Dodge DeBoulet

Have you had an electrician do work for you recently? In cblaisd's case, it's pretty clear the desired location is distant from his router, otherwise his existing wi-fi would provide adequate coverage. When you factor in the cost of the time for drilling, cutting, pulling, Ethernet cable, wall plates, etc. I think you're likely looking at 2 to 3 times the cost of a couple of MoCA adapters that use coax already in place.

I have 2 master electricians in my immediate family ... rates pretty much anywhere in the US will be well north of $50/hr.

javabytes

deniah

why not go with a Mesh network?

Dodge DeBoulet

So, not 2x, but still more expensive than self-installed MoCA 2 bonded adapters @ $150/pair, and a LOT more expensive than the DECA adapters he's also considering.

If price and the effort of finding and scheduling an electrician, never mind the inconvenience of someone traipsing through your house with the concomitant post-installation cleanup work was no object, I'd absolutely pull Ethernet runs

I plugged my MoCA adapters in and they just worked ... 10 minutes tops and that included the installation of a PoE filter on the service entrance plus the walk up to the in-law apartment 250 feet away from the main house

CPRich

Oh the humanity!!

Dodge DeBoulet

Hey, I like my solitude

gobluetwo

My thought exactly. I've been doing some research, but the mesh networks seem to do a great job of expanding the range in your house. Unlike a wifi repeater, which basically halves the throughput while preserving signal strength, mesh networks theoretically preserve signal strength AND throughput, making it a better option if you want to stream or do higher-bandwidth activities.

gfunkdave

A mesh network isn't a panacea and would probably cost at least as much as MoCa for less reliable performance. Mesh tech I'm familiar with uses 5.8 GHz for backhaul, so clients are stuck with 2.4 GHz and its slower speeds. Since 5.8 GHz doesn't propagate as far as 2.4, you would probably need at least a couple mesh devices.

A wired connection is always better.

tmiw

I had Ethernet wired to both bedrooms and my living room--terminating in the laundry closet in the middle--for something like $300. Unfortunately, only 3 drops due to my condo basically having no attic (and they're all fairly close to each other), but I think it was still worth it considering the number of Ethernet enabled devices I have.

For only a couple of devices, though? One of the other options is probably less hassle.

cblaisd

I decided to gamble first.... I did not want to pay the price at this point for the MoCA adapters recommended upstream.

Instead I found this
https://www.amazon.com/TOTOLINK-PL20...F38/ref=sr_1_1
(although I got it for about 1/2 this price from another source).

It truly is plug 'n' play and LAN Test software shows 197 MBps throughput.

That'll do for what I need

I also replaced the house's ancient Cisco WRT-400N router with an Asus RT-AC66U (I love it when folks on Craigslist don't realize what they could get for something -- found this one for $20 -- most eBay selling prices are $30-45) and that has helped coverage a lot -- even to the attached garage where I need to set up some Wemo devices and was using a repeater (I'd totally forgotten that putting a repeater on a network halves the speed) to do so. The Asus signal now reaches that garage, although I'm very tempted to get another Totolink and put it in the garage and then connect an access point to it.

Thanks to everyone for all the help.

cblaisd

I have discovered an annoyance that may drive me to the MoCA solution or simply be content with the better router's better connectivity:

It appears from doing some reading, that Siemens AFCI circuit breakers are known problem with powerline ethernet, and trip intermittently.

Like they have today a couple of times

gfunkdave

Muy interessante. I'd be interested to learn why this is the case. I guess the powerline ethernet makes the kind of sine wave distortions that AFCI breakers look for, but don't really understand why that would be the case.

lhrsfo

I installed a mesh network in my similar circumstances and it's perfect for my needs - simple and powerful. My only irritation is that the device I chose has a very bright blue light on it.

cblaisd

Insofar as I understand the discussion, that seems to be the hypothesis:

https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/basi...erline-network Item 3

https://slickdeals.net/f/7132084-pow...eakers-to-trip

https://forums.penny-arcade.com/disc...eakers-to-trip

https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r26...ndom-breaker-t

https://helpdesk.bluesound.com/discussions/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=145

cblaisd

Found them for $140.

Need some hand-holding here:

If I go ahead and get the recommended MoCA adapters, what is this "PoE" filter that folks speak of, and where would I install? (And do I need to?)

And contrary to what I may have said earlier, the cable in the house DOES have a cable signal coming in -- but there is only a single outlet in use, adjacent to the tv and the modem and the router.