MoCA Installation

[brasilado]

Hello friendly NetBuilder folks-- are there any recommendations where I can hire someone to install two MoCA adapters (Netgear MCAB1001 Adapter Kit) in my Chicago condo? Here's my situation:

* I have a AT&T U-Verse Wireless Modem in one bedroom. I have an network-capable AV receiver in my living room that I am trying to get connected.
* I initially used 2 Netgear Powerline 85 adapters that worked beautifully-- was able to connect my Pioneer receiver out of the box... until my wife used the microwave in the kitchen and interrupted the signal. This happened a few times. So I returned the adapters back to Radio Shack.
* Read about the wonders of MoCA and seeing that I had a TV coaxial outlet in my bedrooms and also in the living room, I thought this would be perfect-- no interference from any microwave usage.
* Got the Netgear MCAB1001 Adapter Kit from an online store on Amazon a months ago and when I connected it, it did not work. After several attempts, I gave up until now where I decided I needed to resolve this issue.
* I have AT&T UVerse Internet, but do not have any cable or U-Verse TV. However, the previous tenant did have cable TV (but not in the bedroom where I have the modem; they did have it in the living and in the master bathroom where they set up a small TV)-- don't know if it is Comcast or RCN.

Is this something that Comcast can address? I am wondering if the bedroom TV coaxial is not connected to the living room coaxial and that is causing the problem. My concern is that the Comcast folks wouldn't know what to do about connecting things for MoCA and someone like the GeekSquad wouldn't be able to do anything if there is a cable connection problem. After several Internet research attempts, I have come to this board to see if there may be a way out...

If I could return my MoCA adapters, I would be tempted to turn them for 2 Netgear 500 Powerline adapters and call it a day (with or without interference from microwave usage). But I can't refund these MoCA adapters (which isn't cheap), so I'm trying to get this to work.

I'm a networking neophyte, so not sure I would know what to do with terms like splitters, etc. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[stevech]

can you follow the route of the coaxes by looking in the attic or under the house?

Do you know where all the splitters are?

One trick: in the wall outlet for which you don't know the far end for sure... plug in a coax stub with the center conductor shorted to the shield.

Then take a common volt-ohm meter (VOM), set to low ohms scale (like 200 ohms). go to a suspect splitter, unplug a candidate other-end of the coax. Measure the resistance. If it's near 0 (the short), you've found it. If it's more than 50, 75, or higher ohms, try another.

They do sell coax "toners" that put a tone on the coax that a tone receiver can hear, but those are costly.

Once you understand the cabling in your house (create a drawing for posterity) - we can help you wire up the MoCA. It's not hard (easy for me, a geek to say).

The cableCo won't know how - and/or will charge $$$ to do so. It's the same thing they'd do to rig up their whole-house DVR service.

 

[brasilado]

1. "Can you follow the route of the coaxes by looking in the attic or under the house?"
--> No. I live on a 2nd floor condo. There is a commercial property under me and my neighbor over me.

2. "Do you know where all the splitters are?"
--> No. I alluded somewhat to the splitters in my original email and am not sure where they are.

"One trick: in the wall outlet for which you don't know the far end for sure... plug in a coax stub with the center conductor shorted to the shield. Then take a common volt-ohm meter (VOM), set to low ohms scale (like 200 ohms). go to a suspect splitter, unplug a candidate other-end of the coax. Measure the resistance. If it's near 0 (the short), you've found it. If it's more than 50, 75, or higher ohms, try another. They do sell coax "toners" that put a tone on the coax that a tone receiver can hear, but those are costly."
--> I had a friend who I believe had one of these "toners" and tested the circuits in question and confirmed that yes, the coax of the two points in question are not in connected or registering. We were not able to find where the splitter was.

--> If I do find where the splitter is (and I'm not quite sure what that would look like-- is it behind one of the coax outlets in the wall? A separate box inside the condo unit? Outside the condo unit? Would a general contractor friend be able to find it?)-- what do I do then?

--> I don't mind paying money for someone to just get this over with (you are talking to someone who paid someone just to install the receiver to some wall mounted speakers)-- at this point, if I know that the Comcast can do it, I will ask them. My concern is that even if they connect all the wiring correctly (and who knows if I have a competent tech or not?), there are no guarantees that things will work. Is there anyone else other than CableCo that could help in this situation? Of course, I could treat this as a pet home project and live off the generosity of the helpful tips on this thread if it indeed was that easy...​

 

[scottyja]

I'm new to this also, but always looking to learn more. I agree with Stevech, you're going to have to trace the path somehow. Whoever you hire will have to do it, and likely charge you a bit to do it. If you have upstair neighbors, perhaps you could ask them if they have cable and if they know where the cables go.

When I lived in a condo there was a single box for all the units outside near all the utility boxes (such as the power meter and phone lines). If it is in your condo, it would likely be tucked away in a closet, perhaps near the breaker box. What it looks like will depend on how many lines there are. But a basic splitter looks like this. However, if your friend verified the two outlets aren't connected, one of the lines (or neither of them) are connected to a splitter, or anything else.

If you really want to just pay and get it over with, I would try Comcast (or whoever the cable company is) and explain the previous owner had cable but disconnected the bedroom line. Ask that they return it to the original setup. I'm not sure how much of a hurry they'd be to do that, though. If that doesn't work you can try an electrician or a contractor. Once the two ports are connected through a splitter it really should be plug-and-play. Also remember, you need a splitter rated up to 2Ghz for MoCA to work correctly (see the one linked above).

On the powerline-side, they do sell filters that are supposed to limit interference to the powerline adapter. Tim also mentioned that adding a 6-ft extension cord to the noise source worked equally well. After hiring someone to trace your coax (if you REALLY don't want to do it), you may be better off selling the MoCA adapters on craigslist and buying the powerline/extension cord combo.

Good luck.

 

[brasilado]

Thank you stevech and scottyja-- helpful and empathetic replies. I called Comcast this evening and they told me they could not come and send a technician out because I am not a Comcast customer (I have AT&T U-Verse Internet only). Of course, it took me several calls to them (dropped calls, transfers) and after almost an hour, they referred to their sales department... I probably should have known better.

I also tried calling a well-known local electronics/computer retailer and they suggested that I buy an Apple Airport Extreme router with a game port adapter (for the network-enabled receiver end to plug in the ethernet cable). The two points in question is about 45 feet. I'm willing to do that, but that means buying another (expensive router) and needing to somehow recover my costs with my now defunct MoCA adapters (I liked Scottyja's suggestion of selling them, but not sure if there is a strong market for these; I think I threw out the box). Would the Airport Extreme be able to stream Netflix on my TV in the living room?

So the final option might be (as Stevech noted) to try and map out my coaxial wiring with my friend's (and your) help and see if indeed I can get this MoCA plane off the ground. I suppose if successful, I would catch the DIY bug and attempt more 'ambitious' projects in the future! I think the next step is to call my friend again (who has a coax "toner") and see if we can find the splitter somewhere again. We tried looking outside the condo unit where the cable comes in, but was unsuccessful locating anything. The folks upstairs said their Comcast guy always goes to one of the bedroom closets, but I didn't see anything there the first time (do they sometimes hide it behind a faceplate? There is an electrical sized faceplate with no holes in one of the closets-- perhaps it is there?). So I will try to trace the path-- meaning I take it, find the splitter?

 

[stevech]

I've seen splitters stuffed into the box behind TV outlets in the wall. In my place they did this and I re-did it so every TV outlet has a direct home run to the central power divider that is fed by a cheap whole-house amplifier.
And I have a drawing of the coax and phone wires in my house - because I can't remember stuff 3 months later.

Personal opinion: U-verse is bad. AT&T now-a-days (SBC renamed) is evil.

 

[scottyja]

The folks upstairs said their Comcast guy always goes to one of the bedroom closets, but I didn't see anything there the first time (do they sometimes hide it behind a faceplate? There is an electrical sized faceplate with no holes in one of the closets-- perhaps it is there?). So I will try to trace the path-- meaning I take it, find the splitter?

That spot sounds promising. If that's how it is upstairs, I imagine the builder doing the same in your place. I would find a way to pop that faceplate off, take a picture and post it here. A lot of times the faceplates come off with exerting a little bit of pressure straight up. Other times they're held on by springs pushing against the sides of the box. That's how the cover over my water connection is downstairs. I have to push to the left or right and then pop it off. Play around with it and you should be able to get it off without damaging anything.

If you go with a wireless router, I don't think the Airport Extreme necessarily has any advantage or additional features that others don't. Tim reviewed that model on this site, you should check that out. If you want to try one out, I would take a look at the Asus RT-66u, it seems to get great reviews. Wireless depends on a lot of variables, such as distance, building type and adapters your devices use. If you were to get a solid connection, Netflix shouldn't be a problem. I'm able to stream Netflix to my Wii over a wireless G connection.

 

[brasilado]

Thanks for the tip Scottyja... The first time I saw it, there was a box in the closet-- which seemed very promising. That was before I discovered it was only the box for the alarm. The suspected splitter is in the baby room, however I keep forgetting to go in there before he goes down to sleep in the early evening. I go home from work late and the first thing I want to see is my son before he goes to bed and by the time he is actually in bed, I think, "shoot, he's in bed and I can't go in there now." So no further updates at this time. Anyone here have good fortunes with the Netgear Powerline AV 500 series? I got the Powerline 85 and it worked for the most part, but tried to go with MoCA because of the occasional interference issues.