uncle6
join:2005-04-03
Marriottsville, MD | Testing MOCA bridges I've ordered a couple of D-Link DXN-220s to bridge from the ONT to my
own firewall/router. (I could only find them in pairs (DXN-221), but
one can be a spare.) In any event, when they arrive, can I test them
by simply connecting them with a short piece of CoAx? I don't see why
not, but I have zero experience with MOCA stuff. I'm thinking hang an
old PC or laptop off the ethernet ports on each DXN-220; Configure the
PCs with static IPs and do some pings, ssh, whatever. Any reason that
wouldn't work? |
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 birdfeedrPremium,MVM
join:2001-08-11
Warwick, RI
kudos:8 | You should be able to. I would guess they'd link up on a LAN channel and be visible. You could also hook one up to your router LAN, and the other through a short coax in case your firewall/router has any bandwidth logging feature. You can do your testing on the router LAN-side so it handles DHCP.
I can't remember if it's the D-Link or the Netgear model, but one person had problems with one of the devices in the FAQ handling both WAN and LAN traffic. The throughput wasn't too good. Relegate it to one channel.
»Verizon Online FiOS FAQ »What is a MOCA Bridge? |
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 More FiberPremium,MVM
join:2005-09-26
West Chester, PA
kudos:28 | reply to uncle6
said by uncle6:when they arrive, can I test them
by simply connecting them with a short piece of CoAx? I assume you're referring to connecting them back-to-back (as opposed to connecting one directly to the ONT).
Yes, that will work as long as the PCs have static addresses in the same subnet.
When you do remove the Actiontec and connect the DXN-221 in it's place, be sure to release the Actiontec's DHCP lease first.
The following FAQ was written for the Netgear units, but should be nearly identical for the D-Link units.
»Verizon Online FiOS FAQ »How to use a MOCA WAN bridge?
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There are 10 kinds of people in the world; those who understand binary and those who don't.
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uncle6
join:2005-04-03
Marriottsville, MD | said by More Fiber:said by uncle6:when they arrive, can I test them
by simply connecting them with a short piece of CoAx? I assume you're referring to connecting them back-to-back (as opposed to connecting one directly to the ONT). Yes, that will work as long as the PCs have static addresses in the same subnet. When you do remove the Actiontec and connect the DXN-221 in it's place, be sure to release the Actiontec's DHCP lease first. The following FAQ was written for the Netgear units, but should be nearly identical for the D-Link units. » Verizon Online FiOS FAQ » How to use a MOCA WAN bridge? Yes. I thought It would be nice to test them on the bench so-to-speak before connecting to the ONT with one. That section in the FAQ you referenced was what sent me down this path. So that's exactly it. Xygor reported success using the DXN-220 in another posting. So I'm optimistic.
After Thanksgiving, I plan on giving it a try. I'll try and take good notes and post my results. |
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uncle6
join:2005-04-03
Marriottsville, MD
1 edit | reply to uncle6
Re: Testing MOCA bridges -- update My plans to replace the Actiontec router from VZ have been postponed
for a while, but I thought I'd post my notes so far. ("xygor" reported
success with the D-Link DXN-220 previously here
»Re: Replacing Actiontec router)
I plan on using a D-Link DXN-220 MOCA bridge. D-Link says you need a Windows
XP system for configuration. I happened to have an old laptop running
XP. So I used that. I don't know if the configuration utility will
work under Windows 7 in compatibility mode or not.
Here are the steps I've gone through so far:
* Retrieve the password and MOCA WAN channel from the Actiontec (Note 1:
see below).
* In Windows XP, set the Ethernet adapter to automatically obtain an
IP address. This is a critical step. If you use a static IP, the
DXN-220 config utility will not work and you will get "Lost
connection to device. Select 'Yes' to attempt to reconnect. Select
'No' to close application."
* Install the DXN-220 utility.
* Set the "MOCA/config" switch on the DXN-220 to "config".
* Start the DXN-220 utility. The default password is "admin".
* Set the "diplexer mode" to "All Pass".
* Set the channel to '9 (1000 MHz)' or whatever is appropriate for
you. All reports I've seen show the WAN channel for VZ FIOS to be
1000 MHz.
* Select enable password.
* Set the password to the value obtained from the Actiontec.
* Click "Apply". You should see "Operation Successful/OK".
* Disconnect the DXN-220 and set the "MOCA/config" switch back to
"MOCA".
At this point, you should be able to follow the FAQ directions at
»Verizon Online FiOS FAQ »How to use a MOCA WAN bridge?
Note 1: You can obtain the information needed (channel and password)
to configure your MOCA bridge from the Actiontec by following the
directions here »Verizon Online FiOS FAQ »How to check MOCA stats?
Summarized here:
* On the main router page, click the blue globe labeled "Broadband
Connection". "Network connections" are displayed.
* Click the column heading labeled "Broadband Connection
(Coax)". This page will show the channel being used. (almost
certainly 1000 MHz)
* Click the "Settings" button. This will display "Broadband Connection
(Coax) Properties". You should see a row labeled "Password". This
is the password you will need for your MOCA bridge.
Additional notes:
I did some informal bandwidth experimentation using jperf
(»www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/l···ce-jperf)
and got single direction transfers in the low 90 mbps
range. Bi-directional transfers were (as expected) about half that. I
was surprised that latencies were around 3ms; however, an article at
Tom's Hardware (»www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pow···470.html) reported that the Netgear MCAB1001 had latencies of
around 5ms. |
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More FiberPremium,MVM
join:2005-09-26
West Chester, PA
kudos:28 | Thanks for the detailed post.
I've added a link to your post to the FAQ:
»Verizon Online FiOS FAQ »How to use a MOCA WAN bridge?
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There are 10 kinds of people in the world; those who understand binary and those who don't.
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uncle6
join:2005-04-03
Marriottsville, MD
1 edit | reply to uncle6
I forgot to post the link to the Tom's Hardware article -- Which Networking Technology Is Right For Your Home? Here it is »www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pow···470.html
Idiot that I am, I didn't see the "edit" button until after I posted this message. I've edited the original article to add the link to Tom's Hardware. |
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