Questions/Answers for a new cord cutter

Trying to follow… back to your prior reply:

This would suggest coax for antenna, coax for internet while only having one coax installed to connect DECA adapter to?

Extend antenna upstairs uses DECA from router to a switch, ethernet tablo and fire stick with adapter?

Yes, wifi in basement for whole house is way less than ideal. Moving that should be important, but wiring every thing is just my preference.

So from reading your posts you seem to misunderstand how the Tablo works. When the Tablo is hard wired to your router (which I believe it is now), it is not broadcasting a WiFi signal.

When you stream from the Tablo to your Fire TV Stick the data goes from Tablo to router via Ethernet and then router to Fire TV Stick via WiFi (based on your current setup). The strength of the WiFi signal between your router and Fire TV Stick has nothing to do with the Tablo. The Fire TV Stick never makes a direct connection to the Tablo for streaming, it goes through the router.

Which is why I’ve said before in this thread if you can put the router in a central location in the house it best distributes the WiFi signal (as in do not put the router in the basement).

If you hard wire the Tablo to the router, and also hard wire the Fire TV Stick to the router then you don’t have to worry about WiFi signal strength because neither device is using the WiFi for streaming.

No, if the OP uses the existing coaxial cable to move his cable modem from basement to upstairs then there would be no need to use DECA adapters. The router would also be upstairs connected to the modem via Ethernet.

Ok, so I have two coax cables currently unused. One from the basement to the location of the TV on the main floor and one from the basement to the location of the TV on the second floor. Both TV’s have Firesticks, one 2019 and one 2020 vintage. Both are communicating with the Tablo as you have said through wifi from the router.

If I bought two sets of powered DECA adapters I could convert both of those coax cables to ethernet cables and hard wire the Firesticks to the two remaining vacant LAN ports on my router. Would that be better than the current setup as it is not possible for me to move the router from the basement to a more central location.

I was also wondering if you could use a Y adapter and feed both coax cables with one DECA adapter into it and have a single connection to the router? Maybe not a good idea?

Thanks for everyone’s help on this.
Bill

I would not recommend the Y adapter as I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t work. If you are concerned about using up all of the Ethernet ports on your router you can always add an Ethernet switch (about $20) with an extra four ports and plug it into your router. You could connect the DECA adapters to the switch and still have extra ports left over.

Thanks. Does each coax cable require a DECA with power adapter power at each end of the cable or is power only on one end?

Bill

Each DECA adapter needs it own power supply.

You can use a coaxial splitter with DECA adapters.

So 1 DECA adapter at the router, then use a coaxial splitter and 2 coaxial cables. One cable to the first adapter at HDTV 1 and another coaxial cable to the second adapter at HDTV 2. This setup requires only 3 DECA adapters and only uses 1 Ethernet port on the router. Read this thread below.

https://community.tablotv.com/t/deca-ethernet-to-coax-adapter-very-cheap-way-to-hard-wire-tablo-to-your-router/

OK, I stand corrected!

In Canada, Amazon sells the DECA adapters as a set of 4 DECAs with power supplies and Ethernet cables for $51 CDN. If I bought 2 of those I would have enough for both coax cables to 2 TV’s. Then I need the adapters for the Firesticks and it would work.
Unfortunately Amazon does not sell single DECAs with the power supply included???

Just found these for $26 CDN at Walmart Canada. $52 for two sets.

https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/2-PACK-DIRECTV-Broadband-DECA-Ethernet-to-Coax-Adapter-Third-Generation-with-2-AC-Power-Supplies/PRD60DXSWUFKU86

Bill

You mean as a set of 2? Not 4?

You could just buy the the two sets of 2.

Walmart is not free shipping and it’s sold by some 3rd party seller. Still slightly cheaper than Amazon but you get better customer service with Amazon.

Oh it’s the same third party seller “Satellite Sale” at Amazon and Walmart, I wonder why the discrepancy. You could contact Amazon or Satellite Sale and see if they will price match the Walmart price.

Ya, a set of two.It is confusing. Amazon would cover both coax cables. The Walmart set would have to be doubled.

Walmart ends up at $23.20 for shipping and no HST for a total of $75.20 including shipping while amazon would be $116.39 with HST. Looks like Walmart would win. Still need the Firestick adapters.

Bill

You’d also likely get it faster from Amazon. But guess Walmart is cheaper and looks like the same DECA adapters.

Phoned Amazon and got a $30 credit on my account. Not quite a price match but better than ordering from Wally. Thanks for the suggestion.

Bill

Oh that’s sweet - I’ve never had Amazon do a “price match” or credit.

Let us know how it goes. Look at the diagram on the Amazon website, you only need to use 3 DECA adapters as long as you have a coaxial cable splitter after the DECA adapter at the router.

This diagram:

They said their policy is “not to price match” however, after speaking to her supervisor, the credit was offered. Nice!

I am going to hook up each coax individually as at present I don’t need anymore ports vacant on my router. I’ll let you know how it goes. Probably won’t get to it until next weekend as I am home/online schooling my granddaughter every day this week.

Bill

Yes if you hook up each coaxial cable individually you will use 4 DECA adapters and thus 2 Ethernet ports on your router.

Hooked up my DECA TV adapters and Firestack Ethernet adapters this morning and the Firesticks are now hard wired to the router along with my Tablo. It leaves a few questions for me.

  1. Can I now change my live TV and recording settings to HD1080 8 MBPS for a better picture quality?

  2. I would like to operate my Router on the 5 GHz setting instead of 2.4GHz where others in the area reside.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Bill

Yes, you can change to HD1080 8 Mbps. The DECA adapters give you equivalent to 100 Mbps full duplex hard wired speed so there shouldn’t be a problem with the higher quality.

Your router should have two networks set up for Wifi, one covers the 2.4 Ghz band and the other the 5 Ghz band. If you want to exclusively use the 5Ghz make sure the network names for the two are different and only set up your other devices to connect to the 5 Ghz network.

You can even go up to the 1080p 10 Mbps setting. Are you experiencing any buffering issues now with everything hard wired?