Actiontec MI424WR - a cheap MoCA bridge for all! - Page 32

I use a Rev G for main router and a Rev I for my MoCA bridge in a remote room that never had an Ethernet run.

Both of these models are 10/100/1000 ports (including WAN) and though I haven't fully tested the network speeds... I am getting just over 140Mb (max 150Mb) internet speeds on the Ethernet connection of the MoCA bridge... (I believe ~140Mb is max for MoCA 1.1)

BTW, You guys should check out this chart: http://www.dslreports.com/speak/slid...dGFydD0zMDA%3D

...from the this Thread on DSLReports: http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r266...-Router-REV.-I

...it has most of the up to date info on the various Rev's.

Lastly, here is my recent thread showing off the rewiring of my FiOS setup: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1397735

Example:
OEP32490 by MrKal_El, on Flickr


OEP32965 by MrKal_El, on Flickr


OEP32973 by MrKal_El, on Flickr

I have several 1424's and a nim100 all working together. I believe one of them is a rev A but not sure. How do I tell?

Look underneath the box.. it should tell you on the label what Rev you've got.

I suspect only the later models support the higher channels, along with GigE.

Hey guys, it was suggested that I trying using MoCA as a way to network the tuners on a Centon card. I haven't read through the pages of this thread yet but I was wondering if anyone was currently using MoCA for that purpose and how it is going. I may consider it as a way of going from from living room to bedroom directly without going through my internet router.

Great looking setup... do you have the Rev G and Rev I on the same coax channel? How about encryption?

Yup both on same channel. All I did was remove DHCP & disable CoAX Broadband from the Rev I.

I can confirm this. I get 99.9 Mbit/sec transfers on my MCAB1001 (11.2 MiB/sec after overhead) and can easily stream a Blu-Ray rip. I've tested with higher bitrate encodes @ 50-70 Mbit without issue. Blu-Ray shouldn't be an issue as the spec sets a maximum video bitrate of 40 Mbit, 48 Mbit for audio and video combined, and 54 Mbit with the M2TS overhead, PGS subs etc.

Tiamat -- I seem to be experiencing the exact same thing. I have a Zino HTPC in my bedroom hooked up to a Rev C Actiontec. My primary HTPC in the family room is hooked up to a Rev F (I believe) which is connected to the ONT. I can surf the internet on my Zino just fine. However, if I download things, I get corruption errors. Installshield can't uncompress/unzip, I get NSIS errors, etc etc. There was a point in time when it seemed to be working just fine.

I've run chkdsk, wiped the Zino HDD clean with dban, and reinstalled Windows 7 fresh to no avail, so it seems like the computer isn't the issue. If I download software first to my primary HTPC and then send it over the LAN to the Zino, it will install fine. Also, if I run ethernet from the Rev F to the Zino, downloads from the net are fine. The problem is only when going ONT -> Rev F -> Rev C without stopping in between. I thought perhaps the coax signal was just split too many times but this is repeated even when I eliminate all splitters. It's clearly a problem with the coax network/network settings on the routers/routers. I'm going to try a firmware update to the routers either today or tomorrow -- I'll let you know how that goes.

Have you looked through this whole thread to see if someone has a similar problem? It's overwhelmingly long but perhaps we could split it up to make it more manageable....

Hi All- I'm running into a minor problem with my setup. I have two of the Actiontec routers setup as Moca adapters, being used to connect my entertainment center (Tivo Premiere, AppleTv and PS3) to the internet/local network.
I am having an issue while trying to use the Tivo Android app. I am not exactly sure what communication protocal is used between the Android app and the Tivo. I currently have the Tivo set with a static IP address.

The issue I'm having is that I am finding I am only able to connect using the Android Tivo app each day after I go through the Tivo network settings and walk through setting up the static ip (just confirming the settings that are already in there), or changing to a dynamic ip. So essentially resetting the ip address. It seems to work fine for a few hours once I reset the ip address, but then I have to go through the process again.

The Tivo, PS3 and AppleTV are constantly connected to the internet (even when I can't see the Tivo using the Android app) as I never have any trouble with internet services such as Netflix, etc.

Previously I had a wifi adapter hooked up to the Tivo and had no problem finding it using the Android app, so I am thinking it is something related to the Moca adapters. Some setting somewhere I'm missing related to the connection protocal used by the Android app and the Tivo.

Other pertinent information:
1) Tivo Premiere (w/upgrade 2 TB hard drive) and static IP (or dynamic, doesn't seem to matter with this issue)
2) HTC Evo 3d phone with Tivo App
3) Airport Extreme Router
4) 2 Actiontec MI424WR routers converted for use as Moca adapters, one connected to the router and the other to the Tivo (as well as PS3 and AppleTV)
5) Comcast HSI using a Motorola SB6120 Cable Modem

Other than this issue these routers work awesome as Moca adapters.

Thanks in advance for any ideas on what may be causing my problem!

How do you access the Tivo from your Android app, by name or IP? Could it be a DNS issue? Are you always able to ping the Tivo by it's IP?

It's unlikely to be related to the MoCA connection itself, as its just a dumb ethernet bridge. Do you possibly have DHCP turned on on one of your Actiontecs?

Found out some more information last night. The Tivo uses Bonjour to communicate with the Android app and from this thread, albeit it is a bit old, sounds like the MI424WR's have issues with the Bonjour connection protocol.
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...d.php?t=430791

So it does appear to be an issue with the Bonjour protocol on the routers, even when used as switches. Not sure if there's a solution to this problem.

I am always able to ping by IP, so it is JUST a bonjour problem.

That's very strange to say the least. Since bonjour operates at a much higher network layer, I'm shocked that the Actiontec's could have any effect on it.

Yeah it is a bit strange. Another comment I read was that the actiontec routers either classify bonjour protocol discovery as a "security threat" and shut it down on the internal LAN or someone mentioned the possibility that it has to do with multiple ports being opened from the same source IP.

Just to be sure, they are all on the latest (and same) firmware - correct?

The setting on both of the routers show that they are up to date.
I'm not at home to give the version numbers though. Does anyone know the current firmware number?

I don't think I've ever gotten the updater thing to work. I've always gone to the Actiontec site to download the latest firmwares.

Do you pull the firmware update from the Actiontec or Verizon website:
http://my.verizon.com/micro/fiosrouters/ ?
I can't seem to find the download link on the Actiontec site.

Thanks!

If I recall correctly, the actual link is in Actiontec update page, but doesn't work. If you C&P it out of that and into Internet Explorer, it will work and you can download the latest version.

I haven't done it in a while, but I *think* that's what I did.

Thanks! Will give that a try tonight.

Updated the firmware on my two routers. Now the Bonjour connection is available for about 24 hours before I need to redo my Tivo network settings to make it available again to the Android App.
So still not perfect, but an improvement.

Hi all,

I've just discovered MoCA in general, and can't find any MoCA adapters for sale. I'm tired of powerline so someone recommended I google "MI424WR" and that's what landed me here.

I live in Canada so I'm not a Verizon subscriber obviously, but I'm looking to buy a pair of these used, and use them as MoCA adapters to stream from a NAS to my HTPC's.

I'm assuming people who aren't VZW subscribers are buying these from ebay correct? Since the original post, there seem to have been a large batch of revisions since then.

Which is the recommended revision I look for to buy? Is ebay the best place to buy these for someone in Canada? Thanks for any advice

I got my pair of Verizon Fios boxes through Amazon Marketplace last summer - the seller was a hippie bookstore in California - for $30 apiece. They even threw in a pair of ethernet cables. I had to download the manuals, but that wasn't a big problem. They've worked fine - I just figured out how to put their WiFi access points into "DMZ" mode, to allow visitors to use my internet connection without having access to my LAN - so I can run them as open access points.

So run the same search at the Amazon website.

(For those who weren't around during the Vietnam War, the DMZ was the DeMilitarized Zone - similar in concept to the various Neutral Zones in Star Trek.)

Unfortunately Amazon.com and marketplace sellers don't ship to Canada, and Amazon.ca is terrible by comparison.

I am awaiting delivery of my two Actiontec Rev D. MEanwhile I checked and found that the cable in my garage is being split using this anntronix cm2003H-A 3-way splitter. http://www.cableandwireshop.com/antr..._splitter.html

My question is that the outputs are marked as 2 with -7dB and 1 with -3.5dB -- can someone tell me what the different is between -7dB and -3.5dB. And to which would I connect my actiontec too in this case? Thanks in advance!

What you have there is a box that contains two splitters, with one side of the output of the first going directly out (the -3.5db jack) and the other side going through the second splitter, yielding the two -7db outputs.

-3db is exactly half the input signal. Since no circuit is completely efficient, there's some additional loss, thus the additional -.5db.

Your two locations should be put on the two -7db outputs - that way you know they are on the two sides of the same splitter inside that box. MOCA works by leaking across the splitter, but the more splitters there are in between, the weaker the MOCA connection will be.

At each location, put the input side of a diplexer - which looks just like a regular two-way splitter except that one of the outputs is marked as a satellite jack - as the first thing in line. Attach the satellite output to the Actiontec and the other output to your TV equipment.

This both (1) isolates the MOCA signal from the TV equipment and (2) gives each branch most of the part of the band it uses. Using a standard splitter would give each side only half of its part of the band, along with half of the part it has no need for.

Philnick - Greatly appreciate you taking the time to explain. Makes so much sense now (had to read it a few times). Have a follow up - my cable MODEM is connected on the -3.5dB output and my cable box is connected to one of the -7dB output. I need to put my two actiontecs on these locations. Do you suggest that I move my cable modem to the free -7dB output? And then put a diplexer at each place as you suggested? (Actually I wont need a diplexer at the location which has just the cable MODEM right - I might need a splitter here - as MOCA and cable modem are probably on the 1+ GHz frequency?)

And finally if I wanted the actiontec on all 3 locations, there is no way for me to have all 3 of them on a single splitter (by definition its only 2 outputs for a single splitter right). how do you approach that - as I think I might have to install actiontecs on all 3 locations..

Thanks!!

The cable modem runs in the TV part of the band, below 1Ghz, not the satellite part of the band, so you should treat the cable modem the same as video equipment. Only MOCA and satellite run above 1Ghz.

The best MOCA performance will come across a single splitter, but it will work across multiple splitters, with some loss in signal strength and potentially in speed if error correction has to kick in.

For your initial 2-way hookup you should use the -7db jacks, but you can also experiment with seeing how well it works between one of the -7db jacks and the -3.5db. If it works well enough, you may want to evaluate the relative download speed with your cable modem connected to the -7db and the -3.5db.

Everything is a trade-off: your computer will run its fastest on the -3.5db, but your MOCA network may run slower.

However, since MOCA is several times as fast as cable internet, you may well decide to give the additional speed to the cable modem!

Unless you're networking video stored on your computer, the most important speed is that of the slowest link - your connection to the outside world - if you're streaming video coming from the outside world.

Perfect, makes sense. Gonna try the combinations out when I get those actiontecs.

The 3-way splitter says 1GHZ 3-way splitter. Does that mean the output will not have the 1+ GHz on which the MOCA works (attenuated??)?

Not certain but since MOCA works by leaking across a splitter, I suspect that yours will probably work. Also, I think that "1GHz" marking probably was intended to suggest that can, not that it can't, pass the higher frequencies. I think there are folks here who have better tech qualifications than I do to answer this one.

Phil