[jdiddy]

Hi all,

I've got an odd situation that i can't quite figure out. My service provider is RCN and i've got cable and internet with them. We have a whole home TIVO DVR setup, with the 'main' TIVO box in the living room, and the 'mini' box in the basement. From what I understand, MOCA is already in use across these two boxes. What i'm trying to do is expand the MOCA network to the upstairs office in the diagram.

The way the setup is currently: the cable coming in the garage is split, one line running to the living room, one line running to the basement. The living room line is then split again, with one leg going to the Actiontec ECB2500C, and the other leg going to the main TIVO box. The ECB line then outputs thru to the modem. It also has the network cable plugged into it.

I'm trying to put an Actiontec WCB3000N in the office upstairs. When i connect it to the office wall jack, it can't find the coax signal. The WCB detects MOCA in every other room with a cable jack downstairs, but it has an issue with the upstairs rooms. it will intermittently detect a coax signal in the upstairs bedroom next to the office, but the office never detects a signal.

Normally, i'd think i have a bad wall jack or connection in the office. BUT if i disconnect the splitter in the garage that feeds the upstairs bedroom/office, and i connect a WCB box to both wall jacks, i get coax signal in both rooms? Being that its disconnected from the rest of the house, its no longer on the network, though. I've been working on this for weeks and can't figure it out.

For my diagram, red lines are coax, blue lines are Ethernet cable, and the sp1/sp2/sp3 are the splitters that i've currently got running. Any help is GREATLY appreciated and please let me know if i need to clarify anything, i realize this description is really in-depth.

 

[krkaufman]

Do you have a “PoE” MoCA filter installed? (Optimally on the input of the top-level splitter, but anywhere on the incoming line before the first split is sufficient.)

 

[krkaufman]

For my diagram, red lines are coax, blue lines are Ethernet cable, and the sp1/sp2/sp3 are the splitters that i've currently got running. Any help is GREATLY appreciated and please let me know if i need to clarify anything, i realize this description is really in-depth.

How is a single coax line servicing both upstairs rooms?

 

[jdiddy]

Hi Krkaufman,

I do have a POE filter installed, its on the main line, prior to the first split, as soon as the line comes into the garage. As for the bedroom and office, this is where i probably need to do more investigating. I ASSUME there's a splitter somewhere in the attic, that's connecting the two rooms. What makes me think that is that if i disconnect the line that feeds the upstairs, from the splitter in the garage i get nothing. Then, if i connect a WCB box to the cable jacks in each room, i get a coax connection between the two of them.

 

[jdiddy]

Update: PROGRESS! So I had a bit of a snafoo on my end with the cable routing between the splitters in the garage. Long story short, I HAVE MOCA IN THE OFFICE! And the rest of the TIVO system is still working! Only problem is, its running significantly slower then my wifi speeds. Wifi peaks around 150 Mbps. Wired on the MOCA, i'm seeing about 25. Any idea where to start diagnosing this? I swapped out all of the coax/network cables on the MOCA adapter in the office, no change.

 

[krkaufman]

Only problem is, its running significantly slower then my wifi speeds. Wifi peaks around 150 Mbps. Wired on the MOCA, i'm seeing about 25. Any idea where to start diagnosing this?

Various...
* I'd start by reverting to the original setup and documenting the MoCA stats reported by the Mini. And document both wired and wireless speeds via the router, as a baseline.
* Repeat the above, but installing a WCB3000N at the Mini location, either using a 2-way splitter to get both devices connected or by replacing the Mini with a WCB3000N (test wired throughput, skipping the MoCA stats if the Mini is disconnected/de-MoCA'd);
* Then, after restoring the Mini location to its natural state, extend your MoCA network to the Office, per prior post success, and document the Mini stats, again; finally, test wired throughput via the Office WCB3000N.

(post results for the above when convenient)

Add'l things to do...
* Check/report the brand & model #s for the coax splitters in use, including whatever splitter is linking the upstairs rooms.

 

[jdiddy]

Various...
* I'd start by reverting to the original setup and documenting the MoCA stats reported by the Mini. And document both wired and wireless speeds via the router, as a baseline.
* Repeat the above, but installing a WCB3000N at the Mini location, either using a 2-way splitter to get both devices connected or by replacing the Mini with a WCB3000N (test wired throughput, skipping the MoCA stats if the Mini is disconnected/de-MoCA'd);
* Then, after restoring the Mini location to its natural state, extend your MoCA network to the Office, per prior post success, and document the Mini stats, again; finally, test wired throughput via the Office WCB3000N.

(post results for the above when convenient)

Add'l things to do...
* Check/report the brand & model #s for the coax splitters in use, including whatever splitter is linking the upstairs rooms.

I'll work on all of the above. a couple of questions, though. Regarding test 2, use a splitter on the line going to the mini, run one leg to the WCB, and the other to the mini. How do i test the speed here? Connect a computer to the WCB and speed test? Or is there a test on the mini somewhere i need to run?

i suspect the splitters may be the culprit, though. They're the ones that came with the WCB's. The brand is commscope, sv-2g, i believe this is them: https://www.amazon.com/Sv-2g-2-way-...eywords=Commscope+SV-2G&qid=1610060872&sr=8-5
From my limited understanding of the setup, i think i need something with a higher top end, somewhere north of 1500mhz?

 

[krkaufman]

Regarding test 2, use a splitter on the line going to the mini, run one leg to the WCB, and the other to the mini. How do i test the speed here? Connect a computer to the WCB and speed test? Or is there a test on the mini somewhereRegarding test 2, use a splitter on the line going to the mini, run one leg to the WCB, and the other to the mini. How do i test the speed here? Connect a computer to the WCB and speed test? Or is there a test on the mini somewhere i need to run? i need to run?

Yes, via a laptop/PC wired via Ethernet to the WCB3000N. As an alternative, you could just borrow the Roamio's coax line for the test, allowing both throughput testing and grabbing MoCA stats from the Mini. (The goal is just to check the WCB3000N's MoCA connectivity on the near side of the central splitters.)

Having a pair of PCs with GigE NICs available would be ideal, to allow LAN speed testing of a given network segment via iPerf or a similar utility. Otherwise, yeah, via an Internet speed test. (Might be sufficient if only trying to eliminate the low results.)

What download/upload rate are you paying for?

 

[krkaufman]

I suspect the splitters may be the culprit, though. They're the ones that came with the WCB's. The brand is commscope, sv-2g, i believe this is them: https://www.amazon.com/Sv-2g-2-way-...eywords=Commscope+SV-2G&qid=1610060872&sr=8-5
From my limited understanding of the setup, i think i need something with a higher top end, somewhere north of 1500mhz?

It's not impossible, but, honestly, for a MoCA 1.1 setup, standard cable splitters rated to 1002 MHz are usually sufficient.

It will be worthwhile, though, documenting each of the splitters used, to check their specs.

 

[jdiddy]

It's not impossible, but, honestly, for a MoCA 1.1 setup, standard cable splitters rated to 1002 MHz are usually sufficient.

It will be worthwhile, though, documenting each of the splitters used, to check their specs.

Small update, i bought some better splitters and will be installing tomorrow. But i did some additional reading. A couple of sources said that I should cap all unused coax jacks. Is this accurate or something that could cause a substantial decrease in network speed?

 

[snerd]

A couple of sources said that I should cap all unused coax jacks. Is this accurate or something that could cause a substantial decrease in network speed?

Best practice is to cap all unused ports. While it can impact performance, it is unlikely to cause a substantial decrease in network speed. MoCA jumps through major hoops to adapt to the current state of the coax, so this isn't likely to be the main problem. But, it never hurts to follow best practice.

 

[jdiddy]

Another small update. With nothing changed, i went to the basement, hooked a splitter to the basement tivo jack and put my WCB inline there. Speeds are significantly better there, but still rather poor - topping out at about 60Mbps. Being that this is one of the least-split points in the home, does this sounds like a signal strength issue? I have not been able to install any of the new splitters yet.