c/cable-installers

Spent $89 on a toner and probe kit, still chasing a dead pair in a crawlspace

Bought one of those fancy toner and probe sets thinking it would speed up tracing lines. First job out, the toner signal bled all over the place because the pairs were wet from a leak. Took me three hours to find the actual break. The old guy I work with just uses a cheap multimeter and a long coax. Has anyone else found these kits useless on older, damp runs?

Appreciation post: The old lady in Naperville who left me iced tea last Tuesday

So I'm running a new build out in Naperville last week, 3 story walkout, and the customer's grandma keeps popping her head out asking if I need anything. I brush it off twice, then she comes out with a glass of iced tea and a plate of cookies, just sits on the porch watching me terminate lines. She didn't say much, just "you boys work too hard in this heat." It got me thinking about the whole debate we have here about customer interactions. Some guys say keep it strictly business, don't accept food or drinks, liability and all that. Others say the personal touch is what gets you referrals and tips. I've been doing this 9 years and I've never had a bad experience accepting a drink, but I've also had customers who clearly want me gone ASAP. What's your rule on taking stuff from customers? Do you draw a line somewhere or just go with the flow? Cause I'm leaning toward always saying yes now, but I had a guy in Aurora last month offer me a beer at 10am and that felt different.

That $89 crimping tool from the big box store was junk from day one

Bought it last month for a 40-unit condo job in Portland and the dies misaligned on the third fitting, wasted a full morning and a roll of $120 quad shield. Anyone else had luck with a specific brand under $150 that actually holds up?

That $200 tone tracer I insisted on was a dud

Bought a fancy tone tracer with all the bells and whistles from a supply house in Austin because I was tired of cheap ones dying on me. Paid $200 thinking I was set for years. First big job last week in an office building, it couldn't pick up a signal through standard drywall, let alone conduit. My old $40 one did better. Called the manufacturer and they said it's a known issue with the newer firmware, but no fix yet. Now I'm back to the cheap model and just lost $200 for zero gain. Anyone else had a pricey tool totally let them down on a routine pull?

A gas station in Ohio taught me to test every drop before I trust it

I was doing a rewire for a new build outside Toledo last month. The homeowner had a cheap coax splitter he picked up at a dollar store, said it worked fine for the bedroom TV. I hooked up my meter and got a signal loss of 11 dB on one leg, almost double what I'd accept. He kept saying it was fine until the picture dropped during a Browns game. Now I carry a spare splitter in my van and test every connection before I leave the job. Has anyone else run into random parts that looked fine but caused intermittent issues?

The $200 cable toner that's been a paperweight since day one

Honestly, I grabbed that fancy Fluke toner last fall thinking it would speed up my tracing work, but every job I've used it on has been slower than just walking the line manually. Anyone else had better luck with a basic beeper and probe setup, or am I the only one who wasted that cash?

Found a junction box full of spiders in a 1980s attic job

Last month I was doing a rewire at this old place off Route 9 in Albany, and I popped open a plastic junction box that hadnt been touched since like 1987. There was a whole nest of brown recluses in there, plus the wires were so brittle the jacket crumbled when I breathed on it. I ended up fishing a whole new line down the wall and had to charge the homeowner an extra 120 bucks for the time. Anyone else run into wildlife in boxes that old, or is it just my luck?

Customer said my ground block was sloppy, now I mount it different

This older lady in Renton watched me terminate her drop and pointed out the ground block was on a 45 degree angle. She said it looked like a snake biting the dirt. I used to just screw it wherever it landed, now I hold the block flat against the siding and pre-drill the holes first so it sits level. Took me maybe 4 extra minutes per job, but I havent had a single call back about grounding since. Anyone else run into customers who care about the little stuff like that?

Found out my torque wrench was off by 40 ft-lbs, who calibrates theirs on a schedule?

I pulled my torque wrench out last week for a big commercial job in Austin and decided to check it against a friend's calibrated one, turns out mine was reading way high and could've stripped a bunch of fittings. Do you guys send yours out yearly or just trust them until something breaks, and has anyone else caught a surprise like this on a random check?

That one Tuesday where every drop went wrong until 4pm

Had a run last week in Phoenix where three jobs back to back had us crawling through attics in 110 degree heat, and the second house had a rebar staple through the main line that took 45 minutes to find. Then the last customer's dog bolted out the door and I had to chase it two blocks in full gear, but somehow we finished by 4 and they tipped me $60 cash. Anyone else have a day that starts awful but ends up paying off weirdly?

6 hours on a dog chewed coax drop, shoulda just reburied it

Had a service call out in Maplewood yesterday, customer said no signal and the line ran through their backyard. Found where the dog got to it near the fence, but the damage went further than I thought, like every few feet there was another bite mark. I tried splicing and waterproofing each spot, took me 6 hours total, and the customer kept asking if I was almost done every 20 minutes. Finally just ran a whole new drop across the yard and buried it shallow, done in 2 hours. Has anyone else wasted a whole day patching instead of replacing and regretted it?

200 foot Cat 5e run failed, other guy swore it was fine, who's right?

I did a house in Phoenix last week where the homeowner had Cat 5e already pulled and the other installer said it was fine for gigabit. I've seen too many 200 foot runs fail at the tester because of that, so I re-pulled with Cat 6 and it passed clean. My question is, are we just being lazy or is 5e actually good enough for most homes? I know the spec says 5e can do gigabit at short distances, but I've had too many callbacks on runs over 150 feet. Has anyone else dealt with this or do you just trust the label on the box?

Fiber splice tray puzzle finally clicked after 15 tries

Kept fighting with a 12-fiber loose tube splice tray where the buffer tubes kept popping out of the clips. Tried zip ties, tape, even swearing at it, nothing held. Then this older installer I work with in Charlotte watched me struggle for 5 minutes and said, "Youre routing them like spaghetti, not like a river." He showed me to pre-bend each tube with my thumb before seating it, let it relax into the curve, then snap it in. Got the whole thing dressed in under 10 minutes on the next one. Anyone else got a weird trick for keeping buffer tubes from fighting back?

Old timers could tone a tap in 2 minutes, why is that lost now

Watched a 25 year vet out of Tampa balance a tap with nothing but a multitool and his phone speaker, took less time than I spend pulling my meter out of the bag. Maybe the training places are too focused on the certification software and not the actual hands on feel. Anybody else notice the younger guys skip the audio method entirely?

Spent 2 hours on a terminator until I tried the crimp-first method

Old habit was to strip, twist, then crimp the RG6 connector, but yesterday on a job in Akron I kept getting shorts and signal drops. Switched to crimping the connector on before trimming the center conductor flush, and every single connection passed the tester first try. Anyone else find that order of operations matters more than the brand of compression fittings you use?

Rant: The difference 3 years and a new boss made at my shop

Started at this cable shop back in 2021, we used the same old crimpers and testers since 2015. New manager came in last June, pushed us to swap to Klein tools and Fluke testers. The before and after is crazy - our callbacks dropped from like 8 a month to maybe 1 now. Anyone else have a boss force a tool change that actually worked out?

Overheard a property manager say 'just hide the cables behind the baseboards'

Was at a 12 unit apartment complex in Arlington yesterday and the property manager told the tenant they could just tuck the coax behind the baseboard trim. I had to explain that's not code and can cause interference or even fire risk if staples hit a wire. Led me to wonder how often you all run into homeowners or managers giving bad advice like that?

That time an old foreman told me to always sweep behind myself on jobsites

Back in 2017 I was working with this guy named Frank, must've been 60 years old. He told me the cleanest installers always get called back for more work. I was young and thought it was dumb, just wanted to get to the next job. Then about six months in I saw a customer complain about a messy crew from another company. Next week that same customer called our boss for a bigger project. Frank was right. Now I leave every site cleaner than I found it and I've gotten referrals from homeowners who noticed. Any of you guys have a habit that pays off in the long run?

A veteran installer told me my cable ties were too tight and it changed my whole approach

I used to crank those zip ties down as hard as I could until a guy with 25 years in the game pointed out I was crushing the jacket and causing signal loss. Now I leave them just snug enough to hold the bundle but with a little play. Anyone else learn a basic thing way later than you should have?

Worst day I ever had on the job was a Tuesday in July

Tbh I still think about that Tuesday in July 2019 when I was running lines through an old church building in Akron. Three different drops failed because of ancient conduit full of rocks and bad bends. I was out there from 7am till 8pm sweating buckets and the customer kept asking if I was done yet. Has anyone else dealt with old buildings where the conduit is basically a nightmare?

Hit 500 cable terminations in a single shift last Tuesday

Was running a big apartment complex job downtown and somehow kept up a pace of one termination every 45 seconds. That felt unreal until I checked the count at the end of the day. Has anyone else gotten into a groove like that and surprised themselves?

Appreciation post: wiring an old house from the 1950s

I had a job last week in a house built in 1953 over in Elmwood. The original cloth wiring was still in the walls, twisted pairs everywhere. Took me the better part of 3 hours just to run a new coax line because the studs were random widths. Made me think about how easy new builds are with their open basements and spray foam. Any of you guys still run into old cloth wire jobs regularly?

Had a talk with a new guy fresh out of training and it made me question how I do wall fishings

Used to bury coax lines 6 inches deep - now I dig 18 after a backhoe disaster

Back in 2018 I did a job for a new house on Elm Street and buried the cable at 6 inches like I always did. A month later a landscaping crew hit it with a tiller and I had to re-run 200 feet of coax. Now I call 811 before any dig and trench at 18 inches minimum. Any of you guys seen problems with shallow burial on new builds?

Got lazy and tried using one of those push-button coax strippers

I've been doing this for close to 15 years now and always used the old school coax cutter and stripper tools. You know the ones you have to twist and line up just right. Last month I was on a job up in the Hills and my usual tool broke. Had to run to the hardware store and they only had those push-button versions. Figured it would be junk but I was in a hurry. Took about 3 cables to get the hang of it - the first one I pushed too hard and sliced right through the shielding. But once I got the pressure right it actually stripped cleaner than my old method. No more frayed braids or nicked dielectric. Been using it for a month now and it saves me maybe 5 minutes per drop. Anyone else make the switch or is everybody still using the old twist style?