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Experts, help me hard wire a more reliable connection to my MR/MS80 mesh system for my home office.
Really hoping for some help. I will try to give all relevant details!
My home office is located in a small studio building about 100' from the rear of the house. I have a mesh system using one MR80 router (in the house, connected to Verizon FiOS modem via ethernet) and three MS80 satellites. Two of the satellites are placed at the rear of the house and connected via 5GHz wifi to the router; the 3rd satellite is placed at the front of the studio (facing the house) and connected to one of the house satellites via 5GHz wifi (so, a connection of ~100ft across the backyard). -- Normally, this is a stable system with full bars. But I can get signal loss or drop in the studio, depending on… the wind? drawn curtains? not sure… and I had an embarrassing situation because of this, yesterday, which I need to fix.
Before switching to FiOS a number of years ago, I used a MoCA setup for the studio's wifi access, connecting it to the house network. I had coaxial cable run through an underground conduit between a splitter in the basement and the studio, and used a MoCA adapter in the studio to connect an Airport Express via ethernet. Yes, that's how long ago this was :) but it worked well. I often connected my laptop directly by ethernet, as well. (FYI, the conduit run is probably closer to 200' because it runs along the property line and over to the studio.) -- For a while, that old Airport Express worked OK as a wifi satellite for the current mesh system, before I got a 3rd MS80.
My goal is to set up something similar to my old set up, with the system and equipment I have: to have a hard wired satellite or router AP in the studio with a near perfect signal, to which devices can connect via wifi or ethernet.
I tried connecting the studio MS satellite to the MR router via an ethernet backhaul connection: (1) adapting the existing MoCA setup by connecting the house-side end of the coax to a new goCOAX MoCA adapter and then to the MR80 router via ethernet, (2) first connecting the MS satellite directly to the MR80 with a short ethernet cable, to switch its connection type from wifi to wired, (3) then going out and connecting the MS80 to the MoCA ethernet in the studio. The wired connection didn't stick. Netgear support warned me it probably wouldn't, because of the distance. -- My other though was to use a 2nd MR80 in AP mode and try that but I don't see that option in the user manual or through the routerlogin.net admin. I have an extra MR80 available.
This is the equipment I have available to me: 2 MR80 routers, 4 MS80 satellites, 1 Verizon CR1000A router (never used), 2 goCOAX MoCA 2.5 adapters (altho I've misplaced one of them), 1 Actiontec ECB2200 MoCA adapter (used in studio), 50' ethernet cable to run between the main MR80 router and the MoCA adapter in the basement with a lot of slack/extra length, various lengths of other ethernet and coax cables.
Any ideas? I've attached a sketch of the existing network. Thanks in advance!
Thank you everyone, really appreciate all the useful help and it's solved! 🎉 (1) Yes, the old Actiontec MoCA adapter was a subpar companion to the goCOAX adapter. Happily, I found my second goCOAX, so have the same brand/model on each end of the coax. No splitters involved. (2) It helped to get an ethernet adapter for my laptop that actually worked, to check things. 🙄 I found this out while making sure the adapters were working. Fortunately, we had another lying around. (3) Once I confirmed that I had internet through the MoCA, I chose to set up my extra MR80 router in AP mode on the same network and unplugged the existing daisy-chained studio satellite. If I ever run into interference issues, I'll backhaul the satellite instead or, worst case, use MoCA as a dedicated ethernet connection but, who knows, maybe I can go nuts and put the satellite in the tool shed, even further back in the yard. — Thank you, again, for the quick and helpful responses.
13 Replies
Could be the moca adapters are not good or try different adpaters.
If the remote building is on same circuit as the home, could try some power line adapters.Try also running some single cable line CAT6A STP cable from the home to the remote location as this is good up to over 200ft.
You may need a non managed 1Gb switch connected to the MR router to help with additiona ports if needed. Recommend connecting MS via Ethernet directly behind the MR for correct and most stable connection.
the newer moca adapters say "up to 500ft" but most people agree that about 300ft is the max. If you're at 200ft, you should be able to get a connection. And a wired backhaul over moca does work (I've used it).
So what I'd do is check to ensure the moca adapters are working. Connect a pc/device on each end to test their speed.
If you've confirmed that, make sure when you connect the satellite, that the satellite connects through the moca do the MR80's LAN port. We see to many connect them via the verizon gateway.
And maybe try using a different splitter or no splitter. The moca 2.5g version expanded the channels that can be bound and it could be getting filtered/interference from the splitter
Although MoCA is a standard, I remain superstitious and would want to use the same brand/model of MoCA adapters in the house and in the studio. A modern MoCA connection between router in the house and satellite in the studio will give higher performance than "Daisy Chaining" the studio through WiFi to a satellite in the house and then WiFi connection to the router.
Thank you everyone, really appreciate all the useful help and it's solved! 🎉 (1) Yes, the old Actiontec MoCA adapter was a subpar companion to the goCOAX adapter. Happily, I found my second goCOAX, so have the same brand/model on each end of the coax. No splitters involved. (2) It helped to get an ethernet adapter for my laptop that actually worked, to check things. 🙄 I found this out while making sure the adapters were working. Fortunately, we had another lying around. (3) Once I confirmed that I had internet through the MoCA, I chose to set up my extra MR80 router in AP mode on the same network and unplugged the existing daisy-chained studio satellite. If I ever run into interference issues, I'll backhaul the satellite instead or, worst case, use MoCA as a dedicated ethernet connection but, who knows, maybe I can go nuts and put the satellite in the tool shed, even further back in the yard. — Thank you, again, for the quick and helpful responses.
As you are probably aware,
- Connecting the MS80 satellite to the MoCA link keeps every device in the network in the same IP subnet. (both house and studio)
- Connecting the MR80 router, even in Access Point (AP) mode, has created a separate IP subnet and a separate WiFi network. Even if this MR80 defines WiFi with identical SSID/password as the primary network, they remain two separate networks. Devices will not roam seamlessly between them. Of course, with a distance of 100 ft. between house and studio, there is a good change that any mobile device will 'drop' one WiFi connection as it moves and then connect to the other WiFi without the user noticing. What could happen is the device could detect the 5G WiFi signal fading away, switch to 2.4G, and remain connected at 2.4G. The mobile device might appear to have poor performance until the user says, "oh, s**t, turns off WiFi, then turns WiFi back on again." This is the reason companies introduced 'mesh' WiFi as an improvement over the use of WiFi extenders.
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Ah, thank you CrimpOn. Will keep in mind.
^ So, would I be better off to backhaul the satellite, after all?
For the distance, would be best to ethernet connect the remote MS for best connection at the remote location.
Thank you; that's what I meant. I misuse the term "backhaul."
I have an MR80/MS80 mesh system and a home office in a studio ~100' away from the house. The studio satellite's wifi was usually but not always reliable and folks here helped me troubleshoot establishing a MoCA connection from studio to the router (see discussion "Experts, help me hard wire a more reliable connection to my MR/MS80 mesh system for my home office" for more).
Since I default to "because I can," I chose to use the MoCA connection with a second MR80 router in AP mode, using the same SSID as the main router. That was fun and everything's stable but I do realize I've created a separate subnet and network by doing this.
Tomorrow I will clean this situation up. I can see 2 options: (1) Returning the studio satellite that connects to a house satellite by wifi to allow seamless roaming from the house (most of the time) and establishing a separate SSID for the MR80 router in the studio for a separate office network; (2) Simply replacing the studio's MR80 router with an MS80 satellite connected by wired ethernet backhaul to the main router for a single network throughout the house and studio.
Option 2 is clearly the simpler and probably the smarter solution. But, in the spirit of "because I can," any potential disasters lurking if I try option 1? Would the second router still show up as a connected device when I log into the main router via routerlogin.net with option 1?
Would you choose option 1 or option 2?
I've attached a figure with the original, current, and "future option" configurations for clarification.
Many thanks in advance.
The conversation began because Option 1 (MS80 "Daisy Chained" over WiFi to the house satellite) would fail and cause problems. I would not return to that situation. I see no advantage to having two networks in the studio.
Yes, the second router will show up on the primary system as a "connected device".
I agree, CrimpOn, thanks.
