[saunsaun]

I need help with figuring out what I need in order to get WiFi working in my basement using MoCa. Also, our NW has evolved over time and may not be ideally/properly configured.
In our cable box outside, there is a splitter with 3 coax cables going into the house.
-One cable goes to the basement, where there is a TiVo mini.
-One cable goes to the main floor, where there is a TiVo mini.
-The 3rd cable goes into the attic, where it plugs into a powered splitter. From the powered splitter there are 4 bedroom cable drops to the upstairs floor.
One upstairs bedroom has a TiVo Bolt+. Two other bedrooms have cable drops, but nothing is connected to them. The last upstairs bedroom is an office.
In the office, there is another splitter. One port goes into a TiVo mini, one port goes into a TiVo Actiontec ECB6000 2.0 bridge and one port goes into a Surfboard SB8200 DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem. The cable modem then has an Ethernet connection to the WAN port on a Trendnet AC1750 TEW812DRU v2 dual band wireless router.
The TiVo devices are configured for MoCa and are all connected via coax. None of the splitters are MoCa compatible, to my knowledge. I just learned there was such a thing. Should any of them be MoCa compatible? Also, I can provide info on the splitters if that helps.
There is no POE filter in the environment.
Last week we changed the outside splitter from a 2-way split into a 3-way split and added the basement coax connection with the mini down there. Since doing that, the basement mini and the main floor mini have each lost connection to the Bolt+ one time. A reboot of the minis fixed the issue. Since it only happened once, I don't yet know if that was a fluke or an issue.
My issue is that we can't see the 5G nw in the basement and the 2.4G shows up, but has poor performance. What is the best way to use the MoCa to get better WiFi in the basement? We don't need any wired connections in the basement, but do have the one mini. Would it be another MoCa adapter (1.1 or 2.0?) and wireless access point? Any particular models?
I work full time from the home office. There are wired devices upstairs in the office, so I don't see relocating the router to the main floor and I'm not sure that would help with basement access anyway.
My #1 goal is to figure out how to get WiFi in the basement. I'm also open to ideas for reworking the overall home configuration to make sure it is setup properly (short of suggestions like wiring the home for Ethernet), if you have any suggestions.
Thanks!

 

[saunsaun]

Here is a rough drawing of our config, to go along with my long winded description!

 

[saunsaun]

Comcast/Xfinity is our cable/internet provider. I have been reading a lot of MoCa posts here. Attached are the nw status pages from the Bolt+. It says 5 nodes, but we only have the Bolt, plus 3 minis. Maybe it is counting the old Premier that we had before we transferred lifetime on it to the Bolt, although it is gone? Or, is it counting the TiVo bridge? I don't think the numbers look good from what I have read.

 

[kpeters59]

I could see moving the Powered Splitter outside where the 3-way is. If that powered splitter is currently passing MoCA out its Input, then it should have a POE Filter added at its input, if you do move it.

What model is that powered splitter?

Eliminate any unnecessary connections. Does that other upstairs bedroom need a feed?

I bet just doing that will get all your levels up solid and reliable.

It's also possible just adding a POE at the input where the current outside splitter is would be adequate. Comcast should have done that and would if you called them.

-KP

 

[fyodor]

Rather than getting into your network architecture and whatnot, does the Mini downstairs get good signal?

If so, I would just get one of these. Plug the MoCA into this and then connect it by Ethernet to the Mini. Set up the wireless networks to match the SSIDs and passcodes of your existing networks.

Amazon.com: Customer reviews: ACTIONTEC WCB3000N01 Wireless Coax Network Adapter Kit (Includes Adapter + Base Stand + Power Adapter + Instructions + Coax Cable + Ethernet Cord + 2-Way MOCA Splitter)

This should get you decent performance for most applications (browsing, even normal internet video streaming). If you need very high performance, there are other options.

 

[jmbach]

Comcast/Xfinity is our cable/internet provider. I have been reading a lot of MoCa posts here. Attached are the nw status pages from the Bolt+. It says 5 nodes, but we only have the Bolt, plus 3 minis. Maybe it is counting the old Premier that we had before we transferred lifetime on it to the Bolt, although it is gone? Or, is it counting the TiVo bridge? I don't think the numbers look good from what I have read. View attachment 44357 View attachment 44358 View attachment 44359 View attachment 44360 View attachment 44361 View attachment 44362

It is counting the MoCa adapter as a node. So MoCa adapter, 3 Minis, and 1 Bolt+ is 5 nodes.

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[jmbach]

So in the ideal setting, you have a 2 way splitter from the point of entry with one leg going to Cable Modem and the other leg going to a powered splitter that has a POE filter in it feeding everything else.

Use a 3 device Mesh Network with one on each floor with a several port switch in your office. They can use a wireless backhaul. (I prefer a wired backhaul but that will require 3 MoCa adapters in your case)



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[jmbach]

Wired backhaul

 

[jmbach]

Wireless backhaul.

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[jmbach]

I see in both of my drawings, I forgot the mini in the office. It could be connected to the Mesh AP or the switch in either scenario.

It might be tempting to go with the newer AX mesh units but be careful. I have read that some people are having hard time with connecting 802.11b and 802.11g devices to them. If you have those devices then stick with AC mesh units.

Also I recommend terminating any open cable port with a 75 ohm terminator to prevent noise from entering your system. That includes any open ports on your splitters or MoCa adapters.


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[saunsaun]

Thank you for all of this great information. I took pictures of the splitters, including everything in the outside cable box. I think there is a POE filter outside. Until last week, there was a 2-way splitter outside and I assumed one cable went into the attic for the 2nd floor and one went into the main level. Maybe that wasn't correct. A little background: a few years ago the basement was connected in the outside box. We were having cable issues and a Comcast technician came out and reworked it outside. He disconnected the basement (which we weren't using at the time) along with two other coax cables and put in the two-way splitter. He also added the power device in the Attic. I knew the basement cable connector was still in that box along with two other disconnected cables. We are ready to start using the basement and last week I replaced the 2-way splitter with a 3-way and plugged the basement back in. Maybe that wasn't the right thing to do but the basement mini is working now.

 

[saunsaun]

You can see in the Attic where the splitter used to be non-powered. I can disconnect the two drops that we aren't using on the second floor, but do I need to plug in anything into those ports to terminate them? During my work last week, I replaced the outside splitter and the office splitter with these new ones, which are 3-way balanced. I'm not positive that is the correct device I should be using.

 

[jmbach]

It is not necessary a bad thing to do.

I am not sure if that is a POE or a grounding connector.

 

[jmbach]

With your current setup, doing the wireless backhaul would be relatively simple.

As a general rule, you want the minimum amount of splitters between the cableco and your equipment.

 

[jmbach]

You also should keep a POE filter between you MoCa setup and your Cable Modem.

 

[saunsaun]

Jimbach, the mesh solution is not something I am familiar with. From what I see, if I went that way I agree that the wireless version would be the way I would go. I'm trying to understand what that would gain for me and exactly what equipment I should buy.

Fyodor, I like the device you are suggesting too. It really looks like what I was originally asking about.

Now I am concerned that my network isn't set up for the best performance and that might need to be corrected first.

 

[jmbach]

Jimbach, the mesh solution is not something I am familiar with. From what I see, if I went that way I agree that the wireless version would be the way I would go. I'm trying to understand what that would gain for me and exactly what equipment I should buy.

Fyodor, I like the device you are suggesting too. It really looks like what I was originally asking about.

Now I am concerned that my network isn't set up for the best performance and that might need to be corrected first.

Here is some basic information about Mesh network.

Essentially each mesh unit acts as a WiFi access point. In your case, each floor has it's own access point. They all share the same SSID so that your devices will seamlessly attach to the access point that has the strongest signal.

 

[jmbach]

You would need a 3 device Mesh WiFi system and an ethernet switch with enough ports for your office.

All your minis would be connected by ethernet and your Bolt+ by MoCa to your network.

What you gain is excellent WiFi coverage in your house.

 

[fyodor]

So, I'd want to break up a few issues:

I see that (A) you have weak wireless signal in the basement and (B) the MoCa network has failed once. Have there been any other problems?

I'm not sure if it's correct to call something with a wired backhaul a "mesh network" but when he talks about having a wired mesh network what he means is basically having a wireless access point at different points to basically connect the wireless signal to the MoCA network. I You don't need a special "mesh" router or access points for this. Just have a regular router connected by MoCA to wireless access points having the same SSID and password.

I'd probably start by buying that actiontec wireless access point that I suggested. It combines a MoCA adapter with a switch and access point. You can put it in the basement and use it to connect the Ethernet port to your Mini and set the SSID and password to the same as your regular wireless.

In terms of cutting down the splitters, I'd take the following steps.

1. All splitters should be MoCA compliant.

2. As suggested above, you don't need a three way splitter for the room with the cable modem. Use a two way splitter and connect the Mini by Ethernet.

3. As suggested, if the bedrooms with no minis do not need feeds, I'd get a two way splitter and not feed them cable.

4. Add a POE filter at whatever location is behind all MoCA locations.

 

[saunsaun]

I think this is an option but the only place that I was having Wi-Fi issues is the basement. From what I can see, the mesh solution is $300 or so. From that standpoint, it seems that froyodor's actiontec option would accomplish the same thing for under $30.

Having said that, since I switched the 2-way splitter with a 3-way splitter outside it appears that I am having Wi-Fi network issues. I am wondering if there is something I can correct there or is the $300 mesh solution my only workaround for that?