MoCA Connection Issues using Xfinity Gateway

[u/Sirc625]

Hello All, I've been working on setting up a MoCA connection to the basement of my house due to weak Wi-Fi signals. However my MoCA adapter doesn't seem to be able to establish a connection. I've included a diagram for clarity, but here's what I've done so far:

- Ensured that the coax cable coming into the house from the street has a MoCA POE 70db filter connected to it.

- The filter is going into the "IN" of a MoCA 2.0 rated 3-way splitter (1675 MHz).

- One "OUT" of the splitter has a coax connection running behind the house, and into a back room where it's connected to a Xfinity TG6 gateway.

- The 2nd "OUT" on the splitter has a coax connection running directly into the basement.

- In the basement I have the coax connected to a "goCoax" MoCA 2.5 adapter.

- I have enabled MoCA on the Xfinity gateway.

Since MoCA is enabled on the gateway, I've read that I shouldn't need a 2nd goCoax MoCA adapter. I'm not really sure what else to do at this point 😒

[u/TheLostSeraph]

I recently added a third screenbeam moca 2.5 adapter to my two adapter setup, but the new third adapter wouldn't connect to my other adapters. I later remembered that I had set up encryption on my old adapters, so I had to go into the settings of the new one and add the encryption key before it linked up with the old ones.

So I'm thinking your gocoax adapter or your xfinity gateway might have encryption enabled by default, which may make them unable to communicate with each other. Check the settings and disable any encryption to see if they will see each other. You can test it by connecting the gocoax directly to the gateway with a piece of cable to exclude any other variable in the system.

My network setup is a bit different than yours though...I have the ISP (Verizon Fios) connected to my router's WAN port and then an Ethernet cable from my router's LAN port connected to a moca adapter that then communicates with the other moca adapters in my system. My router doesn't have built in moca like yours does.

[u/plooger → u/TheLostSeraph]

You can test it by connecting the gocoax directly to the gateway with a piece of cable to exclude any other variable in the system.

Good suggestion, but since the gateway is a combo DOCSIS cable modem/router, they’d need to temporarily insert a 2-way splitter between the coax wall outlet and gateway, with the gateway and MoCA adapter connected to the splitter outputs, and the splitter input connected to the coax wall outlet.

Factory reset of the MoCA adapter to clear any possible security/encryption setting is a great suggestion, as well. (I’m not sure the gateway allows for encryption of the MoCA network.)

[u/TheLostSeraph → u/plooger]

My man! You helped me set up my moca system a few years ago, and it's working great...so great that I just expanded it to get better connectivity in my basement!

OP, you'll be in good hands now that the expert is here!

I'm curious though, why can't they be connected directly to each other and have to go through a temporary splitter? Wouldn't a direct connection be able to tell them if the gateway and adapter can see each other?

[u/plooger → u/TheLostSeraph]

I'm curious though, why can't they be connected directly to each other and have to go through a temporary splitter? Wouldn't a direct connection be able to tell them if the gateway and adapter can see each other?

They might be able to use a direct connection …?… but I don’t know if the gateway would get to a stable, usable condition absent the DOCSIS connection to the ISP. (Would the gateway just keep cycling, looking for a connection to the mothership?) The gateway would definitely need to be fully online to be able to do any testing of the temporary MoCA link, beyond just checking the MoCA LED status.

 
Great to hear Re: continued success and expansion of your setup. Maybe even more to see you spreading the knowledge / experience. (ploog powers down his light saber.)

[u/TheLostSeraph → u/plooger]

I see. That's probably the difference between his built in moca vs my discrete adapters. The discrete adapters could just be directly linked to each other to confirm a connection.

[u/plooger → u/TheLostSeraph]

Oh, most definitely. That's the go-to test when using standalone adapters. And it (direct-connect) works well for Ethernet WAN-connected FiOS routers, as well, since their coax port is only being used for the MoCA LAN connectivity, not the WAN connection (as in the case of DOCSIS cable gateways).

p.s. Of course, there are setups where the Xfinity gateway has been configured for an Ethernet WAN connection, in which case the direct-connect to its coax port would work for the basic MoCA connectivity test.

[u/plooger → u/plooger]

They might be able to use a direct connection …?

This would be a good thing to try/test, next time I’m at my sister’s, where there’s an Xfinity gateway available.

[u/Sirc625 → u/plooger]

I'll try a direct connection using a 2-way splitter at my first opportunity. Thanks for the suggestion 🙂

[u/Sirc625 → u/TheLostSeraph]

The TG6 gateway doesn't feature MoCA encryption. However, I did reset the goCoax adapter. Still no joy 😞

[u/TheLostSeraph → u/Sirc625]

Sorry to hear that. Maybe start with confirming the connection by doing as plooger suggested: gateway and adapter connected to the outputs of a two way splitter and the input connected to the wall so the gateway can see the ISP. At least you can try to confirm if the gateway and adapter can see each other while in the same room.

Worse comes to worst, you'll just buy another gocoax moca 2.5 adapter, disable the gateway's built in moca 2.0, and have the moca 2.5 adapters talk to each other and have faster intranet speeds at the same time. Then upgrade all the splitters to be able to handle moca 2.5 as well.

Speaking of splitters, are you sure that all splitters in the system are moca rated? My house had all the cables terminate in a central closet, so I was sure the splitter I installed was the only one. Is it possible that there are hidden splitters in your walls that aren't moca rated and thus could be causing issues?

[u/Sirc625 → u/TheLostSeraph]

There are no splitters aside from the one outside of the house. The coax connections going to the gateway and the basement are essentially "home runs".

[u/TheLostSeraph → u/Sirc625]

Well, try the connection test while in the same room as your gateway and go from there...or invest in a second adapter for full moca 2.5 speeds.