Best coax amplifier and splitters for MoCA 2.5 Ethernet?

[atp]

I'm soon getting Fiber Gigabit Internet installed in my house (TDS Telecom in southern New Hampshire), with the ONT placed in my basement. I'll have a Cat 6 ethernet cable connecting the OTN to my router, but unfortunately, I have no wired Ethernet anywhere else in the house. But I DO have lots of coaxial cable jacks, and my router sits right next to one of them. So I plan to use the coax for Ethernet, and have acquired some ScreenBeam ECB7250K02 Bonded MoCA 2.5 Network Adapters.

My house's previous owners installed a Antronix VRA900 VoIP Residential Amplifier, and all the coax lines go through it. (Picture of mine further below.) On the front it says:

Antronix VRA900 VoIP Residential Amplifier
Output Ports 1-8
FWD: 52 - 1002 MHz 0 dB
RTN: 5 - 42 MHz 0 db

I am assuming I should remove that VRA900 and replace it with a MoCA rated amplifier. I see that Antronix makes a bunch of different MoCA Residential Amplifiers. Notably, the MVRAM902B/ACP-EZ (Midsplit 85/102 MHz) and the MVRA902B (42/54 MHz) seem very similar, but have DIFFERENT specs on the frequency ranges they forward vs. return. Which one should I pick and why? Are there other amplifiers I should pick instead? E.g., is the Amphenol IPA2008DSL2-RSVFA any better/worse? It's available through various 3rd party shops for around $110. I see the Antronix MVRA902B advertised for $50 on "antronix.myshopify.com".

I've also found at least three old 2-way splitters installed in various spots around the house. My ScreenBeam MoCA adapter came with a splitter, a Picolink 2-Way Splitter, part number 141-SP1XD-001, Frequency 5 - 1670 MHz. I'll probably need to buy more splitters. The Antronix MMC1002H-B 2-way splitter talks about supporting "MoCA 2.0"; but is that good enough for MoCA 2.5?

For 2-way splitters, I see that others have recommended either the Holland GHS-2PRO-M or Amphenol ABS312H. Is there any reason to use the more expensive Holland MSAT-2 2-2150 Mhz (intended for satellite TV) splitter instead?

Thanks in advance for your help and advice!

Old Antronix VRA900 amplifier:

 

[GHammer]

You should take a look at what frequencies MoCA uses.
From memory, none of the active equipment you mention is going to pass a MoCA signal.

Basically, you will need to isolate the signal to the MoCA devices. I have a single 2-way splitter on my incoming. One goes to cable, one goes to my modem.

If you can get the drop into the router isolated, you'll be good to pass the ONT ethernet through the MoCA to your router.
I do the same with a couple of managed switches for VLAN and two MoCA devices. I send the cable modem on one VLAN and the actual LAN over another.

 

[atp]

If you can get the drop into the router isolated, you'll be good to pass the ONT ethernet through the MoCA to your router.

I am purposely NOT going to do that. From the Fiber ONT, I will run a Cat 6 Ethernet cable to the WAN port on my router. One of my router's LAN ports will connect to the ScreenBeam MoCA 2.5 adapter, which plugs into the coaxial cable in my house. I will place other MoCA adapters on coax jacks in my house as needed. The MoCA 2.5 network will be the Ethernet LAN in my house. The ONT to router connection for the WAN uplink will not use MoCA at all.

Thus my questions above are really about what hardware will make my MoCA LAN work best.

 

[krkaufman]

Reply to cross-posted Reddit thread, here.

copy/paste:

---

I'm assuming I should remove that VRA900 and replace it with a MoCA rated amplifier.

Ditto prior reply: absent any cable or OTA signal to distribute to multiple outlets, you don’t need an amplifier. You could replace the amp with a right-sized MoCA-optimized splitter; whether you’d use a splitter and the splitter size needed would depend on the number of MoCA nodes you want connected and your preferred topology.

MoCA topology choices:

• MoCA AP+client vs dedicated pairs
• splitter input-fed vs all outputs

I'll probably need to buy more splitters. The Antronix MMC1002H-B 2-way splitter talks about supporting "MoCA 2.0"; but is that good enough for MoCA 2.5?

Also ditto prior reply. The Picolink splitter should be fine; and the Antronix MMC1000 series splitters are a good choice for both MoCA 2.0 and 2.5, as the MoCA 2.x specs have the same frequency range and splitter requirements.

Related: MoCA-compatible splitter recommendations

Is there any reason to use the more expensive Holland MSAT-2 2-2150 Mhz (intended for satellite TV) splitter instead?

To the contrary, there are reasons to NOT use this splitter series: a splitter optimized for satellite has contrary specs to MoCA needs, high output port isolation at MoCA frequencies versus low isolation.

Related: … and warnings

 

[atp]

Thank you for the advice about NOT needing any amplifier, you were right!

I removed the old Antronix VRA900 amplifier. I installed a -70 dB moCA POE filter, the PPC 2520A GLP-1G70CWWS ($8 at Amazon), an $8 Holland GHS-3PRO-M 3-way splitter, and a bunch of 75 Ohm terminators on all the unused coax jacks.

The most time consuming part was just mapping the existing coaxial network in the house; nothing had been labeled. I used a Jonard Tools CM-100 Cable Mapper Pro for that, it worked well.

So far I have two ScreenBeam MoCA 2.5 adapters installed. That let me set up a second OpenWRT router configured as a dumb access point, giving me much better WiFi coverage at that end of the house. Testing with iperf3 on Linux, I got the same c. 945 Bps bandwith numbers over the coax network that I see just through my Ethernet switch, so the MoCA is working and not the rate limitor. Everything works!

 

[marketsquid]

Hi! I just joined the sub and browsing thru, found your post very helpful. I will try and replicate what you did but mine is an old home with standard 1 gig speed, fiber is not available. I plan to run Ethernet (thru walls) for two bedrooms, loft and living (small house about 1500sf) or should I save myself the trouble of fishing the cables and install MoCA adapters? All said rooms have coax already installed. Will there be any difference in speed Ethernet vs coax? Also, if I don’t have cable do I still need to use the filter that you mentioned? Thx

 

[degrub]

Run the ethernet cables if doable. MOCA is second choice.
Yes there can be a difference in speed with moca and ethernet. Even without cable unless running direct point to point , you want the filter to keep signal quality as high as possible.
If there is a splitter or amp in the moca signal path you will need to replace with MOCA2.5 /2 certified for best result. Others, moca compatible may or may not work well.