Netgear's Coax-Ethernet Adapter up for pre-order
By Darren Murph 
posted January 29th 2009 8:53AM
posted January 29th 2009 8:53AM
[Thanks, Matt]
posted January 29th 2009 8:53AM
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If you are interested in this device, do an eBay search for Motorola Nim 100, and you will find a much cheaper alternative. Also it won't affect most people, but there is a maximum of 16 devices allowed on a Moca 1.1 network.
I have three NIM 100s in my home. They work great and are available much cheaper than this solution. There is no support for the NIM 100s, but otherwise there is no downside.
I tried Powerline (Netgear HDXB101) and it didn't work for me. I couldn't even get it at higher speeds than wireless G. Powerline is highly dependent on the wiring in your house. I bought Powerline on Amazon and returned it. If you decide to try Powerline definitely buy it with a good return policy. I have a new house, so I was very surprised that it didn't work.
If NetGear can sell this at a reasonable price point MOCA is a great solution. It is not Gig-E, but it is more than adequate to stream HD around the house.
@Zingerhill
The other problem with Powerline, which I looked into also, is that all of the connections need to be on the same circuit breaker. This was a huge deal breaker for me.
Motorola devices use 1.0, not 1.1 standard. Will work on other networks, but you may have some TV interference issues. These have been tested and certified for use on all major DSL and cable networks.
Its just a point to point connection over the coax. Specs don't say if you can use multiple pairs of the boxes or not. I still say Gigabit FTW!
http://www.netgear.com/Products/PowerlineNetworking/Coax/MCAB1001.aspx
You can have up to 16 moca devices on your network. Fios users already have a Moca router on their network, and all they have to do is add a device like this, or a Motorola Nim 100 as I mentioned earlier. I'm not saying Gigabit isn't better, but if you already have coax at every connection point you need, this is a cool solution for most people.
You can add additional nodes by purchasing additional adapters. Or, you can add these adapters to your existing FIOS installation.
If you have U-Verse then every set-top box you have does the same thing this unit does. If you use the coax connector on the back of the box and not the Ethernet port you can connect your PC directly to Ethernet port of the set-top box and viola! I have a switch connected to my set-top that connects to my PS3 and XBox360.
I wonder how this compares to powerline networking... I tried an Actiontec powerline adapter at home. It didn't work at all- apparently every wall-wart power adapter and compact fluorescent light bulb causes interference over the powerline, reducing the stability of the signal.
For those who keep asking, this is useful for those people who don't get a good wireless signal throughout their house, and only have one modem point.
Just mentioning coax and Ethernet is giving me a 10base2 flashback. T-junctions! Terminators! Co-workers kicking the coax underneath their desks! AAAAAAAAaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!
Let's see... weren't we doing coaxial cable Ethernet 18-20 yrs ago? Doesn't anyone remember how annoying that was? Bad connectors. Terminators. Expensive, crappy cable. Flaky network cards. People moving computers off the network w/o telling anyone & bringing down the entire network b/c there was no terminator placed on the empty connection. Spending hours looking for an unterminated connector b/c someone saw fit to move that terminator elsewhere.
I know this isn't the same thing, but what is so bad about cat5, 5e, 6 or 7 or even wireless. I just LOVE wireless. Oh, yeah, & I have pulled cabling thru 150 yr old buildings & I'd still prefer that over the old coax.
@ CyberRanger,
You read my mind. I was thinking "Welcome back to 1982!" The first network I worked on was a Datapoint Arcnet. What's next? Thin ethernet? Seems like a smartly designed coax to rj45 balun would be a more elegant alternative, although maybe not cheaper depending on how many are needed.
I wonder if this could be used to connect between houses. If you wanted a run of over 100 meters or whatever is the limit for cat5/6. I did run conduit in our new house here is a blog I have been writing about it: http://homeanddollars.blogspot.com/2008/10/this-is-example-of-low-voltage-conduit.html
I realized that I didn't put in the system diagram of the house that I had put together, so I will have to throw that up tonight.
I have to agree with the other posters. Wiring CAT5 isn't all that hard, or expensive. Yes, if you decide you want a jack in every room of the house, two in some, then it can be a big undertaking. But if you already know the 4 or 5 locations you need it, it's pretty easy, at least in a woodframe house. My biggest problem was finding a direct route from the basement to the attic. I ended up following the AC piping which runs perfectly vertical. I bought my cable and jacks from deepsurplus.com whom I highly recommend. Total I put in 5 jacks on 3 floors for about $100 bucks.
The web site for the Netgear MCAB1001 states under features:
Not compatible with satellite television installations (e.g., DIRECTV®, DISH Network)
Any idea what this statement means? If I connect the output of a DirecTV receiver to a video capture card in a PC, can I not stream the video to another computer over coax using the Netgear device?
This system works like DSL on UTP. The cable signal (voice) signal is running at one frequency on the coax while the data runs simultaneously at a higher frequency. Satellite service runs at a different frequency than cable and it also runs power on the line. Either of which may interfere with this products data stream.
I'm pretty sure they mean you can't use this on the coax that runs between the actual sat dish and the receiver. However some also do have some bipass pieces that work with secondary receivers in the home and run along the normal in home coax. So if you have just one receiver in your house your probably fine. Not sure if the Vip722 that pushes into the original coax for the second display causes a problem or not. I have two tv's running off the second display on my 722 without issue however I wouldn't try to install something like this on the line as well.
DirecTV from Satalite Dish to Reciever goes over Coax.
So, no, you could not go out of your computer through coax to a DirecTV Reciever to a DirecTV MultiSwtich to a DirecTV Reciever to a Netgear device.
I thought it was a picture of an AeroBed.
For that price, I would have liked a mode to run at higher speed over an unused cable. You should be able to push Gigabit speeds in-house. (Each analog cable channel is equivalent to around 10 digital streams at over 3Mbps. Granted, QAM equipment at the cable co is more sophisticated than this, but we're also not as concerned about boundaries between channels and even if you allocated space for forward error-correction, you should still have plenty of bandwidth.)
$229.99!? LOL!!! That price is f'n ridiculous!
2 Motorola NIM 100's (eBay) + 1 Actiontec MI424WR MoCA router (eBay or elsewhere) = less than $100 total.
For those who have FIOS, all you need are the NIM 100 adapters! I bought a 3-pack of NIM 100's on eBay for less than $100, and I added a $20 gigabit switch to each room -- done! :)
Screw Netgear.
Don't install this, it will mean its the year 1995.
Is there a way to use the regular copper phone lines (versus coax) in your house like this as an ethernet bridge?