undefined | Better HN

0 pointslinsomniac7y ago0 comments

I thought about doing either powerline networking or CATV cable. We have CATV to every room and aren't using it. After some research, the speed and reliability seemed quite questionable.

I'd prefer to run Ethernet, but one portion of my house, the part that has most of the devices, is really hard to wire to my standards. I should probably just find a pro to do that run, or bite the bullet and either do some drywall work or put up some crown molding to get that run.

I'm afraid I won't know where to stop though. :-) If I'm gonna do drywall work in the spare bedroom, I might as well pull it ALL down. If I do that, I might as well run some more power circuits, seal the HVAC ducting. I might as well remodel that closet. Which might mean taking space from the closet for the basement bathroom and laundry. etc...

I have an illness. :-)

0 comments

8 comments · 3 top-level

hackcasual7y ago· 2 in thread

I use MoCA (over CATV) and it's really solid for me. Price has come down, you can get motorola devices that support MoCA 2.0 bonded which can provide around 800MBps for $60. Latency is in single digits with minimal jitter, compared to powerline, which doesn't play nice with the AFCI circuit breakers required by code in most US cities now, and also has pretty bad latency and jitter.

I also made sure to use a proper MoCA cable splitter, as well as installed terminators on the unconnected end points.

linsomniacOP7y ago

Which single digits? Single digit seconds? :-) Milliseconds? Microseconds? Just wondering... Looks like my local gigE at work is 0.3ms machine-to-machine, for comparison. And at my data center, pinging google.com is 0.6ms. :-) At home I have nothing close to that though.

Anyway: This is a fascinating idea. I had looked a year or two ago and the options didn't seem as good. What adapter are you using? I'm seeing mostly an Actiontec for around $90 each. I need to check my head end, but this might just be plug-and-play to reach 2 of my hardest to cable locations. I started thinking about just running some fiber along the CATV runs (along the outside of the house), but that'd be more of a pain. Especially getting the terminated ends through the wall. I'd want to run fiber since it'd be exposed to possible lightning, but I guess the CATV cable is similarly exposed. Hell, maybe I should just run some shielded cat6...

Anyway, I might just try this MoCA 2.0, thanks for that pointer.

hackcasual7y ago

Single digit milliseconds. Unfortunately anything ethernet over X will have latency due to the underlying medium.

I don't recommend Actiontec, I had a fairly expensive adapter go bad on me after about a year. I replaced the other ones with Motorola MM1000, which are much more reliable in my experience, and I found for $60.

1 more reply

hinkley7y ago· 2 in thread

Stuff like this, water damage and insulation make me think we are putting walls together wrong. I have no idea what the solution is but this is the pits.

throwmeback7y ago

I remember finding out Americans build walls differently than Europe. The stories about finding insect nests in walls sound insane for me to this day.

hinkley7y ago

Well, old buildings follow old building code or none at all. There are still a lot of 100 year old houses here that were built without insulation, and a void is gonna look damned attractive to wasps, bees, and smaller birds.

Interior finish work is expensive, doing it over to put in insulation is even moreso. And to add insult to injury, the low R value of walls is a data point used by siding installers, to try to talk you out of ripping the old stuff off before installing new. Each layer has an R value, dontchaknow...

frosted-flakes7y ago· 1 in thread

Nah, you're totally normal. Renovating is like opening a can of worms. No matter what happens, the scope of the project will always balloon once you find out what inside the walls.

lutorm7y ago

Our house has single-wall construction, so I'm immune to that illness. There is, by definition, nothing hidden in the walls. ;-)

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse