Spain is one of the countries with the best and highest Internet speed in the world. Apart from having a large part of the territory covered with fiber optics, speed stopped being a problem years ago and we can consume streaming content without problems, even video games in the cloud or downloading hundreds of GB of some current PC titles, PS5 and Xbox Series X.
However, in homes we do not always have the optimal configuration. There are several ways to improve our Internet connection throughout the house and a very interesting one is the one that our colleagues at Xataka Home have found: convert TV cables into an Ethernet network to carry cable to other rooms on a local network. It’s a sweet idea and it can work, but it’s not perfect.
The pros of using a coaxial adapter to multiply Ethernet at home
The first is the first: If you have a TV connection in your home, and it meets the requirements, you will be able to convert it into an Internet network. In this way, and with an adapter, you can connect wired devices in those rooms where you have the television antenna connector.
The most common thing is that in your living room, kitchen and bedroom you have this port to be able to connect the television and feed it with the DTT signal. The cables used are coaxial type and, in the past, some telephone operators used them before the existence of fiber optics to bring Internet to some homes.
Now, you can buy a coaxial-Ethernet adapter which allows you to create a local network without having to run cables through the walls or without having to buy a PLC. This is an interesting solution because there are times when the electrical installation does not support PLCs very well and the speed gain compared to WiFi is not very evident. If that happens, by the way, you might want to take a look at the installation.
But hey, what you get with this coaxial to Ethernet converter is a local point-to-point network: If you have the router in the living room, one of the adapters must be connected to the router itself and to the television port. In the TV port in another room, you put the other adapter and you can bring wired Internet to a device like a console or TV.
In general, They are Plug&Play devices, so you connect them… and that’s it, they start working, and the speed is remarkable. There are some that exceed gigabit, but also other cheaper ones that would not allow us to play streaming, but would allow us to watch Netflix with optimal quality on a television, for example.
The cons
Now, as good as all this sounds, there are two big drawbacks. The first is the price, since the best devices for this are found for about 230 euros (Comtrend G.hn Powerline 1200 Mbps model) or 270 euros (ScreenBeam Moca 2.5 model).
They offer very high speeds, but the price is equally high. On the other hand, if you connect this you will be able to bring Ethernet to another room, yes, but you will be left without a television signal. If you use an Android TV to watch TV or a device like a Fire TV, this shouldn’t affect you too much.
A third drawback is that performance may not be optimal if the wiring between the different antenna ports is not direct. If we have dividers or any element that could hinder the connection, we will not reach the highest speeds.
Besides, Maybe where you are most interested in having an Ethernet connection is at a point very far from the router.. And the fact is that, in a more or less conventional home layout, the rooms with a television port are those close to the living room and it is very possible that that is where the router is, so this device is not so necessary.
The alternatives
It is clear that it is interesting to know that this device exists and can offer, with optimal conditions, a quality connection in other rooms, but if you ask me, for those 200 euros I would perhaps opt for other solutions if the PLC does not work for you.
I’m not going to go into too much detail, but here they are:
- Run cable through walls. You only need a drill and a good quality kilometer cable. And, well, an Ethernet multiplier, which is not very expensive. With a little patience to run the Ethernet cable through the ‘macaroons’ you already have in the walls, with two or three holes glued to the baseboard you can bring Ethernet to the room you want.
- WiFi Mesh. Mesh WiFi solutions have come down quite a bit in recent years and are an ideal solution for almost any type of home. There are configurations of two or three multipliers that allow us to connect with great quality to our main WiFi network and our devices intelligently change between the multiplier to always have the best coverage. For less than those 200 euros for coaxial adapters, there are very good options.
- An intermediate point. If you run cable through the walls, instead of to an Ethernet multiplier, you can multiply it to a WiFi amplifier. Let me explain: you put the amplifier in a point far from the router, you run cable through the walls to where the device is and… voila, you have another high-speed WiFi point plus an Ethernet multiplier, since those amplifiers usually have two or three Ethernet outputs.
With these three options, plus the PLC route, if the electrical installation of your house is optimal, you have very interesting options to bring cable Internet to any room in the house. But hey, it is clear that being able to use the DTT cable to create a local Ethernet line is also interesting and appropriate for certain cases.
In fact, it is possible that if you have a connection point for your television antenna in a point far from the house where WiFi does not reach well, you can put the coaxial adapter and run the cable to a WiFi amplifier. That would be a very convenient solution.
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