Running full speed internet/ethernet over coax

celuba · November 3, 2019

Hey, my friend is moving to a new flat and he has an internet coax connector in his soon-to-be living room, along with TV coax (female) and another one (male) which I’m not sure what it’s used for, but I’ve heard it used to be for radio. This is obviously the place his ISP is going to place a modem when he arranges his internet contract. The problem is he would like to have a full speed internet, ideally 1Gbit, in another room, and he only needs it to be in that room, but the flat has no ethernet wiring, so no RJ-45s anywhere. I came up with two possible solutions for this that avoid running CAT cables or buying an expensive WiFi router and hoping it’s going to be reliable enough.

Use the the “other than TV” coax as an extender for the modem input cable and place it to the room he wants his full speed internet to be in.
Buy an Ethernet over Coax adapter (and reciever) and use it to run internet to the other room with the modem in living room.

Both solutions assume that the “other” coax can be rewired so that the living room one is directly connected to the one in the other room.

I’m not sure if any of those two are possible. Problems I see:

a) I’m not sure if the “other” coax has the same properties as the internet one and if it can handle the same data flow. Are the coaxes in the walls usually the same? Or does it really matter how “good” the coax cable is for this to work?

b) I’m sure that the ISP is not gonna like solution no. 1, but after all, they don’t have to know we moved it.

c) I’ve found some Ethernet over coax devices, but most of them are designed for IP cameras and I didn’t really find a gigabit one. I kinda like the second solution more, so if it’s possible, do you have a recommendation for an EoC adapter that can be used in this case?

Corrupt_Liberty · November 3, 2019

How far away is the room? Modern AC wifi is more than fast enough as long as you're in range. Also, have you considered a PowerLine Adapter? I've been using the TP-Link AV2000 Powerline Adapter for years without issue now.

celuba · November 3, 2019

2 minutes ago, Corrupt_Liberty said:

How far away is the room? Modern AC wifi is more than fast enough as long as you're in range. Also, have you considered a PowerLine Adapter? I've been using the TP-Link AV2000 Powerline Adapter for years without issue now.

It's pretty close, but I don't have great experiences with WiFi stability. I may be overcomplicating things alot, but I just feel like the "main" computer shouldn't be connected wirelessly, especially if my friend plans to resume his streaming "career".
I thought about PowerLine adapter, but I lived in a belief that its not reliable and can't reach high speeds. But as I can see now, up to 2000Mbps is pretty damn good. That's almost certainly better (and cheaper) than what EoC could achieve.

Yeah, I'm probably overcomplicating it.

Still curious about extending the "internet-in" coax through the other one though.

Corrupt_Liberty · November 3, 2019

2 minutes ago, celuba said:

It's pretty close, but I don't have great experiences with WiFi stability. I may be overcomplicating things alot, but I just feel like the "main" computer shouldn't be connected wirelessly, especially if my friend plans to resume his streaming "career".
I thought about PowerLine adapter, but I lived in a belief that its not reliable and can't reach high speeds. But as I can see now, up to 2000Mbps is pretty damn good. That's almost certainly better (and cheaper) than what EoC could achieve.

Yeah, I'm probably overcomplicating it.

Still curious about extending the "internet-in" coax through the other one though.

They say 2000Mbps but what they really mean is 2x 1000Mbps. Marketing wank. As far as reliability goes it's been FAR more reliable than my cable internet connection. I can't think of a single dropped or slow connection I can attribute to the powerline adapter over the last three years I've used it. I think they get a bad rap because people buy the cheapest ones they can find and then complain when it isn't perfect.

I have no experience with Ethernet over Coax and really no interest in going down that rabbit hole. Maybe you can use the extra coax cable as a pull string to pull a new shiny ethernet cable through? As long as it isn't fastened to studs and what not. Good luck on that front.

Donut417 · November 4, 2019

43 minutes ago, celuba said:

Hey, my friend is moving to a new flat and he has an internet coax connector in his soon-to-be living room, along with TV coax (female) and another one (male) which I’m not sure what it’s used for, but I’ve heard it used to be for radio. This is obviously the place his ISP is going to place a modem when he arranges his internet contract. The problem is he would like to have a full speed internet, ideally 1Gbit, in another room, and he only needs it to be in that room, but the flat has no ethernet wiring, so no RJ-45s anywhere. I came up with two possible solutions for this that avoid running CAT cables or buying an expensive WiFi router and hoping it’s going to be reliable enough.

Use the the “other than TV” coax as an extender for the modem input cable and place it to the room he wants his full speed internet to be in.

Buy an Ethernet over Coax adapter (and reciever) and use it to run internet to the other room with the modem in living room.

Both solutions assume that the “other” coax can be rewired so that the living room one is directly connected to the one in the other room.

I’m not sure if any of those two are possible. Problems I see:

a) I’m not sure if the “other” coax has the same properties as the internet one and if it can handle the same data flow. Are the coaxes in the walls usually the same? Or does it really matter how “good” the coax cable is for this to work?

b) I’m sure that the ISP is not gonna like solution no. 1, but after all, they don’t have to know we moved it.

c) I’ve found some Ethernet over coax devices, but most of them are designed for IP cameras and I didn’t really find a gigabit one. I kinda like the second solution more, so if it’s possible, do you have a recommendation for an EoC adapter that can be used in this case?

Dont forget us dark theme users. We cant read black text.

What your looking for is called Moca.

Facts about Moca:

1) It can use the same lines as your cable provider. (A filter will be needed on the main cable line comming in to your flat to ensure your moca signal wont exit the property.

2) Moca can reach speeds up to about 800 Mbps +, this depends on the adapters used.

3) Moca is half duplex, meaning it can communicate one direction at a time, so thats a bit of a negitive.

4) Only 16 Moca adapters can be on a network. You can connect multiple devices to a moca adapter via a Swtich.

For the record Ive moved our modem multiple times. The ISP doesnt say shit. The thing about cable modems is they need the best possible signal, so no more than 1 splitter between them and the cable co's network. As long as you can do that, then you should be able to put it where you need.