Help with Frontier and MoCa

[mocanewbie]

Hi there,

I recently moved to a new home and unfortunately found out the house did not have ethernet running through the house but instead had Coax. Frontier came by and installed the 2Gig package. The installed a new black ONT box outside the home. From the outside box, they connected to office Coax and then in the office they installed a small MoCa adapter. I have a small office upstairs that I need to have hardwired and the mesh network isn't super reliable. When I called Frontier, they say I can install a MoCa splitter (which I bought) from the ONT and connect all the coax cables (which I did) and then use a set of MoCa adapters (got the goCoax adapters) but when I plug them in and try to run ethernet to the PC i get nothing. What am I doing wrong? I'm sure I don't really understand MoCa or how to run the adapters but here it is:

ONT >> MoCa Coax Splitter In >> Out to Office Coax, Living Room Coax, Upstairs Room Coax>> Office Coax >> Frontier MoCa Adapter >> Linksys Velop Router (Mess Network with 3 nodes) Works but Living Room Coax >> goCoax Adapter and Upstairs Room Coax >> goCoax Adapter doesn't work.

I hope this helps paint a picture but I'm super lost right now as to where I'm stuck or what to do.

 

[L&LD]

Welcome to the forums @mocanewbie.

I may not be understanding this fully, but I think splitting it at the ONT is wrong. Unless you have multiple WAN IPs.

 

[mocanewbie]

Hey @L&LD, I think you're right. I will admit I am completely lost right now. All I want is to just have ethernet in 3 places in the house. Office, Living room and upstairs bedroom. I think the only way to achieve that is to have the router close the box outside the house and then somehow MoCa things out.

 

[drinkingbird]

Hey @L&LD, I think you're right. I will admit I am completely lost right now. All I want is to just have ethernet in 3 places in the house. Office, Living room and upstairs bedroom. I think the only way to achieve that is to have the router close the box outside the house and then somehow MoCa things out.

As far as I know Frontier is still using MOCA-WAN for the connection between the ONT and router and MOCA-LAN to connect to the set top boxes (sharing the same coax cables for both).

You can get frontier moca adapters off amazon/ebay for $50 and under, if you are using their router, it should have MOCA LAN support built right in and those adapters will connect to it through your existing coax cabling, same way their set top boxes connect.

Where do your coax runs terminate - are they all at the fiber ONT box? If so that may be where you need to put the splitter, as long as it is MOCA compatible it should be fine.

If they've changed to using some other setup, you may need to isolate the coax cables you want to use for LAN and put a MOCA adapter on either end, which effectively just converts each coax to an ethernet cable. Some MOCA setups will let you use a single adapter at the router LAN and then put 3 remotely in the house (with all 3 coax running off a dedicated splitter). Others have to be installed in pairs, in which case no splitter needed, just have 1 coax per pair of adapters (this will be the fastest total throughput and least amount of potential issues too). But it is also the more expensive option.

I'd check on the router they've given you and see what MOCA standards it supports. If they haven't changed anything from my assumption above, just buying a few Frontier branded adapters (which are just rebadged Actiontec I believe) is probably cheapest and easiest.

 

[L&LD]

Maybe @krkaufman and @degrub can help here?

Help with building my MoCA network

Hello, I have dsl from AT&T which is very slow by today's standards. I'm thinking about subscribing to xfinity internet from Comcast because my father refuses to let AT&T drill a hole in our wall to get fiber. For now I think I'm going to get the 400 mbps down 10 mbps upload package they offer...

www.snbforums.com

 

[degrub]

Are you using any set top boxes for TV or phone ?
What is the model # and brand of moca splitter you installed ?

Are you getting any lights on the GOCoax adapters ?
i vaguely recall that there is a conflict created and boot up / power on order of the set top boxes and the third party moca modems can prevent syncing of the third party modems.

With your current coax layout, do you still get internet connection (WAN) at the Frontier router if you plug in a PC to a LAN port of that router ?

Search on this subforum for "Frontier" and "MOCA" and also same on Reddit threads.

 

[krkaufman]

TL;DR diagram:

​

NOTES:​

• "LAN" adapter at router can be replaced by coax connection to router if the router sports an acceptable built-in MoCA LAN bridge.
• Similarly, the FCA252 adapter at the ONT isn't required if the ONT coax port supports the non-standard 400-900 MHz MoCA WAN operating frequencies.

The installed a new black ONT box outside the home. From the outside box, they connected to office Coax and then in the office they installed a small MoCa adapter. I have a small office upstairs that I need to have hardwired and the mesh network isn't super reliable. When I called Frontier, they say I can install a MoCa splitter (which I bought) from the ONT and connect all the coax cables (which I did) and then use a set of MoCa adapters (got the goCoax adapters) but when I plug them in and try to run ethernet to the PC i get nothing. What am I doing wrong? I'm sure I don't really understand MoCa or how to run the adapters but here it is:

ONT >> MoCa Coax Splitter In >> Out to Office Coax, Living Room Coax, Upstairs Room Coax>> Office Coax >> Frontier MoCa Adapter >> Linksys Velop Router (Mess Network with 3 nodes) Works but Living Room Coax >> goCoax Adapter and Upstairs Room Coax >> goCoax Adapter doesn't work.

I suspect the mentioned MoCA adapter installed by Frontier is one of their FCA252 adapters. These have a toggle switch near the coax port; to what position is it set on yours? "25GW"?

​

Operating frequencies for the various configuration toggle settings for the Frontier-branded MoCA 2.5 adapters follow, noting that each 100 MHz MoCA 2.x channel is capable of up to 500 Mbps shared throughput.​

​

FCA252 (2.5 GbE network port; black shell):​

• 1GW: 1475-1675 MHz (2x 100 MHz; 1000 Mbps max)
• 25GW: 400-900 MHz (5x 100 MHz; 2500 Mbps max)
• LAN: 1125-1675 MHz (5x 100 MHz; 2500 Mbps max)

FCA251/WF-803FT (GigE network port; white shell):​

• WAN: 1475-1675 MHz (2x 100 MHz; 1000 Mbps max)
• LAN: 1025-1350 MHz (3x 100 MHz; 1500 Mbps max)
• FULL: 1125-1675 MHz (5x 100 MHz; 2500 Mbps max)

The "25GW" configuration option is critical as it shifts the MoCA WAN operating range to 400-900 MHz, leaving the full standard MoCA Extended Band D range (1125-1675 MHz) available for MoCA LAN use. Of course, this configuration requires that the 400-900 MHz range is unused, meaning no TV signals present.​

So, with background on the Frontier FCA252 adapter covered and its “25GW” requirements stipulated…

The configuration you describe is mostly correct, except it doesn't appear to accommodate a path for the MoCA LAN to/from your router. The "WAN" MoCA adapter in the Office will only support the direct link with the ONT (either another FCA252[25GW] adapter or the ONT's built-in MoCA WAN bridge). You'd need to get your router LAN bridged to the coax, as well: you'd use a MoCA-compatible 2-way splitter connected to the Office's coax wall outlet, then connect your MoCA WAN & MoCA LAN nodes in the Office to the splitter's 2 output ports.

As for the MoCA LAN "node" in the Office, it could theoretically be your router if it has a built-in MoCA LAN bridge of acceptable spec (MoCA 2.5!), or a retail MoCA 2.5 adapter or FCA252 adapter set to "LAN." But given the OP detail, "Office Coax >> Frontier MoCa Adapter >> Linksys Velop Router," it will be the latter, a standalone MoCA adapter. You'll need another goCoax MoCA adapter (or equivalent) to function as your main MoCA LAN bridge (access point), connected to a LAN port on your router and the shared coax. (You could temporarily sacrifice one of the remote locations to prove the suggested configuration, then get the orphaned connection working once the bonus adapter arrives.)

p.s. As pictured in the example diagram, another tweak to your setup, assuming the MoCA WAN is effected using the "25GW" setting on the FCA252 adapter (so operating at 400-900 MHz), would be to add a "PoE" MoCA filter on the input port of the 2-way splitter you added nearest the ONT, allowing the WAN MoCA signal to pass through the filter (with a pass-band of 5-1002 MHz) but efficiently reflecting the LAN MoCA signals back onto the coax plant.

 

[krkaufman]

You can get frontier moca adapters off amazon/ebay for $50 and under

$30 per for Frontier FCA252 adapters, specifically (while supplies last)

 

[krkaufman]

Frontier came by and installed the 2Gig package. … Linksys Velop Router (Mess Network with 3 nodes)

What am I doing wrong?

Aside from the configuration changes needed, possibly paying more for Internet service than your gear can support?

What’re the model #’s for the Velop gear? What 2.5 GbE or better support do any of them offer? At a minimum, you’d want the main router node to support 2.5+ GbE WAN; otherwise, your setup will be capped by a Gigabit (1000 Mbps) Ethernet WAN port.