I'm in the process of painting the wall behind the entertainment center and so it's finally time to hook up my new modem and router. However, because I have Time Warner cable, I have to keep their old modem in order to keep my phone connected. Right now the coax cable comes in to a splitter, one cable goes to my current modem and the other goes to my DVR. How/where do I split again to send a coax to my new modem that will be used for internet.

I hope this question makes sense. My mind is already reeling from looking at the jumble of cords, speaker wires, hdmi cables etc that is in front of me.

THANKS!

 

Welcome to the forums.

Two modems required ? Are you sure ?

Usually when service is updated..... the old modem is removed so that you only need one modem. Since it appears you are doing it yourself.... you may have to request a single modem.

 

Sorry if I didn't explain it well enough. TW charges $6 a month to rent their modem. However, if you buy your own (which I did) you can continue to use their modem for free to keep your phone hooked up. Crazy I know. But you can't buy a modem that includes phone service. So yes, if I want to avoid the rental fee, have a better internet modem and keep my phone service, I need two modems.

 

Why not tell them to cancel phone service and use Skype or for an out of the box solution Majicjack or Nettalk. The last two just plug into your modem, are very cheap per year, and you can usually transfer your current phone number to them.

 

I do use skype and mostly use my cell phone. But for the sake of argument, let's say I still want to keep the cable phone. It leads me back to my original question - where/how to split the coax?

 

Ideally the modem is supposed to be on the first 2 way split after it comes into the house. I would put the data modem there, because it's going to be sensitive to the signal level, and then it really doesn't matter about the one you're using for the phone, because phone calls don't use much bandwidth.

Vonage is another option you have. I can give you a referral for a free month if you want to try it. It's probably still cheaper than what TW is charging you for the phone service. You can set it up, and have your TW number forward to it while you decide, and then if you like it you can port your number over.

 

What are you trying to achieve by adding a second modem? If you need more data ports or wireless service, you can plug a router into your existing modem.

 

Disconnect the input cable from the existing splitter. Connect that cable to the input of a new 2-way splitter. Connect one of its outputs to the new modem. Connect the other output to the input of the existing splitter.

Make sure you match the existing splitter's specs.

 

More than likely his area upgraded to DOCSIS3.0, which requires a new modem to get the faster speeds associated with it. He tried to save the lease fee by buying his own, but there was not one with the voice ports available. So he has to keep the old modem just for the voice.

 

Exactly right, JerseyMatt! I ended up getting a 3 way splitter as it seemed more logical than two 2 way splitters. So far everything seems to be working okay. Altho I did notice the sound on my TV dropped considerably. Most of the time I listen through my receiver/speaker system so that's not a huge deal. But I'm wondering now if the 3 way split has affected my tv sound.

 

Very minor cable/connector losses aside, the insertion loss of stacking two two ways is virtually the same as a three way. It still gives you one -3.5dB port and two -7dB ports. Just make sure the data modem is connected to the port labeled -3.5dB.

The sound would not have been affected by the splitter. I assume you have a digital cable box? If so, it's more likely the fault of the connection between the box and the TV. Digital signal is either there or it's not. There's no variation in the picture/sound quality based on signal strength like there is with analog