Moving Router - Getting Closer?

[armond_in_nj1]

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@drbozai wrote:

... So which cables do I switch around?

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I wrote earlier:

" ... try various coax cables at the splitter until you get an Internet connection. Do the experiment and report back ... "

What happened when you carried out these steps?  You did the experiment, did you not?

Further, did you connect the router at the coax in the living room and test Internet connectivity?  I understand the Dish person said it doesn't work, but means little considering the changes he made in FiOS equipment.

Since you haven't yet described ALL of the wiring layout in your home, I'm forced to ask if there are any unconnected coax cables near the splitter.  If there is such a cable, it could easily be the one running to the living room.  Please respond with detailed descriptions. 

You provided a picture of a 4-way splitter, but you do not say if this is a FiOS part or a Dish part.  In fact it does not appear to be even a part of your system, since there's nothing connected to it.  If FiOS, have you disconnected each coax in succession to determine the effect on your equipment at various locations?  This elementary method takes some time, but it's straightforward and provides essential information.  Be sure to label each coax afterward.

Without a reasonable description of your wiring, your current active coax connectors, which side is connected where (Dish versus FiOS, etc.), and the many other unanswered questions asked earlier, I'm afraid I have no additional ideas for you.  However I wish you the very best of luck in resolving your issue.

[drbozai]

Sorry for the lack of detail.  The splitter is from verizon, the dish splitter was installed somewhere else, however doesn't effect fios I believe.  There are no unconnected coax cables.  So you are saying to unplug each coax cable and see what fios service goes out? Do I unplug the "in" s or the "outs" of the splitter.  And since there are no extra coax cables outside near the ONT, does that mean the living room coax is essentially not wired to the outside? I apologize for the details, the fios installation was done by the previous owner, and the wiring was already here when I moved in.  Also I'm afraid that If I unplug anything, then I replug it back to the splitter, the service might not work, leaving me in a big mess

[armond_in_nj1]

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@drbozai wrote:

... The splitter is from verizon ... There are no unconnected coax cables ... you are saying to unplug each coax cable and see what fios service goes out? Do I unplug the "in" s or the "outs" of the splitter ...

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Yes, disconnect each of the three coax cables at the FiOS splitter and try to determine how this affects each of the FiOS outlets.  You can attach the router, and old TV, or just about anything to the outlets until you determine which coax is serving which location.

Once this is done, attach a label to each cable at the splitter for future reference.  Also, the "in" socket presumably connects to the FiOS ONT so there is no need to mess with that one.  Just leave it alone.

Also, it would help if you specified where all of the FiOS outlets are.  So far you've mentioned one in the basement and another it the living room.  Where is the third, and is it "active"?

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@drbozai wrote:

 ... since there are no extra coax cables outside near the ONT, does that mean the living room coax is essentially not wired to the outside? ...

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Not necessarily, although that's possible.  The lack of a "loose" coax near the ONT could mean that the living room coax is actually live.  I mentioned this earlier several times and suggested that you test it with the router, despite the statements of the Dish technician to the contrary.   So far you have not reported back on this (rather easy) experiment.  Is my request not clear?

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@drbozai wrote:

... the fios installation was done by the previous owner, and the wiring was already here when I moved in ... I'm afraid that If I unplug anything, then I replug it back to the splitter, the service might not work, leaving me in a big mess

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From what you've already said, the service doesn't work  properly now so you can't really mess up what's not working.  As long as you do things in a step-by-step fashion and label your work as you go, you will not get into trouble.

Besides disconnecting and reconnecting the coax cables at the splitter and elsewhere serves a useful purpose, since every so often a connection that looks OK really isn't, and needs to be re-seated.

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If you continue to refuse to perform the suggested tests and experiments in a timely fashion, I have the authority to call in a FiOS drone strike on your property.  Believe me, the results won't be pretty.

NOTE:  Just kidding, NSA.

[drbozai]

Alright.  I'm getting there and doing the discoveries.  I went outside to check again, no loose extra coax cables, everything is plugged into a splitter, whether it be the Verizon splitter or dish splitter.  Now I disconnected the router and took it to the living room, (the place the dish tech said was inactive).. It works however the WAN COAX light doesn't come, meaning no internet.  

Ok, I took it to the family room port (a port that I used before).  Plugged it in, DOESN'T WORK (No Wan Coax). Has the dish tech somehow disconnected it? What an inexperienced tech, he didn't mention it to me.  Now, I took it to the master bedroom port (another place it used to work), SAME thing. (No wan coax).  I am in disbelief, this wasn't even mentioned to me.

Now to a side note:  There is a extra Coax port in the master bedroom, which nobody used... I plugged it into that, it works.  So now we know that we have TWO fios active coax ports around the house.  Let me go outside and unplug the cables out of the splitter to see indeed which cable leads to here, so I can label.

I'll post another after the test.

[armond_in_nj1]

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@drbozai wrote:

...  went outside to check again, no loose extra coax cables, everything is plugged into a ... disconnected the router and took it to the living room ... the WAN COAX light doesn't come, meaning no internet ...  

...  took it to the family room port ... DOESN'T WORK (No Wan Coax). Has the dish tech somehow disconnected it? ...  took it to the master bedroom port ... (No wan coax) ...

... side note:  There is a extra Coax port in the master bedroom ... plugged it into that, it works.  So now we know that we have TWO fios active coax ports around the house ...

Let me go outside and unplug the cables out of the splitter to see indeed which cable leads to here, so I can label ...

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Excellent work so far.  It seems that if you can get the router working on the first floor (which seems to be the case) you will have accomplished your major objective: Wi-Fi on the first floor.

I have to take some time to digest the possible changes the Dish tech could have made.  I think you indicated he took two of your coax locations (family room and bedroom) for the Dish system.  I assume these both work properly with Dish.  It appears quite likely that he also took over the living room coax and did not bother to reconnect it to the FiOS network where it was originally.  That would explain his comment that the living room location would not work for FiOS.  Was he perhaps told that the living room might at some point be used for Dish?

Based on the above comments, I suspect the one of the coax cables currently attached to the Dish splitter is really the living room cable we are trying to identify   If this is the case and if you continue with the testing and the labels, you will eventually identify the living room coax cable at the Dish splitter.  At that point you will be able to move it back to the FiOS splitter and be set to go with living room Internet.

Keep at it and keep reporting back.  Meanwhile I will have the drone pilots stand down.  Temporarily, of course (smile).

[drbozai]

Alright so I finished labeling, as far as the verizon splitter goes.

Now something I didn't know , was that there is ANOTHER coax port in the basement, that also works for fios.  So after labeling, there are 3 cables that go into the fios splitter and work, Upstairs bedroom 2 (that is not used for dish, and I never used for fios, but apparently works), Basement 1 (that always worked), and Basement 2 (that apparently works also).

Now I didn't tell the Dish tech I was gonna use the living room for dish, so who knows what he did...

As far as it is know, I'm lost about where the living room cable is outside..

Now there is a extra coax cable outside connected to nothing, but the black coating has been taken off the end and its bare with thin multi-colored wires going everywhere.

There are no loose cables outside, so does that mean the dish tech did cut something?

[armond_in_nj1]

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@drbozai wrote:

Alright so I finished labeling, as far as the verizon splitter goes ...

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... but not the Dish splitter.  As I emphasized in my last post, it's likely that one of the cables on the dish splitter is the living room cable.  You need to check this out to be certain.  Everything else you just wrote indicated that the living room cable was removed from the FiOS splitter and fitted to the Dish splitter.  There's only one way to find out.

[drbozai]

I'll give it a shot.. however the dish splitter is only a 2 way splitter therefore one goes to the living room dish receiver, then the other goes to the master bedroom dish receiver.

[armond_in_nj1]

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@drbozai wrote:

... the dish splitter is only a 2 way splitter therefore one goes to the living room dish receiver, then the other goes to the master bedroom dish receiver.

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... which means don't bother with the exercise, assuming both Dish devices in both rooms are working properly.  That other loose cable near the splitter with the multi-colored wires is probably your old phone service from an earlier install.  It probably consists of many multi-strand colored pairs.  It's of no use at this time.  I am assuming there are absolutely no other unattached coax cables out there, right (see below)?

Did you look in the basement for a coax wire coming down from the area near the living room coax?  The previous owner could had done many strange things, one of which would have been to run coax from the living room and somehow connect it to the second coax in the basement using a union coupling.  Seems a possible explanation for the second coax in the basement, anyway.  Keep plugging and reporting and of course trying.

Yes, this is trying.

[drbozai]

I don't see anything coming through the wall underneath where the living room coax would be.

However, this set is coming through the wall in the basement from outside.  But when I trace it up the outside of the house, it goes to an old satelitte dish on the roof of the house the nobody uses.

The end of this looks like this...

So since the Fios router works with living room port ... with the exception of no internet access, is the only problem finding it and connecting the other end to the splitter? 

And my other questions is, where are the other two cables (family room, and master bedroom) outside, they used to work!

Thank you for being so patient.