Broadband modem connection

Not sure if this question is relevant for this group, but it's a bit DIY'ish.

My ISP is Telewest and I have a broadband connection via a modem which they provided and set up. I now want to reposition my PC (and obviously the modem also) to another room in the house. I am reluctant to get Telewest in to do it as they will probably charge the proverbial arm and leg, so I want to do it myself.

I have a junction box near to my PC from which a cable goes to the modem. To put the PC in another room I need to extend this cable or replace it with another longer one. The cable looks like a normal co-ax but the connectors at either end appear to be brass and are a screw fitting into the junction box and into the modem.

Can I buy the connectors and cable myself and if so can anybody recommend a cost effective source? Is there anything special about fitting the connectors to the cable or is it similar to normal co-ax TV aerial cable?

Thanks for your help. Pete K.

Reply to
petek
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This has been discussed previously, a Google should find previous answers. Personally I would just leave the modem where it is and run a length of Cat5...

Lee

Reply to
Lee

Blueyonder charge £75 for doing this, so it is worth giving it a shot yourself to save some pennies.

You need to obtain satellite grade coaxial cable for this job though, and, although not too expensive, it is slightly more expensive than normal tele' coax.

The connectors are "F" type, and these can be gotten from any good tele' shop. The best design to get is the twist-on ones, which make life a lot easier than trying to make crimped ends on coaxial. The twist-on connectors only have the ends of the cable bared back to suit the plug, and then you screw the connector on to it.

Hope this helps, and good luck with it.

PS. Keep the bit coaxial cable that BY installed, just in case you have troubles with it in the future.

Reply to
BigWallop

I'm not familiar with Telewest - I use NTL, but I suspect the set-up is broadly the same.

I would avoid moving the modem. The incoming coax from the outside world isn't the same as standard TV cable and, as you have found, it uses screw-on 'F' connectors.

I'd recommend that you extend the cable that runs between your PC and the modem. It will be Cat5 network cable (using a connector that looks similar to a phone plug) or it might be USB. Both types of cable are easy to find in various lengths with connectors ready-fitted. It's an easy plug-and-go solution and is by far preferable to playing with the Telewest bit of the installation.

Mike

Reply to
mheden

If it's USB the max length without an active repeator is 5m and you can't have more than 5 repeators giving a total reach of only 30m.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Erm, well it is standard (foil screened, i.e. CT100) co-ax. F connectors are nothing special, about a quid for ten from CPC (or a quid each from other places)

It it is cat5 then this is a good suggestion, if it is USB however then not so good. Note that most telewest modems I have seen are Motorola ones that have both CAT5 and USB. So even if you are vcurrently using USB then you can switch to ethernet.

To convert from USB to cat5, you need to install a network card in the PC and re-install the blueyonder software.

(the blueyonder software only defaults to installing the USB drivers and stuff if it does not detect a network card during its installation.

(you could also add a wireless broadband router to the ethernet port on the modem and forget about wires. Linksys do a nice one that works well on Telewest)

Reply to
John Rumm

Hi,

Argos do an extension cable with F connectors:

cheers, Pete.

Reply to
Pete C

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