Home Internet and local network connections are becoming more stable, thanks to advances in the Wi-Fi protocol and technologies such as Mesh networks. However, there are many people who continue to have problems and, therefore, are often in need of solutions. In many cases, the advice is to wire your house. It can be a bit cumbersome, but over time it is appreciated.
Other common alternatives are to resort to cheap repeaters that do not usually help excessively or to PLC, which they can work very well, but they depend a lot on the quality of the installation electrical.
In the same way that the latter use the electrical network to transmit data, ASUS has presented the ASUS MA-25, an adapter that uses the MoCa standard. This allows you to do what PLCs do, but through the coaxial antenna cables. Yes, those that even very old houses usually have (and that in fact it is more common not to have them anymore in some modern ones)
Up to 2.5 Gbps over the antenna cable
This new ASUS device promises a maximum transfer speed of 2.5 Gbps. As always in these cases, one thing is what the technology allows in the optimal use scenario and another is what the different devices and cables finally provide. It happens with PLCs, but also historically with the different versions of USB, for example.
Coaxial cable transfer works thanks to the use of the DOCSIS 3.1 standard and a switch that allows you to choose two different frequency bands (Mode 1: 1,275-1,675MHz and Mode 2: 1,125-1,625MHz).
The idea with being able to switch between them is choose the fastest, as there may be interference with other equipment using the wiring. And it is necessary to remember that the cable companies in Spain have used the same type of cable with very good performance, although fiber optics have finally won.
As for the installation, it arrives with indentations that allow it to be integrated into the wall and with a connector that we can use in case we want to hang it in the antenna socket so that it takes up little space.
Although this technology is very easy to use a priorisomething must be taken into account, and that is that two devices will always be neededto communicate with the different devices on the network, since one that connects to the router will not be able to communicate with other devices at the other end.
In the same way that in WiFi there are WPS buttons to facilitate connection to a router without having to enter passwords, ASUS has embedded MoCA Protected Setup (MPS) here, a feature that allows you to add other devices to your network at the touch of a button. as speed, 2.5 Gbps is more than offered by category 5 and 5e Ethernet cablesand more than what they offer 6 cables if they measure more than 50 meters, because in that case they do not exceed 1 Gbps.
There are other MoCA adapters on Amazon like this one from goCoax, and reviews are generally positive on gigabit networks, if you use the right cables and equipment.
Price and availability
ASUS has not disclosed the price and availability of the ASUS Coax-to-Ethernet MoCA MA-25, and we look forward to learning more at the upcoming IFA in Berlin. When we know more, we will update the article.
