Best way to hook up cable modem

[mikemac4498]

I recently purchased the Trail Runner 32ODK and I will be parking it seasonally at the beach. The cell service in the area is horrible but there is cable access at each of the sites. My plan is to get at least internet and cable package, and possibly phone if the package works out ok. Now what I am trying to figure out is the best way to get everything hooked up. If I connect the coax to the connector on the outside of the trailer should I be able to put the cable modem in the entertainment area connected to that coax? Will I need to run the cable in where one of the slides is? Or should I try something like securing the cable modem outside, and protected from the elements, then feed the cable TV portion into the coax connector on the outside of the trailer so that all TV's will have cable?

 

[danemayer]

Hi mikemac4498,

Congratulations on the Trail Runner and welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum.

Sounds like you want the cable TV set top box to feed signal to more than one location in the trailer, and to connect an internet modem.

One way would be to put the cable box outside and connect the output to the trailer coax connector. If you do that, you'll have to also put the internet modem outside and split the signal coming out of the campground's coax connector. If the internet modem has WiFi output, you won't need wires into the trailer to get internet.

If you have space, you could put both boxes inside, at the Signal Booster. If you take the cable coax off the back of the booster and split it, you could feed both boxes and return the output of the cable TV set top box to the input of the Signal Booster.

 

[mikemac4498]

Thank you for the fast response. Ideally I'd like to have everything inside so I don't have to deal with keeping it out of the weather and the splitter option sounds like a good way to go.

 

[danemayer]

One thing to watch out for is that it's easy to short the power on the back of the Signal Booster. You might want to pull the fuse in the main fuse panel before working on it.

 

[Crumgater]

When we've connected to the "cable available" at RV parks, there's no box required, and you only get what's on the Park's plan.

I don't think you can just add another box (modem) and get internet, either... the cable company normally has to enable that feature at a switch near-by.

I could be wrong... but you might want to double-check what's really available for the location at which you're staying.

 

[danemayer]

When we've connected to the "cable available" at RV parks, there's no box required, and you only get what's on the Park's plan.

I don't think you can just add another box (modem) and get internet, either... the cable company normally has to enable that feature at a switch near-by.

I could be wrong... but you might want to double-check what's really available for the location at which you're staying.

RV Park Cable TV service has gotten complicated over the past few years.

In 2013, following a 2012 FCC decision, the major cable companies started removing their old analog service in favor of digital-only. The old analog service didn't require a set top box. The new digital service does.

A few parks with new digital service had the cable companies install additional equipment (MDTA) to decode the digital signal so RV'ers would not have to use a set top box. But, in a park with an MDTA, internet service is probably not available on the cable wiring because of technical issues.

Many parks have cable TV that is actually a rebroadcast from Dish or Directv or another source that is not from a major cable company. Those are still using analog signals that don't require a set top box. But they probably cannot provide internet service over the cable.

Parks that have service from a major cable TV provider, that have moved to digital, should be able to provide internet service. But for cable TV in those parks, a set top box will be needed.

As I said, it's gotten pretty complicated.