Tell the tech where you want the Hopper and the Joeys, and he/she will do all the work to make it happen. He/She will deal with the details including access to the internet.
The only thing you need to provide is that you have broadband/fast internet service. Everything else is provided by Dish including getting the internet to where it needs to be, etc. and a tech may decide to run new cable for your Hopper system rather than using existing cable due to existing cable being of insufficient grade (at least RG6 capable of passing up to 3GHz for the Hopper, but RG59 and below 3GHz is sufficient for Joye's) or interference issues, but if your existing cable can handle it and you aren't using it for either anything else nor will there be any interference issues, techs may use your existing cable runs.
Perhaps the best answer to your question is that Dish installs a MoCA network using either existing or installing new cable runs to connect all the Hopper and Joeys completely separate and isolated from your home network. DirecTV's type or MoCA is called DECA because it uses a different band of frequencies than the MoCA spec, but in every other respect, it is MoCA technology from the Alliance to which DirecTV, Dish (through sister company Echostar), TiVo, and 51 others belong and, therefore, have rights to implement. Dish and DircTV do this because they cannot know nor depend upon your home network being robust enough to handle the load, and the separate MoCA ensures everything working well as it should irrespective of your home network. TiVo "highly recommends" and pushes its users to use MoCA, as well, for the same reason of not knowing how robust anyone's home network. The Hopper system does access your gateway/router/modem to access your internet service to download content, etc, from the internet, but after/before that, it is all sent through the installed MoCA network to/from your Hoppers and Joeys.
FWIW my all wired Gigabit home network can handle my Hoppers and Joeys, my TiVo's and TiVo Mini's and HD streaming from Amazon, Netflix, and other on the net browsing etc., but Dish and DircTV (and TiVo) can't depend on that. They will NEVER install the Hopper or Genie system on
anyone's LAN. Installing the separate/exclusive MoCA network is the only way to ensure the best possible customer experience without stuttering or freezes due to too much traffic, and Dish and DirecTV will stand behind their installed MoCA network, not your LAN. Besides, it is better to not burden or clutter or slow down your home network with your TV service network. Separate networks in this case is the most desirable of situations. Some older or really cheap routers could never handle the demands of Hopper or Genie system or would run so hot (possibly beyond the Router's processor's capabilities) with so much high bandwidth going to so many places pretty much part of the day to all night, the router just might die
. So installing a separate MoCA network is the best business decision for Dish and DirecTV.
Because other
specific pieces of equipment (Nodes vs. splitters, etc) need to be in place to make a connection suitable for a Hopper vs. a Joey or Super Joey, you cannot, after installation, move a Hopper to where a Joey or Super Joey was connected nor vice-verse. DYIng this is can be a bit complicated to someone who is not truly aware of what they are doing, like Joe Blow and Joe Sixpack (the same guy?). It is easy to make a simple error and mess up your system. Most people are better off calling a tech to change locations of your Hopper and Joeys.
Hope that helps.
