# FIOS internet, and TV antenna sharing same line



## av-geek (Jan 15, 2012)

Our new home has had some of the rooms wired with in-wall coax for cable television. My wife and I had Verizon FIOS installed for internet, but cannot justify the $60 a month for television service simply because we don't watch that much TV. We do however want to install a TV antenna in the attic to receive local broadcasting. I wanted to simply connect up the CATV coax lines to the antenna in the attic, and, and reception off that antenna would be available in all the rooms of the house using the existing wiring. 

The FIOS technician however connected the NAT (Fiber to coax converter) directly up to this existing CATV wiring (can't fault him, that's what is typically done). What I want to do is install a splitter/combiner in the line, with one side going to the FIOS NAT, and the other side going to the attic antenna. In theory, what I want to do will work, otherwise, I will need to run a new line from the NAT to the FIOS router, which I really don't want to do, because it will involve opening up walls. I am thinking this will work, after all cable TV is also carried on the same coax if the FIOS user wants it, and all I am doing is connecting an antenna to provide the same signal. What are your opinions on this?


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## ktkelly (Apr 7, 2007)

First issue you'll run into?

Placing the antenna in the attic and you lose 50% or more of the signal strength. The attic is the worst possible location for the antenna (other than ground level). Put it outside where it belongs.

If all the coax is run to the demarc you could remove the splitter and feed the modem on that one single line, the run the feed from the antenna to the demarc and use the splitter to send the antenna signal to all the other locations.


You may need an amp to overcome splitter loses.


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## AllanJ (Nov 24, 2007)

If the cable TV system uses the same frequency bands (many do) as over the air TV then they cannot share the same cable with or without a splitter. That is, unless you use an A-B switch up in the attic instead of a splitter, only cable TV or only antenna signals come down the line at any given time. Of course, when the A-B swith is set to antenna, the cable box won't be able to make heads or tails out of what it gets. When the switch is set to cable then a second TV would not be able to get broadcasts picked up by the antenna. (The A-B switch does not force all TVs in the house to have only the same channel at the same time.)

Today's digital and HDTV stations collectively use the same frequency bands over the air as they did six years ago for analog transmission although the exact channel each station uses today is usually not the same as it used six yeasr ago. The exact channel used for cable TV is usually not the same for over the air transmission.


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