Question Question about getting FIOS gigabyte speeds with wireless and wireless extender

[rprescot]

I'd like to keep these questions simple because I'm not good at this stuff.

I know if I upgrade from my current FIOS 100Mbps to their 200Mbps service, pretty much the only way to achieve close to the advertised speed is to connect a router to the ONT with ethernet cable and then wire my computer directly to the router, again with CAT6. But I can't do that in my house.

I only have two options both of which I would do. After connecting a router in the basement to the ONT via CAT6, I would

(a) use the router's transmitted wi-fi

and

(b) connect the router to my house's co-ax and then connect a wi-fi extender to the coax in my upstairs office. I would then connect my computer to the extender with CAT6.

Putting aside, for now, questions about types of routers and extenders, where to get them from, wi-fi "dead spots" in the house, and the specifics of my computers', tablets', phones', etc. wi-fi capabilities, here's my first question.

1. Because high-speed internet speed (I assume) seriously degrades or steps-down when converted to wireless or run through co-ax, does it make any sense for me to upgrade to 200Mbps? Would I still have a chance of getting a noticeable improvement in upload and download speeds given what I described in (a) and (b) above?

Next

2. If the answer to (1) is "yes", then ignoring dead zones and the limitations of my current devices, what should I look for in router and extender specifications to make it happen?

I appreciate any help I can get on this. Thanks.

 

[SamirD]

So wifi does degrade and if you use moca 2.0 adapters for the coax, that will NOT degrade as they are good for full gigabit transmission speeds.

So that being said, if you use a moca 2.0 adapter at router and at your upstairs office, you will have the full 200Mbps speed and it would be worth it. Your existing wireless may or may not improve in speed, but wired more certainly will.

As far as 'worth it'--that is up to you based on how much extra it is a month and how badly you need the extra bandwidth.

 

[rprescot]

So wifi does degrade and if you use moca 2.0 adapters for the coax, that will NOT degrade as they are good for full gigabit transmission speeds.

So that being said, if you use a moca 2.0 adapter at router and at your upstairs office, you will have the full 200Mbps speed and it would be worth it. Your existing wireless may or may not improve in speed, but wired more certainly will.

As far as 'worth it'--that is up to you based on how much extra it is a month and how badly you need the extra bandwidth.

Thank you, that is exactly what I needed to know. If you have the time would you take a look at the following:

1. Based on what you said, it seems to me using moca 2.0 adapters in other rooms of my house is the way to bring the greater speed capability to other devices in these rooms. I just read this in a FIOS FAQ

How many Fios Network Adapters can I place on my home coaxial network? A Fios Network Adapter is considered as a node on the home coaxial network and the MoCA network can support up to 16 nodes (includes network connection / router.) To determine how many devices are on the home coaxial network refer to your Router’s settings page.

Even though they don't say it directly, I take it the answer is "Yes", you can have multiple moca 2.0 adapers on your coax wiring. Is this correct?

2. In general, do you have an opinion on whether or not I should rent the router and moca adaptors from FIOS or buy my own? And if I do buy my own moca adaptor can I set it up myself or will FIOS insist on doing that?

Now that I read your answer and poked around in the FIOS networking info., I can see my questions are pretty basic. Thanks for your help.

 

[Fallen Kell]

It is up to you as to if you want to rent or buy the MoCA yourself. Just recognize that renting will probably cost you as much in one year as it would to have simply buy your own (and you will be paying that every year).

The benefit of renting though is that Verizon then can't blame your equipment as the culprit of any problem you are running into. Think of it more as a "tax" for not understanding the technology. If you know what you are doing and can show it isn't your equipment, then this isn't a problem since you can then prove to Verizon your equipment isn't the issue and that they problem is on their end.