Suggestions For a Coax-To-Ethernet Solution?

watanabe writes "I just moved from a house with Cat5e wiring to a house with ... a whole bunch of coax cables. Like, my living room has five coax cables coming out of a hole in the wall. All of them go back up to my attic. The house is big, (and I like it, thank you), but I have realized that our digital usage pattern (media server + squeezeboxes + remote time machine backups to a linux box) will not work without wiring. I am currently bridging some old Linksys WRT54Gs to the right places, but of course, that slows everything down. This got me thinking: 100mb ethernet is four wires, yes? And I have four wires for every two coax cables. What about a two coax-head -> ethernet jack setup? Has anyone done this before? Searching online only gives me $100+ coaxethernet transceiver type boxes. At that price, a HomePNY system would make more sense. I'm willing to solder if I have to, but I first wanted to get advice and holes shot in my plan, if there are any."

Comments

Use the Coax as a wirepull for the cat5

[mtippett]

If you have lots of coax running through pipes and if it is free, then use the coax as a wirepull to rewire the house.

Cat5 provides many more options than cat5.

Re:Use the Coax as a wirepull for the cat5

[0racle]

Actually, I have found that Cat5 provides just as many options as cat5.

I admit though, my testing may not have been exhaustive.

Re:Use the Coax as a wirepull for the cat5

[UID30]

If the coax was installed when the house was built, then the coax is probably stapled to the wall studs. If the coax was installed "after-market", then this trick might work.

</2cents>

Re:Use the Coax as a wirepull for the cat5

[gyrogeerloose]

You do realize ethernet originally ran over coax, right? Google '10BASE2'

Only problem with that is 10Base-2 ran over 50 ohm impedance coax while CATV coax is 75 ohm impedance. The mismatch would reduce the power delivered to the receiving end and set up a standing wave that would deform the wave shape, possibly causing errors.

Re:Use the Coax as a wirepull for the cat5

[lewiscr]

Attach a CAT5/6 AND a string, and pull like hell. You'll be glad you have a string in the wall when you want to pull CAT7.

Just remember, when you attach something to the string, always attach a new string too. It sucks when you finally finish pulling a run, only to have forgotten the replacement string.

Re:Use the Coax as a wirepull for the cat5

[StikyPad]

Cat5 can do better if you coax it.

Re:Use the Coax as a wirepull for the cat5

[JamesP]

I'm gessing you can get a Monster Cat5 cable for an absurd amount of money, that's got gold plated connectors and electrolytes and stuff...

Re:ATT Uverse runs over coax

[your_mother_sews_soc]

sorry, I realize my post contributed nothing.

Twisted pair, man

[Spy Handler]

100mb ethernet is four wires, yes? And I have four wires for every two coax cables.

The four wires in your coax are not twisted. It's not gonna work.

Pay $100 for those coax-ethernet transceiver things, or string some Cat5e. Seriously, if you can afford to buy a big ass house then what's another couple hundred??

Re:ATT Uverse runs over coax

[Anonymusing]

sorry, I realize my post contributed nothing.

This may be the most profound comment I've ever read on Slashdot.

MoCa

[MikeDataLink]

I'm surprised no one has already mentioned MoCa,. Several companies make MoCa adapters that runs 100Mb/s ethernet over Coax cables: http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=MOCA+adapter&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=2590185696454305965&ei=PoR9S5uIC4mWtge8z5GfBQ&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CBQQ8gIwAA# And read all about it on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia_over_Coax_Alliance

Re:ATT Uverse runs over coax

[Anonymusing]

And with that, we complete our tour of Slashdot.