Unpopular opinion: the old guy who told me to always leave a service loop was right, and the guy who said it was a waste of cable was wrong

Kai Barnes · 2026-10-18T20:10:03.235914+00:00

Back when I started pulling coax in Phoenix around 2011, a vet on my crew named Ray told me to leave a 12 inch service loop behind every wall plate, no exceptions. My lead at the time laughed and called it wasted cable, so I stopped doing it for about 2 years. Then we got called back to a house where the drop had pulled tight behind a plate after the homeowner moved their TV three times, and we had to re-run the whole thing. Ray's way would have saved us that trip and about 90 feet of cable. So who's right here, loop every plate or only the ones you think might move?

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Unpopular opinion: the old guy who told me to always leave a service loop was right, and the guy who said it was a waste of cable was wrong | Cable Installers - Guest Forum