Splitter Chooses One or the Other

Hello!

Sorry in advance if I use the wrong lingo. Hopefully everything makes sense!

So my family recently decided to expand dvr/cable onto our second floor where we have a nice new TV. We have DVR downstairs and got a box on the second floor that allows us to access that DVR. Everything works well and good with the only cord coming out of the box besides the power cord being the coax cable that comes from the wall. However, while the Wi-Fi works in some rooms on the second floor, others it goes at a snails pace if it even works at all. To solve this, we got a wireless extender from verizon and, when plugged straight into the coax cable that comes from the wall the improvement is tremendous. We get about 50 mbps download speed in rooms we only got 10 before. Needless to say, we want to have the network extended working on the second floor.

However, when using the provided splitter in order to access cable/dvr capabilities and the wireless extender, the splitter only works on one or the other. That is, when we plug the coax cable from the wall into the IN port on the splitter, if we plug a coax cord from cable box into the splitter before the extender, we get cable and dvr/guide features but no extended wireless, and if we plug the extender in before the box we get the extended internet signal but no dvr/guide features on the cable.

This is really frustrating because at present we would have to abandon the splitter and switch coax plugs everytime we want to use internet in one of the hard to reach rooms and hope no one wants to use the DVR/cable at the same time.

For some more information, our splitter is a MoCA 2.0 2-way splitter (PDI-2wwb-2.0/5-1675 Mhz) and our wireless extender is an actiontec WCB3000N.

In summary, we are using a splitter currently on our second floor to allow a 2nd verizon cable box and a wireless extender to operate simultaneously, but at present when they are both connected only one or the other is connected to the network. I am assuming this may be a problem with our splitter, but from what I've read it sounds like the one we have (named above) should be bidrectional. Can anyone please help? Thank you!

Accepted answers

dacorp

Hey everyone. Thanks for all your help. Finally bit the bullet and had verizon come out to inspect what was wrong. The tech had no familiarity with extenders so it took awhile and quite a few phone calls but the answer was this: Extenders don't work with Quantum routers. Period. Even with my cable box unplugged and the extender in, I would just be making the Internet connection more unstable because the extender and quantum routers compete in some way for signal. So after all the headaches the solution ends up being extender is a no go. Oh well. Thanks again for trying to help!

All comments

eljefe2

Hi.... The configuration you're using sounds typical and you should be able to use your TV and network extender at the same time. Two possibilities that might be causing the problem come to mind. First, I would replace the splitter. It's a rather unusual problem you're describing but there might be a defect in the splitter causing it. If a second splitter behaves the same way, I would then suspect the signal reaching the coax connector on your second floor location isn't as strong as it should be. That would be a more difficult problem to trouble shoot and correct. Try replacing the splitter first and if that doesn't help report back and we'll see if someone comes up with an idea how to solve the continuing problem. Good luck!

TomH121

Hi dacorp

This setup is working great for me.

http://forums.verizon.com/t5/media/gallerypage/user-id/16784/image-id/15644iAA9F416898952BA5

My Router is Downstairs in room next to Den

Hope eljefe suggestions help solve your problem

dacorp

Hi!

Thanks for your comments! I was very excited to see that it may just be a splitter problem and got a replacement earlier today. Upon using the new splitter the fios cable box . . . still isn't working. It currently says no data connectivity despite being connected to the splitter and still able to broadcast the cable channels, just not the dvr, guide, on demand, etc.

TomH309, that is basically what my setup looks like, I'm just not sure where the cable goes once it goes into the wall.

I'm still naively hoping there is a simple solution to all this but it sounds like that might not be the case. Anymore help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

eljefe2

Bummer that replacing the splitter didn't help but it was a long shot.

One other thing you might try before looking at the coax running up to the 2nd floor is replacing the coax patch cables between the splitter and the WiFi extender and TV set top box.

It's possible that a bad connector, or a problem in one of the coax cables themselves, could be causing the problem you're having.

dacorp

Thanks again. Switched out the cables and still no luck. What about the cable that leads up to the second floor could be causing it to not output Internet connectivity to both coax cables on the splitter? This whole problem seems so strange that I feel like I may be missing something simple but I've checked it a dozen times

_dot

you mentioned the error of "no network connectivity" ......are you using the stb's menu/ settings/ systeminformation/ info/ downarrow to get your info? ...can you check for that with just the upstairs stb connected to the coax from wall, even though i know you said all seems to work fine for that stb when connected like that? if you don't get that error like this, then you could add the splitter and jumper coax between the stb and the wall coax , leaving the extender unconnected for now, (i don't suppose you have a 75-ohm "f-terminator" handy for the unused splitter terminal?) and see if you then get the error.........if u get error, problem is jumper or splitter; if all still good, then now would be a good time to test your other jumper coax by swapping it with the one in use now..... if you get error after swap (and didn't get error before swap) , your second jumper coax is bad....if all is still good, add the first jumper coax and the extender to the unused splitter terminal...... from what you previously stated, i would expect that the stb guide , vod, etc. will be working but the extender won't because of it being introduced into the system last. if so, maybe when u are adding extender, it is running into an addressing conflict....if the stb and the extender are both trying to get the same LAN address from your router.... and only the first one connected works? if you make all your connections with the router, stb, and extender power cords removed, and then power up the router first, and waaaaaaaaaaaaaaait 'til it is fully restarted, then power up the extender and reconnect the power cord to the stb and again waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat for stb to finish it's power-on routine, does everything work?

dacorp

Hi and thanks a lot for your message!

I went through the box system information like you suggested, and the pictures below are a sample of what came up when I tried your methods. I did end up powering off router, extender, stb and turning on as you suggested with no luck (even after waiting a loooooong time before plugging the next one in!)

Below is what came up when I plugged straight from wall coax to box (first picture), from coax wall to splitter to cable box, with extender coax also plugged into splitter and turned on after the cable box (second picture), and if the extender is plugged in first, then the cable box (third picture).

Hopefully these photos shed some light on the situation. What's important to note is that I followed every step of your instructions in terms of plugging the coaxes in one-by-one. However, despite refreshing everytime, the screen generally looked like picture 1, with minor variations in the TxRate (plus one or two occassionally) aka there didn't seem to be much difference between the connections. The only significant change I noticed upon plugging the extender in was the EMM data became False, but I am not sure what that even means. Also, after extender was plugged in first and the stb second, it wouldn't even allow me to access the system information Info screen because of no data connectivity. It would just show the small box (picture 3) and ask if I wanted to troubleshoot connectivity issues. (troubleshooting was no help)

Please let me know if these pictures can help make sense of this! Thanks!

_dot

sorry, your image looks like this to me...anyone else see the right images? i'll retry with i.e.9, i'm using chrome rt now....

dacorp

Here is a web link if it helps

http://i.imgur.com/src6UFU.jpg

CRobGauth

What model router do you have?

And how many STBs do you have connected? And what models?

It might be that if you have an older model router, that you have exceeded the limit of devices you can have on the coax.

CRobGauth

When you post a picture, you have to wait for it to be approved for others to view.

You get that triangle symbol until then.

tns2

Not sure where you have the splitter in your case. Note I am pretty sure trying to put the box after the extender for non-quantum boxes will not work. You need to split before and have one go to stb and one to the extender. Quantum IP boxes can be connected via a Ethernet cable off the extender although I again don't think you can connect off the extender.

The only exception would be if the extender has an option top pass local lan MOCA signals through a coax. And it depends on what version of MOCA it allows to be passed.

STILL sounds like a bad splitter. Did you replace with bi-directional two way splitter that preferably passes frequencies to at least 2mhz? I use ones that are good to 3mhz (because of previous use with Dish devices).

CRobGauth

He has replaced the splitter. And he said that either port works but not both simultaneously.

I am thinking he has hit the MOCA limit.

His picks show that he has 7 devices.

_dot

Do you mean 3 GHz? I looked at a splitter on our coax and it says moca 2.0 .....2-way splitter.....

5-1675 MHz.....2kV...with 1 "IN" and 2 "OUT 3.5dB" jacks...

_dot

@CRobGauth wrote:
When you post a picture, you have to wait for it to be approved for others to view.
You get that triangle symbol until then.

aahhhhh, that's why! thx! i see it now

dacorp

Thanks everyone for your responses so far. I am out of the house at a conference and will not be able to get some of the information you requested until I get back. I honestly don't remember exactly what we have hooked up through coax, so it is possible some sort of coax limit has been reached.

For those asking about the splitter, here is a link to two splitters I have tried for my setup. The top is the replacement I bought, and the bottom is the one supplied to us by verizon. Neither have worked.

http://i.imgur.com/rJMIlYN.jpg

As for router type, I'll again have to check when I get back but it has been exchanged once before and the problems are still occurring.

I see some people mentioning Quantum, which we do have downstairs but a normal STB box upstairs. Could that somehow be part of the problem? I know that while we can access DVR upstairs that it is actually stored on the box downstairs I believe. Again I don't know if this is relevant but it could be helpful for all I know.

I won't be back home until next week, but I will get router and coax connections when I can. Thanks!

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