Coax to Ethernet?
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Best if you can run new Cat 6 Ethernet cables throughout your house.
Failing that, I'd say keep your router where it is. Add Wi-Fi access point(s)/extender(s) elsewhere. Assuming your internal walls are basically drywall on wood studs, Wi-Fi stands a good chance of working well enough.
Older co-ax cables and connectors may have issues that limit data transmission speeds. Powerline Ethernet also put you at the mercy of the house's electrical wiring. Very hard to diagnose and fix issues with old cables and wirings of unknown vintage, more so if most of them are within walls such that you cannot see them.
I tried all these different technologies and at the end I'm still most pleased with the Cat 6 Ethernet cables I ran through various parts of the house.
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Yeah - internet speeds to the home these days are super high and wifi protocols have progressed a lot in the last few years.
It feels more important to get stronger wifi coverage throughout the house than maximizing the pipe to a PC. At least for me anyways.
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So, no one uses a coax to Ethernet adapter in their room? Bah humbug.
So I do use a WiFi extender already but am nit picky as it seems to get around 100MB compared to the 500MB if using WiFi from the main router, so I don’t like when my devices pick up the extender when they’re also in range of the main router. Anyway… my desktop if sitting next to the router can get to about 300MB but if I just direct connect my computer to the router’s Ethernet port I can hit about 900MB.
I know anything above 200MB is mostly icing on the 4K cake but I figured a quick coax to Ethernet adapter might solve all issues… will look into the MoCA approach. Saw that a bit in Google results, too.
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@89th said in Coax to Ethernet?:
100MB
Don't focus on the number. Focus on what your experience is. Internet speed is a sales gimmick, and most of us would be fine with slower "internet speed."
At the Cheddarshack, we were on DSL (remember that?) at about 15 - yes, fifteen - and it was more than adequate for casual surfing and Netflix, etc.
Now, if you want to stream that high-def German pr0n, that's another issue, of course.
When we moved into our condo, I was thrilled with 25, and now I have almost 200.
Is my experience any different? Nope.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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Yeah, I use an extender to get good signal on the deck. It is slower than my current router but plenty fast for anything I will do outside. I think it was like $24.
“I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill
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@89th said in Coax to Ethernet?:
100MB
Don't focus on the number. Focus on what your experience is. Internet speed is a sales gimmick, and most of us would be fine with slower "internet speed."
At the Cheddarshack, we were on DSL (remember that?) at about 15 - yes, fifteen - and it was more than adequate for casual surfing and Netflix, etc.
Now, if you want to stream that high-def German pr0n, that's another issue, of course.
When we moved into our condo, I was thrilled with 25, and now I have almost 200.
Is my experience any different? Nope.
@george-k said in Coax to Ethernet?:
@89th said in Coax to Ethernet?:
100MB
Don't focus on the number. Focus on what your experience is. Internet speed is a sales gimmick, and most of us would be fine with slower "internet speed."
At the Cheddarshack, we were on DSL (remember that?) at about 15 - yes, fifteen - and it was more than adequate for casual surfing and Netflix, etc.
Now, if you want to stream that high-def German pr0n, that's another issue, of course.
When we moved into our condo, I was thrilled with 25, and now I have almost 200.
Is my experience any different? Nope.
15? Still DSL here in the sticks. If I get up to 6, I'm ecstatic. But even at that, most things work okay, at least for what I do...
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Yeah, I use an extender to get good signal on the deck. It is slower than my current router but plenty fast for anything I will do outside. I think it was like $24.
@mik said in Coax to Ethernet?:
Yeah, I use an extender to get good signal on the deck. It is slower than my current router but plenty fast for anything I will do outside. I think it was like $24.
Cool, and honestly with 5G/LTE my phone seems to be even faster than if on a weaker WiFi signal.
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If you want to maximize bandwidth for your PC at a fixed location - the MoCA will likely be your best bet.
If you'd rather spend the money getting even, strong wifi coverage in your house, you could buy multiple mesh points (e.g., Google wifi, Nest wifi, Orbi, etc.)
if you have enough of these daisy chained in your house, you can maintain pretty high speeds. My house is under 3000sq ft, and 2 floors. I can get 200Mbps in most places with 3 access points. (it's ~400 in the strongest corner of the house)
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So, no one uses a coax to Ethernet adapter in their room? Bah humbug.
So I do use a WiFi extender already but am nit picky as it seems to get around 100MB compared to the 500MB if using WiFi from the main router, so I don’t like when my devices pick up the extender when they’re also in range of the main router. Anyway… my desktop if sitting next to the router can get to about 300MB but if I just direct connect my computer to the router’s Ethernet port I can hit about 900MB.
I know anything above 200MB is mostly icing on the 4K cake but I figured a quick coax to Ethernet adapter might solve all issues… will look into the MoCA approach. Saw that a bit in Google results, too.
@89th said in Coax to Ethernet?:
So, no one uses a coax to Ethernet adapter in their room? Bah humbug.
So I do use a WiFi extender already but am nit picky as it seems to get around 100MB compared to the 500MB if using WiFi from the main router, so I don’t like when my devices pick up the extender when they’re also in range of the main router. Anyway… my desktop if sitting next to the router can get to about 300MB but if I just direct connect my computer to the router’s Ethernet port I can hit about 900MB.
I know anything above 200MB is mostly icing on the 4K cake but I figured a quick coax to Ethernet adapter might solve all issues… will look into the MoCA approach. Saw that a bit in Google results, too.
I for one would definitely try the coax-to-Ethernet thing.
Wired connections are almost always a magnitude more reliable and quicker. Adding WiFi extenders adds another potential point of failure, and more degradation of latency, especially if the extenders are chained (e.g. in a "mesh").
If you use some kind of file server in the network, you'll definitely want as much wired connection as possible. There is a HUGE difference between theoretical and practical wireless speed (factor 10 is quite common), but not much difference for wired connections. A 100mbit Ethernet connection will usually be way faster than a 300mbit wireless connection, for instance. Another thing to keep in mind is that the wireless is half-duplex and its speed is shared among all devices connected to the access point, whereas Ethernet connections are usually full-duplex and each client has the full speed (depending on the wiring and the speed of the backbone).
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If you want to maximize bandwidth for your PC at a fixed location - the MoCA will likely be your best bet.
If you'd rather spend the money getting even, strong wifi coverage in your house, you could buy multiple mesh points (e.g., Google wifi, Nest wifi, Orbi, etc.)
if you have enough of these daisy chained in your house, you can maintain pretty high speeds. My house is under 3000sq ft, and 2 floors. I can get 200Mbps in most places with 3 access points. (it's ~400 in the strongest corner of the house)
@xenon said in Coax to Ethernet?:
If you want to maximize bandwidth for your PC at a fixed location - the MoCA will likely be your best bet.
If you'd rather spend the money getting even, strong wifi coverage in your house, you could buy multiple mesh points (e.g., Google wifi, Nest wifi, Orbi, etc.)
if you have enough of these daisy chained in your house, you can maintain pretty high speeds. My house is under 3000sq ft, and 2 floors. I can get 200Mbps in most places with 3 access points. (it's ~400 in the strongest corner of the house)
Stupid question (asking for a friend), but with the mesh approach, does each device have its own WiFi ID? For example, me.... I mean, my friend... the main WiFi signal is called ABC and then if the extender is automatically picked up it's called ABC_EXT, so I know when I'm on the extender device instead of the mothership WiFi router.
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@89th said in Coax to Ethernet?:
So, no one uses a coax to Ethernet adapter in their room? Bah humbug.
So I do use a WiFi extender already but am nit picky as it seems to get around 100MB compared to the 500MB if using WiFi from the main router, so I don’t like when my devices pick up the extender when they’re also in range of the main router. Anyway… my desktop if sitting next to the router can get to about 300MB but if I just direct connect my computer to the router’s Ethernet port I can hit about 900MB.
I know anything above 200MB is mostly icing on the 4K cake but I figured a quick coax to Ethernet adapter might solve all issues… will look into the MoCA approach. Saw that a bit in Google results, too.
I for one would definitely try the coax-to-Ethernet thing.
Wired connections are almost always a magnitude more reliable and quicker. Adding WiFi extenders adds another potential point of failure, and more degradation of latency, especially if the extenders are chained (e.g. in a "mesh").
If you use some kind of file server in the network, you'll definitely want as much wired connection as possible. There is a HUGE difference between theoretical and practical wireless speed (factor 10 is quite common), but not much difference for wired connections. A 100mbit Ethernet connection will usually be way faster than a 300mbit wireless connection, for instance. Another thing to keep in mind is that the wireless is half-duplex and its speed is shared among all devices connected to the access point, whereas Ethernet connections are usually full-duplex and each client has the full speed (depending on the wiring and the speed of the backbone).
@klaus said in Coax to Ethernet?:
@89th said in Coax to Ethernet?:
So, no one uses a coax to Ethernet adapter in their room? Bah humbug.
So I do use a WiFi extender already but am nit picky as it seems to get around 100MB compared to the 500MB if using WiFi from the main router, so I don’t like when my devices pick up the extender when they’re also in range of the main router. Anyway… my desktop if sitting next to the router can get to about 300MB but if I just direct connect my computer to the router’s Ethernet port I can hit about 900MB.
I know anything above 200MB is mostly icing on the 4K cake but I figured a quick coax to Ethernet adapter might solve all issues… will look into the MoCA approach. Saw that a bit in Google results, too.
I for one would definitely try the coax-to-Ethernet thing.
Wired connections are almost always a magnitude more reliable and quicker. Adding WiFi extenders adds another potential point of failure, and more degradation of latency, especially if the extenders are chained (e.g. in a "mesh").
If you use some kind of file server in the network, you'll definitely want as much wired connection as possible. There is a HUGE difference between theoretical and practical wireless speed (factor 10 is quite common), but not much difference for wired connections. A 100mbit Ethernet connection will usually be way faster than a 300mbit wireless connection, for instance. Another thing to keep in mind is that the wireless is half-duplex and its speed is shared among all devices connected to the access point, whereas Ethernet connections are usually full-duplex and each client has the full speed (depending on the wiring and the speed of the backbone).
Good points! I do a lot of remote work via VDI or other remote desktop connections, and of course the various video conference calls, so I just want to make sure my desktop connection leverages the maximum speed I get to the house. Right now I get about 1100 MBPS "from the street" to the house, and via Ethernet I get about 950, whereas if I just use my Desktop via WiFi (next to the router) it seems to top off around 100. Weird.
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@xenon said in Coax to Ethernet?:
If you want to maximize bandwidth for your PC at a fixed location - the MoCA will likely be your best bet.
If you'd rather spend the money getting even, strong wifi coverage in your house, you could buy multiple mesh points (e.g., Google wifi, Nest wifi, Orbi, etc.)
if you have enough of these daisy chained in your house, you can maintain pretty high speeds. My house is under 3000sq ft, and 2 floors. I can get 200Mbps in most places with 3 access points. (it's ~400 in the strongest corner of the house)
Stupid question (asking for a friend), but with the mesh approach, does each device have its own WiFi ID? For example, me.... I mean, my friend... the main WiFi signal is called ABC and then if the extender is automatically picked up it's called ABC_EXT, so I know when I'm on the extender device instead of the mothership WiFi router.
@89th said in Coax to Ethernet?:
@xenon said in Coax to Ethernet?:
If you want to maximize bandwidth for your PC at a fixed location - the MoCA will likely be your best bet.
If you'd rather spend the money getting even, strong wifi coverage in your house, you could buy multiple mesh points (e.g., Google wifi, Nest wifi, Orbi, etc.)
if you have enough of these daisy chained in your house, you can maintain pretty high speeds. My house is under 3000sq ft, and 2 floors. I can get 200Mbps in most places with 3 access points. (it's ~400 in the strongest corner of the house)
Stupid question (asking for a friend), but with the mesh approach, does each device have its own WiFi ID? For example, me.... I mean, my friend... the main WiFi signal is called ABC and then if the extender is automatically picked up it's called ABC_EXT, so I know when I'm on the extender device instead of the mothership WiFi router.
On my Unifi network with 3 access points it is one network. The switching is seamless. Only one WiFi configuration to setup per device.
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@xenon said in Coax to Ethernet?:
If you want to maximize bandwidth for your PC at a fixed location - the MoCA will likely be your best bet.
If you'd rather spend the money getting even, strong wifi coverage in your house, you could buy multiple mesh points (e.g., Google wifi, Nest wifi, Orbi, etc.)
if you have enough of these daisy chained in your house, you can maintain pretty high speeds. My house is under 3000sq ft, and 2 floors. I can get 200Mbps in most places with 3 access points. (it's ~400 in the strongest corner of the house)
Stupid question (asking for a friend), but with the mesh approach, does each device have its own WiFi ID? For example, me.... I mean, my friend... the main WiFi signal is called ABC and then if the extender is automatically picked up it's called ABC_EXT, so I know when I'm on the extender device instead of the mothership WiFi router.
@89th said in Coax to Ethernet?:
@xenon said in Coax to Ethernet?:
If you want to maximize bandwidth for your PC at a fixed location - the MoCA will likely be your best bet.
If you'd rather spend the money getting even, strong wifi coverage in your house, you could buy multiple mesh points (e.g., Google wifi, Nest wifi, Orbi, etc.)
if you have enough of these daisy chained in your house, you can maintain pretty high speeds. My house is under 3000sq ft, and 2 floors. I can get 200Mbps in most places with 3 access points. (it's ~400 in the strongest corner of the house)
Stupid question (asking for a friend), but with the mesh approach, does each device have its own WiFi ID? For example, me.... I mean, my friend... the main WiFi signal is called ABC and then if the extender is automatically picked up it's called ABC_EXT, so I know when I'm on the extender device instead of the mothership WiFi router.
There are different products - but the orbi and google systems are designed to be seamless to the user.
That means it's just one network and the mesh "hands you off" automatically between access points.
If you're willing to spend money - the best way to do the networking is wired backhaul (using MoCA if needed). Meaning connect the wireless access points to a wired connection using the coax. That way each wireless access point will be broadcasting the maximum signal strength "from the street".
My parents recently built a house - and that's how I set it up for them. They have 5 access points and each one is connected to each other through the wired backhaul.
Happy to clarify this.
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I really like the Unbiquiti software. The topology map of my home network. This auto updates as devices come and go and switch access points. A full history is available in the logs of each access point. Yes, it's a bit pricey, but if you want to set up video doorbells, or other security cameras, smart access locks, etc. Ubiquiti makes some seriously nice gear. All of their access points are PoE. Very clean installation.
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Update, so I guess the wireless card on my previous desktop was just older. The new desktop has a Killer WiFi 6 AX1650i card which gives me around ~900 MBPS download speed.
