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MoCA adapters to reach some rooms; Rogers Internet/Cable subscriber

9K views 18 replies 10 participants last post by  brainer 
#1 ·
I did a major renovation on my house about 3 years ago and stupidly didn't run Cat5. I have a decent router, Asus RT-N66U, but still some rooms struggle with streaming video. (I have a Patriot Box Office media player on every TV). I've tried wifi extenders (Amped Wireless repeaters) but they're not great for high bandwidth video. I tried a DLINK powerline kit (the 500 meg ones) and despite my house having been rewired with new electrical wires (romex) and a new circuit panel, the speed on powerline was terrible. So now I've searched the web, and see that MoCA is supposedly a better performer than powerline.

Does anyone have any experience with Actiontec MoCA adapters and rogers cable/internet? The coax in my house is split by rogers and reaches like 7 rooms. Since the only place to buy these seems to be amazon, I want to get some feedback before I make the purchase... and why do so few companies make MoCA?
 
#9 ·
Just want to say that these Moca adapters met/surpassed my expectations! my 1005Mhz splitters were no issue and I installed 4 of these in about 15 minutes. The only additional step I had to take was buy two diplexers from Lowes to split the Moca signals around a cable tv amplifier that rogers installed... the diplexers allow the cable tv mhz to be amplified, and the moca mhz bypass the amplifier. Everything working great now - tv, moca ethernet, even allowed me to add some access points to the moca ends! very pleased - not sure why more companies don't sell this technology???????
 
#10 ·
There's a few reasons why more companies don't sell this technology.

The main advantage to using MoCA is the simplicity of the setup and ability to reach remote devices (outside of your Ethernet/wifi range). However, MoCA is mostly proprietary to cable provider equipment, whereas HomePlug (powerline networking) is readily available through a number of vendors and retail devices. Finally, in terms of speed, networking through MoCA is much slower than either gigabit Ethernet or a good Wi-Fi connection using wireless N or AC.

The proprietary nature of MoCA means that if you switch providers, you need to switch networking equipment. Slower speeds (compared to CAT5e or WiFi) means that you're unlikely to use MoCA unless necessary. And HomePlug probably does a better job at connecting distant devices, since a room is more likely to be wired with power outlets than cable. And lack of retail (non-ISP) products limits the usefulness of the technology.

Note that the same arguments apply to HomePNA phoneline networking offered through DSL providers.
 
#11 ·
I'm using a pair of ActionTec MoCA adaptors along with with my my Rogers Services (Cable + Internet) and they work great. Much better than all the Powerline adaptors I tried. It doesn't like the Rogers Whole Home service though, so if you have that, it needs to be deactivated first. Also, the recent Rogers receivers (4250, Nextbox 2, 3...) are suppose to be MoCa compatible, yet they don't seem to work with my ActionTec (I was told it uses the same standard when I visited their booth at CES in 2012 and they showed them side by side with SA boxes)
 
#12 ·
I am also using MoCA. 5-6 years ago I bought three Motorola NIM-100 adapters on eBay for about $90. I use them to bridge an area where I have ethernet (and cable) to two other rooms where I couldn't easily run ethernet but I do have cable outlets. I also tried powerline but didn't get very good speeds. When I ran a PC to test my transfer speeds with MoCA I was getting about 40 Mbps - which is plenty good for HD video.

Eventually, when I do get around to renovating this part of the house, I will run ethernet but for now this is good enough. I guess the other option would be to move to Wifi since the newer wifi standards seem to be faster and more reliable than the Wireless G standard that was prevalent at the time that I started using my MoCA adapters.
 
#19 ·
Wayne:

I'm curious to learn how your network is set up? 40MB/s is unusually lousy for MoCA. Are you sure
you've wired everything the right way?

With most MoCA adapters, the manufacturer includes a PC-based app which allows you to configure your MoCA adapter settings.

That includes an option for configuring the channel (frequency range) on which you want the device to be operating. This helps to prevent clashes between MoCA gear and other types of gear, which might have issues sharing the (Cable) medium with MoCA.

MoCA 1.0 and 1.1 Freq. range: 860 to 1600MHz (1.6GHz)

Moca 2.0 Freq. range: 860 to 1675 MHz (extended slightly over 1.1)
and added channels in the 500 MHz -600 MHz range, to be used by satellite operators

So with MoCA 1.0 and 1.1, cable TV, Over the Air, most digital equipment, there should be no interference issues.

If you have satellite, you're going to want to use MoCA 2.0, if possible.

BTW, it's also a really good idea if you ask me, to put a POE (point of entry) filter, usually at the demarc
in your network. It prevents signals from neighbouring cable or satellite gear from coming in to your home and prevents your signals from going out to someone else's equipment.



SOURCES: Moca manufacturer presentations and FAQs
 
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