# Splitting COAX (FIOS)



## bfrd (Aug 7, 2008)

I know you cannot just split a DirectTV coax line, but what about FIOS. Is there a powered splitter that I should get? Or would any old POS lying around from the 80s do just fine? I have a feeling that it is probably somewhere in the middle, but I want to be sure before picking up anything. 

I decided to keep my old Motorola DVR, that way I can record kid shows there and send those to a different TV, and never have to decide between letting 2 shows record on the TiVo or watching Hockey. My wife loves hockey way more than tv shows and wouldn't be especially happy to miss a game just to record a couple of shows she doesn't even like. 

On a side note, I am so happy to have a TiVo again, even got the remote to start working- finally.


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

Inside the house, Fios is like any digital cable system. So, yeah, any splitter will work. Each splitter causes a slight loss; however, I wouldn't use amplified splitters (except in the unlikely event that they prove necessary), since Fios comes in very "hot" from the ONT. (The splitter loss may actually be helpful -- see all the threads about attenuating Fios.)

Actually, you do want to make sure the splitter can pass MoCA. (That's the system the Verizon STBs use to talk to the router over coax, for Video on Demand etc.) Look for one with a high range.


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## ogre1 (Mar 13, 2008)

wmcbrine said:


> Look for one with a high range.


I'm using a splitter (splits single coax from ONT to router and TV) with range 5-900mhz. Looks like a cheapie splitter. Good enough? Fios installer used existing coax wiring/splitters.


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## rocko (Oct 29, 2002)

ogre1 said:


> I'm using a splitter (splits single coax from ONT to router and TV) with range 5-900mhz. Looks like a cheapie splitter. Good enough? Fios installer used existing coax wiring/splitters.


If your STBs all work OK (guide data, VOD) I guess it's OK. MoCA runs >1000mhz so you may lose it.


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## acvthree (Jan 17, 2004)

Why not just call Verizon and ask them to drop off one of their splitters? Of better yet, watch for a truck in your area. I'll bet they will give you one.

ac


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## bfrd (Aug 7, 2008)

I picked up a 2GHz splitter at Fry's today. I am sure it was probably a little bit of overkill, but in the grand expense scheme of the S3 it wasn't that bad.


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## rocko (Oct 29, 2002)

acvthree said:


> Why not just call Verizon and ask them to drop off one of their splitters? Of better yet, watch for a truck in your area. I'll bet they will give you one.
> 
> ac


You might get the splitter for free. A six-pack will most likely get you a NIM-100. My installer left me a couple NIMs. It was his last call of the day and I was a gracious host/bartender.


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## webstertduck (Jan 29, 2008)

http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10422&cs_id=1042206&p_id=2872&seq=1&format=2


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## ogre1 (Mar 13, 2008)

Thanks for the monoprice tip. Worth a try for $5.15 (incl tax/shipping). Am never around home to track down a Verizon truck and can't bear to battle their frustrating phone menus. 

Hopefully will help w/ my pixelation problem. Have read some posts in the "Pixelation..." thread that mentioned potential splitter problems. And, yes, I have some attenuators on the way from smarthome too. Might just be throwing $ at the problem, but with the Olympics virtually unwatchable, am willing to do it.


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## V7Goose (May 28, 2005)

I have FiOS in North Texas, and I have so many splits in the line that the FiOS techs just shudder and roll their eyes while screaming that it cannot work, but it DOES! And my signal strength looks good on both TiVo boxes and the STB. The few times I have had a major problem where I had the techs out, I just acknowledge their concerns and bypass all splitters while they are here to prove the problem still exists without them. Once they finally fix things and leave, I hook it all back up the way I had it.

My family room has one 5-way splitter to feed TV, TiVo, DVD recorder, VCR and Receiver. Living room has another 5-way to feed similar items, and the bedroom has a 4 way splitter - that is a total of 14 taps off my FiOS cable inside the house.

Now a comment on your pixelation problems - do not accept them - force Verizon to fix the problems! It ain't easy, but it can be done. Learn where to look for evidence of the cause, primarily unsteady signal strength and error rates. You can get these things from TiVo diagnostic screens AND set-top-box diagnostic screens. That latter item is critical, since it will stop them cold when they try to blame it on user equipment! 

Here is just one example of a pixelation problem that I fought - back in mid April I started to have major pixelation and video freezes on several of the premium movie channels I always use to dub movies to DVD. First two calls produced no help from Verizon - their techs could not find the problem. But while they were here, I saw how they were getting into the STB diagnostic screens, so I started researching and troubleshooting on my own after they left. I found that the STB was registering massive errors on the same channels, but it handled the correction much better than the TiVo S3, so I had not been aware that the problem was as bad there as on the TiVo. Next, I checked the error rate on EVERY channel and crossed all of the bad ones with broadcast frequency - found that 100% of the channels on 5 different frequencies were bad, all the others were good. With all this documented I was able to prove beyond any doubt that the problem was theirs and could be seen on the line coming into the ONT; therefore, it had to be in the system BEFORE the signal hit my property. Took another month and lots of yelling and escalation, but they finally found and fixed the problem. And I got a very hefty credit for the bad channels over that time.

It is a shame that I had to show them how to find the problem, but the picture quality of FiOS is so far ahead of cable that it is worth the effort to make them fix it! Good luck,
Goose


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## bhaas (Aug 5, 2003)

can you please tell us what frequencies you saw the problems on? I'd like to see if its possible that they coincide with distortion products between the MoCA freq and another carrier.


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## JacksTiVo (Jan 7, 2006)

I used a splitter between my S3 and S1 until Verizon went all digital. No problems. The S1 is now on-loan with my daughter.


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## sender_name (Feb 12, 2005)

JacksTiVo said:


> I used a splitter between my S3 and S1 until Verizon went all digital. No problems. The S1 is now on-loan with my daughter.


you can get a box for like $4 /mo that will get you 300+ channels...I have one on my s2


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## ogre1 (Mar 13, 2008)

Update. Got the 5mhz-2ghz splitter from Monoprice. No difference. 6db attenuator definitely made a difference. Still a bit of pixels, but now watchable.


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## JacksTiVo (Jan 7, 2006)

sender_name said:


> you can get a box for like $4 /mo that will get you 300+ channels...I have one on my s2


Verizon FiOS TV will provide up to two FREE digital converter boxes per household. When they converted to all digital they advertised that you could received two free boxes by calling 1-800-godigital. I was paying $3.95/month and now I pay nothing.


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