[SOLVED] Virtual Idiot Needs Help Connecting Wired Internet via Cable

[GratefulJames]

I am sure what I need to do has a simple solution, but I am not an expert (or even an experienced amateur) so hoping the literal pros on here can let me know what to do.

I'm in California and I have Spectrum Internet, Cable TV, and voice service. I have a box in an upstairs closet where the cable line runs into the house, and then coaxial cables radiate out from there to every room in the house - they are not all connected.

I have a 3-way splitter in the box in the closet, and two of the coaxial cables running to coaxial cable outlets are hooked up to that. One is located in the family room and is wired to a cable box with TV/DVR etc. The second goes to a cable outlet in my office where a coaxial cable connects to the Spectrum-provided internet modem and a Nighthawk WiFi router.

A third as yet unconnected connection is my issue - that cable goes to a cable outlet in my wife's office upstairs and she does not want to use a wifi connection - she wants a wired ethernet (?) connection. I thought since I had the cable/internet signal in the coaxial port in that room, I could just buy a modem and hook it up, but now I'm not sure that's the way to do it? Seems you have to do too much finagling with the modem to authorize a second modem.

Hopefully, I can get some friendly instructions on the right way to get this done? Spectrum is no help because all they do is get the signal to the house - so I am on my own for the rest of this.

I greatly appreciate and am thankful in advance for any advice freely given!

James
Carlsbad CA

 

[bill001g]

You can only have 1 modem....well they might let you have a second one but then you must pay for a second account.

The technology you want to use is called MoCA. The newest technology can in theory run 2.5g but for most people it easily get gigabit.

You will have to read the details on how you hook up moca. You need a box near the modem and a box in every room you want a ethernet connection from the moca box.

In general what you do is connect all the rooms you need into a big splitter. You then place the moca in each room and they form a network. You connect a LAN port from the router to the moca box . This lets all the other moca boxes use that lan port to get to the lan/internet. The other important things is you need to place a moca filter on the cable that goes outside the house. The moca signal can mess up your neighbors and you don't want your signal to leave your house for security reason anyway. You may not need a extra filter many of the moca boxes have a filter in them but again this all depends on how you cable them


There are a couple brands people like but if you search gocoax on amazon that is the boxes people like even thought there are many competitor unlike a couple years ago.

 

[GratefulJames]

Thanks Bill. I came across MoCA doing more research. I wasn’t sure about it all (amateur). I’m trying to figure out how to configure it all. I may try to post a hand drawn diagram to see if I have it right. Totally Appreciate the info! Jh

 

[bill001g]

There is no actual configuration they just connect to each other....if they do not there is not much you can do about it.

https://www.gocoax.com/copy-of-products

Look at these diagrams pretend the cable on the bottom left is your room upstairs where the internet cable comes into the house. The first diagram is the simplest but the difference between the first and second depends on the type of docsys you have. The second diagram will always work but you must have a extra splitter and some extra cable.

You would also use a splitter before the cable tv box if you wanted a moca device in that room also. I think you can run this also though the moca box without the splitter.

 

[GratefulJames]

OK so here's what I think I have to do (?):

1. From Box (where cable comes into house)>PoE Filter>3 way splitter[>3 rooms via coaxial].
2. Office: Coaxial outlet>MoCA>Modem>Router>Desktop
3. Office 2: Coaxial outlet>MoCA>Desktop
4. TV: Coaxial outlet>Cable Box>TV (no other device) -- Do I just leave it alone, or do I need a PoE Filter or MoCA here?

 

[bill001g]

The cable tv box is fine directly connected if you are not going to put a moca box in that room.

The filter only goes between the ISP and your house.

Moca is pretty simple, gets messy if you have something like directtv

 

[GratefulJames]

Thanks, Bill - really appreciate you giving me direction on this. Will put the thing together and see how I do!

 

[GratefulJames]

Well everything is hooked up and all the lights are lit on both MoCA units, but I can't verify the wife's office because she needs an ethernet connector for her MacBook (getting it tomorrow). However, I am getting privacy errors now on wifi-enabled laptops and the phones aren't picking up wifi (the router is up and apparently working) - any simple fix for that? I have a NetGear Nighthawk router.

 

[bill001g]

Are you thinking the moca messed up the wifi somehow ?

The only privacy error I have ever seen was related to the time being wrong on one of my machines and it was messing up the certificates in the browser.

The moca boxes pretty much appear as a ethernet cable. If they are not working correctly you should get no connection.

 

[GratefulJames]

Well I fixed that issue just by moving cables around...at least wifi is back - going to hang it up and see how I do tomorrow once I can connect everything...too funny...I need a 12 year old nephew to fix this all for me! haha...