First, thanx to everyone who answered some of my basic home networking questions in a thread from over the weekend.
While I managed to move my cable modem and router from the family room to my den where I had an "unused" Rogers coax cable, (I just plugged that cable into the cable modem and then the router into the modem) and it was all working fine (both desktop and laptop accessing my home wireless network) this morning, I had numerous connection issues.

I spoke with some of our IS people at work and they told me 2 things. First, return the Trendnet wireless USB adapter I purchased to allow my desktop to connect wirelessly (he basically said don't buy Trendnet, buy Linksys) but more surprisingly, he said that even though moving the cable modem (and router) appears to be as simple as unplugging it from one coax cable and plugging it into another coax cable, I should not do it myself, but I should call Rogers and get them to come to the house and move it. Apparently they need to check the signal strength in that particular coax cable and also "allign" the signals, etc.

Is this a bunch of whooey, to charge me $35 for a technician to visit the house, or is there some merit in getting Rogers to come out and move the cable modem? I always thought that the coax cable that comes into my rooms in the house carries both internet and tv and if I plug the coax into a TV, I get TV and if I plug it into a cable modem (and a router) and a computer, I get the internet, as long as I am paying for the service.

Before I book the appointment, any thoughts?

There actually is some merit in what your IT guy told you. Cable modems are more sensitive to cabling issues and it's generally not a good thing to have them connected through splitters, long cable runs, etc. Also, the cabling inside your house may be RG59 which is also not ideal (RG6 is preferred). Therefore, if you're connecting to an existing outlet in your home it's hard to know for sure if you are getting a clean signal from it. It might work just fine but it could also cause problems.

That being said I would give it a couple of days before calling Rogers. The connection issues you're having today may have nothing at all to do with your setup - it could be a Rogers issue or a host of other possibilities. Also, if it's not too difficult you can try moving the modem back to the original outlet and see if the problem goes away.

If you have a lot of splitters etc, you may have signal strength issues. Everytime you split the signal, it gets weaker.

You say it was working fine on the weekend so check again tonight

See post 2 of the following thread. You may be able to check your SS.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=17719

Mine's currently:

Signal to Noise Ratio: 39 dB
Power Level: 0 dB

Having Rogers come will not necessarily fix your problem. If the signal is weak than they will want to run a new dedicated line from the main cable line coming into your house to the cable modem. This may mean going through walls, up the outside of your house or through the ceiling for example.

If possible, remove as many splitters as you can first. If this doesn't help than your wire may not be up to snuff. You can replace the cable. And hopefully it is as easy as tying the new cable to the old cable and dragging the old cable back to the main split.

In these situations, Rogers is usually only a help if the major signal loss is coming from the road to your house or you do not mind paying for them to fix the problem.