Just bought a house and the current cable/internet setup is really poor. It's a three story townhouse and I'm looking to run 1) coaxial cable and ethernet cable to a guest bedroom on the top floor; 2) coaxial and ethernet to an alternate location on the second floor (currently across the room); and 3) adding ethernet on the bottom floor bedroom. Had a guy come out to look at the house this morning and he quoted me the following:

Labor: 6 hours at $75/hour
Cable: $0.40 per foot (same price for coax and ethernet; no estimate provided but I'm guessing roughly 100 feet total)
Plates: $3-4 per plate
Estimated total cost: $500-550

For some reason the box housing the hookup is on the outside and he seems to think the easiest way to install 2 of the 3 spots (second and third floor) will be to run it around the backyard and hook it up from the exterior which would involve using an extension ladder. I would generally be okay with this because that side of the house is almost never going to be seen by anyone. My questions are this:

1. Based on what I've detailed above, do the quotes for labor and materials sound reasonable?
2. Are there any concerns with connecting things from the exterior?
3. Could it possibly be easier/cheaper to relocate the box to a closet or attic and run the wires from there? I have no clue what the interior walls are like or how hard running a drop would be. I'm guessing the answer is "absolutely not" but just curious.
4. What things should I be worried/concerned about with a job like this?
5. Anyone in Houston have any recommendations for a handyman who can provide me a second opinion/quote?

Appreciate your input!

I don't have much input here, but my house is over 100 years old (plaster walls). All of our hookups are run around the exterior of the house. No problems. We don't have ether net though.

I would say our biggest "issue" with it is our dogs (a lot of the cable is run at the bottom of our house about 2' off the ground. We had a really bad storm, and somehow a staple came out that was securing it to the house. Easy fix, but my dogs thought it was a rope, and pulled on it. It was still a relatively easy fix.

I honestly think we paid an extra $50-100 for directv for the install in 4 rooms.

I've got an exterior hookup to my spare bedroom and I'm not really a fan. It runs through my beds along the back of the house and makes spading them somewhat difficult. Plus, it just looks like of messy.

Have you tried a power line adapter yet? It plugs into you wall outlet and your Ethernet, then a receiver plugs into another outlet with a cat5 output. Basically turns your electrical circuit into a data line. I bought one to add an Ethernet port in another room and it worked great. $29 on Amazon.

If the house is relatively new your phone lines might be cat 5 and you can reterminate them at both wnds

Mookie, dumb question, but we just moved into a 1958 home and only one room, off in the corner of the house, has a uverse outlet.

Could I do this to move my "wired" uverse cable box from room to room? Any chance I use this device to relocate the wireless router to a more central room as well, or should I just get a range extender and put it in the other half of the house for the wireless connection? The ATT's wireless router is weak, or we have impenetrable walls, and the back patio is out of range.