Need some advice on the best layout for Moca setup (with possible Ethernet link later)

[Reverse]

Our house was built in 2008, and has both coax and telephone cabling installed. I believe the phone cabling is actually CAT-5 cabling.
We do not use wired phones anymore, and neither do we watch cable TV. We only use the coax to feed our cable modem.

I installed Google Wifi pucks around the house, and while they work a lot better than the previous wifi routers we used, since our connection was upgraded to 1Gb/s there's a need to get this higher speed spread around the house.

The current situation in our house is:
1 - cable coming in from outside
2 - this cable is directly connected to one of outlets, where we have our cable modem (not router) connected, which feeds the Google Wifi router
3- there is a splitter visible on the photo as well, but not currently in use.
4 - then there are six cables running to the various rooms which are not currently connected

Not all rooms are served by coax. Some of the rooms not served by coax do have a phone line.
My initial plan is to get MOCA connections to all rooms served by coax. In future perhaps wire up other rooms by re-purposing the CAT-5 cabling (not sure this is even possible)

What would be the best way to get MOCA spread around the house? I am unclear on whether I should split signal from ISP, then into MOCA splitter, or some other configuration.
Also, but less important right now: what would be a good way to at least prepare for a possible future upgrade where I also use the former phone cabling?

Thanks for your help.

 

[krkaufman]

Also, but less important right now: what would be a good way to at least prepare for a possible future upgrade where I also use the former phone cabling?

First thought... You may be overestimating the difficulty and underestimating the cost savings of tackling the Cat5e lines ASAP.

That said... How many rooms, where you will want wired network connectivity, have a coax port but no nearby phone jack? (If greater than 1, then you'd need to get MoCA working, regardless.)

 

[krkaufman]

On the Cat5e front ...

1) I count 7 Cat5e lines in the junction box (right?), though 1 of which may be an incoming line from outside. So, you should have 6 or 7 phone outlets in the house to locate and identify as being worth converting to a network jack or left as a potential phone line.

2) Are the phone jacks RJ11 or RJ45? If RJ45, pull the faceplate and inspect whether the jack can be easily rewired for an Ethernet connection (w/ T568A/B color labeling).

3) Get a recommendation for a RJ45 patch panel for the central junction box, and wire it to match the standard used at the faceplate outlets (T568A or B). Something like the following:

• https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078FLT5S3/?tag=snbforums-20
• https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000EHW88Q/?tag=snbforums-20
• https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000U3DXM4/?tag=snbforums-20
• https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000HZES42/?tag=snbforums-20

4) Helpful tools for basic line identification and testing:

• https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000GL7GJG/?tag=snbforums-20
• https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M63EMBQ/?tag=snbforums-20

 

[krkaufman]

On the MoCA front... Re:

The current situation in our house is:
1 - cable coming in from outside
2 - this cable is directly connected to one of outlets, where we have our cable modem (not router) connected, which feeds the Google Wifi router

1) What is the brand & model # of your modem? (needed to check MoCA compatibility)

2) Is there only one coax outlet in the room where the modem & main Google Wi-Fi router are currently located? (2 coax lines would allow isolation of the DOCSIS [cable Internet] and MoCA signals, which can be beneficial as providers migrate to DOCSIS 3.1, or DOCSIS 3.1 hardware is introduced)

3) Could the modem and main Google Wi-Fi router be located at the central junction panel? (ditto #2, isolation of Internet/DOCSIS signal from MoCA is a plus, if possible)

4) What speeds are you paying for from your provider, and what LAN speeds are you looking to enable via MoCA?

 

[ALEX1002]

I would convert the phone jacks to ethernet. They are cat5 you just need to use all 8 pairs and get keystone cat5. Way cheaper then going moca. You are lucky you house came with cat5 cabling.