I only have WiFi but want to have WiFi + Ethernet/MoCA in my house

[AlexanderJ]

I'm a first-time home owner + new to TELUS so I don't have much experience yet with home networking.

My Fiber is entering in through the basement ( Imgur: The magic of the Internet- first image). An ethernet cable runs from the ONT to an ECB6200 MoCA adapter. From the MoCA adapter a coax cable runs to the living room where I have set up my Telus Wi-Fi Hub. 

However, I have coax outlets in each of my rooms (5 in total), which I would like to use to set up a wired internet connection throughout the house. None of these work right now (other than the one in the living room) , but in the basement there's a whole bunch of coax cables (Imgur: The magic of the Internet - second image), which don't seem to be connected to anything. e.g. they come out of the ceiling and go back up into the ceiling - it almost seems as if the previous owner connected the coax outlets in the house to one another.

Based on this, how should I approach this? Should I simply get a coax splitter, put it after the ECB6200 MoCA adapter, connect all coax cables in the house to it, and put another MoCA adapter in each of the rooms? I don't believe my house was wired for ethernet as I exclusively have RJ11 outlets.

[Nighthawk]

The way the coax is set up, the other outlets won't work properly for it and they wouldn't be on the same network as the Wifi Hub is. The hub is the main router.

On the first photo, it looks like there are several blue ethernet cables where the ONT is located. They're just missing the plastic clips on the ends / not terminated in a patch panel. If those blue ethernet cables are used as phone lines, and you don't have a landline, it wouldn't take much to rewire the phone jacks from RJ11 to RJ45. Is there a phone jack bear where the Wi-Fi Hub is located in the living room? Are you also sure there are no ethernet jacks anywhere? I'm not used to seeing the phone lines just dangling loose in the basement.

[AlexanderJ]

I have 5 RJ11 outlets (1 in each room) which all look pretty much identical to this Imgur: The magic of the Internet

Since on the second cable the same blue cable is visible, does that mean my house is already wired for ethernet, but I just need to have the jacks re-wired? I wasn't able to find any RJ45 outlets in the house.

[AlexanderJ]

Can't edit my previous comment.

I checked the blue cables in the basement + behind the RJ11 outlets in the house and there's 8 wires (4 sets of two) in all of them. So I'm assuming my house has in fact been wired for ethernet, but the previous owner just never used it and didn't re-wire the ends?

[Nighthawk]

Most newer builds are using ethernet for phone lines. My place was built in 2008 and has separate ethernet cables for both data and landline. I even had one of my phone jacks converted to RJ45 and it works fine.

The previous owner of your place likely didn't use the phone lines for anything and the builder originally wired them up for a landline. If you were to convert the jacks to RJ45, you would have to likely move the Wi-Fi hub down to the ONT, or if there is a phone jack near the Wifi Hub's current location, just convert the jacks, connect the Wi-Fi Hub, and then put a gigabit ethernet switch next to the ONT and connect all of the ethernet lines to it. You'd need to put ends on the cables but that's not too hard. Wiring guides can be found online and the tool to crimp the ends on the cables isn't super expensive. (Example) The RJ45 wall plates can be found at many stores. Likely even local hardware stores though I would recommend shopping around as some places are super pricey for them. Some may also need a mounting bracket. Some wall plates have the screws on the back to attach the wires, like phone jacks, while others can have a keystone where you'd have to use a punchdown tool to put the cables in. (It's fairly easy)  Or if you don't feel comfortable doing the wiring work, electricians can do it pretty quick since they don't have to run wires.

[AlexanderJ]

My home was built in 2007, and yes there's a phone jack next to the WiFi Hub so I'll follow your and xray's suggestions.

Many thanks!

[xray · Accepted solution]

You can terminate those blue cables with RJ45 jacks in each room and with RJ45 plugs in the basement.

I'll assume you want to keep the router in the living room for better WiFi coverage and that you have an RJ11 (soon to be RJ45) jack in the living room.

Buy a 5 port unmanaged gigabit switch and put it in the basement.

Connect like this:

Router LAN --> RJ45 living room --- RJ45 basement --> switch port 1

Room 1 RJ45--RJ45 basement--> switch port 2

Room 2 RJ45--RJ45 basement--> switch port 3

Room 3 RJ45--RJ45 basement--> switch port 4

Room 4 RJ45--RJ45 basement--> switch port 5

[giantbrownguy]

I don't know if it's still the case but years and years ago, I had issues with my Telus internet in my house. I connected with a high level tech from Telus on an online forum and he advised that with Coax, if the wires are at all damaged in the walls (i.e., poked by a nail), the old ADSL signals were likely to have degraded performance. Not sure if that applies to fibre now, but if I were you, I would focus on getting the ethernet up and running.