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Comment by sarchertech | Hacker News Reader

Our municipal ISP installed 20 cat6 drops for free when we built our house 2 years ago.

I couldn’t find anyone local who would install any kind of cable tubing after spending a fair amount of time searching.

You dont even need real tubes, just some holes between floors and pull ropes installed behind the drywall. In commercial construction there is a whole industry of wall/door passthroughs. Go backstage at any concert hall or sport arena and you will see 8"-wide pipe ends near the floor for running cables between rooms.

Stuff like this:

https://usabesco.com/devices/pass-through-devices-cable-fire...

From my experience no commercial installer wanted to touch a residential install with a ten foot pole.

My general contractor had no idea what I was even talking about, and all of the installers who did residential work thought I was crazy.

I’m sure if I was willing to do it pay someone stupid amounts of money I could have done something.

Or if I’d been willing to hold up construction and do it myself, but then I’d probably have been out even more money because at the time mortgage rates were skyrocketing.

Cable tubing is a meme.

Nobody does it except possibly between floors, as fish tape and other things aren’t terribly complicated, and the cost is way higher than naked runs.

If the framing is complicated, or it's an old building, it can be very difficult or impossible to fish it (And I consider myself to be extremely good with glow rods). Much better to install smurf before the drywall goes up.

I’m sure that it’s easier, but I think you’re pretty much stuck doing it DIY.

Commercial installers wouldn’t give me the time of day, and anyone who did residential work just looked at me like I was insane when I asked about smurf tube.

Silly boy, the m is silent.

That's weird, when we remodeled I told my general contractor where the TV and receiver were going and he had 1.5" flexible conduit run between the two places.

Yeah I've been reading these 'conduit in walls' posts for two decades+ now. My cables go through the attic and drop straight down. I could literally grab most of them with my hands through the holes. It seems like theres very little to gain.

Only place I'd see it as necessary are exterior walls that are full of insulation. Or if I was building a custom house or something.

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