MoCA (stands for Multimedia over Coax Alliance) is a technology that uses existing coax cables already in structures for Ethernet data transmission.
A friend recently moved into a house wired during construction with RJ-6 coax. MoCA adapters enable coax to be used in lieu of CAT.5 / CAT.6 Ethernet cable, with some performance tradeoffs.
I’ve done some research on MoCA adapters. I’d like to ask if anyone here has experience with MoCA environments, and advice on same.
Thx.
slmjim
Toyed around with the idea of cat5/coax between upstairs/downstairs, but said screw it, that I’d just sneakernet what I needed.
Curious about what others think, though.
I think WIFI would be better.
I don’t have any experience with MoCA, but Ethernet performance is much better than Wi-Fi. 
I run this at home. It’s absolutely seamless and way better than wi-fi or powerline adapters.
Note that newer models can do up to 2.5Gbe on each node. Older ones were 1Gbps with 2.5Gbps total shared bandwidth.
I personally use the GoCoax moca adapters
If you have MoCa 2.0 on your existing router you can also configure it to bond it over somehow too but I didn’t want to fuss with that.
Thanks for the useful advice & link to a MoCA device set, nquinn. The linked MoCA adapter set looks very promising. We’ll do our due diligence.
My friend & I use the same regional ISP. The ISP’s main office & Tech support is local to us. Our ISP is in bed with AT&T, but our local ISP’s Tech support is head & shoulders superior to that of AT&T in terms of personal response & cooperation.
I inquired if AT&T offers a MoCA-enabled router (server), in hopes of only having to use one (1) additional adapter (client). Answer is no.
The link below points to one of the most informative sites for real-world implementation of MoCA MoCA I’ve found so far.
slmjim
I’ve occasionally worked with these on the ISP side and they’re a mixed bag.
In my experience, MoCA 2.5 can switch-hit for gigabit ethernet with some compromises. The wiring has to be in good working order without nicks on the jacket or outer shield, with as few junctions and splitters as possible (TL;DR the signal exceeds the design specifications for RG59/RG6, and is sensitive to breaks in or distortions of the outer shield conductor and can demand more robust splitters/barrel connectors than lower-frequency CATV signals). That 2.5Gb signaling rate is in nearly all implementations total bandwidth, thus bidirectional is closer to 1.25 Gb. The NIDs I’ve used have been garbage - run hot and are prone to failure.
If you really can’t run an ethernet cable, need more reliability than wifi, and are willing to spend the money then MoCA is a solution. But understand than running Cat6 will yield better performance and buys one near-universal compatibility.
If your WIFI is not reliable, you need better WIFI.
WIFI has been available for decades now. Its super reliable and very fast if you keep it up to date.
If you don’t, you can continue to fool around with proprietary, expensive, compromising solutions.
Your choice.
Ew. So that’s not what I thought it was going to be. I thought it’d be like converting from cat5 to usb then back on the other end, only using coax instead. This sounds like kind of a mess.
Yeah, I’m gonna stick to sneakernet, or wifi if I’m in range.
Wi-Fi is sometimes reliable, and sometimes not.
(Your mileage may vary.)
Ethernet (and perhaps MoCA) is king for reliability.
You cannot beat hardwired technology for reliability.
Plus, Ethernet is way faster than Wi-Fi, though, of course, Wi-Fi is frequently more convenient. 
Most days* working from home I can normally get
*Late afternoons and nights, throughput tends to be ~halved because the dozens of APs I can see all light up as everyone gets home and starts streaming.
I’ve got another indoor AP but haven’t been arsed to install it. WiFi 6E / 7 use 6GHz which has worse structural-penetration characteristics than WiFi 6’s 5Ghz. And to get the best performance they need ethernet backhaul when mounted remote from the router.
Reliable is a relative thing. My desktop can hammer my ISP’s 7Gb symmetric connection at 1ms ping and never skip a beat. My WiFi devices can see normal performance halve and ping times from 5ms to as high as 300ms, and sometimes just malf for no fkn reason (a dozen APs + hundreds of devices within range probably the reason). Usually not an issue for the likes of phones and TVs, but can be an issue for laptops (shortly before fulltime WFH in 2020 I finalized my home office setup to wire in the work laptop because WiFi wasn’t cutting it) or outdoor devices (thankful I don’t have to deal with WiFi cameras like a friend).
YMMV. If WiFi does everything you need, great.
Note that I offered a limited, conditional recommendation for this solution.
So you are running one AP in a three floor house? I am actually surprised its working as well as you described.
Two floors (no basements in TX). Central-ish location for the AP. Lack of masonry on the LOS surfaces with deeper property depth helps with outdoor coverage. The easiest locations for a second AP are the least useful - directly below the existing AP in the garage or in other rooms on the second floor; thus it remains, NIB.
I also run MoCA and it works flawlessly. Three adapters in total. There’s a splitter on the outside of the house where a satellite dish was once installed, and from there the signal runs through 100 feet of cable out to the shop. No issues with transfer speeds or dropouts on any node. They never need to be restarted.
I do not use wifi here, only MoCA and powerline adapters. MoCA is preferable when coaxial jacks are available.
I bought this starter kit in March 2023 and it made working from home so much better. I get full 1Gb/s at my desktop. There are at least 3 different sets of unconnected coax in my house, so it took a minute to find the right jacks to use.
Some houses are just not WiFi-friendly. Even back when my Unifi UAP-AP-LRs were new and state-of-the-art, there was a lot of interference from somethings in my house. It’s reliable enough for phones and tablets, but not for a devops/programmer working from home. Or playing Destiny.
There’s no coax in the basement, so I have used Powerline/HomePlug for the kids who lived down there and gamed a lot. They only got 200-300 Mb/s, but it was still more consistent and lower latency than Wifi, but I’ve never had a WAP in the basement.
Yep.
My room is in a detached garage with metal walls.
Wi-Fi in the main house cannot reach into my room, so I run 100 feet (~30 meters) of Ethernet from the main house to my room.
Could you please share the brand/model MoCA devices you’re running?
slmjim
The house (guessing 1,200 ~1,500 sq. ft.) they moved into is single floor on a slab.
AT&T ran the fiber thru an outer wall next to where the now-inert cable drop exists, resulting in an Inconvenient location of the AT&T router indoors, but it made the most sense by far of any other location for the fiber to penetrate due to outdoor utility locations.
I asked the ISP if a MoCA-enabled router is available; there is not.
They’ve only been in the house a week, still living out of boxes & bags. He has mobility challenges, and I’ve not had the opportunity yet to evaluate the splitter situation due to distance, and 'cause boxes & bags are blocking the utility closet where the (hopefully only one) splitter is most likely to be.
His PC tablet is connected to their WiFi, and his wife’s phone. My phone is connected too, from initial testing a week ago. He has a long Cat.5 cable running on the floor from the router into the next room where is desk, PC and network switch are going to be located long-term. I set up a VOIP ‘landline’ for them, as he wanted to keep his decades-old POTS phone # for convenience. He’d like the VOIP device and wireless phone base station to be at his desk.
He’s reluctant to spend the money to pull Cat.x cable everywhere in the house they’d like. He’s a hardwired-type guy, and MoCA appeals to his frugal inner self.
I appreciate the feedback & useful suggestions everyone!
slmjim
Sure. I’ve got the ECB6250 devices, which are 1.0Gbps. The ECB7250 model is 2.5Gbps speed. These units can be branded as either Actiontec or ScreenBeam but they are the same thing. You can get these MoCA adapters on Ebay for less than half the retail price, mostly the ECB6250 ones, just make sure it includes the power adapter(s). New-in-box starter kits (includes 2 units) can be had for ~$80.
Update. MoCA is off the table.
He decided to poke a small hole through a wall & run a long Cat.5 cable from the fiber router to the room he’s using as an office/workspace. The Cat.5 connects to a switch for his 'puter & peripherals.
TV & Roku on wireless, WiFi bandwidth for those seems fine.
The Ooma Telo VOIP device remains tethered to the router along with the cordless phone base station.
Many thanks to all who assisted with my inquiries re: MoCA. It was not in vain, as I learned much.
slmjim