Path: utzoo!telecom-request Date: Sat, 13 Apr 91 9:50:15 CDT From: Rich Zellich Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Per-Jack Installation Charges (was: Cellular Phones for $29) Message-ID: Organization: TELECOM Digest Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 290, Message 2 of 13 Lines: 63 Here is what one decent company in St. Louis charges (and the totals for the installation they did in my house): Communications Prewires Inc. (+1-314-291-8959) Pre-wiring for phone, cable TV, video, and speakers: $ 25 per outlet, jack, or speaker ($50 per stereo speaker PAIR) [if I remember right, this price also applied to built-in vacuum system outlets; connecting hose included free] $ 20 to connect to telco-installed demarc (interface) box $125 for attic-mounted antenna, incl. all parts & installation My new-home installation: 10 phone jacks = $250 [main 3-pair cable] 2 phone jacks = $ 50 [2nd 3-pair cable] 5 video jacks = $125 1 TV antenna jack = $ 25 Connect to demarc $ 20 Install antenna $125 ----- TOTAL $590 I consider the $125 attic-antenna charge to be a rip-off, considering that he did not "mount" the antenna, but only laid it on it's side on top of the box it came in, which was laid across the rafters, and that he only installed a VHF antenna, and not VHF/UHF/FM (which is my main complaint; he didn't ask first, or tell me until the installation was done). On the other hand ... the charge would have been the same had he had to go through Hell to do the installation. The per-jack charge for everything else includes however many feet of cable required at no extra charge; thus, the second three-pair cable run to only two of the phone-jack locations in the house (for future use; they're not even connected to wall jacks at this time). I asked about six-pair, or greater, but they don't normally use it, and unless there had been some left over from another special job, it would have cost me too much for them to go out and buy a whole commercial-size spool of the stuff. I settled for running the second three-pair cable instead, for which I was charged nothing. The $125 charge for six video jacks was actually six *wall plates*, and *eight* jacks; he was going to splice three cables together to feed three remote TV sets from one main location, and charged for the single jack that would have required. Since I have amplified video switches feeding those three remotes, I instead had him install a separate jack in the wall plate for each of the three outgoing cables; now I can feed three separate signals to those three sets, instead of always the same signal to all three. They came out on one-day notice from the builder to run the cables, then came back the day after closing to install the cable-end jacks and wall plates, and to connect to the just-installed demarc, and install and connect the attic antenna. Cheers, Rich