Hi there,
I know this isn't directly to do with Mikrotik hardware/software but I thought this would actually be the best place to get information.
I'm looking to provide internet access to around 50 residential flats in the same building. But given the design and construction wireless isn't an option. Running new cables isn't an option.
So I've been looking into using the existing coax/telephone cabling and I was wondering if anyone here has had any experience with this type of undertaking.

I've come across a few products, such as GenfenTV, Devolo Pro and D-link units. All these units seem to be vague.
I've thought of using Powerline products but since each flat has it own distribution board, I don't think they will work through it?

A major cable supplier in the country uses cable modems which transmit over coax cable and seems to get speeds of upto 400mb's, which then has an ethernet adaptor for the network.

Can anyone provide their views on the different methods and equipment they would recommend or stay away from .

Many Thanks.

There are several methods to provide networking to the rooms/flats:

- via Coax
This needs a proper Coax-Cabling in the house, which needs to allow a certain frequency range to go back to the central station. This most commonly is 0 to 47 MHz. Coax is a shared Medium. So all customers will have to share one or more channels.
* dLAN can be used for small SoHo or Offices but it is pretty tricky to setup because you need to get the dampening right as well as you need to ensure the dLAN doesn't distort the TV signal.
*DOCSIS is being used in a wide variety of providers around the globe to provide networking.

- via Powerline:
* don't really consider it!
everytime one of your customers uses a vacuum cleaner or something else that puts huge amount of RF load on the power grid, the data connections will fail.
Also it is tough to set up, because you often really don't know ho the wiring is and how much sync you can achieve.

- via Phoneline using xDSL
* ADSL up to 20 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up
* VDSL up to 100 Mbps symmetrically


If you know the coax-cabling is ready for docsis, then use docsis.
Else I strongly suggest xDSL.

Use vdsl products, but its offtopic here : P!

There are several methods to provide networking to the rooms/flats:
- via Phoneline using xDSL
* ADSL up to 20 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up
* VDSL up to 100 Mbps symmetrically

If you know the coax-cabling is ready for docsis, then use docsis.
Else I strongly suggest xDSL.

HI there,

Thanks for the information - I've been reading on xDSL, as I had come across it in my research aswell.
The average price I'm getting for individual units is around £200 - which would make it rather expensive (VDSL).
I'm struggling to find anything on ADSL in terms of pricing.

So I guess my next question what is a cost effective way of rolling this out in a building, given that it had to be put in each individual unit, rather than per floor.

cheaper:

http://www.netsys-direct.com/vdsl_products.php

The price for a 24 Ports ADSL-DSLAM is about 700 Euros.

It's useful to place them near the telephone line concentrator of the building.

Hi,

You could also check out http://landashop.com/catalog/dslam-swit ... 4_326.html

Rgds,
Mark.