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> Currently the main coax line goes through the basement direct to the 1st floor wall outlet, then coax to the modem.
I’ve made a drawing of how I understand the internet could go to the splitter, then run again to the 1st floor outlet, then to the modem.

Ideally, you'd have zero interruptions between the coax coming from the street, all the way to the plug on the modem. Since it sounds like the coax enters the walls to the first floor from the basement, just be sure you eliminate any coax splitters by using a barrel adapter
UNLESS you also want a coax drop for Cable TV elsewhere in the house.

Then it's just a matter of making sure you've simplified the circuit to the street using the fewest number of splitters as you can. Each two-way split introduces approximately 3.5dB of loss (a little more than 50%) of power lost. Splitters are also known to be super poorly made and absolutely go bad after a few years of use. You may consider replacing any that you're using. These are decent ones.


> I'm feeling bold

Two of those ethernet strips there in the basement look like basic patch panels. They're just for organizing the cables and don't do any switching, per se. I'd figure out what connections you actually need in the house, beyond maybe a ethernet connection to the modem, the TV and your desktop PC and then go through and eliminate everything else. If you want to double check where the lines are terminated to through the massive web of cables, you can pick up an Ethernet Probe and Test kit to make tracking everything down easier. I'd (ideally) only buy one that has a dedicated ethernet jack and is made by Extech, Fluke, or Klein. As a bonus, It's a handy tool for tracing out ANY sort of wiring, too.

Once you eliminate all the unnecessary stuff, you can start making it look nice. Use some velcro wire ties and bundle everything until it looks respectable. You MAY find that you have odd-length cables used as patch cables between the switch and the patch panel. Don't cut anything, and maybe lay out anything you eliminate by length so you can reuse them if your now-neat-looking bundle could benefit from different-length cables. Don't forget to label everything for clarity using your own philosophy.


> I’m not sure how to use this stuff, if it’s past it’s prime, or if I should even bother. But, If it could be useful I’d like to use it. I just don’t understand it despite reading the sticky’s, etc.

You'll feel a lot more comfortable once you understand what everything is and where it all goes.

All that cable is probably Cat5 or Cat5e at best. If you want to be ready for gigabit speeds in the coming years, you might consider running some new Cat6a or better. I don't know anything about the big switch in the photos, but it's probably doing the job fine for now - If you want faster than 100mbit/s network speeds though, you'll need to upgrade it along with the ethernet. As with the ethernet, it's not a priority, just a nice-to-have.

The big coax amplifier you've got there was probably built in 1974 (note: pre-internet) and is all kinds of lossy/noisy mess. I'd go ahead and get rid of that and anything coax-related that you don't think you'll end up using. There's better stuff available on the market now for stupidly cheap, if you decide that you still need an amplified coax signal.

I'd love to see more pictures once you get it all put together and looking nice. If you need any further hardware advice, let us know!