How to set up gigabit internet on MOCA Network

First time poster and not all that network savvy so please excuse any descriptions that might be confusing.

I am debating whether or not to upgrade my 400/400 internet to Gigabit internet, but I'm not sure how to set this up so that I can get Gigabit internet through the MOCA network I have set up throughout my house, and wanted to see if my ideas would work. I have FIOS cable service in addition to internet.

My current set up is as follows:

- The ONT box is in the basement of my house, with an ethernet cable from the ONT into the WAN port of my G1100 router. The coaxial cable from the ONT is connected to a Verizon-branded 8-way splitter (it says MOCA 2.0 on the splitter). One coaxial cable runs from the splitter to the coaxial connection on the G1100.

- On the first floor, there is a splitter from the wall coaxial connection, with one cable from the splitter going to my set top box, and another cable going to an Actiontec Network Extender (WCB 6200Q)

- On the second floor, I have 2 Actiontec Network Extenders (same WCB 6200Q).

My concern is that while the WCB 6200Q supports Bonded MOCA 2.0 connection, from what I've read, the G1100 only supports MOCA 2.0. Other forum posts also imply that a MOCA network will default to the lowest speed on the network, which would be the MOCA 2.0. I bought an Actiontec Network Adapter (ECB6200), which supports Bonded MOCA 2.0, but not sure how to set everything up so that I bypass the coaxial connection to the G1100, but preserving the internet I need for the set top box.

Hopefully that all made sense and thanks in advance for the help.

Accepted answers

buhitman6

Got it! So as long as the Actiontec adapter is set up properly, it becomes the source of the MoCA, taking over for the G1100. Since the Actiontec adapter is bonded 2.0, everything can communicate with it at gigabit speeds, if the other extenders are bonded 2.0 as well.

Thank you again, very educational day for me today!

All comments

Edg1

Take the ECB6200 and place it with the G1100. Take the coax out of the G1100 and connect it to the the ECB6200. Then connect an ethernet cable from the G1100 LAN port to the ECB6200.

lasagna

What was suggested won't work as you'll still be on the same cable plant as a STB which is running MoCA 1.1

You need to create a scenario where you essentially have two isolated cable plants -- one which contains the STB's, the ONT, and either the Coax port of the G1100 or it could be a MoCA adapter to get your to ethernet) -- and the other which contains only the MoCA adapters and a MoCA adapter to get you to ethernet for this cable plant at the G1100.

From your description, is there a way to get a second piece of coax to the first floor location of the STB or to remove the need for that network extender? If so, some swap out of 8-way splitter and maybe a Lopass filter or two could get where you need to be. If not, I can think of a way to do this potentially with another bridge and a lopass filter and a splitter at the location where the STB is located but it'll be a bit more complex.

Is it possible to move the network extender at the location where the STB is located to a different location on the first floor such that it's not on the same leg of coax from the main splitter as the STB? If so, I can think of possibly another way which I will suggest.

Edg1

While the other poster’s solution will work it is very over complicated and unnecessary. It’s a common misconception that 1.1 devices will dumb down the network. It’s just not true. MoCA 2.5, bonded 2.0, and 2.0 all work with 1.1.

http://www.mocalliance.org/MoCA2/specifications.htm

For example, if 2.0 devices are on a coax network with 1.1 devices, they will still communicate at 2.0 speed. A 2.0 device can only talk to a 1.1 device at 1.1 speed.
I think the main reason that there is confusion about this is because 1.0 devices will dumb down the network. Verizon’s older STBs like the Motorola 2500 and 6416 were 1.0 and would limit the MoCA to 7 nodes even if only one was on the network. When Verizon came out with 1.1 devices you could have 15 MoCA nodes.
Another example of two versions on the same network are the Actiontec rev I router and VMS1100/IPC1100 STBs. The Actiontec is 1.1 and the 1100s are 2.0. If you look at the MoCA table in the STB diagnostics it will show you different versions of MoCA on the same coax network.
Both solutions provided will work. It’s up to you how to set it up.

buhitman6

Thank you! I'll give this a shot to see if it works. Good to know that my current setup will allow for Gigabit internet.

One more question if I may - do I connect the coaxial cable to the "Coax In" on the adapter, or the "TV/STB Out"?

buhitman6

Thank you for the help. I have a Cisco CHS435 STB - is that Moca 1.1?

Also, I wanted to confirm, it sounds like what you're saying, is that even though the STB is Moca 1.1, I can still get Gigabit internet as long as there are routers that are Bonded Moca 2.0. In that case, is there any reason for me to use the adapter, to bypass the coaxial connection on the G1100? It sounds like it is unnecessary.

Edg1

Yes the Cisco boxes are MoCA 1.1. Bonded MoCA 2.0 is backward compatible with 2.0 and 1.1, so a bonded 2.0 device will communicate at bonded 2.0 speed despite a 1.1 client in the network.

The reason for bypassing the G1100 coax port is because it is 2.0 so bonded 2.0 devices will communicate with it at 2.0 speeds. By putting the bonded 2.0 adapter with the G1100 will enable you other bonded 2.0 adapters to all communicate at bonded 2.0 speeds which are up to a gig. If you leave the G1100 as is you will be capped around 400 mbps over the coax.

buhitman6

Got it, so I will need the adapter to get gigabit speeds.

Sorry, you have been more than helpful but I would like to try to better understand, why is it that the G1100 without the adapter, which is 2.0, caps the network speed at 400mbps, but the Cisco STB, which is 1.1, doesn't cap the network speed at the 175mbps speed, which I've read is the max for 1.1? You mentioned Bonded 2.0 is backwards compatible with both 2.0 and 1.1, so am a bit confused.

Either way, many thanks to you and the other posters for the help.

warren@chang-nyc.com

Hi there,

Apparently your suggestion to this thread was the "final answer", which I find encouraging:

"Take the ECB6200 and place it with the G1100. Take the coax out of the G1100 and connect it to the the ECB6200. Then connect an ethernet cable from the G1100 LAN port to the ECB6200."

I am trying to achieve Gigabit intranet (LAN) speeds, in order to transfer large files between computers throughout my house and a NAS unit attached to my G1100 router (with everybody in a five-person household working from home now, this has become A Thing I Need). And the computers are on different floors of a three story house plus basement; Wi-Fi signals do not reach everywhere very well.

I understand that Verizon caps WAN MoCA speeds to 100 Mbps at the ONT due to the coaxial cable sharing the TV and phone data from/to the outside, but that my Gigabit FiOS service is connecting my G1100 to the ONT via Ethernet. As I understand things ,this should free up my MoCA for LAN speeds to its full potential (length of cable and good connectors dictating the signal strength).

Right now, I have both an Ethernet and a coaxial connection from the ONT to my G1100 (from when I only had 100 Mbps FiOS and didn't have the Ethernet connection to the ONT).

I already have a MoCA "extender" in my basement, an Actiontec WCB3000N that I've been using for about 6 years. It is providing reasonably good Wi-Fi down there, but even wired ethernet to it only gets me about 85 Mbps. I believe this may be because it's spec'ed as MoCA 1.1 (not 2.0) which is limited to 175 Mbps.

I just got an ECB6200, which supports MoCA 2.0, and attached it to the coax cable running to my first floor that ran to the STB in my living room (which I've gotten rid of). It easily worked to provide an Ethernet based connection to a computer, but again, topping out around 95 Mbps (11.5-12 MB/s).

I was hoping to see this connection be significantly faster than the one in the basement, i.e., operating at MoCA 2.0 speed of around 500 Mbps (if not bonded/full Gigabit - I don't think the G1100 supports bonded 2.0).

So now I'm wondering what I should to do get at least Moca 2.0 speeds, if not bonded speeds, in my home network.

a) Do I need to do something configuration-wise on my G1100 to get it to use Moca 2.0? (I wouldn't think so)

b) Is it the presence of the MoCA 1.1 WCB3000N forcing the G1100 to operate at MoCA 1.1 for all devices? If so, I can upgrade that to the successor WCB6200Q extender. I've read that the G1100 should be able to "talk" 2.0 and 1.1 to different devices on the same LAN, but maybe that doesn't mean at the proper respective speeds.

c) Do what you suggested, and get another ECB6200 to connect to the ONT and attach to the G110 via one of the four Gigabit Ethernet ports? (I think I can free one up...)

Since the ECB6200 supports Bonded MoCA, even if the G1100 does not, if I did that and then replaced my basement extender with the WCB6200Q, would every level of my house now have wired bonded MoCA Ethernet speed?