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paintref
Look, I see stars
join:2003-02-21
Houston, TX

paintref

Member

What to expect for Uverse install?

My dad is switching from comcast to Uverse in about a month and I know this topic has probably been beat to death, as everyone's experience is different, but what to expect from a Uverse install?

Two Questions:

1. Where will the RG placement be? According to my dad, it will have to be downstairs near the TV in the living room.

2. Will they be able to use existing cabling from comcast or will they need to run new cable?
nrobot80
join:2012-12-05
Union City, GA

nrobot80

Member

Rg placement will in the best possible place, if you are planning on using wifi in the home then a central location will be the best place. New cables may be pulled if the existing coax isn't good. There are a number of factors that go I to that but the tech will have to determine that when they get there.

Darknessfall
Premium Member
join:2012-08-17
Motorola MG8725
Asus RT-N66

2 edits

Darknessfall

Premium Member

said by nrobot80:

Rg placement will in the best possible place

Some techs will be lazy or don't have enough time so they'll take the best place for them.

1. Make sure you alert the tech where you want it to be when they arrive or some will do whatever they want. Don't want to end up like me having my RG on the opposite side of the house of all of my internet devices, a wiring mess behind the RG, and having my RG left on the floor blocked by furniture.(Our tech didn't seem to like us :/). We ended up canceling U-verse internet because we weren't able to get decent speeds over wireless G/N from the router's location to justify buying the next tier and didn't want to run a whole new line across the house. We tried the Ethernet port from the back of the STB(Before we got rid of the RG-59) and it was terribly jittery.
2. They'll probably use existing cabling as long as it's "decent" enough. Your installer/cabling may vary. In one room our installer left a large RG-59 cable there and didn't remove it(It later caused pixelation issues so we had to remove it). Some techs who are quick, have enough time, and care will sometimes replace your coax with Ethernet just because.
GusHerb
join:2011-11-04
Chicago, IL

GusHerb

Member

said by Darknessfall:

said by nrobot80:

Rg placement will in the best possible place

Some techs will be lazy or don't have enough time so they'll take the best place for them.

1. Make sure you alert the tech where you want it to be when they arrive or some will do whatever they want. Don't want to end up like me having my RG on the opposite side of the house of all of my internet devices, a wiring mess behind the RG, and having my RG left on the floor blocked by furniture.(Our tech didn't seem to like us :/). We ended up canceling U-verse internet because we weren't able to get decent speeds over wireless G/N from the router's location to justify buying the next tier and didn't want to run a whole new line across the house. We tried the Ethernet port from the back of the STB(Before we got rid of the RG-59) and it was terribly jittery.
2. They'll probably use existing cabling as long as it's "decent" enough. Your installer/cabling may vary. In one room our installer left a large RG-59 cable there and didn't remove it(It later caused pixelation issues so we had to remove it). Some techs who are quick, have enough time, and care will sometimes replace your coax with Ethernet just because.

The tech that put in our service wanted to throw the RG in the old TV box over the fireplace, behind the flat panel TV on the wall. Needless to say he hated us by the end of that install, unfortunately.

Darknessfall
Premium Member
join:2012-08-17
Motorola MG8725
Asus RT-N66

3 edits

Darknessfall

Premium Member

said by GusHerb:

said by Darknessfall:

said by nrobot80:

Rg placement will in the best possible place

Some techs will be lazy or don't have enough time so they'll take the best place for them.

1. Make sure you alert the tech where you want it to be when they arrive or some will do whatever they want. Don't want to end up like me having my RG on the opposite side of the house of all of my internet devices, a wiring mess behind the RG, and having my RG left on the floor blocked by furniture.(Our tech didn't seem to like us :/). We ended up canceling U-verse internet because we weren't able to get decent speeds over wireless G/N from the router's location to justify buying the next tier and didn't want to run a whole new line across the house. We tried the Ethernet port from the back of the STB(Before we got rid of the RG-59) and it was terribly jittery.
2. They'll probably use existing cabling as long as it's "decent" enough. Your installer/cabling may vary. In one room our installer left a large RG-59 cable there and didn't remove it(It later caused pixelation issues so we had to remove it). Some techs who are quick, have enough time, and care will sometimes replace your coax with Ethernet just because.

The tech that put in our service wanted to throw the RG in the old TV box over the fireplace, behind the flat panel TV on the wall. Needless to say he hated us by the end of that install, unfortunately.

LOL
Atleast your RG isn't on the floor(Can't move it due to wire length) . I had to deal with 2 bars with that stupid 2wire G adapter back in 2009. The adapter was TERRIBLE and would constantly just drop connection whenever I wanted to download something or have it online too long. I needed to unplug it and replug it back in just to make it research for networks :/. It's antenna also broke when it dropped 1.5 feet so we had to tape it to make it stand up lol.

Oh and OP, I forgot to mention, BE AS NICE AS POSSIBLE TO YOUR INSTALLER.

Also, when we got installed they reused all of our coaxial cable from Comcast to complete our install to the RG and STBs(Except for that one STB that was by the RG that had Ethernet).

paintref
Look, I see stars
join:2003-02-21
Houston, TX

paintref

Member

Another question can I use my own router with Uverse internet?

I have a Netgear N300 to which all the wireless devices (Internet TV and tablet in the living room, my smart phone and Xbox 360) are connected through.

If yes, what will I need to do to make things works, as I have all the settings set in the wireless router.
paintref

paintref to Darknessfall

Member

to Darknessfall
said by Darknessfall:

Oh and OP, I forgot to mention, BE AS NICE AS POSSIBLE TO YOUR INSTALLER.

Just as long as the installer is nice to me and listens, I will be
said by Darknessfall:

Also, when we got installed they reused all of our coaxial cable from Comcast to complete our install to the RG and STBs(Except for that one STB that was by the RG that had Ethernet).

That might be good news then. We had new coax run when we had some problems with our service, comcast tech came out and said we had to replace the cabling in the attic, which they did at no charge (THAT was unbelievable, but that's a story for another day).

We will be getting 2 wired boxes (One in the master bedroom and one in the living room) and a wireless STB for me.

Darknessfall
Premium Member
join:2012-08-17
Motorola MG8725
Asus RT-N66

Darknessfall

Premium Member

Yes you can use your own router. But, you have to change some stuff before you can use it properly.

»forums.att.com/t5/Reside ··· /2707013

For the wireless STB, if your RG is installed by the living room or master bedroom you'll also have a wireless AP attached to it. As a heads up, if they install it by your TV or in your face at night make sure you tape up the lights if you're easily distracted by flickering lights all day long . Had a hard time sleeping with the 2wire 3801 constantly flickering in my view.

paintref
Look, I see stars
join:2003-02-21
Houston, TX

paintref

Member

said by Darknessfall:

Yes you can use your own router. But, you have to change some stuff before you can use it properly.

»forums.att.com/t5/Reside ··· /2707013

Bookmarked that site for future reference.

Oh, forgot to ask, will the tech hook up the modem to the wireless router or am I on my own?

Darknessfall
Premium Member
join:2012-08-17

Darknessfall

Premium Member

I have no clue .

paintref
Look, I see stars
join:2003-02-21
Houston, TX

paintref

Member

Ok just had another question.

How does the wireless receiver work connection wise?

I have an existing coax connection in my room which goes to the back of the TV, then another coax cable goes from the TV to the comcast DTA.

Darknessfall
Premium Member
join:2012-08-17
Motorola MG8725
Asus RT-N66

1 edit

1 recommendation

Darknessfall

Premium Member

The wireless receiver has a Cisco wireless AP which is hooked up to the AT&T gateway with Ethernet. On the wireless receiver you'll be asked to do WPS(The process where you click the little WPS buttons on both devices for it to gather the wireless network information). The wireless AP runs over the 5 GHz band and not the 2.4 GHz. So, the receiver will be connected over wireless to the Cisco VEN401 wireless access point with 300 Mbps wireless N. They usually have the SSID of "Cisco_xxxxxxxx" where the X is part of the mac address.

The receiver will then be connected to your TV with the usual HDMI, coax, etc. cables

paintref
Look, I see stars
join:2003-02-21
Houston, TX

paintref

Member

If it is that easy, I hope the installer won't have to do anything to the coax in my room...it's behind a good sized entertainment center, which is a pain to move.
paintref

paintref

Member

Wait a minute...I just realized something after reading through this topic.

If the RG is downstairs and my PC/Wireless router are up in my room on the 2nd floor, will they have to put the RG in my room or am I missing the point?

Darknessfall
Premium Member
join:2012-08-17
Motorola MG8725
Asus RT-N66

Darknessfall

Premium Member

Well if they put it downstairs you would have to probably move the router down there too if you wanted to use it or run Ethernet from the RG to the router. If you want wired connections in the room upstairs you can try powerline adapters if it's only able to go downstairs. I don't think the installers normally are allowed to install the routers to the RG and you'll have to do it yourself if you decide to use it for your wireless connections between downstairs and upstairs.

Remember, just nicely ask them if you want it to be put somewhere. Some will be happy to do it while others will make up excuses or want to charge you to put it somewhere else than where they had planned.

The RG has wireless capabilities too but they're only wireless G(Unless you somehow manage to grab a VERY new NVG589 gateway with N). The RG doesn't HAVE to be put near your computers but it seems like it would be best for you but seems like your father only wants it down there . All depends on how difficult your home is wired to make the call of where the installer prefers to install it.

paintref
Look, I see stars
join:2003-02-21
Houston, TX

paintref

Member

Well, guess I will have to wait and see then. The other problem is we use vonage as our phone service , so if I have to move the wireless router downstairs, it would mean I would have to move the vonage adapter down to.

Looks like things just got a bit more complicated

Darknessfall
Premium Member
join:2012-08-17
Motorola MG8725
Asus RT-N66

4 edits

Darknessfall

Premium Member

I don't think this advice is very good so you MAY not want to listen to it:

You can probably hook up your N 300 Mbps router to the gateway following the steps in the thread then buy a wireless N media bridge to hook it up to the router over wireless then hook up the Vonage box to the wireless bridge with Ethernet.
Maybe one of these:
»www.newegg.com/Product/P ··· Parent=1

I don't really think that would work so . If it does, it'll probably add a little bit of jitter to calls and you would want a full signal to the bridge.

»forums.vonage.com/showth ··· p?t=1682
Says it works though.

But, I don't have Vonage or even have ever used it.

You still have the option to use powerline adapters(You would want to make sure they were rated for 500 Mbps). You could hook up your RG to one of them downstairs and your router to the 2nd one upstairs and connect your Vonage box to your router.

»www.newegg.com/Product/P ··· 33109046
Something like this???
RG -> Ethernet ->Powerline Adapter #1-> Plug/Powerline -> Powerline Adapter #1 -> Ethernet -> Router -> Ethernet -> Vonage Box

paintref
Look, I see stars
join:2003-02-21
Houston, TX

paintref

Member

I don't know if my dad wants to spend the money until absolutely necessary...will have to wait and see what the installer says when they come over for the install.

my thoughts

Anon

1) if using RG for wireless best place is main floor central part of house, if next to LR TV great new cat5 to that location and use coax for back feed to other TV or better yet pay $49 for second wireless box and not use any of existing coax, can rearrange rooms without concern of wiring.
2) if any coax is used the tech will need access to change ends including behind wall plates and maybe even the wall plates themselves, if a bookcase or entertainment center is blocking access that needs to be moved before the tech arrives, techs are NOT supposed to move furniture that is your responsibility, if RG is to go to your room that means the access to coax is needed for back feed unless doing two wireless set top boxes.
3) if a new cat5 cable is needed for your room either for RG or to provide connection to your pc (recommend usb wireless such as DLink if your pc will not support wireless as i am not a fan of powerlink connections)depending on access the cable may be ran outside your home, attached to side of home, and brought back into your bedroom by exterior wall, called wrapping, the tech needs permission before drilling any holes, if permission is not granted and there is no other way to provide service the tech can cancel your order due to no access.
my thoughts

my thoughts to paintref

Anon

to paintref
1) if using RG for wireless best place is main floor central part of house, if next to LR TV great new cat5 to that location and use coax for back feed to other TV or better yet pay $49 for second wireless box and not use any of existing coax, can rearrange rooms without concern of wiring.
2) if any coax is used the tech will need access to change ends including behind wall plates and maybe even the wall plates themselves, if a bookcase or entertainment center is blocking access that needs to be moved before the tech arrives, techs are NOT supposed to move furniture that is your responsibility, if RG is to go to your room that means the access to coax is needed for back feed unless doing two wireless set top boxes.
3) if a new cat5 cable is needed for your room either for RG or to provide connection to your pc (recommend usb wireless such as DLink if your pc will not support wireless as i am not a fan of powerlink connections)depending on access the cable may be ran outside your home, attached to side of home, and brought back into your bedroom by exterior wall, called wrapping, the tech needs permission before drilling any holes, if permission is not granted and there is no other way to provide service the tech can cancel your order due to no access.