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I need help solving my WIF connection issue!

Maddy1
Grasshopper

Hello everyone,  I live in a 1920s 1.5 story house that apparently has some sort of metal structure in the wall that for years has created dead spots in my house as far as WIFI is concerned - if the Shaw modem is on the main floor, I don't have reliable WIFI in my basement home office; and if the modem is in my office, there are dead spots on the main floor and really poor connection for my daughter in her attic bedroom. 

I have Shaw 300 and got pods to try to extend WIFI's reach, to no avail.  I'm now thinking that the only solution might be to simply add a second modem/internet account for my home office, but that will add significantly to the cost.  So before I do that, and being the tech idiot that I am, I want to ask this question:

I have a coaxial outlet in my home office.  Could I get another, third party modem/router to plug into it, and then connect that to my office computer with an ethernet cable?  If I do that, how will that device interact with Shaw's modem (or maybe it won't)?  

I'm tired of paying for internet service that I'm simply not getting.   This is so frustrating. I'd really appreciate any advice you can give me.

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-- no, Ethernet-over-power uses the electrical wires with...

mdk
Legendary Grand Master

@Maddy1 -- no, Ethernet-over-power uses the electrical wires within your walls, while Ethernet-over-coaxial uses the coaxial-cables (that usually connect to a Shaw PVR, or a Shaw cable-modem, or a Shaw phone box.  There also exists "power-over-Ethernet", that puts electrical power into the Ethernet cable.  At the end of the cable, you can put a WiFi box, and take electrical power from the Ethernet cable, to power the WiFi box -- not needing a separate wire to plug the box into an electrical wall-outlet.

A "MoCA" setup is used to connect, over the coaxial-cables in your walls, the "master" BlueCurve PVR to "slave" boxes.  In each room where you want a TV, you connect the TV to one of those "slave" boxes, and that box to a coaxial-cable.  You can record on the "master" box, and watch the recording via any of those "slave" boxes. A long time ago, you just put a TV into each room, and added a coaxial-cable into each room, and your TV's "tuner" selected one of the "analog" channels. When Shaw went "digital", you needed to add a Digital Terminal (or a PVR) between each TV and each coaxial wall-port.  Using MoCA means that you do not need a "full" Digital Terminal (or a PVR) in each room; a simpler box can be used, while the "tuner" inside the TV is not used -- your TV stays on the same channel, and the "slave" box is used to select from all the incoming channels, and outputs just on one channel.

 

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A second modem would require a second account, so there i...

rstra
Grand Master

A second modem would require a second account, so there is a cost. I would run an Ethernet cable to the Shaw modem and then get a second modem and set it up as an access point. 

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-- have you thought about "Ethernet-over-power" ? One Eth...

mdk
Legendary Grand Master

@Maddy1 -- have you thought about "Ethernet-over-power" ?

One Ethernet cable goes from your cable-modem to one of these adapters that is plugged-in to an electrical outlet. The second of these adapters is plugged-in to an electrical-outlet in the other room, and an Ethernet cable goes from this adapter to the Ethernet port in your computer in this other room.

Your house's electrical wires (hopefully not the "knob-and-tube" that was common in the 1920s) carry the signals between the two adapters.

 

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Hi mdk, and thank you for reaching out.  Is that the same...

Maddy1
Grasshopper

Hi mdk, and thank you for reaching out.  Is that the same thing as ethernet over coax?  I've been looking for solutions and that's the one that seems most promising.  I have a bluecurve gateway modem which is MoCa-enabled. 

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I would have the run that ethernet cable through my main...

Maddy1
Grasshopper

I would have the run that ethernet cable through my main floor down to the basement office where the second modem would be - not an easy thing, and unsightly too!  

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-- no, Ethernet-over-power uses the electrical wires with...

mdk
Legendary Grand Master

@Maddy1 -- no, Ethernet-over-power uses the electrical wires within your walls, while Ethernet-over-coaxial uses the coaxial-cables (that usually connect to a Shaw PVR, or a Shaw cable-modem, or a Shaw phone box.  There also exists "power-over-Ethernet", that puts electrical power into the Ethernet cable.  At the end of the cable, you can put a WiFi box, and take electrical power from the Ethernet cable, to power the WiFi box -- not needing a separate wire to plug the box into an electrical wall-outlet.

A "MoCA" setup is used to connect, over the coaxial-cables in your walls, the "master" BlueCurve PVR to "slave" boxes.  In each room where you want a TV, you connect the TV to one of those "slave" boxes, and that box to a coaxial-cable.  You can record on the "master" box, and watch the recording via any of those "slave" boxes. A long time ago, you just put a TV into each room, and added a coaxial-cable into each room, and your TV's "tuner" selected one of the "analog" channels. When Shaw went "digital", you needed to add a Digital Terminal (or a PVR) between each TV and each coaxial wall-port.  Using MoCA means that you do not need a "full" Digital Terminal (or a PVR) in each room; a simpler box can be used, while the "tuner" inside the TV is not used -- your TV stays on the same channel, and the "slave" box is used to select from all the incoming channels, and outputs just on one channel.

 

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-- I would have the run that ethernet cable through my ma...

mdk
Legendary Grand Master

@Maddy1 -- I would have the run that ethernet cable through my main floor down to the basement office where the second modem would be - not an easy thing, and unsightly too!  

That Ethernet cable that ends in the basement office can connect directly to one desktop/notebook computer. But, you may want to put a simple "router" in that office. The Ethernet cable would end in the WAN port on the router, and there would be 4 LAN ports, for up to 4 "wired" computers/printers, and the router's built-in WiFi can be used to connect to your smart-phone or WiFi-capable laptop or WiFi-capable printer. You do not need a second "modem" (modulator-de-modulator) in the office, because the Ethernet cable transmits Ethernet traffic -- that already has been de-modulated (inside the main-floor's cable-modem).

 

 

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OK, I understand.  Thanks for the good explanation.  I wi...

Maddy1
Grasshopper

OK, I understand.  Thanks for the good explanation.  I will try your solution.  Thank you so much!!

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