Question Need Help Converting Coax Cables to MoCA Network in Home

glowingmicrobe

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Mar 22, 2017
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Hi All,

I am on a quest to beef up my home network, and I'd ideally like to get most of the rooms in the homes hard wired, preferably without running brand new ethernet through the walls. My home was built in 2006, so I was hopeful the job would be as easy as a phone lie conversion. Unfortunately, the builders used Cat 3 cable for the phone lines (I thought this was phased out by 2000, but oh well - I guess I can't fault the builders for using what they had on hand).

My next best move (short of biting the bullet and running actual ethernet) seems to be to utilize the existing Coaxial cables and convert to data cables using MoCA. My understanding of the technology (and home networking in general) is limited, so I was hoping to grab some advice from the helpful folks on this Sub! Note that I do not currently have cable TV service, and do not plan to in the future, but I do have Spectrum cable internet (switching to local fiber soon, once they build in my neighborhood).

The current setup, as far as I can tell, is:
  • Spectrum Coax cable entry on outside of home.
  • Cable is run to a two way splitter - 6 DB OUT and 2.8 DB OUT.
    • 6 DB OUT runs directly to an upstairs bedroom (appears to be aligned with a coax faceplate in this room).
    • 2.8 DB OUT runs into basement - feeds into 8 way amplified splitter.
      • Amplified splitter runs to various rooms in the house.
      • Cable modem, WAN out, and router are connected from coax jack in the wall (running off of the splitter).
I'm not sure how or why it is set up this way, but how I would like to set it up is:
  • Spectrum Coax cable entry on outside of home. Remove original splitter so it feeds into basement.
  • ISP coax feeds internet modem.
  • WAN out to wireless router.
  • LAN out from router into MoCA adapter.
  • MoCA adapter connected to IN of new, MoCA compatible 4 way splitter (that feeds rooms of the house).
  • MoCA adapters in these rooms to connect to switches, devices, etc.

Would the above plan work? Is there a better way to configure this? Can I simply cap off the cable running from the 6DB OUT on the OG outside splitter?

Links to some pictures and rudimentary diagrams... View: https://imgur.com/a/eNzS78e
 
I was not real sure before I saw you diagrams but your final design is going to be a optimum moca install. You moca devices will share the total bandwidth which should not be a issue if you buy the newer units based on the 2.5 moca standard.

Always best to cap off unused coax connections especially outside where water and dirt can get in. Since the splitter only now has 2 wires you could also just replace it with a simple barrel connector.
 
As long as all the MOCA gateways connect to the same splitter and that splitter is MOCA compatible then you should be fine. Just realize that MOCA is simplex, only one device can be communicating at any time and the bandwidth is shared amongst all devices. It's definitely interior to regular ethernet but a good option if you can't run wire.