New build townhouse, panel is in 3rd floor closet. Phone jack + coax in every room, so my 1st step will be converting all the cat5e to ethernet so I can hardwire all the Decos. They terminate in the panel closet, so I plan to have an 8-port switch in there. My current setup has the modem on the 2nd floor, so the coax is coming in from the outside (not sure where exactly) up thru the panel to a splitter, then down to modem. I would like to put the new router in the 3rd floor office where there is more space.
Option 1 would allow me to connect the modem directly to the incoming coax. Option 2 would allow me to keep modem and router together in the same room where they are more easily accessible and also better ventilated.
-Does it make a significant difference whether the coax connects directly to the modem or after a splitter?
-Also, what is that super long white cable that is wound up in the back? The end is wrapped in black tape in the top *left corner and not connected to anything.