I Will FIX Your Wifi - MoCA and Powerline at Colton's House

The Problem: Spotty Wi-Fi for Gaming

Scenario: Colton needs a stable network connection for his gaming PC, but his Wi-Fi is inconsistent. His wife doesn’t want loose ethernet cables on the floor.
The Constraint: Running new ethernet cables through the walls isn’t viable due to the home’s construction/age.
The Solution: Use existing wiring already inside the walls—specifically Coaxial cables (TV) or Electrical wiring (Power outlets).

Solution 1: MoCA (Multimedia over Coax)

Technology: Uses the existing coaxial cables (originally for cable TV) to transmit high-speed network data.
Theoretical Speed: Offers performance up to 2.5 Gigabit, similar to a direct ethernet connection.
Installation Attempt:
- They located a hidden coax cable behind a wall plate and drilled a hole to access it.
- The Setup: An ethernet cable goes from the router to a MoCA adapter, converting the signal to coax. Another adapter at the PC converts it back to ethernet.
The Result: Failure. The MoCA light never turned on. This indicates the coax cables in the walls likely do not connect back to a central hub or are disconnected/cut somewhere in the house.

Solution 2: Powerline Adapters

Technology: Transmits data signals over the electrical wiring of the house.
Theoretical Speed: Rated for roughly 2 Gigabit, though real-world performance depends heavily on the quality of the power lines and distance.
Installation: “Plug and Play.” One adapter plugs into a wall outlet near the router, and the other near the PC.
Important Note: It is recommended to plug them directly into the wall, not into a power strip/surge protector, as strips can filter out the data signal.

Performance Test: Wi-Fi vs. Powerline

Consistency is Key: The goal wasn’t just raw speed, but latency consistency.
- Wi-Fi Issues: While the Wi-Fi sometimes showed low ping, it frequently spiked to 25ms-50ms+ during use, which causes lag in gaming.
- Powerline Stability: The Powerline connection provided a steady ~10ms ping with very little variance, even while microwaving water (which can sometimes cause interference).
Stress Test: They ran multiple Twitch streams to load the connection. The Wi-Fi struggled and dropped quality, while the Powerline connection remained stable.

Key Takeaways & Advice

MoCA vs. Powerline: MoCA is generally preferred if you have working coax cables because it is faster and less susceptible to interference. Powerline is more flexible (outlets are everywhere) but can be “hit or miss” depending on your home’s wiring.
Encryption: For both technologies, it is critical to use the built-in encryption buttons (similar to WPS). If you live in an apartment/duplex, your neighbors might share your wiring, so encryption prevents them from accidentally joining your network.
Hub Limitations: If you add more than two MoCA/Powerline adapters, they act like a “hub,” meaning bandwidth is shared across all devices, which can reduce speeds

I used to work at a PC retail shop and I would always recommend internet over power line, I was being told by my boss to shill more expensive routers but 99% of the customers were old couples who lived in old stone walled houses, not brick, thick stone. I’d always try to explain to them how to set them up, but would also give them some handwritten instructions to give to their grandchildren if they had any issues, it’s surprising how easy they are to set up 90% of the time they would phone back not to report an issue but just to say thank you. I probably would have lost my job if it wasn’t for all the old couples phoning in to tell my boss how grateful they were to me.

Just an extra Powerline tip, for anyone wanting to try it out! Most packages for Powerline actually tell you the max length that you can space two adapters in the network. Most are right around 100-150 feet. You may also run into problems if you run in a path that crosses a refrigerator, as some can distort the frequencies used by the adapters. Hope this helps!

You use a moca filter where the coax enters your premises to stop your neighbors from getting your moca signals. To get full moca speed to multiple locations, it’s possible to use multiple moca adapters, but disconnected from the splitter, so they only use direct runs to a specific room, then connect the now disconnected splitter side of the moca units to a central ethernet switch. This is layout dependent and probably much harder to do if your splitter is outside. Also wont work if you want TV over the same coax. Works great in a setup with a splitter inside when you just want to send data to certain rooms.

Former Dish installer here. The reason why Linus said that Dish uses the same frequencies and MoCA for Ethernet may not be compatible with Dish, is because Dish actually uses MoCA for their Hopper/Joey products. Those systems are less like a traditional set top box setup, and more like a media server with a bunch of Nvidia Shields connected to it via MoCA. Hence the conflicting frequencies. It’s already basically using MoCA for Ethernet. If you have one of the older set top boxes or DVRs, instead of a hopper, then it’s entirely possible that MoCA may work for you

Since I bought a Netgear Orbi mesh system in 2017, I haven’t had any Wi-Fi issues. Using ethernet between the main station and satellite, having a solid connection when connected wired for the TV Media console and my main PC for flawless streaming and Wi-Fi connection across all devices and locations within and around the home is consistent. Also, I love that I can go anywhere in the house and the backyard without getting a signal drop or connecting to another connection point in the middle of a stream.