moca_moca 01/09/2015 10:21 Page 1
MoCA: Whole home fast access
wire. We recommend coax because it’s
built for video and there’s usually enough
“MoCA is used in tens of
millions of homes.”
Advanced Television talks to Rob Gelphman, VP
marketing & member relations, at the Multimedia
over Coax Alliance (MoCA) about how MoCA works
alongside WiFi to guarantee fast and reliable access
inside the modern multi-device home.
oCA ensures fast and
reliable access to all the
services the provider
brings to the home and thereby
underwrites QoE for the subscriber
and cuts opex for the operator.
“MoCA is a protocol running over the
coax that’s
already in the
house. It is very
fast and very
reliable so with
ever increasing
streaming, and to
multiple devices,
you really need
some kind of a
wired backbone to support the WiFi. We
support the WiFi, we just want to make it
better to make sure you have whole home
coverage.”
“And, of course, when the WiFi is quick
M
“We support the WiFi.”
and reliable you have a happier customer
which means less technical calls, less
18 TV Everywhere
complaints, less truck roll, so your total
cost of network management is much
lower and your operational costs are much
lower.”
“It’s about making sure all the great
services a provider brings to the front door
are always available in the whole home.
The operator is
continuously
barraged with
customer requests
for more
information, more
sources of
entertainment –
they want Internet
access everywhere
to anything, all the time. The default, of
course, is always going to be WiFi, there’s
going to be WiFi in the set-top or gateway
and portable devices are obviously not
going to be tethered – but how do you
make sure the WiFi works all the time;
there might be house construction
challenges, or old wiring, or if you live in
an MDU, you might get interference.”
“All providers will say they support
your WiFi but they also have to put in a
outlets. Then you can take broadband to
any room and offer all your services –
nDVR, surveillance, smart home
applications, throughout the house. It’s
about taking the strain off the WiFi so that
good service is maintained. We’ve been
saying for years, it is not an 'either or', the
home is a blend. If your TV hangs on the
wall next to your set-top that’s great, but
what about on the second floor – the
signal tends to degrade.”
“In the US, every cable operator puts
WiFi and MoCA into their set-top or
gateway and so do the big telcos; Verizon,
Cinncinatti Bell, Frontier, for instance,
and so we’re talking tens of millions of
homes. All the big operators in Canada use
MoCA and we have a big presence in
South America and now we are seeing
major interest in China, we’re in StarHub
in Singapore, we’re in South Africa and
we’re making great strides in Europe. The
usage pattern trends are all pretty similar;
everybody wants more services on
simultaneously, more of the time.”
“For sure, there are some countries that
won’t be a candidate for MoCA but you
would be surprised how much coax there
is, even in Europe. A bigger issue is how
the wiring schemes vary from country to
“It’s the second truck roll
that kills you.”
country; that doesn’t pose a problem for
MoCA but can be a problem in general for
home networking. It’s impossible to do a
pan-European implementation, every
country will be different but you look for
as many commonalities as possible.”
“What’s for sure is the capex on MoCA
will pay you back in opex savings in a short
time. We say ‘You might have to install once
and figure that into the cost of a new
subscriber, but you don’t have install twice,
and it’s the second truck roll that kills you'.”