Kudzu is exactly right, there are a lot of rip-offs going on by producers of cables and wiring of all kinds. Cables.com is also a good place to buy fairly priced products. Monster Cable is one of the the worst perpetrators but there are many others. They tout meaningless and valueless features as an excuse for premium prices. OP, you may only spend a few weeks there, but it strikes me that bringing along a wireless router to use is a lot less fuss and less elaborate than whatever you went through to have a satellite internet connection. I'd personally rather not deal with a cable through the living quarters since the alternative is so simple and inexpensive, but suit yourself.

@ace_tx From what I've read a lot of people are suggesting what you said, so I'm thinking that would be a good idea.... can you just help me understand it a bit more? Would I run all four of those wires to where the tv would be in the room? or only 1 rg6 quad coax and 1 6pr cat5e/6 lines to where the tv and they other 2 would be at a different location in the room? (Then of course all those wires would run to the central location, right, and plug into what?, I'm not sure - guess I can figure that out later) Are there any other cables I should have behind my TV in the main viewing area (assuming my dvd player and stuff are in a separate cabinet)? THANKS!

There may be some confusion since this there are a couple posts on this same installation. You can not connect a switch directly to the cable modem unless it is a "gateway" - a router is required. Even if it is a gateway they can be very problematic. The router connects the WAN (from the modem) to the LAN. The switch interconnects the devices on the LAN. Most current routers nowadays are optimized for streaming A/V as one of their features. They monitor their own built-in (switch) ports and prioritize data to help ensure smoother media flow. A switch on a router port, feeding multiple ports, will generally not receive this same prioritization. That is why I recommend connecting streaming media devices directly to the router. Streaming media on a home network from NAS makes no difference. The chain should be: cable modem, router (with it's ports feeding streaming media connections), and a switch connected to one of the router's ports, feeding the other network connections, for best overall performance.

i agree with davidr, goto dslreports.com and check out the wireless forum. I am a MVM at that site, and the users there KNOW their stuff. your router has built in wireless, is it enabled now? if so, you could be open as we speak. my ex wife got a laptop last year and has not paid for internet since then. she just drives until she gets signal, then sits and surfs. her last house she stole bandwidth from teh neighbors. if she had bad intentions, she could have gotten any number of other things as well. secure your wireless. and as to the "tech" who only recommended security for financial transactions, what the heck does he think checking your bank account and paying CC bills are? ALL wireless connections should be locked down tighter than dick's hatband. hopefully soon the industry will ship with strong security and random passwords, but until the general public understands networking better this won't happen.