Home Networking Using Coax: Possible?

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Jawadali

Senior member
Oct 1, 2003
995
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Hi guys,

I know this may sound like an odd question, but is it possible to use Coax wire instead of Cat5e for home networking?

Basically, the cable in my home is set up like this: There is a box outside of house where the cable from the provider meets the cable going into my house. Currently, I have disconnected the provider's cable and have connected a cable from my outdoor antenna. From there, the cable goes into my basement. Depending on which room/jack I want the cable service to go to, I connect the wire coming from the outside to the appropriate coax jack. There are about 8 cables, and currently, it is connected to the wire that goes into the living room jack.

I was wondering if I could use the coax wires for networking, and if so, what kind of speeds I'd get. Would it be worth it?

I currently have DSL, so I do not have any cable service.

I know there were some old ISA cards which did support some sort of coax networking, but the speeds were probably 10mbps or less.


Thanks,

Jawadali
 
W

w0ss

Senior member
Sep 4, 2003
365
0
76
If money was no object then yes. But I know of no cheap way to do it. If anyone else does I would be interested as well as I have a few rooms with coax but I could never find anything short of setting up a mini telco.
 
S

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
65,469
5
76
Ethernet was originally run on COAX. You may be able to find some old coax ethernet adapters out there or some 10 Base-T to 10 Base-2 transceivers. If you're lucky you could find a coax hub, and for a short time coax switches were made. But it is considered dead technology.
 
W

w0ss

Senior member
Sep 4, 2003
365
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76
I put everyone of the ethernet to coax bridges part numbers listed into google products. I got no hits. Where can this stuff be purchased and at what price?
 
RebateMonger

RebateMonger

Elite Member
Dec 24, 2005
11,586
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Originally posted by: Jawadali
Thanks for the info. It looks like I may stick to wireless.
Click to expand...
There's also HomePlug (powerline) and HPNA (telephone cable). I've used HPNA, and it works OK with a dedicated bridge. Using XP in bridge mode didn't work well for me.
 
Modelworks

Modelworks

Lifer
Feb 22, 2007
16,240
7
76
It can be done , but I don't know that it would be worth the trouble.
Even if you found some of the old cards, the drivers are old as well and many don't even support xp.

Personally I have always run some network cables. Its a bit of work, depending on the house, but its more than worth it in the end. You don't have to worry about the connection, whether a wireless link is going to get reception, and the speeds are 1Gbit.

Its also becoming something that adds value to a house on resale. As people get more pc aware they really like it when a house has prewired ethernet jacks in every room.

 
J

Jawadali

Senior member
Oct 1, 2003
995
7
81
Thanks for the info. I read about MoCA somhere online while looking up info on Google, but there did not seem to be any concrete items or specifications (although they did state 2008 as a rollout timefrime).

Iguess I can live with one PC being wireless. Most of the important PCs are all on a wired network.
 
Eug

Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
23,992
1,612
126
Heh... When my sis built her house, she built the whole house with network jacks in every room... except she used coax. Oops. It became obsolete within a couple of years, before she even got more than one computer in her house.


Originally posted by: RebateMonger
Originally posted by: Jawadali
Thanks for the info. It looks like I may stick to wireless.
Click to expand...
There's also HomePlug (powerline) and HPNA (telephone cable). I've used HPNA, and it works OK with a dedicated bridge. Using XP in bridge mode didn't work well for me.
Click to expand...
For powerline, it doesn't have to be HomePlug compliant, as long as you know that going into it.

I'm very nice speeds on powerline networking, fast enough to stream 1080p H.264 video, but I went with a "standard" that is not HomePlug compliant.

P.S. Sorry that I resurrected this old thread, but I thought it was appropriate.
 
Eug

Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
23,992
1,612
126
Just remember it is dependent on the distance and location of the two bridging adapters, and the quality of your electrical wiring.
 
Eug

Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
23,992
1,612
126
Since then I've had some electrical work done to my house (added AC, additional electrical plugs, and an electrical baseboard heater to one room which was colder than the others). I still get reliable connections with powerline networking -- internet access seems just as fast and reliable as before. However, max streaming speeds from computer to computer have diminished, so much so that I can no longer reliably stream even 720p HD video. I was only doing this streaming for testing purposes, but it's kind of disappointing that I've now lost this ability to stream HD. I guess the additional circuits and the additional load has added too much noise to the system to handle HD.

So, while still keeping powerline for most of the house, I am considering adding two Motorola NIM100 units to get HD-streaming capability back if possible. Anyone here have experience with it? My biggest worry is having the network exposed to the overall cable network in my neighbourhood. While I'm Canada and NIM100 don't exist here (no FiOS locally), there's always the chance that a neighbour's kid might get the same bright idea as me and install NIM100 units as well. Security through obscurity is never a great solution.

My other option is to simply drill holes in the wall and run Ethernet on the outside walls of the house. However, I don't really want punch holes in my walls, and I'll have to find some outdoor and in-wall rated CAT5e or CAT6.
 
Eug

Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
23,992
1,612
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Thanks. It's cool to see this stuff is finally going to hit the retail market. However, I'd need two, and I don't really want to pay $400. They have used NIM100s on eBay etc. for less than $50 though. Anyways, that unit hasn't been released yet, and Amazon.com doesn't ship electronics to Canada either.

I guess the good news is that the retail units will likely have easy encryption options for people like me. One worry about the Motorola NIM100 is they're sold as self-setup units, and you don't change the encryption passcode. The ads I've seen don't specify whether or not you can change it either.
 
Engineer

Engineer

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
39,230
701
126
Originally posted by: Eug
Thanks. It's cool to see this stuff is finally going to hit the retail market. However, I'd need two, and I don't really want to pay $400. They have used NIM100s on eBay etc. for less than $50 though. Anyways, that unit hasn't been released yet, and Amazon.com doesn't ship electronics to Canada either.

I guess the good news is that the retail units will likely have easy encryption options for people like me. One worry about the Motorola NIM100 is they're sold as self-setup units, and you don't change the encryption passcode. The ads I've seen don't specify whether or not you can change it either.
Click to expand...

The unit that Jack posted includes two units. It's a "kit".
 
Eug

Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
23,992
1,612
126
OK, I'm an idiot. Thanks for the correction. However, it's still unavailable. Some of this stuff was supposed to be available back in 2008, but I haven't seen it available anywhere yet.
 
Engineer

Engineer

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
39,230
701
126
Originally posted by: Eug
OK, I'm an idiot. Thanks for the correction. However, it's still unavailable. Some of this stuff was supposed to be available back in 2008, but I haven't seen it available anywhere yet.
Click to expand...


No, not at all. Simple overlook. You are very correct that it's not available yet. Hell, I'm still waiting to see true non-draft Wireless N and to see if it's worth anything or not. It's been draft for years, lol.
 
Eug

Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
23,992
1,612
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Please release it soon Netgear!

I was a guinea pig for your Netgear HomePNA Ethernet bridge. Worked great for internet access. I would have used it for longer, had my Linksys HomePNA laptop adapter not snapped. :(

And I'm the only one I know in my neighbourhood using your Netgear Powerline Ethernet adapters. Works perfectly for internet access too, but I'd like more speed.

I'm willing to give your Netgear MCAB1001 MoCA Coax-Ethernet Adapter Kit a shot if the price is right... if you'll only release it.

Mind you, $50 for some Ethernet cable, crimp tool, and plugs is starting to sound better and better... ;)
 
RebateMonger

RebateMonger

Elite Member
Dec 24, 2005
11,586
0
0
Originally posted by: Eug
Mind you, $50 for some Ethernet cable, crimp tool, and plugs is starting to sound better and better... ;)
Click to expand...
I played with WiFi and HPNA for about a year, hoping to replace the CAT5 cable that runs the length of my home's roof. Neither were reliable enough for my liking. I went ahead and threw away the old CAT5 cable (blackend and frayed by the Arizona sun) and replaced it with fresh cable. I'm probably about due for another refresh soon.

My first switch (a nine-port 10 Mbps device) had several failed ports over time, possibly caused by the use of cable over the roof where it could, theoretically, be subject to stray induced voltages. But there's seldom lightening where I live, and I haven't had any more damage since I replaced that first switch with a Linksys 100 Mbps switch around 1999.
 
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