Existing Coax Network in walls......how can it be best used for internet access

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OnlineShopper

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#281054 27-Jan-2021 11:35

I am just doing a bit of crowdsurfing relating to the Coax cabling in my house which I would like to use to extend my internet network. Any insight would be welcome.

I live in a house that was built in 2001. As it was the technology of the day, the house was fully networked with Saturn TV in 6 locations and a mainboard exists in the garage where the cables combine. There are various RG6 Coax points dotted around the house and a bunch of them behind the tv in the main lounge (photographs provided). Fast forward 20 years, past the point where Telstraclear bought out Saturn and then let it die a death, and I am the proud owner of a totally unused network of coax cables as well as a shiny ONT box providing my house with Fibre. I did not build the house so, unfortunately, I have no insight into the layout of the cables once they enter the walls.

So…….I have investigated how I can utilise this cable for internet access. I don’t have Ethernet all over the house, nor do I have a desire to lay any until I have exhausted other options. As WIFI is patchy for streaming in some locations of the property which are already furnished with Coax points, I would like to use the existing cable network if possible and avoid wires and repeaters. I know of MOCA and DECA but detail is sparse on the interweb regarding the following puzzling issues:

Does the connection between points need to be unbroken…….will splitters on the cable make it impossible to use?
Does the home network need to be “disconnected” from the Saturn/Telstraclear/Vodafone cable from the road? It has never been used but there is a power plug at the mainboard.
We have both traditional tv aerial sockets as well as the RG6 screw type connectors in some rooms. Are both connected? The aerial sockets don’t work for freeview in most of the rooms.

Can anyone add to my knowledge pool? I am happy to answer further questions if the overview I have provided is short on essential detail.

Thanks.

MAINBOARD

bagheera

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#2642951 27-Jan-2021 11:52

You would need some MoCA to make it work, and they not cheap.

Good write up on someone doing it here

https://superuser.com/questions/974317/moca-from-scratch/974383#974383

Paul1977

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#2642953 27-Jan-2021 11:53

Where is your ONT in relation to that board with all the coax?

I'd just use the coax as draw wires to pull new ethernet cable. This would be easiest of the ONT is near that coax board.

Lias

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#2643069 27-Jan-2021 14:30

OnlineShopper:

Does the connection between points need to be unbroken…….will splitters on the cable make it impossible to use?

Probably, because MoCA can work with splitters, but they need to be splitters which give good coverage in the RF ranges used by MoCA which is outside the range of normal cable/tv usage. I'd be amazed if those were MoCA certified splitters and not the cheapest things the installer could find.
e.g. https://www.antronix.com/products/moca/ (no endorsement, just an example)
Does the home network need to be “disconnected” from the Saturn/Telstraclear/Vodafone cable from the road? It has never been used but there is a power plug at the mainboard.

You can buy MoCA Point of Entry filters to stop your MoCA signal travelling to your neighbours, so I'm going to assume that no, it being connected to a cable network isn't an issue.
We have both traditional tv aerial sockets as well as the RG6 screw type connectors in some rooms. Are both connected? The aerial sockets don’t work for freeview in most of the rooms.

You'd probably need to test that yourself, but it not working for Freeview is not necessarily an indication.

Inline answers above.

If I were in your shoes I'd do as Paul suggests and look at using the coax as a draw wire for new Ethernet.

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup. Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

antoniosk

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#2643084 27-Jan-2021 15:01

Yeah, this can be a tricky conversation. Such is life though - the technology industry has been grappling with utilising legacy installations for a loooong time. Just accept that whatever you do will be a Compromise only, and not as good as something fresh and new.

So you could have a look at these:

ActionTec MOCA kit

They are point to point solutions only, and scale poorly if you have many endpoints. But without knowing the structure of your house or how that coax has been reticulated, its hard to pass much comment.

I don't know if the above kit is good (but it seems to review well), but the price is modest and won't require any wall work. Im not a big fan of active devices that need power but anyway...

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Antoniosk

bfginger

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#2643213 27-Jan-2021 20:21

Shielded CAT6A should be much cheaper, is future proofed and doesn't require expensive special equipment that may become unreplaceable and won't scale. You don't even need to terminate it yourself as you can buy keystones with double sided plugs for preterminated cables.