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Jellygrape's avatar
Jellygrape
New Contributor II
4 years ago

Panoramic WiFi Modem MoCA Adapter Setup

I recently upgraded to Cox Gigablast service. I had been using Cox Preferred 150/10 mbps service for years but wanted to step up to 1 Gbps connectivity (or 940 mbps, as advertised).

Unfortunately, my PC is in a location where connecting it via a CAT 5 cable was/is not an option, so I always used an 802.11ac WiFi connection. My WiFi router is/was an Apple Airport Time Capsule, my WiFi adapter a Linksys WUSB6400 - the Time Capsule's WiFi is no longer used since I got the Cox Panoramic WiFi modem. Unfortunately, I saw no improvement in (170 mbps download) speeds whatsoever when connecting to the Cox modem. So I upgraded the WiFi adapter to an Intel AX200 onboard adapter (which needed my motherboard's m.2 E-key slot). Suddenly, I was seeing ~650 mbps download speeds on WiFi. This AX200 is a 802.11ax adapter and connects to Cox's modem and my network at 1.7 Gbps - although it obviously does not get 1.7 Gbps download speeds.

Not completely satisfied, I decided to try MoCA, so I bought a pair of Motorola MoCA adapters - one for the head end (cable modem) and one for the receiving end (PC). I figured that this would give me the true 940 mbps download speeds to my PC that the Gigablast service promised (and also delivered via a Cat 5 ethernet connection).

After installing one of the MoCA adapters at the receiving end (PC) and plugging in the ethernet cable to my PC, I anxiously decided to turn on MoCA in Cox's router config before installing the other adapter at the modem. Lo and behold, I discovered that I did not need the second MoCA adapter on the head end - the Panoramic WiFi modem already has it built in! This has now left me with an unused extra $60 MoCA adapter - which are coincidentally again out of stock on Amazon. Sadly, I did not see the speed increase that I expected - I get about 750 mbps down now, which is only about 15% higher than the upgraded WiFi speeds. But hey, I'll take it. It's still much faster than the 170 mbps I was getting a month ago.

I'm posting not so much to ask a question, but instead am posting to share that if you are thinking of using MoCA with your Cox Panoramic WiFi Modem, then you only need one MoCA adapter at the (each) coax receiving end that you intend to connect. I believe that you may use an ethernet switch if you are looking to connect multiple ethernet devices via the MoCA adapter, although I have not tried this.

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