Relocate my modem to a different room

[Bizzie]

Hi,

I have a home 3000 modem. There is a gray wire, that connects to a phone connection box in the wall. What kind of cable is it? I need a longer one to reposition my modem.

Thanks!

Bizzie

[BellPatricia]

Hey @Bizzie. Thanks very much for reaching out to the Bell Community 🙂

That sounds like the fibre wire to me. Just to be sure would you be able to share a photo with the Community?

You may need to request a modem relocate so a technician can safely assist.

- Patricia

[Paladin]

Hi!

If it has a green connector (normally on both sides) it is a fiber cable with SC APC (sometimes written SC / APC) connectors. This is usually what Bell uses as far as I know and is what I have...

If it has a blue connector on it it has SC UPC (sometimes written SC / UPC) connectors...

You can get those in quite a few places (Amazon would be my first choice if you do not want to order from a specialized store)...

Good luck and have a nice day!

[Paladin]

One word of warning...

There is a protector that must be removed at the end of those cables (compare with the one from Bell, you will see what I mean), do not touch the fiber there when it is removed, if it gets dirty it could affect your modem performance (speed, etc...)...

Good luck and have a nice day!

[Impala]

Hi,

I'm a new Bell Fibe customer. Switched from Cogeco a couple weeks ago. If I want to move the Fibe modem, can I get an extension for the Fibe cable from Bell or somewhere else? 

Here's why I'm asking. When the installer came I asked him to put the Fibe router/modem where the old Cogeco router and my wifi modem were. That location was roughly in the middle of the house. I could tell the installer wasn't too excited about that idea and he talked me into putting it close to our main TV at the north end of the house. He said the TV should be hard wired to the Fibe modem with an ethernet cable for the best performance, but when I got the streaming box a few days later I realized the is no way to hard wire it. It's strictly wifi. So we could have put modem where I wanted. It was just more work for the installer.

So now the modem is at the north end of the house, but I spend a lot of time in the garage and patio at the south end of the house, about 50 feet or more from the modem and I often loose my wifi connection. This is very disappointing and my wifi performance was actually better with Cogeco.

I know Bell rents Fibe pods or something to extend the wifi, but I don't want to spend more money.

Thanks for any advice.

[Impala]

I see now that it's a fiber cable with SC APC connectors that I need, or I could request a modem relocate and have a technician do it. Based on my experience with the first technician I'm fairly certain I can do a better job myself.

Thanks.

[Paladin]

Hi!

I am not sure how things were wired for you but, if needed, you can find on SC APC to SC APC couplers (or SC UPC if that's what you had) to connect two fiber cables together...

You can get those in quite a few places (Amazon would be my first choice if you do not want to order from a specialized store)...

There is apparently barely any loss of signal when you use those...

If you have a slack box (not everyone has one, in my case it was deemed necessary but might not have been for your install) there might be some additional "slack" cable in there but those can only be opened by a special tool that Bell techs have...

Good luck and have a nice day!

[Impala]

The installer left me some slack cable, maybe enough to move the modem to a new spot in same room, but not enough to put it where I originally asked. So I would need a coupler to add extension to existing cable.

I was looking in the Fibe site and it says the wifi signal range should be 150 feet indoors and 300 feet outdoors. So I don't know why I'm losing the signal within 50 or 60 feet.

[Paladin]

---

The installer left me some slack cable, maybe enough to move the modem to a new spot in same room, but not enough to put it where I originally asked. So I would need a coupler to add extension to existing cable.

In my case my installer put some additional slack cable in a (slack) box like this: https://tiitech.com/product/506f/ This is where the connection between the fiber cable outside and the one that goes inside is made in my case... I am not quite sure how the transition from the outside fiber cable to the inside one is done when you do not have a slack box...

I was looking in the Fibe site and it says the wifi signal range should be 150 feet indoors and 300 feet outdoors. So I don't know why I'm losing the signal within 50 or 60 feet.

---

Those specs depend on the materials used and some materials are worse than others... I would not be surprised if metal was the worst but I know brick (which I have inside the house in some places) is pretty bad too... Good luck and have a nice day!

[Impala]

I have a slack box like yours on outside of house. Had a look inside, but installer only left a couple extra feet. Would have been a good idea to leave more, but I don't think he was very competent. 

[Birdman]

Hello. My Bell fiber optic cable comes into my room from outside and connects directly into the Home Hub 4000. Speeds are great but I need to move the modem into the main living area and outside of my room. I purchased an SC to SC single mode simplex fiber optic patch cable (10M length) on Amazon (it shipped with an SC female - SC female adapter). I plugged the Bell cable into the adapter on one end and the patch cable on the other end with the other end of the patch cable connecting into the modem. 

The length was perfect but I received an error message on the modem  "Error 1201 Low Fiber Signal Check Fiber Connection" and the wifi did not work. I replaced it with the original Bell cable without the patch / extension cable and the modem worked fine again. 

Maybe 10M is too long a run? I looked on Amazon for a shorter cable but now I see there are SCAPC to SCAPC; LC APC to SC APC; SC APC to SC etc. (?)  Lots of different choices. 

Does anyone have any input on (i) why I received the error message with the 10M extension (faulty cable?) and (ii) exactly what kind of extension cable I need to use to move the Modem out of the bedroom into another room? 

Thx in advance. 

[Paladin]

Hi!

If the cable you got has a green connector (should be unless the HH4000 also comes in a SC/UPC version which I doubt...), you need a single mode (9/125) cable with SC/APC connectors on each side...

If the connector you got on Amazon is anything but green chances are it is SC/UPC which is not compatible (the fiber endings are done differently, SC/APC has an angle which SC/UPC does not have).

Apparently Bell uses or did use SC/UPC in some situations/the past so make sure you get something that matches what they installed... That said, I think that the HH4000 only comes in a SC/APC version...

SC is the connector that is used for the HH4000, LC connectors are much smaller.

As for distance, it depends on the emitters as far as I know but in theory this kind of cable can be used for kilometers...

The cable you got had green or blue connectors?

I read that some people got defective cables, that might also be a possibility...

I never had to purchase one of those cables but I will send you a link to a cable which was recommended in the past for this use in a private message.

Good luck and have a nice day!

[Birdman]

Thx for the reply. I should have done more homework before I ordered the cable the first time. Yes, the one I ordered from Amazon was blue - SC UPC and the cable that currently connects the Hub is Green (which now I understand is SC-APC). I was focused on getting a cable that had sufficient length and once I saw SC, I didn't look any further. 

[Nish]

I need to move my modem line from basement to first floor .whom should i contact?

[Paladin · Accepted solution]

You want a modem relocation...

You could try the chat here:

https://support.bell.ca/contact-us

If you prefer to call I contacted them (using chat) for you and this is what they replied:

For this Move request you can communicate with our customer service department:
Ontario and Quebec toll-free: Dial 310-BELL (2355)
From anywhere in Canada and the U.S.: 1-866-310-BELL (1-866-310-2355)
Monday to Friday 8 AM-9 PM.
Saturday and Sunday 9 AM-6 PM
Technical support is available every day Monday to Sunday: 24 hours/day

That 310-BELL phone number is in area code 866...

Good luck and have a nice day!