Actiontec MI424WR - a cheap MoCA bridge for all! - Page 36

LOL. Agree 100% soI don't blame you at all!

Unfortunately I'm not familiar with the wifi bridging capabilities of the DD-WRT so I'm not sure if that would work or not. As a betting man though, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to do that given all of the added functionality that DD-WRT provides.

NAS

BTW...my weird fix for my problem has been going strong for 4 days now. So odd...

Couldn't hurt! BTW, this afternoon will be five days since I installed my ground strap and so far all's well - it had been failing at the five-day point recently. If it makes it through the weekend I'll feel pretty good about it.

That this problem didn't crop up between last September (when I set up my MoCa network) and this July, and then happened more and more often implies to me that there may have been some changed configuration out on the pole in the street - maybe Comcast added a booster amp that wasn't fullly grounded, and puts a tiny voltage on the shield of the coax.

I've put the device you linked to in my shopping cart at Amazon.

Thanks,

-Phl

Since it doesn't require an extra cable, it would indeed be more useful. And it's a bit less expensive as well!

PS Now officially past the "5 full days" point and still working.

-Phil

Fixed! Just follow the instructions in post #1045 to hard set the gateway router date and NOT let automating updating update the date to Sept. 2012!

Many thanks!

I have been running 2 Rev C's successfully for a while now. Just received 2 new Rev I's because I wanted the gigbit ports. Decided to change the design of the system while I was at it. But I cannot get it to work.

Current setup:

TWC modem -> Internet port of Rev-I #1 in office
Rev-C -> dlink wifi router connected on ethernet ports upstairs
Rev-I #2 -> in livingroom

Dlink is setup as a wireless access point only.

#1 is setup with both home network and broadband enabled, DHCP and DNS enabled.

If I only have #1 and the Rev-C turned on, everything works just fine. As soon as I turn #2 on, I lose Internet access on all boxes and see DNS errors. In this situation I can access the admin webapp of all 3 boxes, so the coax connection of all 3 works.

For those running more than 2 boxes, ever see this problem? Any ideas?

Is #2 set up with DNS on (its default setting)?

That could go to war with the DNS setting in #1, causing the problem you're seeing.

If the clients on each box can't get the domain names they're looking for translated into numeric addresses by a Domain Name Server ("DNS") because the various boxes can't agree on which Domain Name Server to ask, the result will be the appearance that the internet connection is down. It's not, but without the "phone book" role played by a DNS, the client devices can't find anything unless they're programmed with the actual numeric address - which is not a good idea, as those change from time to time.

DNS is turned-off on #2 and the Rev-C. Wondering if there is a limit to how many devices the MI424WR can distribute IP's to?

The small size of the Actiontec's DHCP assignment table is why xnappo's setup instructions (at the top of this thread) advise turning DHCP off in the Actiontecs and using another router as the master router for the network - in which case you'd connect your incoming internet signal to the master router and connect the first Actiontec to it - LAN jack to LAN jack - as one more client in the network.

If the router you're using merely as a WiFi access point could still do that effectively if relocated, to serve as the master router, alongside #1, that might solve your problem.

Otherwise, pick up an inexpensive router - it needn't have the most-advanced WiFi, just be a solid router - to use as the master router.

Either way, you'd then turn DHCP and DNS on in your master router and off everywhere else.

-Phil

Thanks for the info, that is what I was hoping I could avoid (mainly reducing the # of devices I need on battery backup so the ooma phone line still works).

Just to update: I added an old wireless router between the TWC modem and MI424 Rev-I #1 with wireless turned-off and everything works now as it should on all 3 boxes. It appears you are correct that the MI424's do not handle DHCP duties very well when too many devices are added. That's a shame.

Hi Chris (handle: xnappo),

Thanks for posting these instructions and responding to questions 3 years after the original post. Very much appreciated. I got it to work last month with Comcast Cable in the SF bay area using Rev Fs I purchased on EBay. We don't have Verizon FIOS here and people that see the Verizon FIOS modem in my rooms are surprised.

It is working in 5 rooms in my house. These rooms are also getting Comcast TV signal. However it is not working in two other rooms. They don't seem to get the TV signal either. Is this a matter of adding a couple of extra connections in the cable box outside my house so the TV signal is sent to those two rooms as well?

This may have been answered before but this thread has 36 pages and I wasn't sure of the best way to search. I will google after this.

Since this technique works by piggy-backing on the existing cable TV wiring, it appears that the jacks in those two rooms are not connected to the splitters that feed the other rooms. If you can find unattached cables in the Comcast box, you could try putting them onto a splitter and run a cable from that splitter to an unused jack on a splitter that is feeding the rest of the house.

Otherwise, you'll have to call Comcast and ask to have those rooms added.

Progress Report:

It's now ten days since I connected a wire from the grounding screw on the diplexer to one of the ground holes in the power strip - twice as long as the five day interval after which the link had been going down recently - and it's still going strong.

I heartily recommend doing this - it has the effect of grounding the entire coax network in your house, unless you've got ground-loop isolators installed, which would deprive the other side of that isolator of the benefit of the ground wire, which is why I haven't yet bought one!

I considered putting such an isolator between the cable from the street and the first splitter, but that would mean putting it in Comcast's box outside the house, and there's no guarantee that the next installer wouldn't just assume it was (a) Comcast equipment that wasn't needed or (b) unauthorized tampering by me - and remove it in either case!

For the moment, I've decided not to fix what ain't broken!

-Phil
Edited by Philnick - 10/10/12 at 7:13pm

I did some measurements today. I don't seem to be getting more than 15MBps or so. Even between two computers are are both plugged into the same physical Actiontec MI424WR (Rev. F). Similar speeds between actiontecs in separate rooms. I think I have a Cat-5 cable which I think should be able to do 100MBps and the RevFs should be able to do 100Mbps too right? I can regularly get 25 MBps plus downloads from the Internet when directly connected to the comcast modem.

Where do I look/tune or what should I do to speed up things between the actiontecs?

Don't trust online speed tests - Comcast uses a "Turbo" feature to accelerate a download initially, but doesn't apply it on a sustained basis.

It works long enough to artificially inflate speedtest results by up to a factor of two, however.

For comparison purposes, you should be comparing speed between two computers on different ports of your main router to the Actiontec speeds.

-Phil

I bought 2 rev. F a few weeks ago and I have issues when I plug everything into the wall.

It's fine when I connect everything directly ( router --[LAN]--> MI424WR A --[coax]--> MI424WR B --[LAN]--> laptop ), the coax light is on on both MI424WRs and I get a connection on the laptop within seconds.

As soon as I connect to the wall (the exact same schema from post #1), the MI424WRs can't communicate. MI424WR A is on the network of course but B is nowhere to be found.

I read 2 theories: I'd need a MoCa filter between the modem and the diplexer or maybe the frequencies > 1000Mhz are blocked by some kind of device (but I'm pretty sure I've seen satellite antennas in the neighbourhood)

I'm looking for your inputs on this.

tyia,
n

I gave the comcast download speed as a comparison. I 'm more interested in getting the highest speed possible between the actiontecs. I used a GUI version of the 'iPerf' tool to measure speed between two actiontecs and also between two ports on the same action tecs. Link to that tool is here http://jesterpm.net/downloads/JPerf-2.0.2.dmg . I used a couple of mac laptops to measure it.

xnappo, the "LAN Coax" light is steady green and not blinking.

I ran into the same sort of thing when I initially set up my MoCA network last fall. It turned out that the cabling to the two locations were not connected to the same splitter in the Comcast box on the wall outside my living room window.

Once I figured out which cable was which in that box and made sure they were on the same splitter, MoCA came to life.

The brute-force way to figure out which cable is which: Disconnect them one at a time and see which room stops getting cable TV service when each one is disconnected - not recommended if you're in an apartment house and don't have understanding neighbors!

Otherwise, be prepared to take photos of the wiring in that box from the underside with a telephoto lens so you can trace the loops in the box.

-Phil

Any idea why my WAN Coax light suddenly started flashing? No change in the system except for the placement of the router in another room.

I am on FiOS with JUST cablecards and two Actiontecs acting as bridges and 1 actiontec as my main router..
Edited by AnthonyB - 10/15/12 at 2:18pm

Are you saying 15 MB/s (i.e. megabytes per second) or mbps (megabits)?

If it is MB/s you are doing exceedingly well.

I get 12.3MB (MegaBytes) per second.. Pretty happy with MoCA! Saved me from having to wire everything with Cat6 and it runs all three of my HDHR Prime's just fine!

Thank you so much for this post! I have been pulling my hair out trying to figure this one out. i contacted Verizon and let them know about the issues.

Hi, I think I was getting 80 Mbps (small b) to 90 Mbps (small b) most of the time and over 100 Mbps once or twice. You might me right that all is well and I got the little b and the big B confused. I don't think I ever got 120Mbps so I 'm not sure why I said I got 15MBps (Big B) in my earlier email. Let me repeat this test and I see what I got (should have saved the test results last time).

Hey Philnick thanks for your input. I'm going to open that TWC box that is outside my house this week end.

So I expect to find 2 or more splitters in there. I believe I have 6 coax outlet all over my 2-story house.

I wonder how I get a cable tv signal on outlets that won't allow a MoCa connection? If somebody has a minute to spare to teach me something, I'd appreciate some explanations.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks,
N