Forum Discussion

CINTRON's avatar
CINTRON
New Contributor
5 years ago

Is it possible to have two wired connections (Two Active Cable Outlets)?

When doing the self setup I first tried the cable upstairs in my office and nothing. It said something about finding the "Active cable outlet", so then I tried the one downstairs by the tv and it worked. This means my office/gaming room is now on a wifi connection. I don't want to try to run an Ethernet cable from downstairs to my office. Since there's already a Cable Outlet in my office, is it possible to have it activated and connect some kind of adapter to it so that the same service/IP address is split and shared with upstairs and downstairs? Would MoCA Network Adapters work for this? Would I need COX to activate the upstairs outlet?

P.S. I'm aware of COX wifi pods and port forwarding as other ways to improve my upstairs connection. This post is to explore options for utilizing the currently inactive cable outlet upstairs in conjunction with the downstairs cable outlet.

  • Bruce's avatar
    Bruce
    Honored Contributor III

    If you're planning to use coaxial cable for networking, you can either implement a technology from the 80's (Thinnet) or MoCA.

    Thinnet involves NICs and routers with BNC T-connectors and cable terminators, but nobody makes that stuff anymore.  I've read the technology for MoCA is getting better but...in my opinion...you're still trying to improve the buggy whip.

    If your current WiFi range is good, stick with it.  If not and you're renting a Cox router, you may be limited to only Cox MoCA adapters.  If you're not renting, you can read reviews about other network extenders or mesh technologies.

    Running Cat cable is difficult but not impossible.  You just need to find the path of least resistance (drilling & cutting) between your downstairs router and a strategic spot for an upstairs router.  This will take thoughtful and thorough planning.

  • Cintron...for homes/apt that already have coaxial cables routed to each room (sounds like you have one to TV and to office upstairs) there is probably a master control cable box somewhere in a closet where the COX signal is first sent.  If you open the box, at least on mine, I see the main COX line that is split to another modem (for phone) and a wire going into a multiple cable box.  From this switch, I saw multiple coaxial cables, that go to each room.  I remember that when I first got the Cox service, the technician had to find which cable went to which room by sending a signal down each and having me at each room attaching a receiving tool to see when the signal appeared.  The Cox tech implied that making too many "active" lines could reduce the quality of the single signal, since they are all being split.  Something like this, I believe. 

    If you do have a box in the closet, you need COX to identify and "activate" the line you want.  However, if you cable just comes into the house and you see a physical splitter, then one goes to your TV and others go somewhere else, apparently not to your upstairs room.

  • bearone2's avatar
    bearone2
    Contributor III

    cox needs to activate each individual co-ax connection i've got 2 activated but not the extra bedroom..