Intermittent packet loss on MoCA 2.5 network

[Vagus]

Please help me solve this long-term problem I've been having on my MoCA 2.5 network!

I have 6 GoCoax 803M MoCA 2.5 adapters throughout the house and they are connected in the following way:

I am not using any FIOS set top boxes or routers. The UniFi Router is a Dream Machine Pro. The Tivo DVR has MoCA switched off in settings and is communicating with 5 x Tivo Minis throughout the house via ethernet (over MoCA).

My problem is that I'm experiencing intermittent packet loss on all of the adapters that is severe / prolonged enough to drop the connection between the Tivo Mini and the Tivo DVR.
[I tried adding another POE filter just in front of the DVR just in case, but it made no difference.]
[I also tried swapping out the Tivo system altogether with a Fios DVR, with remote connections via the FiosTV app on AppleTV - exactly the same problem of intermittent lost connection to the DVR. Interestingly all streaming apps work fine (including the FiosTV app streaming from the cloud rather than from the DVR - presumably due to a larger/longer buffer.]

The problem does not occur if I direct connect a Tivo Mino to the Router with an ethernet cable. In addition, the problem does not occur when I replace all of the MoCA 2.5 adapters with MoCA 2.0 adapters.

I have gone through the coax cabling as best I can to look for faults. I found one short run of RG59 which I replaced with RG6. I found a length of RG6 that had damage to the outer sleeve and replaced it. I have replaced the RG6 connection between the two splitters (about 40-50 feet apart) with RG11. I have replaced both splitters. And I have reterminated basically every cable end with new f-type connectors.

It hasn't made a bit of difference.

Other than knowing the problem persists by my Tivo minis dropping their connections randomly (typically every 5-20 minutes), I can also visualize the problem with Ping Plotter by pinging the adapters once every second:

(Note that PingPlotter directly connected to the 192.168.1.53 adapter - hence lower latency and no packet loss).

Any help or suggestions would be gratefully received, but specific questions would include:
- Does this look like an ongoing coax problem? Should I continue replacing every length of coax in the house?
- Would / could MoCA amplification help? (The last two adapters have a further ~50 foot cable run from the second splitter).
- Could it be a setting on the MoCA adapters themselves?
- Could it be a problem outside the MoCA network (this seems less likely to me).

 

[krkaufman]

Only thing obviously shifted from recommended topology is the orientation of the initial 3-way splitter.

Recommendation would be:
* input port connected to ONT coax, with…
* “PoE” MoCA filter directly on input port;
* TiVo DVR line connected to low-loss splitter output (via MoCA adapter pass-through);
* MoCA adapter and secondary splitter lines connected to other outputs.

 

[Vagus]

THANK YOU for taking the time to read and respond.

That's basically how I started out. I've recently tried 3 different orientations of that splitter in an effort to reduce point to point dB loss according to my "link budget":

I found that:
Orientation #1 gives me ~3500 Mbit/s between all points (despite the theoretical increased signal loss)
Orientation #2 gives me ~2500 Mbit/s beween Moca2 and Moca5 / Moca6 (which are both physically furthest away)
Orientation #3 causes loss of certain TV channels

I've just reconfigured that splitter back to orientation #1.

Is there a reason you suggest connecting the TiVo DVR line to the low-loss output on the splitter other than to preserve the quality of the TV signal?

 

[degrub]

Should you run RG11 cable straight to the receiver? - The Solid Signal Blog

Here's a tip that budding commercial installers will want to know about.There's a special type of cable that makes installs easier... but only if you use it right.

blog.solidsignal.com

That short piece of RG11 may be hurting you as much as it might have helped, particularly if you violated the minimum bend radius getting out of the wall. Good chance you are getting insertion reflections that don't die out since it is so short.

Also, search for a "unity gain" or "0 loss " amplified moca 2 certified splitter for your two splitters. You have a lot of dB loss across those paths between the DVR and the Minis. I suspect the reason the moca 2 modems worked is an issue with the GoCoax adapters -

https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeNetworking/comments/1aq2eez/gocoax_update_issues_and_network_drops

You should talk with GoCoax directly about what you are seeing.

 

[Vagus]

Thanks for sharing. That's not the problem though, and frankly that article is full of half truths and mis-truths.

 

[sfx2000]

Short story with the internal cable COAX inside the house...

I pulled new RG59 about 30 years ago to a number of drops for Cable TV when I moved into my house...

Worked fine for analog CATV at the time.

Dropping in DOCSIS 3.0 into the house, the provider did a cable test, and decided to do a new RG11 drop from the demarc direct to the cable modem...

Moving forward a bit - when my CableCo went from ClearQAM over to SDV, they did a new RG11 pull over to a couple of drops inside the house, as the SNR for RG59 impacted video quality - was good enough for SDTV, but not for 1080P with their digital endpoints...

Moved over to DirecTV and they run another set of lines, but this time RG6, rather than reuse the RG11 - not only for digital between their dish on the roof, but also the STB and the Deca's from the STB over to the aux units...

Thing is - media matters - RG6 is kind of the goldicocks - not to much or little, and most MOCA units can work with it...

Once the media is sorted, what's on the media - CATV or DBS, as this goes hand-in-hand with DOCSIS...