moCA Netgear MCAB1001 and Comcast

[gameranew22]

Hi, I'm new to this forum and I've been searching around the net for simple, straight-forward answers to my questions but I haven't found any thus far and I see that other people have gotten help with their moCA questions and issues here so I wanted to give it a shot.

Here's my situation:

I've moved back into my parent's house post-college and they have a three-story house that has intermittent at best WiFi that just isn't going to get any better, at least I don't know how to make it better.

I live in California, if that helps with anyone answering, and our ISP is Comcast so we've got their modem downstairs connected to our WiFi ethernet hub. I want to run moCA upstairs in my room and my mom's room so we can get reliable, fast internet where WiFi isn't going.

I've seen people on the net recommend to ask Comcast to install a low-pass filter so our moCA and other device frequencies won't interfere with each other, but other than that do I have to do anything else to get moCA running on the netgear fine, just straight out of the box? In other words, can I plug in the netgear adapter/bridge to the coax cables in my room and my mom's and will it get internet straight out of the box that we wire our ethernet cables to and from?

Thanks for answering my questions and I know I'm a newb at this so bear with me if the questions seem dumb/have been asked before.

peace.

 

[thiggins]

MoCA is compatible with digital cable, so you shouldn't have to add any filters or diplexers. If you're concerned about security, you can put a passphrase in the adapters to make them private.

Note that if your home uses a cable distribution amplifier, then MoCA might not work.

HomePlug AV 200 or 500 Mbps is a good alternative.

 

[gameranew22]

Powerline won't work in my house because the house is broken up into different circuit panels

 

[gameranew22]

So does that mean I could go out and buy a netgear right now and everything would be okay? If I were doing moCA, what setup would you recommend?

 

[thiggins]

If the panels are connected to different transformers, then it won't work. Otherwise, it will. Current HomePlug technology works across breaker panels and transformer phases because it uses both conducted and radiated signals.

Don't say it won't work unless you try it.

 

[thiggins]

So does that mean I could go out and buy a netgear right now and everything would be okay? If I were doing moCA, what setup would you recommend?

Nothing is guaranteed when it comes to non-Ethernet networking.

All I can tell you is buy from a store that doesn't charge a restock fee and try it. Best Buy no longer charges restocking.

 

[gameranew22]

We have in the past and our house does have two different transformers

 

[thiggins]

We have in the past and our house does have two different transformers

Thanks for clarifying that.
You could bridge the two with a pair of adapters connected via an Ethernet cable.

 

[gameranew22]

Coolio, thanks again. I think imma try getting some of those netgears and try it out. Do you think I should call Comcast and ask about the low-pass filter/cable distribution amplifier(what is that anyways)?

 

[stevech]

I use MoCA to extend my LAN to a room where I can't get cat5.
I have an amplifier on the main coax entering the home. It passes back to Time Warner only the 30MHz cable modem upstream, so MoCA's signals don't leave the house due to the amplifier. These "return path" amps have a low pass filter for the unamplified return signals produced by cable modems and set top boxes.

I use D-Link's MoCA and amazingly, it was plug and play a year ago and taken no reboots/attention. That's the nice thing with MoCA and HomePlug - they're layer 2 devices, much like a switch.