UPC Multiroom

The_Bot

Thinking about getting UPC multi-room and asked a few questions over in the UPC forum for their reps to pick up.

One of the question relates to the (now) €80 connection charge where there is no UPC outlet in the room

I have a coax cable outlet in the room in question but at present it is just the exposed cable and I asked if there is a separate charge for the UPC technician to fit the white box that is typically found at the coax point (if this is even necessary).

The UPC rep said:

"If a UPC outlet is needed a charge of €80 would apply for the call out to fit this. The co-ax cable you mention may only be part of the house wiring and not actually connected to our feed."

The coax cable looks like it has never been used (i.e. it would need to be stripped to take an f-connector). Would this mean it is most likely not connected to the UPC feed and I'd need to pay the €80 charge?

Or is there some way of testing to see if it is connected to the UPC feed before any UPC tech calls out?

Thanks

coylemj

They don't charge to simply install the white wall box if the co-ax is connected up. To test it, fit a male connector suitable to go into the back of your TV and see if you can pick up the analog channels by doing a scan with the country set to 'Ireland'. Even if it's dead, it may still be usable if it's connected to a splitter box in the attic.

Do you have a splitter in the attic or how was it originally intended that that point would be activated and fed? If there are co-ax points around the house, they would normally be connected to a splitter in the attic,especially if the house is 20 years old or older as the original TV signal came into estates along the rooftops before they started using underground ducts which came about when Eircom was allowed to buy Cablelink.

Does your existing UPC feed come in via the attic or directly though the wall or a window frame on the ground floor?

The_Bot

coylemj wrote: »

They don't charge to simply install the white wall box if the co-ax is connected up. To test it, fit a male connector suitable to go into the back of your TV and see if you can pick up the analog channels by doing a scan with the country set to 'Ireland'. Even if it's dead, it may still be usable if it's connected to a splitter box in the attic.

Do you have a splitter in the attic or how was it originally intended that that point would be activated and fed?

Does your existing UPC feed come in via the attic or directly though the wall or the window frame on the ground floor?

Thanks for the info. I'm in a ground floor apartment so presumably it is through the wall (no evidence near window frames). My existing, currently used coax outlet is in the living room area and is being used for my UPC horizon service.

What I am looking at now is a separate coax cable outlet which is in the wall in my bedroom. It would have been installed when the apartment was built so is most likely the same type of cable as is currently being used by the active UPC outlet in the living room.

The bedroom faces the rear of the development (living room faces the front) so is it possible that the bedroom cable outlets separately out the rear from the living room cable (or maybe under the floor and into the living room to the other outlet)? I can only assume its not a dead cable since what would be the point of the builder installing it if it isn't connected properly?

coylemj

I suspect the two points are connected to a two-way splitter somewhere and both are probably picking up the UPC signal. Otherwise as you suggested, there wouldn't have been any purpose to installing the point in the bedroom in the first place.

Buy one of these in an electrical shop or off the electrical accessory rack in a hardware store, it's a male co-ax connector. Fit it to the cable in the bedroom, then connect it to the TV and scan for channels. If you pick up any non-Irish channels, you have a UPC signal.

The_Bot

Thanks for that. Next job will be to strip the coax cable so I can fit the connector and test it.

prodigy1

Hi all,

UPC are charging me an arm and a leg for cabling to a new room. I already have multiroom (2 rooms) but i want to have another room done. Does anyone know what type of cable I need, is it just coax cable, or something different to allow for HD?? any help would be great!!

Cheers

The Cush

prodigy1 wrote: »

Does anyone know what type of cable I need, is it just coax cable, or something different to allow for HD?? any help would be great!!

Any satellite grade cable will do (CT100 spec) such as this TX100 co-ax cable for example - http://www.satellite.ie/acatalog/Cables__Switches_and_Tools.html

prodigy1

Ah thanks so much for the reply, I will get that and run it through the rooms

Wabbit Ears

Its really not that straightforward, Signals levels are setup at the main tap to each point. Split the cable to feed new boxes in another room and you weaken the signal for both boxes on the cablerun.
The UPC technician will run the new cable to the main tap and adjust the signal levels correctly.

prodigy1

If I run the cable from where it comes in to the new room and just leave them there, then its up to the tech to sort out the levels no???

The Cush

prodigy1 wrote: »

then its up to the tech to sort out the levels no???

Yes.