Swapping Out Some Wiring Can Make A Big Difference

By By Bill Husted
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

ATLANTA -- Things have gone haywire with the wiring at your house.

I don't feel bad telling you about it because we can fix most of it.

Toward the end of this column, I'll offer one safe checkup for AC lines. But for anything else, I'd rather leave alternating-current lines to a licensed electrician. That still leaves us plenty of ground to cover.

Take the coaxial cable that connects your TV to the cable system, satellite dish or outside antenna. If your home is older than 10 years and that cable has never been replaced, it really should be.

I've spent a lot of time with coaxial cable, and the first thing you learn is that it drinks more than my Uncle Red. Water gets in through breaks in the outer jacket or gaps between the connector and the cable. Just under the plastic jacket, there is a covering of metal braid that serves as a wick, moving the water through many feet of cable.

My bet is that you'll see an immediate improvement in your TV picture if you replace old coaxial cable. Depending on how hard it is to get to the old wiring, it may be a job you can do yourself.

While you're messing with the TV coax, take a look at the connectors on the end that attaches to your set. In many cases, that connector is just barely crimped onto the cable. Replacing that connector can make a difference. Also look for - and avoid - sharp bends in the cable. That can break some of the internal wires.

Next, we need to spend some time worrying about the telephone lines. Ask any telephone repairman and he'll tell you your home is likely a nightmare of jury-rigged connections. That doesn't matter much when it comes to voice calls. But if you use a dial-up modem, or if your phone lines carry your DSL signal, bad telephone wiring can cause slow or intermittent connections.

Even if you're on DSL, a simple test using a dial-up modem and a laptop can give you a rough picture of whether the telephone lines inside your house need attention. First, locate the gray service box for your phones. You'll notice that it includes the same modular connector used inside your home to connect a telephone.

Use that to connect a laptop with a dial-up modem. Log on to your Internet provider - most high-speed subscriptions also include some free dial-up time. Take note of what kind of connection speed you get and also stay online long enough to judge the speed at which Web pages load.

Now take that same laptop and repeat the process from the telephone connection - either dial-up or DSL - you use for your computer. If there is a dramatic difference, you've just learned that your home telephone wiring is marginal.

In most cases, marginal wiring will not need to be replaced. Instead, a technician can run a single dedicated line from the box to your computer's DSL or dial-up modem. That line will bypass your regular telephone wiring and the problems it brings. I recommend that you hire someone for the job.

That dedicated line can make a dramatic difference with both DSL and dial-up service. I've seen cases where on-again, off-again DSL service became flawless.

I told you at the beginning that I would stay away from AC service. But there is one simple check that you can do yourself. Pick up one of those small gadgets that plug into an AC socket to find out whether the ground connection is good. Most often it'll be called something like an AC Outlet Tester.

Most home inspectors I've talked to tell me that even modern houses often have outlets that are improperly grounded. And, with an old home, the outlet may not be grounded at all - even if the wall socket has three prongs.

Besides being a safety hazard, an ungrounded outlet can create problems for a computer as well as causing a slight hum in audio systems.

All you should do is find the problem, not fix it. Unless you are an electrician, please do not work with the AC wiring inside your house, even with the circuit breaker turned off.