MoCA Ethernet

kenohrn
Grasshopper

We have flakey evening Wi-Fi at one end of our home, despite using BlueCurve and Gen 1 pods. SpeedTest routinely shows evening Wi-Fi network download speeds below 2 Mbps, and occasionally below 1 Mbps, for lengthy periods of time.  Shaw techs can't find any issue.  I don't see any obvious interference showing up on Wi-Fi, but I presume it's some sort of channel overloading.

It becomes annoying when using Sony TV streaming apps to view content via Wi-Fi.  We get freezing and buffering. 

I have traced the wiring and boxes in our home.  The Shaw XG1v4 box at the Sony is fed directly via coax from the home's main splitter.  The XG1v4 has a coax out connector that is apparently active (according to Shaw docs). 

Would it be possible to connect a MoCA adapter to the Shaw XG1v4 via coax, and then connect the MoCA adapter to the Sony via cat 5 or 6 ethernet cable? And use this for streaming services?

Your comments are most welcome. 

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The coax out of the XG1 is just video and audio output, s...

rstra
Grand Master

The coax out of the XG1 is just video and audio output, so that wouldn’t work. I don’t think splitting the single coax line and adding a second MoCA signal would work. How far is the BlueCurve modem from the TV?

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-- The Shaw XG1v4 box at the Sony is fed directly via coa...

mdk
Legendary Grand Master

@kenohrn -- The Shaw XG1v4 box at the Sony is fed directly via coax from the home's main splitter. 

Yes, input to the XG1v4 is via the coaxial cable, using MoCA streaming (as @rstra has stated).

> The XG1v4 has a coax-out connector that is apparently active (according to Shaw docs). 

I am guessing that one can connect that output to coaxial-input on a much-older TV (or VHS recorder, or TV-input adapter card on a computer). I would expect that the Shaw remote-control will select the TV channel, and that the TV's tuner will permanently be set to analog channel #3, and that the signal to the TV will not be scrambled.

> via cat 5 or 6 ethernet cable?

Note that a "CAT 5" cable maxes-out at 100 Mbits/second, while a "CAT 5e" cable maxes-out at 1000 Mbits/second, and "CAT 6" is even faster.

> And use this for streaming services?

I agree with @rstra -- your Sony requires an Internet connection (wired or wireless), but your proposed setup is not carrying Ethernet traffic.

> SpeedTest routinely shows evening Wi-Fi network download speeds below 2 Mbps, and occasionally below 1 Mbps, for lengthy periods of time.

Even when you run the Shaw Speed Test on a computer connected via Ethernet (not WiFi) to one LAN port on your BlueCurve Gateway ?

During the "slowdown" window of time, have you asked Shaw Support to remotely connect to your BlueCurve, to view the "signal-strength" reaching it? The Speed Test will measure the Internet speed, not the protocol used by Shaw to communicate TV signals over the coaxial cables, but if the coaxial speed is "bad", then the TV signals could also be affected.

 

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MoCA Adapter Shaw XG1

kenohrn
Grasshopper

Hi rstra:

Thanks for the response.

If I put a splitter upstream before the XG1, then the MoCA adapter could effectively be connected directly to the full Shaw signal coming into our suite (I've traced the wiring and boxes).

The BlueCurve modem is too far from the Sony.  Believe me, I've done every checklist of remedies to try to extend the Wi-Fi network reliably to the Sony TV, and several other gadgets that use Wi-Fi in that room. 

It's a hopeless quest, since the only reliable thing about this is that Wi-Fi speeds drop off considerably on many (not all) evenings. 

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If I am understanding you correctly, and the line coming...

rstra
Grand Master

If I am understanding you correctly, and the line coming in to the suite is in use, you would need a multiplex splitter and two MoCA adapters, to handle the cable signal and the MoCA signal from the BlueCurve modem. The multiplexer combines the signal from two sources to run over one line, like a backwards splitter. I don’t know if it would work. 

If you just add a splitter before the XG1, the best you could do would be to relocate the BlueCurve modem to the TV and the XG1.

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-- I've done every checklist of remedies to try to extend...

mdk
Legendary Grand Master

@kenohrn -- I've done every checklist of remedies to try to extend the Wi-Fi network reliably to the Sony TV, and several other gadgets that use Wi-Fi in that room. 

If it is not just the TV that has problem receiving via WiFi, then you should try either a Shaw WiFi repeater, or a third-party WiFi repeater, located physically "half-way" between the BlueCurve's WiFi and the room where the TV (and other devices) resides.

The Shaw repeater is a "rental" -- try it, and return it, within the current billing-period, if it does not help.

> despite using BlueCurve and Gen 1 pods.

Update: sorry for not noticing this before I posted. Shaw states that such a pod is what you should deploy.

>  Wi-Fi speeds drop off considerably on many (not all) evenings. 

Even if you take a WiFi device into the same room as the BlueCurve, where the WiFi signal-strength should be at 100% ??? If your WiFi device has an Ethernet port, does the speed when connected via Ethernet approximate the speed when using its WiFi adapter?

 

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-- Wi-Fi speeds drop off considerably on many (not all) e...

mdk
Legendary Grand Master

@kenohrn -- Wi-Fi speeds drop off considerably on many (not all) evenings.

Is there any correlation between those evening temperatures being much colder than those daytime temperatures, and those many evenings?

Is it only WiFi speeds that are slow, while an Ethernet-connected computer to your BlueCurve maintains its speed?

 

 

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