A standard or mesh Wi-Fi network works fine for providing Internet access throughout the building for most homes and offices. And when higher throughput is necessary, it’s usually not that difficult to pull Ethernet cable from room to room.

But some buildings seem almost impervious to networking—imagine thick brick walls that both block Wi-Fi signals and make it nearly impossible to pull wire from one room to another. It may not be the entire building—you may have trouble extending a network into a small attic or basement room or a freestanding outdoor structure.

Where there’s a will (and enough money), there’s a way, of course, but there are two affordable alternatives for bringing network access to tricky spots: powerline networking and MoCA.

Powerline Networking

As you might expect from the name, powerline networking uses technical magic to piggyback data on top of the standard electric cables that are undoubtedly already in every room of your home or office. It has been around for years but was long considered slow and unreliable. Modern iterations of the technology, called HomePlug, have solved many of those problems and offer up to 2 gigabits per second (Gbps) of throughput.

It would help if you had a pair of powerline adapters to create a network, and all you have to do is plug them in. However, there are a few things to keep in mind:

  • Powerline adapters must plug directly into a wall socket. You can’t connect them to a power strip or an uninterruptible power supply because surge protection blocks their frequencies for transmitting data.
  • Powerline adapters must be on the same circuit, but it’s impossible to predict what that means with the wiring in your particular building. The only way to know for sure is to test the pair of the adapters up and provide acceptable throughput. (Depending on the wiring, they may work, but at slower speeds.)
  • Suppose you’re in an apartment or a building with electrical wiring that might extend outside of your space. In that case, you can enable security to ensure that other powerline adapters can’t join your network.

The most straightforward powerline adapters provide an Ethernet port, but others may offer an additional Ethernet jack, a pass-through electric outlet, and even a built-in Wi-Fi extender. Regardless, they’re inexpensive, with prices for a two-pack well under $100.

MoCA

Its name may sound like a tasty hot drink, but MoCA stands for Multimedia over Coax Alliance, and it’s a standard for using coaxial cables for networking. This isn’t a new idea: those around the tech world in the 1980s and 1990s may remember 10BASE2 Ethernet, also known as thin Ethernet, which used thin coaxial cable. However, 10BASE2 Ethernet ran at only ten megabits per second (Mbps), whereas MoCA offers a throughput of up to 2.5 Gbps. MoCA’s win is that it runs over the coaxial cables installed in many buildings, primarily homes, to distribute cable TV. If you already have coaxial cable in your walls, why not use it for networking?

Security remains an issue if your coax cables also carry cable TV or broadband Internet and thus extend beyond your control. The problem is that MoCA signals are pretty powerful and can travel farther than intended, such as to neighboring houses. The simple solution is a point-of-entry filter added where the coax enters your home—it prevents MoCA signals from leaving your house. You may also be able to configure a MoCA security key to keep your traffic private, but not all MoCA devices support security.

As with powerline networking, setting up a MoCA network generally requires at least two adapters, although some routers have built-in MoCA capabilities. MoCA adapters usually provide one or two Ethernet ports, although it’s also possible to get Wi-Fi network extenders that support MoCA. The hardware is a bit more expensive than powerline gear, with a two-pack price in the $120 to $150 range.

Choosing Wires

Both powerline networking and MoCA require that you have adequately configured wires in your walls, so there are no guarantees with either. Your building’s electrical system may be too complex for powerline networking, and even if you have coax cables, there’s no way of knowing if they were installed well or have suffered damage over the years.

But neither is particularly expensive, so as long as you purchase from a vendor that allows returns, you should be able to test either one quickly. And if you’re looking for a recommendation about particular brands to get or avoid, contact us.

(Featured image by iStock.com/architectphd)