Question How to set up a MoCa adapter on a home network with Bell internet?

[Sneaky666]

I have a new house and I want to set up a MoCa adapter for fast internet but need some guidance. Some facts about the house that I noticed.

1. There are 4 coaxial ports around the house. 1 in basement, 1 in family room, 2 upstairs.

2. In the basement fuse box area, there is a coaxial cable being split into 3.

3. In the upstairs office room, there is a Bell Hub 2000.(DSL) that connects to the phone line. This acts like a wireless router + switch too.

Therefore my guess at how the whole coaxial network is setup behind the walls is like this. My guess specifically is somewhere there is a 1-2 way splitter for the upstairs rooms.

I guess the phone cables is separate and is what's powering my bell hub. So I think that means there is no signal being used at all in the coaxial network. I am not using any cable TV.

Given this setup, how can I best setup my MoCa adapters and where do I place them? Would a MoCa adapter work in this setup? Is there a way to reduce the splitters to keep the coaxial line strongest?

 

[bill001g]

So your internet comes in on the DSL connection ? OR do you have a cable modem someplace hooked to one of the coax jacks.

So step 1 is to replace the splitters. The one you have in the photo only goes to 1000 it needs to go to 2500. I forget if cable internet will work on the 1000 ones, I know it is recommended to always use 2500 ones.

I would get simple ones that just connect all the ports together not the ones like you have with in and out.

You would need 1 moca adapter in the room that has the dsl router....again if that is your internet router. You just plug the coax from the moca into the wall and a ethernet to the lan on the router. In any other room you need internet you do something similar except you plug in your end devices.

 

[Sneaky666]

So my internet is a very standard bell internet. I don't know exactly how they set up the internet, but there is a Bell Hub 2000 upstairs which connects on phone lines labelled DSL. I added 2 pics above. My guess is its a DSL connection, as I don't really see a dedicated modem, and none of the coaxial ports appear to be in use.

I can replace the 1-3 splitter in the basement to something like this if you think its best
https://www.amazon.ca/Tolmnnts-Spli...2500+mghz+splitter+coaxial,aps,81&sr=8-2&th=1

But if there is another splitter somewhere behind the walls, I have no idea how to determine if there is one and how to get to it. Do you have any ideas for that?

When you say this "I would get simple ones that just connect all the ports together not the ones like you have with in and out. ". Can you show me an example one? I'm not sure what you are referring to here.

In terms of that setup, that's what I was thinking, but what confuses me is since I have Bell internet which comes in on DSL phone lines (and not coaxial), it seems like nothing is powering the coaxial network. Would this still work with the moca adapters?

 

[bill001g]

It is actually better that nothing else is using the coax. If it was you take a chance of the moca interfering with it. Moca for example will not function on the same cables as directtv.

That adapter should work fine. I forget what if any limits there are with in/out. It makes sense when you have a dumb tv antenna where the signal only goes in 1 direction but almost anything else data goes in both directions.

In any case I would just hook up the new splitter the same as the old.

Hard to say where the other splitter is. Since there are 2 jacks upstairs but only 1 cables going up their there has to be one. It is highly unlikely it is behind the wall board. It is likely in one of the outlets or maybe in the attic. They do not put them where you can never get to them in case they would ever fail.

I guess you could try the moca and maybe that splitter is rated for the moca. Most moca runs just above the 1000mhz, it does not actually go all the way to 2500.

 

[Sneaky666]

Ah ok thanks. But do you know about the bell internet connection, if it would work with connecting moca adapters? Since BELL is not sending any signal through the coax for internet, do I need to rearrange the way the splitter or cables are in the downstairs fuse box area? Would it help to disconnect the cable in the "in" slot of the splitter?

Also for this one "I would get simple ones that just connect all the ports together not the ones like you have with in and out. ". Just wondering what you were referring to, is it a coax splitter or some other kind of device?

 

[bill001g]

Not sure the one in my house all the cable come down into the panel and hook to one big splitter. It does not say in or out on any of them.

Again I am not sure if it really means anything even if you were to hook a ISP connection to the "in" jack all the traffic still must go in and out of the port or you would not be able to upload anything to the internet.

Any cable you are not using is best disconnected.

Pretty much what you want to end up with is all the coax cable connected together. It does not really matter where the connections are made.

What is key though is you must have at least 1 moca box near the bell router. You will hook a ethernet between the router lan and the moca device. The moca unit will then use the coax cable to share this lan port with all the other moca devices.

 

[Sneaky666]

Okay, so lets say I have this kind of setup. Where the question mark is, is probably the fuse box closet area. My question is how would I stick these together? If its a splitter, what exactly goes in the "in" port? Or do you mean any of the 3 can be in the "in" and the others can go in the "out"? And I guess the one normally coming from ISP, can be disconnected as the internet is not really coming from there (since its coming from the phone line via DSL)...

 

[bill001g]

That is correct. If you have all "out" ports on the splitter I would try to ignore the in one. Again the concept of in and out does not apply to data traffic since it goes both direction no matter what port you plug it into.

You may or may not need a router between the moca and the tv. If the tv is connected via ethernet and there is only 1 device in the remote room just hook it to the moca box directly. If you have multiple devices or the connection between the router and tv/other devices is wifi then you can use a router as a AP.

 

[bill001g]

So after some digging it appears the IN/OUT stuff is related to providing electrical power to the outdoor parts of a satelite dish system. It does not apply in this case

 

[ex_bubblehead]

That is correct. If you have all "out" ports on the splitter I would try to ignore the in one. Again the concept of in and out does not apply to data traffic since it goes both direction no matter what port you plug it into.

You may or may not need a router between the moca and the tv. If the tv is connected via ethernet and there is only 1 device in the remote room just hook it to the moca box directly. If you have multiple devices or the connection between the router and tv/other devices is wifi then you can use a router as a AP.

IN/OUT ports on a splitter aren't there just for show. Running a signal against the grain, as it were, results in a rather large loss of signal which must be taken into account.

 

[Sneaky666]

@ex_bubblehead I'm a bit confused now, so then in that case, for the image above with the 3 lines connecting, how could I plug them together on a splitter?

 

[ex_bubblehead]

You need to do some planning before you go plugging things up willy nilly.

Just one place to start:

How to Set Up a Coax (MoCA) Network

How to Set Up a Coax (MoCA) Network: Like many existing homes, my parents' home has a limited wired Ethernet network and a wireless (Wi-Fi) network covering the rest. My mom, who has rented Netflix DVDs for a while, wanted to start streaming her favorite shows in the family room and be…

www.instructables.com

 

[Sneaky666]

@ex_bubblehead Thanks, I did read that but the problem is all these tutorials always assume that the internet comes from the source coaxial cable (ISP) where the splitter is then used. But in my case its bell internet where the internet comes from the phone line. So it feels like the IN port of the splitter seems unneeded. I'm just not sure how to handle that part of sticking all the coaxial cables together then.

 

[plooger]

But do you know about the bell internet connection, if it would work with connecting moca adapters?

MoCA works indifferent to the source of the Internet connection, so long as the needed frequency range is open on the shared coax. The main bridging MoCA adapter is just connected to the LAN port of the router; it doesn't care how the router's WAN link is effected.

So it feels like the IN port of the splitter seems unneeded. I'm just not sure how to handle that part of sticking all the coaxial cables together then.

Your confusion is mirrored in all the different ways people choose to connect their MoCA gear in your situation, absent the Internet or cable TV feed that forces a given orientation.

I prefer sticking with the typical approach of all MoCA nodes connected via outputs of the splitter, with a "PoE" MoCA filter installed on the input port of the splitter to retain the known reflective benefit of the MoCA filter, but capping the MoCA filter with a 75-ohm terminator, as, as you've noted, the cable ISP feed is unneeded. (Example diagram; just pretend the modem & router are a single DSL gateway.) Alternatively, many people choose to connect the main bridging MoCA adapter via the splitter input port and hang the other MoCA nodes off the output ports -- precluding use of a MoCA filter. (example)

In all cases, the splitters would ideally be right-sized to just the number of ports needed, to minimize path losses, and the splitters would be "designed for MoCA 2.x" models. (Notably, just grabbing a splitter with a frequency of 2500 on its label is not recommended, as many such splitters are optimized for satellite signals, which would be sub-optimal for MoCA.)

Okay, so lets say I have this kind of setup. ...

The splitter "?" should be covered above; as regards the diagram, hopefully those "routers" in the other remote rooms are just GigE switches, or routers that have been configured in AP mode.

 

[gggplaya]

MOCA works between frequencies 1150mhz to 1500mhz. Your 5-1000mhz splitters won't work, they'll need to be replaced. MOCA POE filters typically band stop 1125-1525mhz. You probably don't need a POE filter as long as you aren't connected to cable tv or internet to the main splitter.

Where are the TV outlets placed upstairs, do the outlets share a wall? I've seen people add a cable outlet by pulling a wall jack off, drilling staight to the other side into the next room and putting the wall jack back together with the splitter behind the outlet.

 

[plooger]

MOCA works between frequencies 1150mhz to 1500mhz. ... MOCA POE filters typically band stop 1125-1525mhz.

• MoCA 1.x (Band D): 1125-1525 MHz (50 MHz channels)
• MoCA 2.x (Extended Band D): 1125-1675 MHz (100 MHz channels)

Critically, MoCA 1.x requires just a single 50 MHz channel, but MoCA 2.5 bonds 5 channels (500 MHz wide).