I believe you are going to continue using your T-Mobile Gateway as your internet provider? If so, you shouldn’t need to connect your TV(s) via ethernet.
I spent a few years in the military. Where moving your entire household every 2-3 years was normal. The government would hire a crew much like yours to do 100% of the packing & moving. But none of the unpacking. They were also real good at detailed inventories so you had a real good idea of what was in each box. No potpourri boxes with kitchen utensils and bath towels and car parts just to fill a complete box.
The standard advice in the military was to NOT unpack all those boxes after you arrived in your new home. Just take things out of each box as you discover you need it. When it’s time to move again 3 years later, half the boxes will still be taped closed in your garage. Just drive them to Goodwill and drop them off unopened. You don’t need, or already replaced, whatever was in there.
Wise words born of many many thousands of moves.
I sooooo hear this and feel your pain!
When I moved from the country 11 years ago, I left behind a roomful of books. Floor to ceiling shelves almost completely lined four walls (except for doorway). I swore I’d never get over it, as I’m sure most of them wound up in a landfill. In the new place (i.e., the place I just moved out of) I had narrowed this down to three tall bookshelves in the living room and three half-bookshelves in the bedroom (these latter shelves hold my cookbook collection). My attitude has shifted. There are some books that still won’t fit on the tall shelves (They fit okay four days ago <scratches head>) and I’m taking them to Goodwill without batting an eye.
Same with clothes. I don’t go to work anymore and don’t need work clothes. I wear the same 2-3 outfits all week and to 1/2 load of laundry on Saturday. I don’t need much more than that. Except in the winter, I need socks.
There is half a garage full of crap at the recently-vacated house that I’m going to get one of those 800-GOT-JUNK places to just haul away. I did not need to be given the use of a two-car garage. More space just means more stuff.
It’s hard when your roomie is working against your efforts to clear out. I don’t have that problem, for good or for ill.
HOLY COW! That is fucking brilliant!! No wonder they give those guys the big guns! 
If I were going to use the facility’s wifi, what would be the effect of connecting the TV to the ethernet port on the underside of the cable connector on the wall? Streaming channels? Where does the cable box that I will be getting from Spectrum fit into this scenario?
Believe me, I would have done that, but my ex-wife was a major packrat, who never threw away anything. I’m talking broken appliances, bags of clothes that would never fit again, school supplies from when she taught 1st grade 20 years earlier, rolls of undeveloped film, you name it. So we hauled this shit all over the country and eventually overseas. Drove me crazy. Some years after the divorce, I learned that the van we had owned had conked out and it ended up sitting in her back yard for a few years rusting away. When she had to downsize to an apartment the kids went over to her house, rented a dumpster, and cleared out her garage. There had been a water heater leak in there and there were a lot of mildewed things like photo albums and clothing, etc., plus the aforementioned 30-year-old dead appliances. It’s a sickness.
Sorry, was sleeping in after staying up late to play Diablo 4 with friends online.
So, taking it back a step, it depends on whether you choose to keep the 5G Gateway or not. You’ve got good connectivity reported, but not a speedtest for the new location, but may still be faster than what we tested a shockingly short while ago!
If you decide to keep the Gateway, very little has to or will change. Your devices seem to have retained the wifi passwords and work normally (not always a given). IF you decide to use the local service (which is included in rent IIRC) and save the $50 a month, then you would need to go into settings on the Rokus and possible the spectrum box as well and enter the wifi passwords for the Home into all devices.
Now having a few sticks myself, I find entering passwords into such devices with a remote control to be an epic pain - thus a preference for a wired connection when I don’t have an easier option such as one-touch connection tool. The Spectrum cable box is an unknown so far though - it likely needs a connection for updates, but if it has ethernet options or just wifi is still unknown. For that matter it’s not certain the Rokus have a jack for that matter. If so, they’d have a matching plug on the back/bottom/sides. Looks for all the world like a jumbo (old-school) phone plug.
Still, even though you’re uncoiling (like a cat de-scrunching perhaps?) there’s no need to rush it. It depends more on if and when you decide the Gateway will go. Give it a week or so as long as it’s not a budget issue.
In the meantime, settling yourself and 
is the more important and immediate need.
You are paying for the free internet and TV from Spectrum whether you use it or not, so you might as well take advantage of it. Spectrum will give you a box for the TV which will also enable you to use your streaming channels, along with instructions on how to set things up. Since you have two TVs, two boxes if you wish. If your internet connection is in another room, they will give you a box for that along with instructions. Either a Spectrum tech or someone from the home will help set things up if you need it. It’s really not complicated–and cable TV and internet are expensive. Take advantage of the “freebies.”
Possibly.
ThelmaLou already has coax connections in her walls, and the Cisco box on the wall is almost certainly an internet ‘hub’, with wifi and ethernet capabilities. So I don’t know why Spectrum would give her another box. But I obviously don’t know exactly how the facility is set up.
When my Mom was in a care home, the free cable TV was provided via a coax connection in her living room and bedroom.
This. Assumedly the tech will know more than a bunch of anonymous folks on a message board!
I’d like to keep using the Gateway for internet. But I would like to get some cable stations and especially local stations. I’m trying to understand the relationship between cable and internet if I get them from two different providers.
The office here told me that residents got tired of waiting for Spectrum to come out and “install” whatever needed to be installed. So they went to the Spectrum store and “picked up the box” themselves. The facility maintenance people will “set up the box” to “avoid an installation charge.” (Huh?) I’m with you-- what is there to set up? I need to set up an account with Spectrum, but since I have a smart TV, why do I need a cable box (like in the old days)?
Hell, I have a bunch of coax cable around. Can I just connect up the TV to the box on the wall and see what happens?
Not urgent. Just following the white rabbit down the hole…
Well, I’ll be damn interested in seeing how this works once installed!
Sure. But if a Spectrum box is needed, then probably nothing will happen right now.
Cable TV and the internet are two different services, and, quite frankly, there is no relationship between them. I happen to have Cox Cable, which provides me with both cable TV and my internet. But I could have either one without the other. Some people have a DSL internet connection via their phone line, and they may or may not have phone service over that line.
In your case, you’re going to get cable TV from Spectrum. You could also choose to get internet service from Spectrum, or you could choose to keep your internet service via your T-Mobile gateway.
Now I’ve probably completely confused you!
I have been following this thread but didn’t have anything to say until now. So I will start by saying that ThelmaLou is a rock star in how she has handled this move. Congratulations!
As for the TV, Spectrum will probably proved a cable box that will connect to the coax cable. The TV will connect to this box with an HDMI cable. Then the main menu on the Roku TV will recognize this box and an input and you can select this as a source. One connected to the box, you will probably use the remote for the Spectrum box to select the cable channels.
On the other hand, Spectrum also may have the ability to provide channels through a Spectrum app, which is really just another Roku channel that shows Spectrum content. If they can do that, then you will be able to watch Spectrum on both Roku TVs. We use the Spectrum app at our vacation house, it works well. Ask if using the Roku app is an option in your location.
One other internet concern is that it looks like you have an access point in your apartment. Will you be able to set up your own password protected network, or will you be on a network with other people in the building? That might be a concern if you use online banking. I am not an expert on internet security, but I am sure others here know more. At the very least, you might want to consider using a VPN if you are not sure of the network security. Or continue using the T-Mobile Internet.
Though I’m late to the discussion I absolutely agree with this. My wife and I are now in our mid-60s and we are very conscious of the impending and potential issues.
My wife has chronic pain issues and I’m very healthy for my age but that could change tomorrow. So over the next year we will be transitioning from a two storey house with a basement (three flights of stairs) to a one level apartment; after that, some sort of seniors’ residence.
It seems like you’ve done the smart thing.
Yeah, watch that. Am I going to have to get you a beeper? 
Not at all. What you’ve said is exactly what I thought (and hoped) was the case.
That would be way cool and so simple!
I absolutely will! Thanks.
I plan to keep on using the T-Mobile Gateway for internet.
It’s hard to face the fact that a seniors residence might be your best option. Hell, I’m 10 years older than youse guys and I cannot stomach that reality. I don’t feel old and don’t think of myself as an Old Person.
One (awful) thing to consider is that I’ve met several people here who are widowed, and a year or two after their spouse’s death moved here on their own. Sometimes to be near a family member. Sometimes because that 3,000 sq ft house was just too big for one person. THAT kind of move has got to be the absolute worst thing in the world! (I’m a widow, but it’s been 23 years for me.) If you’re considering making the move, do it while you still have each other, know what I mean? Make the decision together. Go through the move, the downsizing, the adjustment to the new place, the hell I’ve just been through with your loved one. Do it when you still have someone besides the dog to snuggle with on the sofa. Do it when there’s someone to hold you and hand you tissues while you cry over the unwelcome but inevitable transition. Doing it is tough under any circumstances, but doing it alone sucks immensely large duck eggs.
Yesterday we (mid-60s) went to a seniors’ expo to start checking out various services, communities, facilities, etc. and attend some talks on nutrition, avoiding falls, funeral planning, etc. it was nice being the youngest people in a venue for a change, apart from escorts and we learned a lot. And, note to Hari Sheldon, spoke with an occupational therapist and an installer about grab bars in the bathrooms. We have appointments with both coming up. And we’re healthy and with it, and wise beyond our ears…
I think grab bars should be standard in all bathrooms. Anyone can slip at any age.
Theres grab bars in our housing complex.
They’re especially handy when you’re trying to take a shower and your balance isn’t back yet from your bum knee.
We’re having a full bathroom remodel, and when I asked about grab bars, the contractor gave me a “well, duh” look and said that of course they install ADA-compliant bars in the shower. (And we get all tall toilets, so I won’t have to try cleaning under the disgusting seat risers amymore!)
They 90s called and they want me back! 
I’ve never been important enough to warrant such a thing, so it makes me feel all spiffy. And out of date. Meanwhile while I catch up on everything that started a few hours late, you’ve been getting good advice. So yeah, feel free to try a direct coax link to the TV and see if it just works, or you may need to download an app / service to the Rokus. Or Spectrum could require some proprietary crap as well. But if you’ve got the coax cable handy, it won’t hurt.
Keep the Gateway working if it’s handy for you, you’ll have less to do, and based on our earlier tests, 4x the speed the included internet has: as long as it’s not a budget issue, paying for higher speeds isn’t exactly uncommon.
Anyway, I’m learning a lot about the sort of things to plan for 10ish years down the line. I’m young compared to the average for the board, but I know that won’t always be the case. And since I live in a multi-floor home, I have to accept (considering the various back / arthritis / knee / hip issues in my family) that eventually I will have to move out even when I have this place paid for in another 8 years.
While remodeling, think about wheelchair access.
One day you’re going to have an operation of some sort, and you may need to use a wheelchair, even if it’s only for a couple weeks.