A Few Specific Questions on MOCA Adapters

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
A

arblargan

Distinguished
Jun 19, 2011
12
0
18,510
So I've recently moved my wife's computer downstairs and unfortunately have no way to get ethernet to her computer. We currently have a 250 Mbps cable internet connection. I tried hooking up a wireless adapter to her computer, but wireless just doesn't provide the kind of speed that she's needing, especially upload (she runs a photography business and uploads a lot of galleries).

I've been doing some research and I see MOCA adapters coming up a lot. It seems like these are primarily used to provide cable TV to multiple rooms, and I don't see a whole lot of people using these to hook up to another computer. My main question is, can I use this effectively for a computer?

My second question pertains to the speed of the MOCA adapter. I see a lot of these things tapping out around 175-200 Mbps. For my wife's computer, that should be fine. For my computer, however, I'd like to be able to max out my connection speed. Currently my computer is connected via ethernet to the router (it's on the same floor of the house). Will hooking up a MOCA adapter between the modem choke the internet to all devices in my house to the 175-200 Mbps range? If so, are there any MOCA adapters that can support the full range of my internet? Currently my ISP has plans to upgrade my plan to 1 Gbps in the future (1-2 years). Are there any MOCA adapters that can handle that speed? I'd rather get it now than have to get one now and then another one later.

Third and final question. Do any stores big name stores (like Best Buy) carry these products? I live in Alaska and I'd prefer to get in in a store than have to pay for shipping.
 
Solution
USAFRet
MOCA. Multimedia Over Coax Adapter. You're running ethernet over the existing coax lines in the house.
I have one that I'm going to install in a day or two, to provide ethernet upstairs.

It should NOT affect connection speed of anything else...just whatever connects to it.
And I probably wouldn't expect too much actual speed out of it. Maybe 80-100Mbps back to the router.
Sort by date Sort by votes
ronintexas

ronintexas

Judicious
Dec 10, 2012
5,911
0
32,960
The best solution for those speeds (consistent/reliable) would be to run an Ethernet cable up to the 2nd floor and place a router there if other devices connect also. MOCA and power line adapters do work, but depending upon the wiring in your home, they may not give you the advertised performance (remember -these are "max" speeds under ideal situations).

MOCA operates under separate channels as compared to video signals and your internet signals - however, depending on how the cables are designed (quality of cable, splitters, splices, etc...) it may or may not give you prime performance.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
USAFRet

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Mar 16, 2013
171,815
18,142
184,590
MOCA. Multimedia Over Coax Adapter. You're running ethernet over the existing coax lines in the house.
I have one that I'm going to install in a day or two, to provide ethernet upstairs.

It should NOT affect connection speed of anything else...just whatever connects to it.
And I probably wouldn't expect too much actual speed out of it. Maybe 80-100Mbps back to the router.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
ronintexas

ronintexas

Judicious
Dec 10, 2012
5,911
0
32,960
I had a friend that spend about $400 on a high-end router and PCIe card for his 2nd computer on the 2nd floor to get a better connection - it gave him decent performance....For that price you can usually get a professional to run an Ethernet connection from the two sites and give you the optimal connection (1Gbps). Depending upon where you live, they can charge anywhere from $200 - $600 depending on the length of the run and the building codes (sometimes permits are required) and the structure of the building. Sometimes you can even find someone on Craigslist that does it on the side....
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

arblargan

Distinguished
Jun 19, 2011
12
0
18,510
I've already done the assessment to try and get it down stairs. I've been in the attic and the crawl space. The problem is that other than the perimeter walls, there's no common walls that the upstairs and the down stairs share. Most of the perimeter walls that are accessible from the upstairs have a window directly under them on the first floor.

Not only that, but if I do manage to get it to the first floor, there are horizontal studs in all of the perimeter walls. Without removing entire sections of wall, there's really no way for me to get it from the upstairs to the down stairs in the house.

Now I can run it outside the house, but I'd like to avoid doing that. These MODA adapters would be much preferred to doing all of this manual labor. My biggest concern is the computer that's connected to the router, not the adapter. Would this computer suffer the same bandwidth loss even if it's not getting the internet directly from the MODA adapter?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
abailey

abailey

Distinguished
Mar 23, 2014
944
0
20,960
I agree with the others. About the most you could get out of the current MOCA and Powerline Plugs are 150Mbit/s. I use MOCA (and DECA) in my house extensively but it runs at under 100Mbit/s which is fine for me. Next month the MIMO Powerplug AV2 models come out. In test I have seen so far they can do over 300Mbit/s. So they may be an option. The problem with Powerplug units is they may not work well at all in your house. You just have to get them and try them. The best option by far if you can do it is run cat5e ethernet cable.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

arblargan

Distinguished
Jun 19, 2011
12
0
18,510
So I went cruising Best Buy to look for a MOCA adapter, or anything that would work and found these Netgear Powerline Adapters (http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Powerline-500Mbps-Nano-Adapter/dp/B007ILFFS6). I didn't want to buy these because I wasn't entirely sure if they would work in my house, but with the return policy, I figured why not.

So I get home and installation took all of 5 minutes, most of it being opening the box. After installation I was pretty happy that it worked in my house! The first speedtest I ran on the wife's computer showed download at 50 Mbps download and 11 Mbps upload. This is right about the minimum of what she needs. The biggest thing that she needed was the full upload speed which wireless just was not able to do. We're both happy with the results since there's no more ethernet cord going all the way down the stairs through all of the rooms.

My computer is still maxing out the download at 250 Mbps, so all-in-all this is a fast and easy win-win for us. I don't know how many years in the future I'll be in this house, or what projects may arise, but hopefully I get time to get an ethernet line routed down the walls one day. But for the foreseeable future, this will do nicely. Thanks for all the help.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
USAFRet

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Mar 16, 2013
171,815
18,142
184,590
So, for a little further MOCA-ethernet verification...

FiOS residential network, free MOCA-ethernet adapter the FiOS guy gave me. 50/50 plan from Verizon, usually resulting in ~56/~62Mbps
With no other changes to the house wiring other than swapping in a new coax splitter upstairs for another tap:
Connected PC via Cat5e off the MOCA device still gets the same tested speed. ~56/~62Mbps, going through multiple coax splitters.

Where would it max out? Unknown.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ronintexas

ronintexas

Judicious
Dec 10, 2012
5,911
0
32,960
Thank you USAF for that update - interesting results on that. If higher transmission speeds are possible - that could be a great solution. One question - do you know how old the cabling was in the home? I know before 2000 or so, they used a lower grade cable in most residential applications, and when I upgraded service in Las Vegas, they had to replace a bunch of the wiring for my whole home DVR to get the MOCA operating properly (the older cable couldn't handle the signal requirements of the MOCA communications).
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
USAFRet

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Mar 16, 2013
171,815
18,142
184,590


Coax in the house is literally brand new. I wired it in June.

Primary line from the ONT is a 100' line bought from Amazon.
Line going upstairs is a mix of semi-old and new 25' lines.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom