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MoCA 2.5 Wiring Diagram Feedback

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stuman1974

New Around Here
Hello, I found these forums and great info regarding MoCA in the past. I just ordered a couple of MoCA 2.5 adapters from GoCoax that should arrive today or Monday.

I wanted to get feedback on my current wiring setup and if my plan for the location of the 2.5 adapters is correct.

See the two attached images. The one titled MoCA 1.1 is my current setup which feeds from a TiVo Roamio. I do have a couple of TiVo Mini 95 boxes that support MoCA 2.0, but of course limited to 1.1 at the moment. My main goal is to feed my Mac Mini with a MoCA wired connection.

The image titled MoCA 2.5 is where I figure I'd place the two GoCoax adapters (between wall jack and Roamio and then replacing the WCB3000N adapter).

My main questions are:
1.) Is the GoCoax adapter by the Roamio the best location? I've also seen some that place it on the cable modem branch. Or does it really not matter? My first inclination is to keep the connections to the cable modem as "clean" and with less splits and interruptions as possible.
2.) I have two splitters in my wall coming from the outside and then into the family room and so on. Is this preferred for optimal internet signal and feeding the MoCA devices? Or would I be better off consolidating then and replacing that 2-way and 3-way splitter with the 4-way splitter that is in my crawlspace (see diagrams)?

Thanks!
 

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First off, cap/terminate your unused connections that are in the Moca 2 network ( all coax should be capped to avoid reflections) branches.
2nd, you will have to replace the “unknown “ splitters with Moca 2 rated.
3rd, consolidate the splitters if you need the extra signal budget. The Moca adapters have a strong amp so they may not need it. Other devices on the same branches may. You can also look for splitters with “low loss” ports if needed.
 
Thanks. I do actually have all the unused coax jacks terminated. But whatever splitter I have in my attic is going to limit me for sure. For the 3rd point, are you saying it is better to use a single 4-way splitter with 7.7dB per connection instead of my 2-way + 3-way?

Also, I did receive my two GoCoax adapters a few hours ago. So far I am definitely seeing improvement over my Roamio-to-WCB3000N 1.1 setup. Probably can get a bit faster if I have better splitters of course. Speedtest.net from my Mac Mini increased from 135 down to 179/180 down (Xfinity service is for 150 down).

Here's my PHY table from the GoCoax admin page.
 

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Also, per point #2 of my original post, which diagram is better for my in-wall splitters from the outside into my house (2-way plus 3-way or single 4-way)? Thanks
 

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2nd, you will have to replace the “unknown “ splitters with Moca 2 rated.
This didn’t use to matter as much, since MoCA 1.1 would just use 50 MHz at the low end of the available range (close enough to the top end of cable-rated splitters so as not to matter, by design); however, for the MoCA 2.5 adapters to achieve optimal performance, they’ll be needing a much wider chunk of the available spectrum (nearly all of it), meaning you’ll want your coax and connections to be optimized for the MoCA Extended Band D frequencies: 1125-1675 MHz.

Sub-optimal splitters may be one reason for the low PHY rates between your 2.5 adapters in your posted chart, from above:
Here's my PHY table from the GoCoax admin page.

View attachment 17956

Compare to this PHY rate chart from another post, seemingly indicating the pair of 2.5 adapters using the full bandwidth of the 5 available channels (5x ~700 = ~3500):

163FF161-FDE0-4B79-80AD-75F29CB68479.jpeg


p.s. Seeing your chart, I’m wondering what is the meaning of the diagonal values.
 
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Also, per point #2 of my original post, which diagram is better for my in-wall splitters from the outside into my house (2-way plus 3-way or single 4-way)?
I’d recommend sticking with the cascaded 2x + 3x splitters, with a modification:
  • keeps the Internet signal isolated from MoCA, increasingly important owing to DOCSIS 3.1 frequency overlaps with MoCA. (Some newer D3.1 modems have issues when MoCA signals are present on the coax, and some providers’ D3.1 rollouts may be using frequencies within the MoCA range.)
  • the above DOCSIS 3.1 consideration would necessitate moving the “PoE” MoCA filter to the input of the 3-way splitter to keep the MoCA signals isolated from the Internet signals and modem; however, D3.1 aside, moving the “PoE” filter in this way would still be preferred, to shrink/optimize the MoCA segment. MoCA signals don’t need to be traveling up to the 2-way splitter.

Connecting the goCoax and Roamio Plus|Pro as shown in your proposed setup should be fine for upgrading your MoCA speeds. Maximum throughput to the Mac Mini is impeded by not knowing how its coax is routed — precluding a pair of 2.5 adapters talking to each other over a direct, unsplit coax run.
 

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