Using moca adapters

[lking]

Hi there, I was thinking of a way to get another access point with a wired connection on the top floor of my house. The best way I could think of doing it since I don't have ethernet ports in my house was to use the coax port in the upstairs master.

The current setup Telus setup is as follows:

In Garage:

ONT---Ethernet wire---Moca adapter #1---Coax cable into outdoor grey Telus box

In Living Room on main floor:

Coax port in wall---Coax cable---Moca adapter #2---Ethernet Wire--- WAN port on T3200M

I purchased another Actiontec moca adapter and plugged it into the coax port in the upstairs master, but the coax port did not light up. To make sure the new moca adapter I purchased wasn't faulty, I replaced the existing adapter going to the T3200M with the new one and the coax light lit up and I was able to confirm that I had internet on my devices.

I don't know what the problem is here, is it possible that the coax cables leading upstairs have been disconnected at the splitter in the grey Telus box outside my garage?

Also another weird thing, I thought I should be able to use the coax port on the T3200M since it has built in moca capabilities and thus bypass Moca adapter #2. However, when I get rid of Moca adapter #2 and plug the coax cable straight into the T3200M, I do not get internet. An even weirder thing, when I plug in the coax cable straight into the T3200M and I try logging into the router page at 192.168.1.254, it takes me to the login page for the ONT. And while the coax was plugged directly into the T3200M, sometimes I would get internet on my 5 Ghz network but nothing on my 2.4 Ghz, but this internet was only working on one device and not any others. When I checked the IP addresses my device was getting it was something starting with 68.xxx instead of the typical 192.xxx

If anyone could help with this situation that would be great, could I get a Telus tech to come down here open the grey Telus box outside and see what's going on with my cables?

[Nighthawk]

The coax port on the T3200 is for a LAN connection. When you have the ONT connected to the coax on the T3200, it acts as a glorified switch and may actively fight the ONT/Telus for DHCP. You would want to avoid that as it'll just cause problems. The 68.x IP address is an external one and normally accounts are only permitted 2 IPs. How often that's enforced, I do not know. That would mean your devices are wide open to the internet with no firewall. That's what happens when a WAN connection is connected to LAN instead.

There is a good possibility that the coax jack in the bedroom is not connected and that Telus has isolated the existing coax line being used. If it is isolated and the rest of the coax lines are all on one splitter, you'd actually need a second coax jack to connect the T3200 itself to, and then have that jack/outlet/cable connected to the coax splitter, before the upstairs one would see a signal. That's assuming the splitter is still connected to all of the other outlets. Depending on the age of the house there may be more than one splitter. My parent's house had the splitters inside the house and not in the outside box. Means Shaw didn't have to drill as big of a hole in the house to run the lines in.

If that splitter was still connected, in the Shaw box (Telus boxes don't have coax typically) or elsewhere in the house, and the rest of the coax outlets were all on that same splitter, none of the other connected MoCA adapters would be part of the network created by the T3200. They would be pulling an external IP from the ONT, if they're able to, and you'd need another router for each MoCA adapter. It gets expensive and complex doing it that way.

The next best solution I would suggest looking at, if you are looking for a hardwired connection, may be powerline adapters. There are gigabit ones available so they wouldn't limit the speed and often can be placed anywhere as long as they're directly plugged in to the wall. If you do that route, I'd recommend reading up on each so you get the right set.