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Can I split ethernet off the fibre modem?

dseanf
Helpful Neighbour

We currently have the Telus 150 fibre optic plan. Fibre comes in through the basement to an Alcatel-Lucent box. There is only one port active on that box (my understanding is that a second port would require a second fibre line) and it goes to the WiFi modem, which is currently on the main floor.

 

Our house is two floors plus basement. Next month my wife and I will both be teaching online, and twice each week we're teaching at the same time (Zoom meetings, mostly). Occasionally there are reliability issues with the WiFi. (This might be as much the fault of my computer as anything else -- Dell XPS with Killer WiFi. I'll have 160 mbps down one minute, and no connection the next. If I'm teaching a class I obviously can't have these intermittent 30 second breaks from the internet!)

 

For more reliable connections I'd rather run ethernet. The house isn't pre-wired for it though.

In the spring my wife and I taught at alternating times, so we moved the WiFi modem down to the basement and ran ethernet into the basement office.

 

I could still do that, of course, but my wife will be teaching on the second floor, and being two floors up is not going to leave her with a good signal.

 

One thought: put an ethernet switch right off the fibre box, and keep the WiFi modem upstairs. But I suspect that the WiFi modem is needed to resolve the signal coming from the fibre box. Would I need a second modem to do this?

Just spent 2 hours on the phone with Telus and the only suggestion I got was upgrading from the 150 plan to 300. That still doesn't give me a wired connection in the basement.

 

Any options I'm missing that don't involve running 200 feet of ethernet cable down the stairs? WiFi boost maybe? Thanks!

23 REPLIES 23

Foonus
Ambassador

Which modem do you have? Does it have a COAX (cable) connection in the back of it, and do you have your house wired for COAX? if so, this is your solution. Have used in particular a second T3200M modem to compliment the original one, and connected them over COAX. This gives you both a WIFI extender and 4 port hardwired switch at the same time on your main floor.  Alternatively consider some of the power line adapter options which usually have fewer drops than WIFI.

dseanf
Helpful Neighbour

Hmm. Interesting. Thanks! We've got the T3200M, which has the coax connector on the back. (Never thought about it -- assumed it was coax in. Does it work for coax out?) If I put the T3200M in our utility room, I can easily connect it to the coax network (and we do have coax wall ports in almost every room), and I can run an ethernet cable straight from the modem to the basement office.

 

Actually I had considered moving the modem down to the basement and getting one of the WiFi boosters for upstairs.

 

But then I need a second modem with coax and WiFi for upstairs. Don't think you can connect a router to coax.

A second T3200M doesn't seem to be all that cheap or easy to find.

Yes indeed that coax is an output designed to work for MOCA , get a second T3200M and you connect coax to the back of them and make sure the coax is in the same loop, then enable MOCA and configure it on both units and you are set. Can get a second T3200M from kijiji, if you are having trouble finding one PM me on this forum.

 

Second T3200M will also act as a wifi extender (booster) upstairs but gives you the 4 wired gigabit ports to use up there as well so could set it near her PC and have her hard wired cat5 to that second modem which would be ideal.

xray
Hero
IThe best solution for reliability is too use Ethernet instead of WiFi. Easiest way is too get a good powerline adapter and use the house power wiring. Connect one powerline adapter to an Ethernet port on the router and another powerline adapter in the room where you need Ethernet.

Using coax and MoCa adapters is also an option but not every room has coax whereas every room has power.

dseanf
Helpful Neighbour

Somehow I didn't even realize powerline adapters were a thing!

Looks like Best Buy stocks them so I can think about this. We do have coax jacks everywhere though -- but unless I'm wrong that means getting a second modem to connect at the other end of the coax. Powerline adapters are a lot cheaper than a new modem!

Correct with the powerline adapters but you can get a used modem for 50 bucks and instead of getting one rj45 port you get 4 of them and a wifi repeater 😷

Nighthawk
Community Power User
Community Power User

Since when did the T3200M gain the capability to act as a repeater? There are no configurable options for it to be changed to a repeater. A large percentage of the standard residential routers out there lack the ability to act as a repeater. You need a specific router that has the hardware and software for it to correctly act as a repeater.


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Have you ever personally hooked 2 of them together, Enabled MOCA and given them the same SSID?  Give it a shot. You are right there are no configurable options aside from enabling MOCA and setting it up correctly. The rest is handled automatically by the hardware.

 

I have a bunch of them left over from private customers replacing them with my custom built fibre routers so have been able to play.

I ran this exact setup at a previous location to hardwire an upstairs machine so unless something has changed in the firmware for the T3200M since then there is no reason it won't work. Wireless devices just pick up the stronger connection to where they are at in the house and still link you to same network backbone since MOCA syncs the addressing services between the boxes.

 

 

It actually works so well that Telus locked out the DHCP configuration page on the T3200M in the last few firmware pushes to make it difficult for users to disable DHCP and use them as pure access points behind the customers own router. Thus the current limitation is only that a T3200M is your primary DHCP server and again MOCA takes care of the rest.

@xrayPosted this long while back.. its in the reference firmware but as stated above disabled directly now by Telus despite multiple customer requests.

Actiontec DHCP.png

dseanf
Helpful Neighbour

Does this setup necessarily require a second T3200M? I see that Amazon sells an Actiontec MOCA adapter with WiFi for about $65.

No, you can use any MoCa adapters connected to any router, switch or access point

dseanf
Helpful Neighbour

Thanks. So it seems like the right setup is something like:

 

- fibre into Alcatel box.

- connect that box to T3200M (keep in utility room next to fibre connection)

- ?? Connect T3200M directly to coax in utility room (or do I need a MOCA adapter in between?)

- run ethernet from T3200M to basement office adjacent to utility room

 

Upstairs,

- connect either MOCA adapter to coax and then run ethernet from adapter to PC, or use a MOCA adapter with WiFi.

 

Do I need filters? Right now there is nothing on the coax, which is why I'm considering that over powerline. We don't have cable TV.

 

The two types of adapter that seem easiest to find are two from Actiontec:

 

This one, with no WiFi:

Actiontec MOCA Adapter for Ethernet Over Coax, 1 Gbps Bonded 2.0 MoCA Adapter (ECB6200S02),Black,9.2" x 3" x 6.5"
by Amazon.ca
Learn more: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B013J7OBUU/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_WoTnFbS0KQBP5

 

and this one, which acts as a WiFi extender:

Actiontec Single Dual-Band Wireless Network Extender and Ethernet Over Coax Adapter (WCB3000N01)
by Northern Shipments
Learn more: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00FKTMWDE/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_vkTnFb6HWCPC3

 

(There is a newer version of this that is about three times the price.)

Nighthawk
Community Power User
Community Power User

The WCB3000N01 is using an older version of MoCA. It's only MoCA 1.x with 802.11n wifi. (slower)

 

The newer version that's more expensive is a MoCA 2.0 adapter with a 802.11ac wifi access point and two gigabit ethernet ports.


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dseanf
Helpful Neighbour

I like this solution but my wife won't like the $350 price tag (adapter for the basement and the wifi one for upstairs).

Her suggestion is to run ethernet cable through the central vacuum tubes. (We don't use the central vac)

dseanf
Helpful Neighbour

@Foonus is there a reason they have to have the same SSID?

When we first moved in, Telus put a WiFi range extender upstairs. (Later we upgraded our service and when they brought the new modem, they took the extender away).

I found it problematic to have the two devices on the same SSID. In particular, if your phone was connected to one device, and the Chromecast on the TV to the other, even though they had the same SSID they couldn't communicate properly. Took me awhile to figure out what was going on.

 

I haven't checked to see if I can access the firmware to change the DHCP settings on our modem.

If not, rather than a second T3200M it seems like I could do just as well with one of the devices mentioned below.

Nighthawk
Community Power User
Community Power User

One other option is to contact Telus tech support and advise them the wifi strength is too weak on the second floor and see if they'll be able to provide one of the MoCA adapters.


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dseanf
Helpful Neighbour

I could certainly try!

But the back story: I ended up starting this thread after:

(a) spending 90 minutes on hold to get through to tech support

(b) explaining that I wanted to move the modem to the basement to be able to run ethernet to my office, and that would require finding a solution for better wifi on the top floor

(c) having tech support say, "OK, I've made a note of that and am transferring you to customer care"

(d) waiting another 45 minutes on hold to get through to customer care

(e) having the customer care guy say that he doesn't know anything about equipment but would I consider upgrading to the gigabit internet plan?

 

I was not successful in explaining to either of them that all I wanted was a wired connection to avoid instability in the WiFi.

Nighthawk
Community Power User
Community Power User

Customer care is just another name for Sales. They're not likely going to be too useful in this situation. It sounds like the support person didn't quite understand everything. Try explaining that the modem is in the basement and wifi is too weak on the second floor and you are trying to hardwire your PC to avoid wifi drop outs. Also mention there is a coax outlet up there. I believe the MoCA adapters Telus uses are the ECB6200S02 you linked previously or something very similar - so no wifi. The field techs often carry the adapters.


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dseanf
Helpful Neighbour

Good news and bad news.

The good news is that yes, the do have MoCA adapters.

The bad news is that they won't let you have one unless you subscribe to Optik TV.

 

Oh well. They're sending a field tech tomorrow. Maybe they can figure something out.