MoCA setup questions

[droskill]

Hey guys - I recently changed cable providers from FIOS to Xfinity/Comcast - and I'm trying to figure out the best approach to extending my network to various points in the house.

Now, to start off with, running lines isn't going to work - too big a pain. So I've been looking at MoCA gear and wondering if it can work.

When Comcast installed my service, they added a signal booster. I've looked it it (a PPC EVO1-9-U/U) and it seems to operate at or below the 1 Ghz range, so I believe this will work for a MoCA network. I also believe the booster is a passive one, and I've read that this means it will not impact MoCA.

First question - anyone know if this will work?

Second question - more general: let's say that I get it to work, and I've now got a second ethernet connection upstairs via MoCA - I want to make it wireless - is it possible to install an AP in this config and have it be part of the same network? I'm thinking of my wife - she won't remember to switch networks when she goes upstairs.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated!

 

[thiggins]

I don't know how a "passive" signal booster would work. MOCA won't work through amplifiers.

Yes you could add an access point. Devices on MOCA are on the same network as other devices in your LAN.

 

[stevech]

The signal booster, a.k.a. amplifier...
Should be wired between their entry to the home and the very first splitter.
You MoCA would all be downstream of that - i.e., no MoCA signals would need to pass through their amplifier if they wired it in the usual manner.

 

[droskill]

The signal booster, a.k.a. amplifier...
Should be wired between their entry to the home and the very first splitter.
You MoCA would all be downstream of that - i.e., no MoCA signals would need to pass through their amplifier if they wired it in the usual manner.

Thanks for the reply - so the flow is that the signal comes into the house and is split, for distribution, to the various rooms in the house. Is that what you mean by the very first splitter?

Thanks again!

 

[stevech]

yes. Coax from outside goes FIRST to the amplifier then to a splitter.
So your MoCA signals need not attempt to flow through the amp.

 

[droskill]

So my splitter has an amp on it - that's the PPC EVO1-9-U/U - does that make a difference?

 

[stevech]

Is this it?
http://www.evolutionbb.com/cable/assets/files/spec_sheets/EvolutionEntrySeries_2.pdf

9 ports! Wow. You need that many? You have just one or so unused port?

I can't say what this beast does.

I have an amp with one input, one output, power source.
That feeds a two-way splitter- one leg to cable modem/digital phone, other leg feeds other 2-way or 3-way splitters for TVs in the house, and MoCA.

I'd think a 9-way splitter would have to mate with an amp with quite a bit of gain and that equals noise. But it may work fine for the TVs.

 

[droskill]

Yup that's the one - I'm guessing I'll just have to order some MoCA gear and see if it works.

I've also been looking for MoCA 2.0 gear - but the two providers I looked (Actiontec and Netgear) have both pulled their pages on the devices post-announcement - not a good sign. I was hoping to find a MoCA device that included a WIFI AP as well.

 

[stevech]

I get the feeling that MoCAv2 hasn't found manufacturers' interest in retail product. It may find interest, as did MoCAv1, in being built-into cable TV set top boxes. Millions of those in use.