll have desktops or play online games. If you want or need more than one WiFi radio to get good coverage the highest performance way to do it is to wire all of them to the router. For gaming wired has less latency than WiFi, so less lag. Of course if you install any cat6 you'll want to run it to wherever the router is going.
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XfinityAldrik
Official Employee
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2.1K Messages
2 years ago
Thank you for reaching out to us @user_njqk38. We use RG6 Quad Shield coaxial cables. We will want to make sure Each outlet is wired individually with a single line back to the point where the cable enters the home without splitting the lines. As zandor60657 using a Cat 6 ethernet cable will help with hardwired internet connections connecting devices to the modem.
We may need to open a serviceability ticket. How soon are you planning to set up internet services at this address?
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user_939e87
Contributor
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16 Messages
2 years ago
If this is new construction or if the walls are going to be opened up, it's pretty cheap to install coax & CAT 6A/CAT7(?) now. It's neither cheap nor easy to install them once the walls are closed up. I'm not really a fan of WiFi if there's a reasonable alternative. Mobile devices - phones, tablets etc. there isn't a reasonable alternative there. Mostly stationary PCs, printers, online storage devices like NAS, streaming devices I'll connect them via ethernet. I read someplace that if a wifi device is not very close to the access point but has a wall or 2 in the way, figure about 1/3 of the rated speed for the actual throughput.
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BruceW
Gold Problem Solver
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26.3K Messages
2 years ago
It's almost impossible to know. https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/data-usage-what-counts-towards-my-data-plan says:
But then it goes on to say:
Then too, https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/xfinity-stream-app-faqs contains this delightful bit:
???
So it comes down to the definition of the phrases "Xfinity TV", "internet service", and "internet-based video streaming". Comcast has largely succeeded in not making these clear.
Example: In my service area (South-Central PA) when I bring up the TV-GO version of QVC-HD at https://www.xfinity.com/stream/listings in a web browser using my home (Comcast) Internet service, the phrase "Accessing the internet. Data charges may apply" appears on the screen (briefly, about 2 seconds), and appears to apply to my data plan. But bringing up the numbered QVC-HD channel ("Live TV" 800) in the same browser at that same site does not display the "data charges" message and, as far as I can tell, does not count against my data plan.
So much for "All data usage delivered over your home Xfinity Internet service ... is counted", thanks to Comcast's vague and contradictory definitions.
ETA: "Partner device" info
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(edited)
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