sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring Here's one I never heard before.

I’m not sure if the purpose of the new drops was clear but were these for data? If so then why would you want to run CAT3?

LOL! Because they were for a regular SL cordless phone and a fax. Both were at the same location so I ran one cable and split it out to two jacks.

Wireless is not the end all be all in home networking. There are lots of devices like home media servers that demand a hard wired connection in order to stream well.

To answer that as well as my own question above about why Verizon is using a MOCA wireless modem/router. MOCA (Multimedia Over CoAx) provides high bandwidth data (175Mb) over the same coax as the TV. The future of cable TV is pure IP anyway, and MOCA was developed to distribute that high bandwith data over the same coax network that is already in place in a home.

I'm not very familiar with MOCA, but I assume that right now if you have FiOS and a MOCA router you can get for your wired computers MOCA converters that have a coax in and ethernet out and just connect them to a TV jack to network and access the internet. As this progresses you will surely see MOCA NICs with "F" connectors on them in addition to ethernet.

So you can see right there that UTP for home networking is on it's way out.

-Hal

MOCA is great technology but it was designed to take advantage of COAX that most homes already have. Its just like wireline technology in that it allows homeowners to take advantage of home networking without the added expense of data cabling thats normally involved. MOCA is pretty cool but UTP is not going anywhere anytime soon. On new construction CAT5e minimum is required with two jacks at each location, one coax, and an optional fiber. Anyone who is still running CAT3 is probably going to save themselves future headaches by ditching it and using CAT5e or better. This will at least close the door where some Joe Blow can say "That guy isnt even running recommended cable" I just love these cable discussions!

MOCA is great technology but it was designed to take advantage of COAX that most homes already have.

I think there is more to it than that. MOCA wasn't developed just to be able to use the existing CATV cable. UTP just can't handle the bandwidth of things like IP streaming HD video. Fiber? Yeah probably but that's a bit more expensive than coax.

-Hal

Reminds me of the time I installed one of those Panasonic 4-line with seven wireless extensions.

The customer insisted that every location got wired with Cat 5e. :rolleyes:

So I wired the 8 Cat 5e drops and a couple more for CCVM and FAX location...so 10-Cat 5e drops where 2-Cat 3's would have worked as well.

The company has since gone out of business. I wonder if it started with poor management decisions from the very beginning? :shrug:

For data drops (not voice), when running a CAT5E is difficult, and the homeowner's outlets all go to the same power panel, why would anyone want to cut and fish walls when you can install this kit for $99. street price? You get four ports on either side.

https://www.netgear.com/Products/PowerlineNetworking/PowerlineEthernetAdapters/XEB1004.aspx

It goes 85mbps which is faster than 802.11g and maybe even the 802.11n drafts in actual working conditions. Belkin has one that goes gigabit through powerlines but I don't know if it's being delivered yet.

This statement from Motorola does not seem to suggest that MOCA is faster than UTP.

As far as why Verizon uses the the Actiontec router instead of just running a cat5 to the ONT (which I have heard they did for some installs early on), I've heard that the tv guide (and possibly some other functions) won't work on the STBs without it.

As far as UTP not being able to handle the data rate of HD video...consider that the over-the-air data rate of an HD TV station is only 18mbps. (IP doesn't add much overhead to that). 1080i video is about 12gb per hour--I can transfer 12gb of files in about 12 minutes on my UTP-wired network.

Well, I'm no expert on IPTV or MOCA so I can only go by what's been said. I do remember that MOCA can be used with UTP which I think you are actually talking about with the early installs. The results were less than acceptable which leads me to believe that there is some truth to UTP not being able to fully support the technology.

-Hal

When I had FIOS installed about three months ago they ran coax from the ONT to a Splitter and then to the two tv's and the router.

The tech explained to me that each of the cable boxes gets an IP address from the router in order to get the cable guide info.

This also allows me to use the multi-room DVR.

He said, that eventually you will be able to put a NAS device on the network to be able to expand the storage of the DVR system.

Jim

Perhaps it's an issue of the ONT not supporting gigabit ethernet.

Another issue that people don't realize when they run all of these standard Cat 5's out to the NID, is that they are not rated for outdoor use. After a few years of UV/sunlight exposure, temp changes, rain/snow, etc., the stuff simply falls apart. Then they blow up when they find out that their finished basement must be tore apart so that the proper wiring can be installed in its place.