 morboComplete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000 | $15,000 to wire a 23 floor office building
Periodicially, Charter offers to wire my work building for about $15,000. The management company always throws the option to tenants to have the cost split among everyone, but it never is approved.
There is just something wrong about PAYING the cable company to wire your space so that you can then PAY them for service. It the cable company wants my business, they will wire the building--NOT ask me to do it for them. |
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daslog
join:2002-04-10
Milford, NH | I guess it really depends on how much profit they make per customer. For example, if it costs them 5,000 grand to wire 10 houses and they only make 10 bucks a month profit per house, then it's going to take 4+ years for Comcast to break even.
On the other hand, if they make 20 bucks a month profit per sub, then it's only 2 years to make back their initial investment. |
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RayWPremium
join:2001-09-01
Layton, UT
kudos:1 | said by daslog: For example, if it costs them 5,000 grand to wire 10 houses a Do you mean 5 million or 5 thousand?
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I am not lost, I find myself every time. |
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Reviews:
 ·Optimum Online
 ·Optimum Voice
| reply to morbo
said by morbo:Periodicially, Charter offers to wire my work building for about $15,000. The management company always throws the option to tenants to have the cost split among everyone, but it never is approved. There is just something wrong about PAYING the cable company to wire your space so that you can then PAY them for service. It the cable company wants my business, they will wire the building--NOT ask me to do it for them. But you're comparing getting a wire to the door of your building to wiring the entire building, right? I can't imagine there is a cable company out there that would wire your entire building for free. Although I do agree that paying the cable company for the work seems a bit redundant. Why don't you see if a local electrician or someone else would be interested. The cable company doesn't have to do it. |
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 c0de
join:2004-10-14
Richmond, VA | I was about to say the same thing, I am sure that you could find an electrician to do it for you for less. |
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Reviews:
·Cox HSI
| reply to morbo
said by morbo:There is just something wrong about PAYING the cable company to wire your space so that you can then PAY them for service. Agreed! |
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 GT
@169.152.251.x | reply to RustyTheDog
Well you pay the electrician to wire your house, then you pay the electric company to give you the power. same thing with cable companies. you pay them to do the wiring then they send the juice down the line for your services. |
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 John GaltForward, MarchPremium
join:2004-09-30
Happy Camp
kudos:3 | reply to c0de
said by c0de:I was about to say the same thing, I am sure that you could find an electrician to do it for you for less. Obviously you don't know much about it...
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John GaltForward, MarchPremium
join:2004-09-30
Happy Camp
kudos:3 | reply to GT
said by GT :
Well you pay the electrician to wire your house, then you pay the electric company to give you the power. same thing with cable companies. you pay them to do the wiring then they send the juice down the line for your services.
Oh noes...!!
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 cdruGo ColtsPremium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
kudos:5
 ·Frontier FiOS
| reply to daslog
said by daslog:I guess it really depends on how much profit they make per customer. For example, if it costs them 5,000 grand to wire 10 houses and they only make 10 bucks a month profit per house, then it's going to take 4+ years for Comcast to break even. A year ago Verizon happily wired my neighborhood with FiOS. At the time I believe the price tag was somewhere around $1500 per house. I pay $40/month to Verizon for my data online line. At at price it will take 3 years for Verizon to recoup that install cost, and that was with 100% of my payment going to pay for the install. If you figure $10/month (still probably high) it will take over 12 years to recoup the cost.
Comcast has the exact same line buried in my backyard as they did 27 years ago when they built my addition. They have had plenty of time to recoup the initial install costs over that 27 year period. The thought that it might take them 5 or 10 years to recoup the costs shouldn't even be an issue.
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Quis custodiet custodes ipsos? |
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daslog
join:2002-04-10
Milford, NH | "The thought that it might take them 5 or 10 years to recoup the costs shouldn't even be an issue."
Don't tell their stockholders that. Taking losses isn't good for your stock price.. |
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cdruGo ColtsPremium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
kudos:5 Reviews:
·Frontier FiOS
| said by daslog:Don't tell their stockholdersdaytraders that. Taking losses isn't good for your stock price.. Don't count daytraders that are looking for instant profits. Look at the long term stockholders that really count. If the telco/cableco really were concerned about making the "quick buck" instead of long term investments, they would have never switched to fiber or hybrid fiber/coax networks.
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Quis custodiet custodes ipsos? |
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Nuts
join:2006-04-27
Forest, OH
1 edit | reply to cdru
True, but if you add in video and phone onto that piece of fiber, then their roi will be lower.
Edit: Also, to the best of my knowledge, Verizon don't have to allow other competitors to use the fiber they're laying. |
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zentec
join:2002-01-05
Monroe, MI | reply to John Galt
Given the efficiencies of an electrician over the cable-jockeys that Charter employs, I'd say a three man crew of good electricians would end up being cheaper. |
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John GaltForward, MarchPremium
join:2004-09-30
Happy Camp
kudos:3 | said by zentec:Given the efficiencies of an electrician over the cable-jockeys that Charter employs, I'd say a three man crew of good electricians would end up being cheaper. That said...!
(I have done both types of work so I know what is involved from both points-of-view...)
Do the math...$15K for 23 floors? That is only $652.17 per floor, labor and materials. There is much more involved than just "the wire" and the labor of the guys running the cable.
It just doesn't pencil out for Sparky to do it. It would for Charter since they will be taking a long-term position...rather than Sparky who wants to get paid NOW!!
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| reply to morbo
I'm sure you did, but you consider wiring it yourself for cheaper? If you don't own the building ask the landlord about at least fronting part of it. Find it odd that it was not wired for cable to begin with, guess a older building? |
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Reviews:
·Cox HSI
| reply to John Galt
I think there are 2 distinct point be said that are being mixed.
1. Service to the property line.
2. service with in the property line.
Service to the property should fall on the provider. To be fair, if the property is in the middle of nowhere with absolutely no way of spreading the cost to other owners which basically ends up being a dedicated circuit.....but most of these posts refer to less than several hundred yards to service their property.
Service with in the property line should fall on the owner unless there is an agreement of "right of way." |
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John GaltForward, MarchPremium
join:2004-09-30
Happy Camp
kudos:3 | said by averagedude:Service with in the property line should fall on the owner unless there is an agreement of "right of way." Cable companies will do premise wiring in large buildings...they just want to get paid for it up front.
Hence the $15,000 quote...
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| reply to morbo
Why should they wire up your building for free? Once it's installed it's you're wiring, even if charter or whoever paid for it to be done. You could have them wire up the building for free and then everyone could switch to another company. |
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 MadMANNPremium
join:2005-08-19
kudos:2 | reply to cdru
I can guarantee that a customer in the boones about 1000 feet away from the closest fiber run with no other houses for another couple thousand feet would be charged to bring service to their home. If it costs $15,000 in time and material, a $40-60 /month income is NOT worth it. If you think it is, then you can loan me $15,000 cash and I'll gladly give you $60 month until it's paid off.
In your situation, I am sure Verizon happily wired you and dozens of surrounding homes. It's a different story than three to five houses within a mile stretch.
This news article doesn't even provide that info as to the specifics of how far they had to run the plant and what equipment they needed to do it.
I did a site audit one time for a house that was 600 feet off of the road. I drew up a map and cited the specifics about the job. It wasn't a difficult run. There was an usused splitter port on the plant. They ran feeder to the house and we installed RG11 from the new tap to the house. Total install costs to the company = appx $2000. And the customer got free installation with $20/ month internet with $30/ month digital for 6 months. What did they do? They canceled in 6 months and went back to dial up and satellite. I went back there 2 weeks ago (about 5 months after they cancelled) and reinstalled the internet. When I asked them why they switched back to satellite? "There is no contract with cable and Directv was offering another special. We just put it under our wife's name. I do really miss channel x,y & z, though. And Directv is pissing me off with their screwy billing. I'll switch back again after my contract is up with them."  |
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