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Why is my MoCa network not working?

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aznkobe1993

New Around Here
MoCa Setups:
I am trying to set up a MoCa network as the one in Setup 1. However, the link lights on my MoCa devices are not blinking and I do not get any connection.

I did a local test as the one in Setup 2 and the MoCa adapters did have the link lights blinking and I had a successful connection.

I did another test as the one in Setup 3 where I connected the MoCa adapter directly to a 2 way splitter in the garage where the cable comes in and I also get a successful connection.

I also tested to make sure that the coax outlets were working on each room by unplugging the modem from the kitchen and connecting it to each room. I plugged the LAN cable into the modem and the laptop and I had connection to the internet on each of the rooms that I tested.

What might be the issue that is not allowing my MoCa adapters to link?
 
Not sure if it is just an issue with your diagram or you actually plugged in this way, but for MoCA adapter in the Kitchen, the "Network" and "Device" Coax cables seem to be plugged the other way around.

I assume the devices are the Motorola MM1000 adapters (couldn't find MM10002 specifically)? The "Network" Coax connection should be used for the connection to other MoCA adapters. The "Device" Coax connection should be used for cable modems, cable boxes, etc.

I think there is some kind of filter on the "Device" side that filters out MoCA signals - I don't have the MM1000 but I have another MoCA adapter (Actiontec ECB6200) and they label the two Coax connections "Coax In" and "TV/STB Out" - and it doesn't work if I flip them the other way around.

The way I understand it is that you have the Cable from your ISP and the MoCA adapter "adds" its own MoCA signals on top of the Cable signals, like in the diagram below. The PoE Filter and the "Device" Coax connection on the adapter "remove" the MoCA signals (esp on the "ISP Cable in" PoE filter, this is important so that your MoCA signals don't spread out of the house to your neighbors or back to the ISP). If you think about it this way, the Coax connections on the Kitchen MoCA adapter are the wrong way around (the "Device Port" in Kitchen cannot talk to the "Network Port" in Office).

MoCA1.png


This also explains why setup 2 works, the two MoCA adapters are connected via the "Network Port".

Regarding setup 3, not sure why this would work, perhaps the Coax cable is short enough that the signal can get past any possible filters on the "Device Port"? (Or perhaps the diagram didn't match the actual connection).

If you switch the connections around on the Kitchen MoCA adapter, then the diagram would look something like this:

MoCA2.png

You probably don't need the PoE filter on the Hitron cable modem, since it is already connected to the "Device Port", and furthermore you really only need to filter the MoCA signals when it goes out of the house (for me the added MoCA signals didn't really affect my cable boxes).

One more thing, you might want to check the Coax from the Garage to Office. The BAMF splitter in Garage should be sufficient for MoCA, but I've read that some houses have hidden intermediate splitters, that might not be rated to pass MoCA signals. If this is the case, this might explain why you could get the cable modem working in Office but not MoCA adapters.
 

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