Wifi extender connection with coax

I just upgrade to FiOS gigabit with the G3100 router. I’m thinking of adding the E3200 extender in an area of my home where the signal is weak. Nearby is a DVR with coax that goes to the ONT. Can I split this coax and run one of the splits to an E3200 for a wired backhaul? Also, would it be better performance-wise for a wired backhaul to be via Ethernet vs coax?

Accepted answers

JonathanP1

To close the loop on this, I ended up moving my G3100 router to a more central location in my home (vs adding E3200 extender) and now the areas of my home that had a weak signal are good. It was certainly a pain to relocate the ethernet and coax that connect from the ONT to the router but me and my 15' fishing tool got it done!

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Capricorn1

That's exactly what you would do. The Quickstart Guide for the E3200 mentions that you could connect via wireless (which you wouldn't want since that's the weak signal you are trying to alleviate) or wired. By "wired," either a coax or Ethernet connection will work. You would use a splitter near your DVR (and the quick setup says a splitter is included).

Ethernet will generally always be better than coax if you install a fast Ethernet solution like gigabit or better. That said, the coax between the G3100 and E3200 is rated over 1Gbps if I a remembering the specs. (I don't have either one.) It's pretty likely that the coax will make you very happy. Since you have that available coax, I would start with that and maybe go with wired Ethernet if that's not good enough.

JonathanP1

If I wanted to connect with Ethernet to the E3200 extender, where does the other end of the Ethernet cable connect? Can it connect to the ONT, or must it connect to a port on the G3100 router? For an extender, my ONT is much closer and easier to get to than the location of the G3100.

Edg1

Has to connect to the LAN port of your G3100. If coax is available that would be fine as well. The G3100 and E3200 are MoCA 2.5 which will get up to 2.5 gbps.

JonathanP1

gregoryb888

I'm having the same exact issue: I'd like to connect my G3100 to the E3200 with hardwire via Ethernet, but are you sure that the "LAN 1" and "LAN 2" ports on the back of the E3200 are able to receive the internet signal coming from the G3100? (My G3100 is connected to the ONT via Ethernet using the "Wifi 6" port) I thought that these "LAN 1" and "LAN 2" ports on the extender are only for connecting end devices (computers, tvs) and that the only way to hard wire the G3100 and the E3200 is via coax? The latter point was confirmed by the "chat" person on the Verizon site. Anyone have any other experience?