# MOCA vs Powerline Adaptors



## tomm1079 (May 10, 2005)

I was wondering what are the /general/speed differences between moca and powerline adaptors?

i have these powerline adaptors: http://www.buy.com/prod/zyxel-pla40...line-adapter-w-ac-pass-through/216551539.html

Is moca better to use?


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## leejash (Aug 8, 2003)

I have used both powerline adapters and moca adapters. For my money if bandwidth is a consideration then you should go with the moca. I've found powerline adapters to have a less reliable connection and in some places in the house the bandwidth is very restricted, I guess due to the length of wire between points or because they are on different circuits. I have almost never had a problem with the moca adapter and that is how I wire my tivo and roku up to my network. I provides plenty of reliable bandwidth for streaming video and transferring files from my tivo to my computer. I hope this helps.


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## ct1 (Jun 27, 2003)

Haven't used powerline, but Moca is great. Very fast/easy/reliable for me, using cable wiring already present in my walls.


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## tivohaydon (Mar 24, 2001)

I use both in my house. I use Moca and Netgear Powerline AV 500 adapters (new) like the XAV5001. The good news is that the AV 500 adapters have increased my powerline throughput on bad combinations of outlets from 8mbps to 28mbps. The bad news is that's still far below what Moca reliably gets.

First choice is Cat5e. If that's not an option and you have existing coax, use Moca. Otherwise Powerline AV 500 is useful and a significant improvement over the AV 200 adapters you cited.


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## poppagene (Dec 29, 2001)

tivohaydon said:


> I use both in my house. I use Moca and Netgear Powerline AV 500 adapters (new) like the XAV5001. The good news is that the AV 500 adapters have increased my powerline throughput on bad combinations of outlets from 8mbps to 28mbps. The bad news is that's still far below what Moca reliably gets.
> 
> First choice is Cat5e. If that's not an option and you have existing coax, use Moca. Otherwise Powerline AV 500 is useful and a significant improvement over the AV 200 adapters you cited.


My experiance is similar using both AV500 powerline (which replaced AV200) and the directv version of moca (deca).


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## fyodor (Sep 19, 2006)

It's been my experience that people generally have more reliably good experiences with MoCA though I've heard good things about the newest generation of powerline bridges. I get 90 mbit/s transfers between my Tivo Premieres over MoCA.

This link has a good discussion of how a MI424WR router (cheap on ebay) can be converted easily to a dumb MoCA bridge. Otherwise there are plenty of good dedicated bridges out there.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1145636



tomm1079 said:


> I was wondering what are the /general/speed differences between moca and powerline adaptors?
> 
> i have these powerline adaptors: http://www.buy.com/prod/zyxel-pla40...line-adapter-w-ac-pass-through/216551539.html
> 
> Is moca better to use?


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## jfh3 (Apr 15, 2004)

General MoCA question - do the cables used all have to be on the same drop/entry point?

I have one Elite on a direct feed coming in from the pole and the rest of my wiring comes in at the basement and goes through a whole hose splitter / amp. Should the Elite be able to communicate with other Tivo's on MoCA adapters in the other rooms?


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## fyodor (Sep 19, 2006)

As I understand it you have a splitter at some point, one output of which goes to your Elite and the other goes to an amp. If I am understanding you correctly this won't work. MoCA can work between outputs on a common amplified splitter but cannot go back through an amplified splitter. I think that your adapters would have to go back through the amplified splitter to whichever point the two feeds meet.



jfh3 said:


> General MoCA question - do the cables used all have to be on the same drop/entry point?
> 
> I have one Elite on a direct feed coming in from the pole and the rest of my wiring comes in at the basement and goes through a whole hose splitter / amp. Should the Elite be able to communicate with other Tivo's on MoCA adapters in the other rooms?


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## stark (Dec 31, 2003)

Does MOCA have any security concerns? Will my network be visible outside my house?


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## CuriousMark (Jan 13, 2005)

stark said:


> Does MOCA have any security concerns? Will my network be visible outside my house?


There are posts indicating that a block may be needed on the service entrance line leading from your house to the pole (assuming above ground). So yes, you may need that to make sure the signals don't reach any close neighbors.


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## jfh3 (Apr 15, 2004)

fyodor said:


> As I understand it you have a splitter at some point, one output of which goes to your Elite and the other goes to an amp. If I am understanding you correctly this won't work. MoCA can work between outputs on a common amplified splitter but cannot go back through an amplified splitter. I think that your adapters would have to go back through the amplified splitter to whichever point the two feeds meet.


I may not have described it correctly. I have two separate feeds provided by the cable company into the house:

FEED/LINE 1 >> Outside wall > Into family room --> Elite #1

FEED/LINE 2 >> Basement > whole house splitter/amp 
---> Bedroom 1 --> Premiere 1; 
---> Bedroom 2 --> Premiere 2;
---> Bedroom 3 --> Elite #2
---> SD HomeRun 
---> Kitchen --> TV

If I disable or bypass the amp part of the splitter in the basement, should Elite 1 and Elite 2 be able to communicate over MoCA? I am hoping that I can put a MoCA adapter on both of the Premieres (now attached connected via wireless bridges) and essentially have the Tivos on a MoCA network.


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## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

Not exactly sure what you mean by disable/bypass, but both feeds have to meet somewhere at a common splitter for Elite 1 to be seen by the other boxes over moca.


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## jfh3 (Apr 15, 2004)

BigJimOutlaw said:


> Not exactly sure what you mean by disable/bypass, but both feeds have to meet somewhere at a common splitter for Elite 1 to be seen by the other boxes over moca.


Bummer. I kind of thought it wasn't going to work, but was hoping it would.

By disable/bypass, I meant either unplug the power injector or use a splitter to bypass the amp on just that leg.

I may have to go downstairs and do some creative wiring.


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## Leon WIlkinson (Feb 13, 2000)

jfh3 said:


> Bummer. I kind of thought it wasn't going to work, but was hoping it would.
> 
> By disable/bypass, I meant either unplug the power injector or use a splitter to bypass the amp on just that leg.
> 
> I may have to go downstairs and do some creative wiring.


This might need a box to protect your connection/privacy

You might be able to add a dual splitter @ Elite 1 connection on the outside then run a line to the other location.

You would need your cable at the second feed removed.


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## aadam101 (Jul 15, 2002)

I plan to use Verizon Actiontec router as cheap MoCa adapters. Can I plug one into a cable outlet and use it as a wireless access point as well?


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## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

aadam101 said:


> I plan to use Verizon Actiontec router as cheap MoCa adapters. Can I plug one into a cable outlet and use it as a wireless access point as well?


Yep, you can turn the wifi on or off. Works pretty well. DSLR has some good FAQ's for the router in case there are any setup issues.


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## aadam101 (Jul 15, 2002)

BigJimOutlaw said:


> Yep, you can turn the wifi on or off. Works pretty well. DSLR has some good FAQ's for the router in case there are any setup issues.


Great. I just setup the one Verizon Actiontec router as a MoCa bridge (My FIOS is setup with ethernet from the ONT and I use a Netgear router) and it seems to work fine. I can access OnDemand content from my Verizon Cable Box. I have bought a couple more verizon routers on Ebay that haven't come yet to place around the house.

My problem is that I am unable to access the router. I gave it a static IP and when I enter the IP I just get a timeout page. I would like the ability to easily turn the wireless on and off when needed so having access to the router settings would be nice.

I don't know much about networking. Am I doing something wrong?


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## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

Hard to diagnose from here. I'm a bit of a noob myself when it comes to the nuances of using multiple routers in a Fios setup. I use the Actiontec as my primary router which makes things simpler, and connect my own router to the actiontec via ethernet as a secondary to maintain better wifi (802.11n) coverage.

The Fios forums over on DSLReports can send you to the right place to get it going and (very importantly) give directions on how to configure multiple actiontecs in the same network.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/vzfiber
FAQs: http://www.dslreports.com/faq/verizonfios


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## das335 (Feb 8, 2006)

I lost the link to this info but I had it in a text file so here it is. Be careful to follow the steps in sequence and make sure you get the router reconfigured BEFORE you connect it to the Verizon FIOS network.

*NOTE: If you are a FIOS customer, these instructions are intended for a 2nd Actiontec router, NOT the primary one that Verizon supplied.*

These are the instructions I recently used:

You can also use an Actionec MI424-WR as a MOCA bridge.

You will need to reconfigure the Actiontec, BEFORE you connect it to the coax.

• Perform a hard reset on the Actiontec to restore factory defaults.
• Connect a PC to a LAN port of the Actiontec. 
By default,DHCP server should be enabled on the Actiontec, so no need to set a static IP address on the PC.
•Login to the Actiontec at 192.168.1.1

Change the second Actiontec's LAN IP LAN address:

•Click on MY NETWORK icon at the top
•Click on NETWORK CONNECTIONSon the left menu.
•Click on Network (Home/Office)
•On the IP ADDRESS line, enter an available IP address on the same subnet as your primary router (e.g. 192.168.1.2).

*Note: I had to click on the Settings box at the bottom to change the IP address for my router. YMMV*

•Click APPLY
The Actiontec will reboot

Disable the coax WAN connection:

•Login to the Actiontec at it's new IP address.
•Click on the MY NETWORK icon at the top.
•Select NETWORK CONNECTIONS from the menu on the left.
•Click on Broadband Connection (coax)
•Click on DISABLE

Disable the DHCP server:

•Click on ADVANCED icon at the top. 
•Click yes
•Select IP Address Distribution
•Select Network (Home/Office)
•In the IP ADDRESS DISTRIBUTION pull-down, select DISABLED.
•Click APPLY.

You may or may not want to disable the wireless section in the remote Actiontec. If you leave it enabled, you should set the SSID to the same as your primary router, and set it to use a different channel. This can extend the wireless range of your primary router.

Connect the Actiontec to the coax (you may need a 1Ghz 2x1 splitter).

Good luck. I have been using multiple Actiontec routers with FIOS for several years. They are much cheaper and more available than the NIM100.


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## aadam101 (Jul 15, 2002)

Thanks

I've actually got it working now. For some reason the Actiontec kept reverting back to 192.168.1.1. This caused the Netgear and the Actiontec to keep fighting for the same IP. It seems to be stable now. I even added in a second MoCa adpater on the other side of the house and it's working perfectly!


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## aadam101 (Jul 15, 2002)

I just hooked up my Premiere to a Verizon Actiontec router (as a MoCa bridge). The adapter seems to keep timing out when not in use. The main MoCa adapter (that is connected directly to the main ethernet router) stays connected. It is only the adapter that is connected to the Tivo that is losing it's connection. I have to keep restarting the adapter every time I want to use the Tivo. Any ideas?


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## fyodor (Sep 19, 2006)

aadam101 said:


> I just hooked up my Premiere to a Verizon Actiontec router (as a MoCa bridge). The adapter seems to keep timing out when not in use. The main MoCa adapter (that is connected directly to the main ethernet router) stays connected. It is only the adapter that is connected to the Tivo that is losing it's connection. I have to keep restarting the adapter every time I want to use the Tivo. Any ideas?


This is may be a stupid question, but you've disabled dhcp (outgoing) on all the routers that are working as bridges, right?


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## aadam101 (Jul 15, 2002)

fyodor said:


> This is may be a stupid question, but you've disabled dhcp (outgoing) on all the routers that are working as bridges, right?


Yes. I have. I just double checked and DHCP is turned off on both bridges.


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