Suggestions for how to add more wiring in garage

[a-seus-am-i]

I have an interesting situation I'm hoping someone has a magic solution to. My house is already wired with ethernet. I have gigabit fiber and the ONT is in my garage. I have 1 ethernet run from the garage to a panel upstairs where all the ethernet wiring for the house comes to. That's where I have my router and switch. Now the problem I have is that I want to connect up some wired devices in the garage (like an access point and some POE cameras, etc.), but the single ethernet cable I have is used to connect the ONT to the upstairs panel. Does anyone have any solutions on how to do this?

I could put the router in the garage. That way I could connect up devices to the router in the garage and do the single run back upstairs to connect up the rest of the house, but I don't want to put the router in the garage as it seems less secure to leave the router in the garage. I could also run additional cable down, but that would mean running it down the side of the house which I don't want to do because of the way my house is configured.

I do have a coax run from the garage to the same panel upstairs, so I could use a MOCA adapter from the upstairs router back down to the garage. I don't have any experience with MOCA adapters though and I've read mixed reviews about it's speed and stability.

If anyone has any thoughts on how to add more wiring in the garage that would be appreciated!

 

[degrub]

If it is a dedicated RG-6 coax run, then just get a pair of either 1) Actiontec 6200’s, 2) Motorola 1000’s (i think), or 3) Gocoax ‘s 2.5 modems.

Put an unmanaged switch in the garage and add an AP if you need wireless. If you are using VLans, make sure the AP supports and/or the switch for wired devices. You can also just connect the AP directly to the ethernet port of the modem.

If the coax is also supporting an existing MOCA 2 network, then you may have to stay with the Actiontec or Motorola modem solution.
If there is only ordinary TV antenna signal or lower band cable usage, then that will just “pass thru” without issue. You will see a little signal loss from the additional coax connections, so you will have to test and possibly add a moca 2 compatible or ordinary cable tv amp, depending on where the connection is made in the cable. If TV antenna signal, then a low noise amp (ChannelMaster suggested) located adjacent to the antenna feed is best to overcome the additional losses.

 

[a-seus-am-i]

If it is a dedicated RG-6 coax run, then just get a pair of either 1) Actiontec 6200’s, 2) Motorola 1000’s (i think), or 3) Gocoax ‘s 2.5 modems.

Put an unmanaged switch in the garage and add an AP if you need wireless. If you are using VLans, make sure the AP supports and/or the switch for wired devices. You can also just connect the AP directly to the ethernet port of the modem.

If the coax is also supporting an existing MOCA 2 network, then you may have to stay with the Actiontec or Motorola modem solution.
If there is only ordinary TV antenna signal or lower band cable usage, then that will just “pass thru” without issue. You will see a little signal loss from the additional coax connections, so you will have to test and possibly add a moca 2 compatible or ordinary cable tv amp, depending on where the connection is made in the cable. If TV antenna signal, then a low noise amp (ChannelMaster suggested) located adjacent to the antenna feed is best to overcome the additional losses.

Thanks for the reply! So using the MOCA adapter seems like an option for sure. I don't use the coax for anything since I have fiber for internet and don't use the coax for providing TV signals around the house (I have an antenna and a HDHomeRun).

For the 2nd part of your reply, I wasn't sure if you meant after I hook up the MOCA adapter or connect to the extra ethernet ports on the ONT. I don't think I can connect to the other ports on the ONT since the ONT doesn't do any routing AFAIK. So I'm guessing you mean run the network back down via the coax and MOCA adapter and then connect a switch in the garage to the adapter.

I was hoping there was some kind of magical splitter that allows you use one cable for 2 different devices that would somehow allow me to let the ONT direct connect to the router and then feed back the routed stuff back to the other side of the splitter. Or if there was some way to configure a switch between the ONT and the router that would work. Wishful thinking I guess .

 

[Greg72]

Move Router tothe ONT, then cascade the two switches from the router.

 

[a-seus-am-i]

Move Router tothe ONT, then cascade the two switches from the router.

Thanks, but I was hoping to find a way without moving the router to the garage. I'd rather not have it sitting in there unless it's really the only option.

 

[abailey]

I was hoping there was some kind of magical splitter that allows you use one cable for 2 different devices that would somehow allow me to let the ONT direct connect to the router and then feed back the routed stuff back to the other side of the splitter. Or if there was some way to configure a switch between the ONT and the router that would work. Wishful thinking I guess .

You could do this with VLANs. It would require a layer 2 switch at each end. It would also share the total bandwidth.
I use MOCA extensively in my house and am very happy with it. I have never had stability or speed issues (like you often find with powerline adapters). This is especially true if your not using the COAX and can dedicate it for the purpose. You can save a ton of money if you don't need more than 100Mbit. You could use these:. If you need more than 100Mbit you will need to purchase the more expensive MOCA 2.0 or 2.5 adapters.

 

[coxhaus]

Can the MOCA now do gig? If not then he will want his router at the ATT termination point.

 

[a-seus-am-i]

Some reviews I've been reading says they can get close to gigabit speeds using moca, so it seems like that's probably the best option to run networking back down to the garage.

The VLAN option sounds interesting though, but maybe more involved since I'm not that familiar with setting those up and don't have any managed switches. Also splitting the bandwith doesn't seem as good as MOCA assuming that I can get good speeds using the MOCA adapter.

 

[abailey]

Moca 2.5 can do over 2 Gigabit (it can match a full duplex Gigabit connection). MOCA 2.0 (bonded) can do 1 Gigabit total.

 

[coxhaus]

I mean 1 gig duplex.

And I mean ATT termination point does not matter whether the cable is 10 feet or 300 feet.

 

[degrub]

Thanks for the reply! So using the MOCA adapter seems like an option for sure. I don't use the coax for anything since I have fiber for internet and don't use the coax for providing TV signals around the house (I have an antenna and a HDHomeRun).

For the 2nd part of your reply, I wasn't sure if you meant after I hook up the MOCA adapter or connect to the extra ethernet ports on the ONT. I don't think I can connect to the other ports on the ONT since the ONT doesn't do any routing AFAIK. So I'm guessing you mean run the network back down via the coax and MOCA adapter and then connect a switch in the garage to the adapter.

I was hoping there was some kind of magical splitter that allows you use one cable for 2 different devices that would somehow allow me to let the ONT direct connect to the router and then feed back the routed stuff back to the other side of the splitter. Or if there was some way to configure a switch between the ONT and the router that would work. Wishful thinking I guess .

The ONT is not involved. Don’t connect to it from the modem. Leave all the gear where it is. Just add the moca modems on each end of the coax. Connect the one near the router to it by ethernet cable. Connect whatever you need to the other modem’s ethernet port.