MoCA 2.0 - Ethernet over Coax

Edit: Added Project Summary

01/21/2016: MoCA 2.0 Adapters and Splitters Ordered!
(http://www.overclockers.com/forums/...et-over-Coax?p=7897524&viewfull=1#post7897524)

01/21/2016: Network Diagram
(http://www.overclockers.com/forums/...et-over-Coax?p=7897576&viewfull=1#post7897576)

01/22/2016: Initial Speed Tests - Pretty Fast!!
(http://www.overclockers.com/forums/...et-over-Coax?p=7898070&viewfull=1#post7898070)

01/27/2016: Sustained 800+ Mbps Through House Cable Lines!!!
(http://www.overclockers.com/forums/...et-over-Coax?p=7899473&viewfull=1#post7899473)


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So, my house was built in 1994...and it's big (3500 ft^2), sitting all on one floor.

The cable modem connection is in the southwest side of the house, with a high power wireless LAN.

The wireless signals are very week on the northeast side of the house.

I have a wireless repeater sitting about halfway between the two, but the signals drop out every once in a while on the northeast side of the house in the 2.4 GHz band. The 5 GHz is pretty solid, but signals at that frequency don't go as far.

So, I was thinking about wiring the house with CAT 6 (or CAT 7 for future proofing), installing a patch panel and a switch. Not really that pricey, but a lot of work...8 cable pulls (1 for each bedroom, 1 for family room, 1 for living room, 1 for kitchen). To avoid having to tear up walls, I was going to use the existing cable TV drops...pull up the cable TV wire, pull down the cable TV wire and CAT 6.

But then I saw these:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013J7O3X0...olid=R9FJMNF9NYPI&coliid=I2UYW1LLEH93SY&psc=1

Has anybody ever used these before? It's basically a cable modem that runs on your internal cable TV wires. Supposed to be a bandwidth of around 700 Mbps or so (that's total...if you have 2 devices transmitting at the same time you will get 350 Mbps on both).

Not GBe...but not too bad.

My plan would be to run one set from the office with the cable modem to the family room, and then install a wireless router off that...Like this:

Cable Modem --> Router --> Switch --> MoCA --> Cable Wires --> MoCA --> Router

This would boost the wireless signals on the back side of the house, and would put a high speed connection in my family room.

Has anybody ever used these?

Thanks!

I ran wires in my house. Keep in mind, if you do run wires, double each of your pulls. If you want one port, pull two wires. It is far easier to pull extra wire up front than to add a line later.

I bought Cat6 wire in bulk from monoprice.com.

I don't think that I could be convinced to use those devices that you linked. There has to be a bandwidth overhead, and I just don't care for that.

Using your old cable as a "pull string" is a great idea only if the cable wasn't stapled down.

If you want any pointers to run your wire, hit me up. Low voltage cabling was my first tech job and I can get you pictures of my install at home.

Hrm - never thought about the cable being stapled down...haven't tried to pull it yet.

I have to get up into my attic and see how big the holes are in the headers first...

I'll keep you in mind if I go that route.

Could also explore the possibility of power-line networking, you can get both ethernet and wifi
covered for much less work and maybe cost.
There are also power line wifi extenders that are cost efficient.

mammut said:

Could also explore the possibility of power-line networking, you can get both ethernet and wifi
covered for much less work and maybe cost.
There are also power line wifi extenders that are cost efficient.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion. I have already looked at power line networking. In general, they are slow and not reliable...unless you get lucky with how your house is wired.

I spent some time in my attic last night. Running network cable will be much more difficult than I had initially hoped for. My roof is put on like I have never seen in a house before (I understand now why I have the Wind Mitigation deduction from my home owner's hurricane policy!). It is very difficult to move up there, let alone get from the attic access to the other side of the house.

I did more research on the MoCA 2.0 network adapters, and they look pretty cool...I'm going to go that route...once Amazon gets them back in stock!

I'm gonna guess that your house is on a slab rather than a basement or crawl space? That limits you a lot.

I live in Florida...what's a basement?

With a house that big I would not think that a power line adapter system would work well. Just too many feet of house wiring.

aNOTHER IDEA MIGHT BE TO RUN ONE SET OF WIRES TOWARDS THE FAR END OF THE HOUSE AND HARD WIRE A WIRELESS ACCESS POINT.

don256us said:

aNOTHER IDEA MIGHT BE TO RUN ONE SET OF WIRES TOWARDS THE FAR END OF THE HOUSE AND HARD WIRE A WIRELESS ACCESS POINT.

Click to expand...

Can't get through the attic easily

Wired, run FOUR to each area you where you need one connection. No wireless for long distances no workies, I also have a big one story house. If you need wireless on the far side of the house set up a new wireless router off the new wired connection. If you can't do the attic, pay someone to do it, they can.

I did it myself, only one hole in the ceiling from my foot, payed to have it repaired with a full painting of the living area ceiling. It sucked.

This is my experiance:

1" spade bit cut through one 2x4 I thought. Needed to cut through another 2x4 farther down. Went to get a extender. Climbed back into the attic and crawled all the way to the far side again. Had another 2x4 to go through, had to climb my fat *** out, and back in again with another extender. I have stepped ceilings. Imagine my fat *** having to do it again 3 times.

I needed two connections back then, I pulled 3 connections. All 3 are full now, wish I put 4 in.

Conumdrum said:

Wired, run FOUR to each area you where you need one connection. No wireless for long distances no workies, I also have a big one story house. If you need wireless on the far side of the house set up a new wireless router off the new wired connection. If you can't do the attic, pay someone to do it, they can.

I did it myself, only one hole in the ceiling from my foot, payed to have it repaired with a full painting of the living area ceiling. It sucked.

This is my experiance:

1" spade bit cut through one 2x4 I thought. Needed to cut through another 2x4 farther down. Went to get a extender. Climbed back into the attic and crawled all the way to the far side again. Had another 2x4 to go through, had to climb my fat *** out, and back in again with another extender. I have stepped ceilings. Imagine my fat *** having to do it again 3 times.

I needed two connections back then, I pulled 3 connections. All 3 are full now, wish I put 4 in.

Click to expand...

Why would you ever need more than one connection? Just add a switch to the end of the first wire and you have as many ports as you need. It's highly unlikely you will ever need more than 1 gb of bandwidth simultaneously from whatever is connected in that room.

As I said before, I can't move in my attic. The rafter beams run at angles, and the biggest space in the "V"s is about 2 feet wide...about 2 feet off the top of the ceiling. Add to that, the insulation is the "spray in" kind...I can't even see the main 2x4 beams running across the ceiling.

The roof is built to withstand a pretty major hurricane.

Bribe a tiny kid to move around on the attic. Make it a game ;-)

freshy98 said:

Bribe a tiny kid to move around on the attic. Make it a game ;-)

Click to expand...

Lol - my wife made the same suggestion for my 11 year old son. The only problem...he's a spaz...and I would end up patching foot holes in my ceiling!

So give him valium or a joint to relax before throwing him up the attic?

Dude, you need to think in possibilities

Your attic floor sounds very thin, like system ceiling? Not sure if that's the correct spelling.

There is not an attic floor...you don't see basements or usable attics in Florida!

I decided to go with the Ethernet over coax. Problem is Amazon, Newegg, Walmart, etc. are all out of stock...I found a place that had the MoCA 2.0 units in stock. Just ordered 2 of these:

MoCA 2.0 Bonded Network Adapter (http://www.actiontec.com/339.html)

The bonded adapters are faster than the non-bonded ones (cost more too). All of the reviews I have read on these show that they can do actual gigabit Ethernet speeds...but you have to do your homework.

These adapters run in the 1125 MHz to 1675 MHz frequency range over the coax cable. You can't use these guys on the same cable line if you have satellite TV (they'll have overlapping frequency bands).

Most US cable (not sure about the rest of the world) run 5 MHz to 1002 MHz. I looked at the splitters in my attic, and they are rated for 5 MHz to 1002 MHz. So, they would not pass the signals from these devices. So, I got me some of these coming too:

5 MHz to 2300 MHz 3 way splitter (bi-directional) (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017T9KKHW?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00)
5 MHz to 2300 MHz 2 way splitter (bi-directional) (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0113JAN8K?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00)

The "bi-directional" is important to ensure that the splitter passes power on the "single to multi" as well as the "multi to single" legs. If it didn't, you would have different return loss on the return leg...hence lower data rates in one direction. I'll have to move a couple of connections off other splitters to make sure I have a direct path between the two MoCA units for maximum speed (not a big deal).

And then finally, a Low Pass Filter (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DC8IEE6?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00) to keep my "network" signals from reflecting out of my house...to keep it secure.


All of the parts arrive tomorrow...will update with actual speeds.

Sounds more and more like you Florida'ians just sleep under a tree during the night ;-)

Anyway, never heard of those MoCa things. Wonder how they perform.

tachi1247 said:

Why would you ever need more than one connection? Just add a switch to the end of the first wire and you have as many ports as you need. It's highly unlikely you will ever need more than 1 gb of bandwidth simultaneously from whatever is connected in that room.

Click to expand...

That is a dangerous mind set. Always pull more lines than you think you need. ALWAYS! I can't begin to tell you how many times you pull just what you need only to find out that you need just one more. Materials are cheap and the labor doesn't change if you pull one, two or more lines. If you need one, pull two. If you need two, pull four. If you have a line that fails or a need that you didn't anticipate, you're covered.

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JrClocker said:

Can't get through the attic easily

Click to expand...

I get it. I was thinking that you could find a general location on the far side and just grunt through it.

Everything arrives tomorrow...I'll let you know!

My plan is to use this as a data trunk between two sides of my house: