Can anyone explain if Rogers replaces 40+ RG5 wiring into the home with this new xfinity internet?

[LabJ]

My home currently has 40 years old cabling into the home. I have had 2 Rogers people days apart trying to get me to sign up but they can’t tell me if the wires will be replaced with new ones. I also wanted to know where the wires or the box on the street would be located in relation to the house. I have cables running behind the house and along the side of the house but no idea where they come from. They kept saying it is all WiFi now and not cables. He kept pointing to the hydro poles on St. Clair the hubs are there and it’s not done with cables. That makes me even more concerned with hackers. 

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[RogersMoin · Accepted solution]

Hello, @LabJ.

We welcome you to our Community!

Thank you for reaching out with your concerns about the wiring in your home and the installation of Rogers Xfinity Internet.

A coax cable from a green pedestal runs to your home's customer service enclosure (CSE). The pedestal may look like:

From CSE, the cable enters your home.

With the Rogers Xfinity services, you only need one coax cable that will be connected to the Rogers Xfinity Gateway. This box provides Internet, TV and Home phone services. Your Rogers Xfinity Entertainment Boxes (TV boxes) are wirelessly connected to the gateway modem. Other devices, like desktops/laptops, tablets, phones, etc., can also be wireless. However, you can use an Ethernet connection on the supported devices.

During the installation, the tech will replace the coax cable if required.

You will have full support even after the installation of the services.

Let us know if you have further questions.

Cheers,
RogersMoin

[-G-]

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@LabJ wrote:

My home currently has 40 years old cabling into the home. I have had 2 Rogers people days apart trying to get me to sign up but they can’t tell me if the wires will be replaced with new ones. I also wanted to know where the wires or the box on the street would be located in relation to the house. I have cables running behind the house and along the side of the house but no idea where they come from.

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Rogers will not upgrade any of the old RG-59 cabling in your home but the installation tech will make sure that you have a suitable cable installed at the point-of-entry and leading to your modem.  They won't pull cabling behind your walls but will run cables on the exterior of your home and drill through the wall to bring a new cable to the desired location.

As for how your house is currently wired, you will have to find where the cables enter the walls and trace them back.  They will probably lead back to a junction box outside your home and connect to a splitter that is fed from the street.  The installation tech will probably disconnect all those wires and bring a new cable into your home.

They kept saying it is all WiFi now and not cables. He kept pointing to the hydro poles on St. Clair the hubs are there and it’s not done with cables. That makes me even more concerned with hackers. 

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The new set-top boxes do not use coax cables anymore.  In a typical installation, your Xfinity Gateway (cable modem) will be the only device in your home connected by coax.  With the Xfinity TV service, TV channels are streamed over your Internet connection and the set-top boxes typically connect to the Gateway via Wi-Fi.

[LabJ]

Thank you -G-. I will trace the wires back to the grey box on the outside of the house. If I’m understanding correctly the old cable would come in the same hole to the den and connect to the modem there. Then, the rest would be wifi in the home. 

[LabJ]

Thank you RogersMoin,

There is a box like that St.Clair and l’ll take a look if I can see where there cables go towards my house. They aren’t underground but run on a guidewire to the backs of the houses. There is a junction port on the post behind my house and to the side as well. I think there might be two junction ports connected here and not one cable running to the side of the house. 
These lines are the very old ones 40+ and most likely RG5 standard cables being used way back. Is this the cabling that would be replaced do to age to the RG6? It runs from the green box to one junction port and then the second port to the house? The original Rogers install had the cables run loose in the drop down ceiling in the basement. They have old wires everywhere in the ceilings.  Rogers doesn’t need to go as far across this ceiling as the den wall is in the middle of the house and a hole will drilled in the floor for the modem.This is we’re my computer is so it can be hard wired with Ethernet cable and the rest is wifi for the house. 

[Pauly]

Hello LabJ,

During your Xfinity installation, Rogers technicians will find the main cable point of entry into your house, usually its located in the basement near your hydro panel.  They will test the incoming cable signal to make sure it meets the signal requirements of the xfinity gateway, they will ONLY replace the wire if the modem is not able to receive the proper signal levels.

Once the xfinity gateway is being installed, you can suggest a location for the technician to install it, they will do their best effort to install it in the location of your choice, but if they can not, you are more than welcome to have the technician install it in their suggested location and then run your own RJ45 network wire to your computer yourself, or hire someone to do it for you if you would like a more cleaner installation.

After that, all the electronic devices and set top connect wireless to your gateway.

[Pauly]

So are you telling us Rogers delivers service to your house via overhead wires?  There is nothing wrong with that, in fact my uncle also had overhead wires running to his house. Even though it is nice to "want" new wires run to your house, it is ultimately up to Rogers to do so.  They will determine if the wires are in suitable condition to be reused, and chances are, if there is even the slightest issue, they will replace them with new RG6 wire if required.

Digital technology is much different than analog, and any break in the wire could cause signal problems so they will determine if that is the case with your setup.

[MDK-2024]

There seem to be three options:

1. "legacy" -- coaxial-cable from a telephone pole to a "demarcation" box, with a splitter inside that box, with multiple "runs" of coaxial cable to various locations inside your home, to connect to a cable-modem and/or telephone adapter and/or TV boxes. Optionally, use a telephone-jack on the cable-modem to connect to your telephone handset, eliminating the need for a telephone adapter box.
2. "proposed" -- coaxial-cable from a telephone pole through the same demarcation box, and to a new cable-modem/router that has Ethernet ports (for your "wired" computers) and WiFi to the new-generation TV boxes and WiFi to your smart-phone(s) & tablets.
3. "future" -- a next-generation WiFi box up the telephone pole, connecting wirelessly to the next-generation cable-modem/router inside your residence, and your wired/wireless devices will connect to that next-generation device.  So, no active wires at all between your residence and the telephone pole.

I would not worry at all about "hackers" trying to access the WiFi signals emitted from that next-generation box up the telephone pole. The designers of that WiFi protocol are not simpletons; security will be "built-in".  Similarly, with your current cable-modem, create a "strong" password for your home WiFi network, to prevent hackers from guessing that password.