Wanted to add wired ethernet to a new room, decided to repurpose our coax now that we are post-cable.

Learned about this cool tech - MOCA, v2.5 is up to 3Gb/s total bandwidth.

Wired from my fiber modem via ethernet cable, added coax to my house central coax port, then added a second MOCA device upstairs in the new room.

Have 500 Mbps service, getting 400+Mbps symmetrical now in the new room.

I went with this brand (had two ethernet ports on each side, something I thought would be useful), but you can mix and match I hear.

[smile.amazon.com]

EDIT: The only warning I have is that you DO need to pay attention to how coax is wired in your house. We used to have the Charter Triple Play - which was VOIP phone service too. When that phone modem was removed, they left a mess of the coax cables. I had to manually map which was which. I will need to replace the splitters with higher bandwidth models if I want to add anymore rooms with this kind of ethernet too.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/27/2021 11:48AM by sekker.

did this here from our FiOS cable. Works great as there is less "competition" for wifi on the extension with more local bars. I think Robert first hipped me to the concept a few years back.

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composed with both pinkie toes

I have used MoCA adapters for nearly 10 years and they have worked great for me. They are easier to install them instead of running new cabling through existing walls or roll the dice with wifi over long distances.

I just upgraded our adapters in May to a similar one to what sekker linked. Unfortunately, my timing was off as I bought the previous model with only 1Gbps ethernet connections. The new model was just released and has one 2.5Gbps and one 1Gbps ethernet connections. Oh well, I don't have any 2.5Gbps equipment in my network yet. Some day.

Quote
Gilbert
I have used MoCA adapters for nearly 10 years and they have worked great for me. They are easier to install them instead of running new cabling through existing walls or roll the dice with wifi over long distances.

I just upgraded our adapters in May to a similar one to what sekker linked. Unfortunately, my timing was off as I bought the previous model with only 1Gbps ethernet connections. The new model was just released and has one 2.5Gbps and one 1Gbps ethernet connections. Oh well, I don't have any 2.5Gbps equipment in my network yet. Some day.

The older MOCA devices are reported to play well with the newer MOCA units.

Note - the new ones do not raise the speed of individual nodes, but instead enable the addition of more nodes on a single network up to 3Gb/s. In my case, that would let me use coax to every room on the top floor from one MOCA point and at least one more downstairs and still have a connection over 400Mbps. These new ones were not available last summer when I did a surface-mounted ethernet wiring to a just-in-time wired connection for my house amidst the pandemic. This solution seems great since we have abandoned any need for coax for a cable subscription.

I've been using MOCA for years in my TiVo setup to connect the minis to try main TiVo Bolt. Works great.

Sekker,

I used MoCa to expand the network in my apartment before the days of mesh routers. Verizon's FIOS hardware actually has MoCa built into it. So, for me, it was as easy as just adding the MoCa boxes where I needed to throw an ethernet connection or a router in AP mode for boosting WIFI.

The Verizon FIOS Wireless Expander is actually a MoCa box with wifi built into it. Although I have switched to a mesh network at home which provides superior coverage all-around, i still have that expander in place because it adds some ethernet ports in a room where I need them.

MoCa was and still is a fantastic solution for expanding a network without running ethernet cables all over the place. Definitely work better than powerline networking. Tried powerline and it barely worked. Most houses have coaxial in place, which makes MoCa a solid option.

Robert

Are there limitations on running the coax near household power cables like you have with CAT5e?

Thanks,
Mike

Flare,

No idea. Each location I've used MoCa with had preexisting coaxial lines. Just plug the boxes in, wire them, done. No issues. If I had to install lines, I wouldn't install coaxial. I'd install ethernet and call it done.

FWIW, current model FIOS boxes don't even need coax and MoCa anymore. They can connect to your main FIOS box via wifi.

Robert

Thanks, Robert,

I have a detached garage with buried conduit between it and the house, and I would like to route ethernet (fiber or coax) to it. The conduit contains a power cable, so Cat 5e is not a good idea and running new conduit isn't desirable. There's plenty of capacity in the conduit for another cable so I'm considering running one there. I'm thinking optical may be the best choice.

I cannot recommend optical in an area that's difficult to access for maintenance. I've seen plenty of optical cables fail. But just my 2cents'.