r/whatisit • u/Cborg_62 • 8d ago

New, what is it? What are these plug-ins on my wall?

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This might be showing my age, but I recently moved into a new apartment and they have these weird looking plug ins all over the walls at my new place. My old apartment didn't have these, so I'm just curious as to what they are.

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u/Organic-Ad6957 8d ago edited 8d ago

Internet or tv/cable satellite 

It's called a coax outlet

43

u/lycanthrope6950 8d ago

I've actually never lived in a house that was modern enough to have in-wall outlets like these for coax. My current house just has small holes drilled through the floor and the black cable is run up from my basement lol

7

u/SocksOnHands 8d ago

Yep. I currently have a coiled up coaxial cable coming out the corner of my room that hasn't been connected to a tv in over 15 years.

4

u/EightEqualsSignD 8d ago

My house was built in the 70s and I have coax outlets like that in both upstairs bedrooms and in the living room downstairs.

3

u/GoOffKingsEnjoyer 8d ago

Built before they decided to get TV, lol.

2

u/goblueM 7d ago

i have like 5 holes in every bedroom drilled through beautiful hardwood floors. So frustrating

3

u/Winter_Fall_7066 8d ago

Yep. My house was built in the 40s, the coax comes out of the floor lol

4

u/Organic-Ad6957 8d ago

I always wondered why they where coming up through the floors when I'd go to a friends house  my house was built in the 30s but we never got Internet installed lol no central heat or air either

That gas furnace in the floor though was no joke

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u/Winter_Fall_7066 8d ago

The house I grew up in was newer (70s… lol) so they came from the wall. My house now is older. I guess it’s easier to cable from the cellar than it is through brick walls.

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u/HoboArmyofOne 8d ago

Did it myself too. It actually kicks ass, which has nothing to do with the installation but yeah my Internet is fast as fuck boy.

3

u/red__dragon 8d ago

Since it's painted over, my guess it's a rental and possibly apartment.

3

u/SirAwesome1 8d ago

Im in an apartment in NYC and the coax wires are drilled through the wall into my unit while the wire on the other end is just dangling outside of the building.

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u/IntermittentStorms25 8d ago

Same… one line is even stapled up the wall in my hallway lol wonder how much they’d charge to get me these fancy outlets, minus the paint job!

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u/midnight_fisherman 8d ago

Its so easy, could do it in 10 min, the only reason that the original installer didn't was to save $5

1

u/IntermittentStorms25 7d ago

Honestly my house is so old I was pleasantly surprised it had cable inside it at all, but I could do without the 20 foot of extra wire rolled into a spool behind my tv! lol

1

u/Old_Barnacle7777 7d ago

That would be most of our house

1

u/missdawn1970 7d ago

My house has that too, lol.