Frustration and just confused with internet help please.
stevenvinci1
Enthusiast - Level 1

Ok so I bought a surfboard from Best Buy Motorala SB5101U and decided I wanted a wired connection and my Fio router and my other router is just not cutting it and I sick of wireless. My room on secound floor backround really quick. So anyway I hook up the coaxail to the back of the surfboard and go to plug into pc the light next to recieve blinks but not send and online and pc activity. So I call Motorala the first agent says you might have to call fios to give them your mac address as they can provision the surfboard. So I call Fios to no luck get on the phone some lady dosen't help at all keeps saying oh we offer PREMIUM tech support but you might pay so I was like no and bye. So I call up Fio Again get helping agent I explain to him my situation with Surfboard then he goes on to say you need to mocca conver for my coaxail cable to the surfboard he explain I could get a Motorala Nim 200 or some other one. So I say thank you and such he explains how it a different signal then the surfboard understands so then I call Motoralla back and explain what the second Fios agent said and told him the product he couldn't find in his database but said they don't have a place to buy it anymore because must been discontinued like the agent on fios said sorry left out. So then the Motoralla agent said that it might not be comptable since Fio is a Speciality service so I'm confused. And liturally I just bought the surfboard 2 hours ago from Best Buy is there away around this with out buying anything else but still using this surfboard or idk worst case I'll return this but I want a wired connection I'm done with Wireless for now.....

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Re: Frustration and just confused with internet help please.
gs0b
Community Leader
Community Leader

A  Motorola Surfboard is a cable modem and is useless with FiOS.  It is used with cable internet service (Comcast, Cox, CableVision, ...).  Return it.

If  you want a wired connection to the FiOS router, you have two choices.  First, and best, is to run Ethernet between your router and your computer.  The router has four Ethernet ports for local devices.  If you can fish a cat6 cable through the walls, that would be best.  Next is to run a long Ethernet cable along the edge of your floors if you can find a good place to hide it.

If you can't install an Ethernet cable, you can use coax.  You did get good advice about the NIM.  MoCA is the technology FiOS uses to send data over in home coax.  The Motorola NIM converts between MoCA and Ethernet and can be used to connect an Ethernet device to your router.  Unfortunately, as you learned, it is no longer made.  You can buy a used one online.  The correct part number appears to be NIM 100.  Google it and you'll find some for sale and helpful information about how to use it.

Enjoy.

Re: Frustration and just confused with internet help please.
smith6612
Community Leader
Community Leader

Take the SURFBoard back to Best Buy. It won't work with FiOS since the service does not use DOCSIS cable modems. What the Verizon tech was talking about is something called a MoCA Bridge that converts MoCa signals on a Coaxial cable (something completely different than what the Motorola SURFBoards use) to a wired Ethernet connection.

If you'd like a Wired connection to your room, as the Verizon tech mentioned you'll want a MoCA bridge if you cannot run a wire to your room directly. Honestly, if you order another FiOS router off of eBay or if you know someone who has an extra sitting around, that can be hooked up and set up as nothing more than a MoCA bridge. That will accomplish what you'd like to do, give you four Ethernet ports and give you another Wireless access point to use for upstairs.

For some more information: https://secure.dslreports.com/faq/15984

Re: Frustration and just confused with internet help please.
lasagna
Community Leader
Community Leader

As others have said ... return the surfboard.  Wrong technology,  Surfboards use DOCSIS, and FiOS uses MoCA.

Don't bother with finding a NIM.  They are obsolete -- they'll work, but are not the only game in town for doing what you want.

A second ActionTEC router will do the trick provided you follow exactly the instructions which were posted on how to properly configure it to operate as a second router.  If you aren't tech savvy or simply don't want to bother with the setup, a MoCA bridge will extend the ethernet to your room.   There are several models and brands available -- the one I usually recommend is the ActionTEC HME2200/ECB2200.   You need a single bridge -- it will pair automatically with the ActionTEC router without any need for configuration and will give you a single wired ethernet connection to which you can simply connect your computer or a small switch if you have multiple devices.

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Re: Frustration and just confused with internet help please.
gs0b
Community Leader
Community Leader

Just had a "Duh" moment.  Why can't you move the router to your upstairs room?


You have coax there already.  WiFi will have better coverage for the rest of the house from the 2nd floor.

The only problem I can think of is if wired Ethernet is used in the routers current location.  If that's the case, then you'll need to switch those connections to WiFi or find a MoCA to Ethernet bridge as described in other posts.

Have Fun!

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Re: Frustration and just confused with internet help please.
stevenvinci1
Enthusiast - Level 1

Hey guys thanks for help and advice it helped me alot just to think it over and from help from other friends. I decided to return it and just buy the Netgear R6300 since I had a older netgear that was only G and the range was horriable and thought for the Long Run and Benfitting My brother and sister so I decided to just buy the 6300 since it supports open source and not only if we do decide to make the jump from fios to another I would be able to use this piece of equtiment again instead of just making a temp fix for my problem but thanks so much for your advice and help guys. I really apericated it as of right now I have had my router installed maybe 45 mins and I love it range is great download is great couldn't be more pleased plus I can put custom firmware on it. 😃 Happy New Years and such as of now I will be enjoying this time to pick up on steam. 

Re: Frustration and just confused with internet help please.
Snowy24
Newbie
Can you connect a wireless router to the moca bridge? Hooking via Ethernet the airport extreme to the actiontec ecb2500c?
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Re: Frustration and just confused with internet help please.
Anti-Phish1
Master - Level 1

@Snowy24 wrote:
Can you connect a wireless router to the moca bridge? Hooking via Ethernet the airport extreme to the actiontec ecb2500c?

Yes, you can do that.  The ethernet port on the ECB2500 will be just the same as one of the LAN ports on your FIOS router.

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Re: Frustration and just confused with internet help please.
viafax999
Community Leader
Community Leader

@Snowy24 wrote:
Can you connect a wireless router to the moca bridge? Hooking via Ethernet the airport extreme to the actiontec ecb2500c?

Doubt he's really interested now as the post you answered was from 12 months ago,

Another example of why abandoned threads should just be aged into resolved so they don't keep getting brought up.

In your case I think you may have just been piggybacking onto a dead thread.  Opening a new thread would have made much more sense as You would have got the answer you received from anti-phish and it would have a mde life easier for anybody searching for an answer to the same issue you had.

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