Fibre along with either Coaxial or Ethernet cable

[Vancouver-condo]

I would appreciate advice.  We are renovating a condo in downtown Vancouver that had fibre installed a couple of years ago. The condo was built in 1982, and has a suspended ceiling with 15 inches of space above.

Coaxial cable runs from the entry point to the living room, and the bedroom. Attached are two photos of the entry point.

It would be relatively inexpensive to run Ethernet cable instead, but is there any advantage? Would there be any difference?

What would you do?

[xray]

What are you connecting to? Coax requires the purchase of MoCA adapters so Ethernet would be my recommendation.

[Vancouver-condo]

Hi xray.  I am rather clueless about this.... I am not sure what we will connect to.  The white box is the new Fibre box, but has never been connected.  Previously (my mother) used just Shaw cable for TV.

[xray]

I can't see your photos yet (needs approval from forum mods/admin). I would run 2 Ethernet to the living room and 1 to the bedroom and 1 to the kitchen (if applicable). Ethernet cable is cheap and if you are doing a reno it's better to overbuild now than to underbuild and have to add more runs later.

[xray]

I can see your pictures now.

Consider installing proper wall jacks like this:
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07TYY47QW/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0

Does the existing Ethernet cable connect to the white box from inside the wall or is there another room behind that wall?
Can you open up the white box and take a picture of the inside?

[giantbrownguy]

I don’t know if this is still the case, but pre-fibre, Telus’ internet signal would struggle if the coax cable was damaged in the wall (i.e., caught on a nail). I had a Telus tech install Ethernet as a solution and at the time he had mentioned Ethernet signals didn’t degrade as much as coax.

I don’t know if this is still the case but I have run Ethernet throughout my house and have no issues.

[baburao553a]

It would be relatively inexpensive to run Ethernet cable instead, but is there any advantage? Would there be any difference?

[xray]

The advantage would be cost, flexibility and speed. Coax has limited use other than analog video (security video etc.). I would run both coax and Ethernet cables in that case.

[Vancouver-condo]

Thanks for the help!

""Can you open up the white box and take a picture of the inside?""

I will try to open everything up today to get a photo.

[Vancouver-condo]

Here is the inside.  Also the second picture shows the Ethernet cable.... it hooks through the wall then is deconstructed and hooks into the phone jack craziness ???

Any help appreciated!

[polecat]

No pictures yet---- My take of this--- internet pre fibre by cable company to modem cate 5 from modem hooked to tel cable to go rooms with  computor. Tel wire has enough wires to hook up to for internet. Not the best but a lot of people have made use of the tel wires to get to their equipment without major opening of walls etc.

[polecat]

Now i see -- fibre panel is good the rest is junk . not enough wires in tel cable to do internet from ont. The fibre will hook to the ont  ( Needs 120 volt ) run cate 5 above the tbar to your locations. You can have your router modem with wifi  fed with the cate5. Possible feed the cate5 from inside the wall to above the tbar ceiling so it is hidden. I would get an electrician  to do this if you don't know how. Being a condo your wifi coverage should be good even with some concrete walls . The tv's can use the wifi to feed them. Good luck Polecat

[xray]

Yeah, that phone/ethernet wiring looks dodgy. Do you know if the phone jack worked? If it did then just cut off the ethernet wire and leave the phone jack as is.

You'll be running new ethernet cables from the router up to the ceiling to your other locations. Not sure where you'll be putting your ONT and router but as @polecat mentioned you'll need a power outlet nearby.

You have a couple of options for getting the cable into the wall

1. You can run cable through these on both ends
   https://www.amazon.ca/BestMounts-Decora-Through-Theater-Systems/dp/B08ML36D3V
2. Or you can install something like this
   https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01EMKYYP0/ref=twister_B0711FZXXS

Option 1 is easier as you can buy terminated cables of the required length and just run them. Hide the extra length in the ceiling since you won't be able to get exact lengths.

Option 2 is tidier/cleaner but requires you to terminate the cables yourself.

[Vancouver-condo]

THANKS everyone for your help.  Looks like I will use Ethernet cable, and yes there is a power outlet within 3 feet.  I know it is overkill for 2023, but running through a new ceiling, with lots of noise insulation etc. . I think I will just buy 100 feet of Cat8 cable.   Amazon has one from Yauhody, which seems to be all they specialize in, for $57.  It has 4.7 stars with about 3,000 ratings.