Any way to network via your coaxial cable in your home?

[Modelworks]

Here is a quick list of the overall frequencies used on cable run in the home. All frequencies are in Mhz.

c-band 950-1750
Ku band 950-2150 (dish and directv)
Ka band - 950-1450
cable tv - 50 - 1050
VHF tv 50 - 200
UHF tv 470-890
FM 88-108
Cable modem return paths 20-48, 95-192
Cable modem downstream paths 650-1200
Moca 850-1550

You can see there is a lot of overlap on several of them . That doesn't mean they can't coexist , it just means you have to know what each is using in your home and make sure they don't try to use the same frequencies.

When using splitters you need to make sure they are designed for the frequencies you are using. Most splitters are going to peak at around 900Mhz. They will still work but the closer you get to the limit of their frequency the more damage to the signal. Ones sold for satellite use are a good purchase as they usually peak around 1.5-2Ghz.

Amplifiers should not be used unless you can't get the signal where it should be without it. A lot of people include them just in case and it does more harm than good. Also the cheap amplifiers will add more noise to the cable than they will improve the signal. Stick with name brands like blonder tongue, winegard for those.

If you use a splitter and have more ports than you need be sure to terminate the unused ones.

 

[Eug]

Is there any issue with analogue or digital cable signal degradation at all with HPNA over coax? Most of my house... BUT not all... is now wired with Gigabit Ethernet. I've added wireless and powerline networking for the remaining stuff, but HomePNA would be another solution to give me nearly instant networking everywhere in the house, with the stability of HPNA over coax. My VDSL2 modem (CELLPipe 7130) actually already includes HPNA over coax for free, so I'd just need the client adapter(s).

And what about digital/analogue cable signal amplifiers? Do they affect moca performance significantly? Would I need to replace all my splitters?

I just tested HomePNA 3 over coax, using two Cellpipe 7130 modems. (The Cellpipe is a VDSL2 modem with built-in wireless router, 100 Mbps switch, and HPNA coax bridge.)

I got only 68 Mbps out of it, despite the claim of 128 - 320 Mbps, depending on the version of HomePNA 3. In contrast, I got 94 Mbps out of its built-in Ethernet switch.

BTW, I was getting over 100 MB/s (837 Mbps to be exact) on Gigabit Ethernet with the same computers, and that speed might just be the sequential read speed of my serving computer's hard drive, not the network max.