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tkavan
@bell.ca

tkavan

Anon

[TV] Basic FibeTV questions

I'm considering getting Bell's FibeTV and have some real noobie questions. Yes I could ask them of Bell, but would like to tap into the expertise/experiences of forum members first.

I'm not concerned here with what the kind of plan I can get and how much it will cost. I can deal with that in my talks with Bell, but need some help on the technical side.

1- I have phone jacks in two rooms in my apartment. Can Bell modify each of those so I can just unplug the TV , PVR, etc, from one room and move it to another without any setup issues?

2- How does the flow work... is it wall jack to PVR to TV, or something else?

3- Is the wiring from the wall jack to the equipment by component cables or HDMI or something else? Does it make a difference?

4- Will the FibeTV installation interfere with my current setup of Fibe12 internet and a wireless LAN that connects two computers and a printer?

Thanks for any info forum members can provide.

Tom K.
kovy7
join:2009-03-26

kovy7

Member

From what I know, everything is connected to the main PVR with COAX... Only the modem is connected to phone jack. It shouldn't interfere with anything you have setup for internet, except that you're probably going to have to change modem for a VDSL2 modem.

yyzlhr
@rogers.com

yyzlhr to tkavan

Anon

to tkavan
Bell will install a gateway which is essentially a modem/router combo unit. Your PVR and all other STBs will connect to the gateway via coax or ethernet. If there's already coax in the house, most techs will simply connect the gateway to the existing coax wiring.

I'm not sure if you can continue to use your own wireless router as the bell gateway as some special feature that allows your TV and internet traffic to travel over the same pipe. Perhaps someone else can chime in.

Rigor_M
join:2010-09-26
Quebec, QC

Rigor_M

Member

You can use your router if you want. Just use one of port on the back of bell gateway (sagemcom). But at this point, if not a power user, in a appartement (smaller than a house) and dont need some special feature, then just use what bell installs.

And, if you want, on the sagemcom, there are 2 USB ports that can be used to share, usb external hdd, usb keys or a usb printer.. so thats on the plus side
ifred
join:2012-07-04

ifred

Member

Quick question Rigor,

How much knowledge do you have of the sagemcom ? I have fibe tv and internet and i need to have my router do the pppoe connection. On my older modem ( cant remember what was it now ) i had the passthrough option but i do not have on this sagecom. When i try pppoe from my router as i used to before the Fibe tv part, it just never connects.
Sitting behind double nat just sux and i will not trust my network on that firmware.
ifred

ifred to tkavan

Member

to tkavan
1 - Likely there will be one coax coming out of the modem to a coax in the house where the tech will try to feed as many points of the house as possible.

2. Modem -> Coax -> Digital Splitter for other coaxs -> PVR -> HDMI to TV ( Or component )

3 - read above.

4 - This is why i wanted to reply to your post. Be careful if you use your own router for wireless and internet (PPPoe). Basically all providers try to create a ONE BOX network by providing you with a modem that does router functionality as well like wireless and DHCP, port fowarding DMZ, etc ....
Usually these boxes have shitty and modified firmware that while it works great for the regular user (perhaps your case) but makes life hell for more advanced folks.

On a note, once you get the service, make sure you get your bell installer to try everything with you before he leaves, a lot of times people get excited about the TV and forget the internet part of the setup, etc ...

Hope this helps.

tkavan
@bell.ca

tkavan

Anon

To ifred...

Thanks for the detailed response.

Could I ask for something more specific re #1:

I wish to be able to use my only TV in two separate rooms. Each has a telephone jack, and it isn't practical to connect the two rooms with coax.

Can the technician wire the two jacks, or whatever it is he does, so that I can move the modem-pvr-tv combination from one room to the other? In other words unplug the combination from one room, take it to the other, and plug it in there (and have it work!).

I'm presuming, because I haven't read it anywhere, that it's not possible to have a wireless connection between the modem and the pvr??

Thanks,
Tom K.
ruggs
join:2012-03-26
Ontario

ruggs

Member

This is not currently possible, they don't use telephone jacks for connecting, (Unless cat5e is used for wiring, if that is the case then it may be possible to move the box to and fro) As far as I know bell dosen't have any Wireless Set top boxes yet, but I believe it is planned to release these at some point...

tkavan
@bell.ca

tkavan

Anon

said by ruggs:

This is not currently possible, they don't use telephone jacks for connecting,

Now I'm really confused!! I thought the Bell technician would install a special jack adjacent to and somehow connected to my present jack, and the present jack would continue to be for my telephone service and the special jack would be connected to the FibeTV modem.

Is this not the way it goes? (Obviously I am, as ifred suggested above, a regular user rather than an advanced user!)

Thanks,
Tom K.
kovy7
join:2009-03-26

kovy7

Member

said by tkavan :

said by ruggs:

This is not currently possible, they don't use telephone jacks for connecting,

Now I'm really confused!! I thought the Bell technician would install a special jack adjacent to and somehow connected to my present jack, and the present jack would continue to be for my telephone service and the special jack would be connected to the FibeTV modem.

Is this not the way it goes? (Obviously I am, as ifred suggested above, a regular user rather than an advanced user!)

Thanks,
Tom K.

Only the modem is connected to a phone jack in order to get a VDSL2 signal from Bell. And usually it's installed with a potsplitter if you have phones, because you need to filter them. So you can't move your modem from place to place.

tkavan
@bell.ca

tkavan

Anon

said by kovy7:

said by tkavan :

said by ruggs:

This is not currently possible, they don't use telephone jacks for connecting,

Now I'm really confused!! I thought the Bell technician would install a special jack adjacent to and somehow connected to my present jack, and the present jack would continue to be for my telephone service and the special jack would be connected to the FibeTV modem.

Is this not the way it goes? (Obviously I am, as ifred suggested above, a regular user rather than an advanced user!)

Thanks,
Tom K.

Only the modem is connected to a phone jack in order to get a VDSL2 signal from Bell. And usually it's installed with a potsplitter if you have phones, because you need to filter them. So you can't move your modem from place to place.

Could potsplitters be installed on both my phone jacks, so I could move the fibetv modem from one to the other whenever I wish?
kovy7
join:2009-03-26

kovy7

Member

said by tkavan :

Could potsplitters be installed on both my phone jacks, so I could move the fibetv modem from one to the other whenever I wish?

No...

What the tech could do is run 2 jacks from the potsplitter... filtering the rest.

But I'm not sure what you're trying to accomplish...

"I wish to be able to use my only TV in two separate rooms"

You only have one TV and you want to move it from room to room whenever?

tkavan
@bell.ca

tkavan

Anon

said by kovy7:

said by tkavan :

Could potsplitters be installed on both my phone jacks, so I could move the fibetv modem from one to the other whenever I wish?

No...

What the tech could do is run 2 jacks from the potsplitter... filtering the rest.

But I'm not sure what you're trying to accomplish...

"I wish to be able to use my only TV in two separate rooms"

You only have one TV and you want to move it from room to room whenever?

Yes, I'm doing some renovation/reorganization and don't know which room the TV will eventually be used in. So in the meantime I'd like to be able to move it from one to the other. It's not practical to connect the rooms with coax, so I thought a good solution would be for the technician to enable both jacks to connect to the fibetv modem. Seems like I was wrong! Though I don't know if there is a technical reason why this wouldn't work, or if it's just a case of "Bell doesn't do that."

Anonymuss
@rogers.com

Anonymuss to kovy7

Anon

to kovy7
I think TVs have come down enough in price that you should just buy another one...

»ontario.kijiji.ca/p/buy- ··· CatId=15

tkavan
@bell.ca

tkavan

Anon

said by Anonymuss :

I think TVs have come down enough in price that you should just buy another one...

»ontario.kijiji.ca/p/buy- ··· CatId=15

This is not a money-saving exercise!

It's not practical to run a coax cable from one room to the other. So I'd like to be able to use the jack in either room as my fibetv source. Even with two TVs, I'd still have the same problem... how to connect in either room without coax between them.
kovy7
join:2009-03-26

kovy7 to tkavan

Member

to tkavan
said by tkavan :

said by kovy7:

said by tkavan :

Could potsplitters be installed on both my phone jacks, so I could move the fibetv modem from one to the other whenever I wish?

No...

What the tech could do is run 2 jacks from the potsplitter... filtering the rest.

But I'm not sure what you're trying to accomplish...

"I wish to be able to use my only TV in two separate rooms"

You only have one TV and you want to move it from room to room whenever?

Yes, I'm doing some renovation/reorganization and don't know which room the TV will eventually be used in. So in the meantime I'd like to be able to move it from one to the other. It's not practical to connect the rooms with coax, so I thought a good solution would be for the technician to enable both jacks to connect to the fibetv modem. Seems like I was wrong! Though I don't know if there is a technical reason why this wouldn't work, or if it's just a case of "Bell doesn't do that."

it's doable... it's just this is not a nomad service... lol

Well just ask him to have 2 jacks working for the modem.

tkavan
@bell.ca

tkavan

Anon

said by kovy7:

it's doable... it's just this is not a nomad service... lol

Well just ask him to have 2 jacks working for the modem.

Thanks kovy. That's what I will do. And then I'll be a nomad for a while!

Anonymuss
@rogers.com

Anonymuss

Anon

Well first off, Bell DOESN'T do that and having two jacks run off the POTS splitter partially defeats its purpose of eliminating end taps to obtain stable service, but sure why not, this apparently isn't about stability either, just convenience.

If it's not practical to run a coax, ask the tech to run CAT5, or is that not practical either for some reason?

Better yet, ask him if he has a wireless bridge module in his truck and eliminate the wires altogether..
decx
Premium Member
join:2002-06-07
Vancouver, BC

decx

Premium Member

said by Anonymuss :

If it's not practical to run a coax, ask the tech to run CAT5, or is that not practical either for some reason?

Better yet, ask him if he has a wireless bridge module in his truck and eliminate the wires altogether..

Might as well get the tech to wire the entire house with CAT5 while you're at it...

Seriously, the tech won't do either of those. At most if the tech is nice would be laying out some extra coax to the second location in addition to the primary location.

Guspaz
Guspaz
MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC

Guspaz to tkavan

MVM

to tkavan
You're renovating the rooms, but it's not practical to run coax between them? Huh? Grab a drill and a studfinder, make sure you're not going to hit anything, drill a hole, push coax through to the other side of the wall, install a faceplate (or jack), etc...

Normally the VDSL2 modem is installed next to your demarc and connected to the existing home coax wiring so that all coax-served rooms in the house are usable.
RickStep
Premium Member
join:2002-11-25
Hamilton, ON

1 edit

RickStep

Premium Member

said by Guspaz:

You're renovating the rooms, but it's not practical to run coax between them? Huh? Grab a drill and a studfinder, make sure you're not going to hit anything, drill a hole . . .

I agree with Guspaz.

I am puzzled though that you have no TV outlets in the apartment. Even in buildings 50 years old, TV has been installed by running coax on the outside of the building to 2 or 3 rooms. Running coax in an apartment should be relatively easy. White, Ivory & Beige coax can be inconspicuously threaded along the baseboard. If you are doing renovations it should be even easier, remove the baseboard and hide the coax behind the baseboard.

This looks too much like trying to share an Internet / TV connection with another apartment adjacent (which happens more than you might think).

Just remember this, 2 modems cannot be connected to a Bell circuit at the same time. While you may be able to alternately connect different modems to a Bell Internet circuit, the TV login requires a login that Bell doesn't give to the homeowner.

Renovate, run the coax; end.

Rick

rebmem
@rogers.com

rebmem to tkavan

Anon

to tkavan
said by tkavan :

Can the technician wire the two jacks, or whatever it is he does, so that I can move the modem-pvr-tv combination from one room to the other? In other words unplug the combination from one room, take it to the other, and plug it in there and have it work

It is definitely possible and can be done without problems. The situation is when you have a single reciever, the building is single riser, direct-dial enterphone, and the service is a dryloop.

If someone wanted to plug the modem into the bedroom jack or plug the modem into the living room jack...

The riser pair appears in the living room jack and the feeds branch of of that to the other rooms. All that has to be done is a telephone jack placed at the living room jack and a jack placed at the bedroom jack. Plain and simple. All other branches should be disconnected to avoid endtaps. A pots splitter is not nessesary in this situation as we are not dealing with voice or old style enterphone. Now the customer can move the tv+reciever+modem to either room to their hearts desire.

Guspaz
Guspaz
MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC

Guspaz to tkavan

MVM

to tkavan
When Videotron installed my Illico service, and again when they installed my TPIA modem, both times the Videotron technician came in with a cable staple gun (the kind that doesn't pinch cables) and a big roll of cable on his shoulder, terminated one end, ran it along the tops of the baseboards for me such that it's virtually invisible, and terminated the other end. In fact, when he installed the cable modem, I wanted some flexibility in placement, so requested that he not staple the last six feet or so, and he almost seemed put out that I wasn't letting him install it perfectly neatly :P

tkavan
@bell.ca

tkavan to tkavan

Anon

to tkavan
Thanks to all for the help and information.
Bell tells me I can have just one jack, with others connected by coax. So that's what I'll live with!