dougall
join:2001-01-16
Austin, TX
| Little known U-Verse feature
So yesterday I was talking with a tech and he told me of a pretty interesting feature. If you have set top boxes hooked up with Coax you can plug an ethernet cable into the box and it will act as a hub. I tried it last night on the XBox (it had been wireless) and it worked flawlessly.
I'm surprised AT&T isn't promoting this feature more since it effectively adds wired internet access to areas that almost by default aren't wired for it since otherwise they would be using the Cat5.
So far I know it works with the Motorola boxes and I don't know if it works for the new Cisco boxes that will be rolling out. |
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Freezone
join:2000-09-29
Southfield, MI | That is a handy little feature. That5 means one less room I have to wire for ethernet. What is the speed throagh the coax? |
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dougall
join:2001-01-16
Austin, TX
| It's using HPNA and I believe it's the 3.1 version so 320 Mbps max. You wont' get all of that for home networking since a big chunk is taken for the IPTV running over the Coax but I can get the full 3 Mbps that I get for U-verse down through the box.
I asked one of the engineers at AT&T labs about this this morning and he wasn't aware of this feature even though he worked on some of the original specifications for the boxes. |
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koolkid1563
Premium,MVM
join:2005-11-06
Powell, WY
clubs: | Actually U-verse uses HPNAv3.0. You can get up to about 112Mb/s on any device plugged into the HPNA network in theory, there is no set throughput for IPTV. |
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SuperflyTNT
join:2006-04-27
Saint Louis, MO
| reply to dougall
So, it would work the same for a set top box hooked up through cat 5 (instead of Coax) though correct? If I plug a network cable from the set top box to the media player it would be connected to the 2-wire network then? If so that is very cool, as I have been just unplugging the network cable from the set top box and plugging it into the media player and swapping back when not in use. |
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koolkid1563
Premium,MVM
join:2005-11-06
Powell, WY
clubs: | This particular method will only work if the STB is using coax back to the RG. You can however buy a network switch to put by the STB to provide network access to both your media player and the STB. |
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skuds
Remember 9-11
join:2000-12-21
Houston, TX
 ·RoadRunner Cable
|  reply to dougall
What a great tip... thx.
I have been struggling with the wireless range of the RG and its WDS limitation. I am now successfully using this feature with an Apple Airport Express to functionally extend wireless connectivity to a persistent wireless dead spot in our house.
Although not as "clean" a solution as wirelessly extending the RG's wireless network, e.g., now we have two wireless networks in the house, it nonetheless functionally solves my dead spot problem. |
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qsg1049
Just Fix It
Premium
join:2003-05-19
Crystal Lake, IL
 ·AT&T U-Verse
| reply to dougall
This is a great tip indeed. On my case, I needed internet connectivity to my standalone TiVo that goes with one of the non-DVR setup box. Since there's no ethernet drop on that location, I connect the TiVo ethernet to my dd-wrt flashed router to connect wirelessly to the RG. I now freed up my dd-wrt router as the TiVo connects to the setup box as described here.
Just a note. I upgraded my RG and after reboot, both the setup box above and the connected TiVo failed to get IP from the RG. I needed to temporarily remove the TiVo first, reboot the setup box and when it got the IP, I hooked the TiVo back. Maybe the setup box was trying to get the IP from the ethernet port at that time.
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ota_guy
@sbcglobal.net | reply to dougall
will this interfere with OTA frequencies? |
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Sinbad Sam
join:2001-11-13
Arlington, TX
 ·AT&T CallVantage
 ·AT&T DSL Service
·AT&T U-Verse
edit:
April 27th, @11:26PM
| Are you talking about the Residential Gateway ie 2Wire 3800 or the actual U-verse DVR box?
My U-verse DVR box is connected to my RG via Cat5.
My RG has a port covered up with clear tape labeled Broadband. Nothing is connected to this broadband port.
The RG is connected to outside via a coaxial cable and connection.
Sam |
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Deckoh
Premium
join:2002-07-24
Chula Vista, CA | little off topic... but what is that blocked broadband port?? |
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sechs
Premium
join:2001-07-19
Left Coast | It's for FTTP. You'd have ethernet running from the ONT to the RG in that type of installation. |
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Deckoh
Premium
join:2002-07-24
Chula Vista, CA | ethernet or fiber from the ONT? sorry i know little  |
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sechs
Premium
join:2001-07-19
Left Coast | It wouldn't be an "optical network terminal" if it didn't terminate the optical network, now would it?
--
It's not what you know but who you know... |
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Deckoh
Premium
join:2002-07-24
Chula Vista, CA | ahhh.. thanks for the info. |
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djrobx
join:2000-05-31
Valencia, CA
·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T CallVantage
·Time Warner VOIP
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME
| reply to skuds
quote:
Although not as "clean" a solution as wirelessly extending the RG's wireless network, e.g., now we have two wireless networks in the house, it nonetheless functionally solves my dead spot problem.
I would suggest that it's cleaner. Extending a wireless network wirelessly has severe performance penalties.
-- Rob |
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bky
Premium
join:2002-07-05
Austin, TX | reply to dougall
This would have been a great thing for me to know a few months back when I pulled out half my hair trying and failing to get my fedora mythtv box to work with my wireless network. Great tip, thanks for sharing. |
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uman
@bellsouth.com | reply to dougall
This will negativley affect the dvr. |
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bygcland
join:2008-01-14
Katy, TX | reply to dougall
Can you plug a Switch into the STB and get an address from the DHCP server in the RG? |
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ILpt4U
join:2006-11-12
Crystal Lake, IL
·AT&T Yahoo
| said by bygcland  :Can you plug a Switch into the STB and get an address from the DHCP server in the RG? First off, using a switch off of the STB ethernet port would be a bad idea. Picture quality on all STB's plugged in via Coax could be affected.
Now, in the long run, once WHDVR launces, using ANY device off of the STB ethernet port on a box fed by Coax could negatively affect WHDVR performance -- as more bandwidth will be needed at that point.
So yes, the ethernet port trick works. Be mindful that it could cause problems, both now and in the future. |
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