this post was submitted on 25 Nov 2023
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DSL coax modem? (Frontier) (alien.top)
submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Hi, all. Trying to sort options and hoping to rule this in/out.

Frontier DSL, installed 10 years ago as AT&T Uverse (Voice/Internet/TV then; dropped voice/TV a few years ago) with a Pace 3801HGV gateway. Phone jack was in a bedroom. Installing tech replaced that with a new wall jack that has phone/data ports and a coax jack. Coax runs out of that wall jack to another coax wall jack across the room. Then in the living room, coax runs from another jack there to the gateway. So, outside the wall, it's all coax.

Frontier wants me to replace the Pace. They have sent me two Arris NVG443B which do not have any coax input. Connecting the Arrises via the modem's DSL port to the data port on that bedroom wall jack has not produced working internet through numerous online/phone chats. They insist there is no current option for a modem that will connect via coax, and they need to send tech to get one of the Arrises working.

Short question, I guess, is, is that correct? Are there really no up to date versions of that Pace gateway or its like that I can just plug and play via coax? Or has this ship sailed and I'm going to need tech help? Much thanks in advance.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Frontier wants me to replace the Pace. They have sent me two Arris NVG443B which do not have any coax input.

If I'm reading the specs of that Pace correctly, that coax port isn't an 'input' - it's an 'output' for cable TV service.

They insist there is no current option for a modem that will connect via coax,

If your internet service is truly DSL service, they are correct -- DSL is provided over the POTS network, which would be standard telephone lines.

Short question, I guess, is, is that correct? Are there really no up to date versions of that Pace gateway or its like that I can just plug and play via coax? Or has this ship sailed and I'm going to need tech help? Much thanks in advance.

Without being in your home and able to inspect the cabling to see exactly where everything is going / connecting, and judging by what you've typed into this paragraph, I'd say you're just confused / misinformed about what wires are connecting to where, and specifically what each wire is doing.

Whatever RJ11 jack your Pace is currently connected to needs to be connected to the green "DSL" port of whichever NVG443B they wish to have act as your modem - NOT the red ONT port.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Appreciate your reply. I'm absolutely confused about probably all of this, but here's the weird thing: The Pace _isn't_ connected to an RJ11 jack. All that's connected to the Pace are AC and that one coaxial cable that goes to the wall. Disconnecting the coax, whether at the Pace or at that bedroom wall jack, kills the internet and produces an error page that DSL failed to connect.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Question: Is that Pace box a TiVO? Pace manufactured boxes with TiVo software.

Who is your cable provider?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

What else is connected to the coax somewhere else in the house? I think the coax connector on that router is HomePNA which, if I'm remembering correctly, is like MoCA that doesn't share with cable TV. Since the router isn't connected to the DSL it must be using the coax to connect to a DSL modem that is connected to the DSL. If you can find that other box it should be plugged into the appropriate RJ11.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

The coax port on the Pace is a HomePNA port. It's similar to MoCA.

I suspect the Pace is set up a Wi-Fi Access Point. You probably have a DSL router (possibly another Pace) located somewhere else in a setup like this:

ISP---DSL over telephone line---Pace1---coax---Pace2

You found Pace2. Now look for Pace1. You may have an enclosure inside or outside the house where all of the telephone and coax cables meet. Pace1 may be located near that point.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

You guys inspired me to break open that bedroom wall jack. The "phone" and "data" ports on that plate are connected to... nothing, which um probably explains why plugging in the Arris modem did nothing. The coax runs back to this: https://imgur.com/YF73YX3
That could be my photo, except that mine has "10/13" where that has "19/13."

u/Thesonomakid It was UVerse on install. Frontier bought them out in my area (CT) not long after. _Pretty_ sure the DVR was in the UVerse box itself, which IIRC connected to the Pace by ethernet, not coax. But it has been a few years since I got rid of Frontier TV. For pure cable, we're in a Comcast area, but I don't subscribe. I've never seen any indication of TiVo.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I'm going to assume it might not be HomePNA running on the coax, then, but is that the only thing you've got attached to the coax? Try outside where the telephone drop cable ends up at your house if there's nothing else inside.

That thing is a passive balun, which simply converts telephone signalling to or from the balanced twisted pair from or to the unbalanced coax, but it also claims to be a DSL filter and there is no way your modem should be downstream from that. What that suggests is that the balun is taking signal from the coax and putting it on the twisted pair, after filtering the DSL, for use by a POTS telephone. What is putting the signal on the coax is still a mystery, but there might be another balun, without the filter, at or near the telephone demarcation.

In any case it is becoming clear that the carrier is asking you to install a DSL modem when you don't have the right wiring to plug it into. You may need to ask them to come and fix their mess.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I’m not really familiar with ADSL and how it works but I am well versed in RF including DOCSIS (cable).

The balun (stands for balanced to unbalanced) is to change from twisted pair to the 75 ohm coax used by your modem. It seems like an extra step - they should have run a jumper rather than go through the unnecessary conversion to coax.