Making the MOCA to Ethernet switch and still using MOCA in some areas?
Gerryallen
Enthusiast - Level 2

Hello all,

              I currently have a MOCA connection set up and I am in the process of having half the house rewired with CAT6A. The other half of the house can not, at this point, get the CAT 6A (too cost prohibitive to make and repair the holes to run the wire). My intention is to have the internet connection switched over to the Ethernet cable from MOCA. My questions:

              1)   My understanding is that I need to call CS to make the switch from MOCA to Ethernet. Is there anything specifically I should say to the agent to make this process easier? I don't think this is a big deal, but I have read that some people have had difficulty in getting the CS rep to "flip" the appropriate switch for Ethernet to activate.

               2)  All of my current hard wired internet connections will be reached by Ethernet. Once I switch over to the Ethernet connection, my understanding is that MOCA will NOT work at all. Is that true? Said another way, while all of my existing wired connections will be addressed by a CAT6A wired connection, there is an area of the house that only has COAX that I would like to have a MOCA bridge set up for wireless. Once I turn on Ethernet, am I correct in that connection via COAX is no longer possible.

Thanks for any guidance.

0 Likes
1 Solution

Correct answers
Re: Making the MOCA to Ethernet switch and still using MOCA in some areas?
Edg1
Community Leader
Community Leader

@Mendes9 wrote:

gsob,

Thanks for the explanation makes sense.  Now, what if you add 300MBPS internet service for example, and also have TV service? I'm reading conflicting information on this setup. Some are saying ONT only supports MOCA 1.1,  so to get above 100MBPS your internet connection needs to come from the ethernet port on ONT.   I read others saying G1100 FIOS router supports MOCA 2.0 and if you get your ONT upgraded to newer it supports MOCA 2.0 and you can still use coax connection for both video and internet.  If the first scenario is true and above 100MBPS service you need to use ethernet port from ONT, what does that look like? Do you need to connect your own router to the ethernet port on ONT, and then the FIOS router to coax and local lan connection to service the STB's? If yes, which router needs to supply DHCP addresses for the STB's, the verizon router or your own router or doesn't matter? Thanks in advance.


The ONT does only support MoCA 1.1 and the G1100 does support 2.0. Since the ONT doesn’t have a 2.0 MoCA port you can’t go above 100/100 on coax. Verizon doesn’t have any ONTs that have a MoCA 2.0 WAN port. 

If you upgrade to 300/300 then the tech will run and ethernet from the ONT to the WAN port of your G1100. The coax from ONT will still connect to a main splitter which one goes to the G1100 and the others go to your STBs. 

You will not need a second router. Whether you have ethernet or coax WAN connection from the ONT the LAN connection still will be provided to STBs via the coax from the router. Basically nothing will be different except for the new ethernet going to the G1100 from the ONT. 

View solution in original post

Re: ... MOCA to Ethernet switch ... still using MOCA in some areas? - Not Possible For Internet
armond_in_nj1
Master - Level 1

@Gerryallen wrote:

... I am in the process of having half the house rewired with CAT6A [sic] ... My intention is to have the internet connection switched over to the Ethernet cable from MOCA ...:

 

              1)   My understanding is that I need to call CS to make the switch from MOCA to Ethernet. Is there anything specifically I should say to the agent to make this process easier? ...

               2)   ... Once I switch over to the Ethernet connection, my understanding is that MOCA will NOT work at all ... there is an area of the house that only has COAX that I would like to have a MOCA bridge set up for wireless. Once I turn on Ethernet, am I correct in that connection via COAX is no longer possible ... 


I will give you my best understanding on this, while realizing that there are many other network folks here who are far better qualified to sort this out.  BTW, did you mean Cat 6e?  Here we go ...

You can have either Ethernet WAN, or coax WAN, but not both simultaneously.  That means that in your application, you will ultimately have an Internet connection to your devices based on your Ethernet network.

You will still be able to use your coax wiring and the coax network for TV services and related applications (Guide, VOD, your TV tier, etc.), but the MoCA connection that previously allowed you to get online via a MoCA adapter (for example) will no longer be available.

Thus you will not be able to establish a wireless network in another part of the building using one of the coax outlets.  Your router will connect via Ethernet cable to the ONT, and will also serve as a wireless source for the building.  If you require additional wireless service, it will only be available based on your Ethernet connection.

Re: ... MOCA to Ethernet switch ... still using MOCA in some areas? - Not Possible For Internet
Anti-Phish1
Master - Level 1

@armond_in_nj wrote:

Thus you will not be able to establish a wireless network in another part of the building using one of the coax outlets.  

...

If you require additional wireless service, it will only be available based on your Ethernet connection.


Not true.  There are two flavors of MOCA.  MOCA WAN and MOCA LAN.  The router supports both.

If you switch from a MOCA WAN to a cat5 WAN connection, that has no effect on your MOCA LAN network.

The STBs will still utilize MOCA LAN and you can use MOCA bridges such as the ECB2500 to extend your network into rooms that have only a coax connection.

Re: Making the MOCA to Ethernet switch and still using MOCA in some areas?
gs0b
Community Leader
Community Leader

You seem to be confusing the WAN and LAN connections.

With FiOS, the WAN connection is either MoCA or Ethernet, but not both.  This is how the router connects to the ONT.  To change it, you must call Verizon.  They will configure the ONT to provide the internet connection of the requested media.

On the other hand, the LAN runs both MoCA and Ethernet at the same time.  To use Ethernet, simply  plug an Ethernet cable into the LAN Ethernet jacks on the router.  You can add a switch if the four ports on the router are not enough.  To use MoCA LAN, simply connect your coax network to the coax terminal.

In short, you probably don't have to call Verizon at all.  Just plug your new Ethernet wiring into the router.

If you still have questions, tell us more details about the equipment you currently have, how it is connected, and what you want to do.

Enjoy,

Re: Making the MOCA to Ethernet switch and still using MOCA in some areas?
armond_in_nj1
Master - Level 1

Earlier I wrote:

"I will give you my best understanding on this, while realizing that there are many other network folks here who are far better qualified to sort this out ... "

Thanks to both "Anti-Phish" and "gs0b" for proving me correct (smile).  Always learning.

0 Likes
Re: Making the MOCA to Ethernet switch and still using MOCA in some areas?
viafax999
Community Leader
Community Leader

@gs0b wrote:

You seem to be confusing the WAN and LAN connections.

With FiOS, the WAN connection is either MoCA or Ethernet, but not both.  This is how the router connects to the ONT.  To change it, you must call Verizon.  They will configure the ONT to provide the internet connection of the requested media.

On the other hand, the LAN runs both MoCA and Ethernet at the same time.  To use Ethernet, simply  plug an Ethernet cable into the LAN Ethernet jacks on the router.  You can add a switch if the four ports on the router are not enough.  To use MoCA LAN, simply connect your coax network to the coax terminal.

In short, you probably don't have to call Verizon at all.  Just plug your new Ethernet wiring into the router.

If you still have questions, tell us more details about the equipment you currently have, how it is connected, and what you want to do.

Enjoy,


Guaranteed you'll have to call Verizon to change your provisioning from Coax to Ethernet, otherwise the ethernet port will be dead and not provide you a WAN access

After that is done the router will get it's WAN address via the ethernet connection to the ont and the ont will still provide  the the stb/tv signals via the coax connector.

This is exactly how the quantum connection of 100+ are provisioned.

0 Likes
Re: Making the MOCA to Ethernet switch and still using MOCA in some areas?
gs0b
Community Leader
Community Leader

@viafax999 wrote:

Guaranteed you'll have to call Verizon to change your provisioning from Coax to Ethernet, otherwise the Ethernet port will be dead and not provide you a WAN access

 

You only need to call Verizon if you're changing the WAN connection between the ONT and the router.

The OP's question suggests the changes are being made to the LAN.  Verizon doesn't care or configure anything on the LAN.  The OP can plug the new Ethernet network into the LAN Ethernet jacks on the router and it will work without any calls to Verizon.

What we don't know is what the OP meant by "I currently have a MOCA connection set up..."  We don't know if the OP is using MoCA for LAN or WAN.  MoCA is used for the LAN to set-top-boxes and to any customer installed MoCA equipment.  Until the OP provides more info, we're just guessing as to which MoCA link this question is about (WAN or LAN).

Thanks!

P.S.  armond_in_nj: Happy to help.  You've educated and corrected me on occasion; and I appreciate it too.

Re: Making the MOCA to Ethernet switch and still using MOCA in some areas?
Gerryallen
Enthusiast - Level 2

So, I think my answer is MOCA for WAN. Right now, I have the COAX router hooked into the COAX cable for internet. I also have a second router hooked into the OCAX from a different area of the house (as a MOCA bridge). The only connection from the ONT to the house as of right now is COAX. I am switching to the Ethernet cable.

Does that clarify the question?

Thanks for all of your help!

0 Likes
Re: Making the MOCA to Ethernet switch and still using MOCA in some areas?
viafax999
Community Leader
Community Leader

@Gerryallen wrote:

So, I think my answer is MOCA for WAN. Right now, I have the COAX router hooked into the COAX cable for internet. I also have a second router hooked into the OCAX from a different area of the house (as a MOCA bridge). The only connection from the ONT to the house as of right now is COAX. I am switching to the Ethernet cable.

Does that clarify the question?

Thanks for all of your help!


I don't think it makes any differnce whether you use MoCA or ethernet for WAN but I would like to hear other opions.

I know that for the hi speed quantum connections the ethernet port is used for internet connections and the moca port is used for tv signals.  So the router is provisioned from ethernet and is allocating dhcp address for the STB's  and the coax is providing those addresses and carrying the tv signals to the stb's.  That kind of says that you can still bridge a MOCA device by coax if you want to.  Whether there is any gain in that is questionable.  Personally I woul provide the wireless connection to the other devicesvia an ethernet connection as it would run at full speed as opposed to being constricted by the moca lower speed max.

0 Likes
Re: Making the MOCA to Ethernet switch and still using MOCA in some areas?
gs0b
Community Leader
Community Leader

@Gerryallen wrote:

So, I think my answer is MOCA for WAN. Right now, I have the COAX router hooked into the COAX cable for internet. I also have a second router hooked into the OCAX from a different area of the house (as a MOCA bridge). The only connection from the ONT to the house as of right now is COAX. I am switching to the Ethernet cable.

Does that clarify the question?


This helps a bit.  It would help if you gave model numbers, as requested.  It would help to know if you have FiOS for TV service.  The really key question is what equipment you want to move from coax to Ethernet and if it is part of the LAN or the WAN.

The MoCA Bridge is connected to the MoCA LAN. The MoCA LAN consists of TV set-top-boxes (if you have TV service) and any customer installed equipment (such as your bridge).  The root of the LAN is the FiOS router.  As stated before, there is no need to call Verizon when reconfiguring the LAN.

If you can now run an Ethernet cable from the FiOS router to the location of the bridge, you no longer need the bridge.  Just be sure you plug the cable into the LAN connection on the router.

The MoCA WAN is used *ONLY* to connect the ONT to the router.  Because it is MoCA, you can install the router on any coax port that is connected to the ONT.

Your confusion may stem from the fact that both the MoCA WAN (ONT to router) and LAN (router to local devices) connections are over the same coax. They operate at different frequencies, which is why they don't interfere with each other.  When using for MoCA for both WAN and LAN, you can think of your coax as two separate physical networks that have exactly the same wiring system.

TV set-top-boxes always use a MoCA LAN.  There is no way to change that.  So, if you have TV, you always need to have the FiOS router connected to coax.  It will bridge the WAN to the MoCA LAN and it provides unique services the STB's need to operate.

The WAN connection to the ONT can be coax or Ethernet (and requires a call to Verizon to change).  If you have TV service, you must have a coax connection to the ONT for the TV channels.  So, there is nothing to gain(*) from having a separate Ethernet WAN connection.  It's just another wire that runs between the ONT and the router.  Since a TV user already requires the router to connect to coax for the LAN, an Ethernet WAN connection is completely unneeded.  This is why Verizon doesn't install an Ethernet WAN connection for TV customers - it just doesn't make sense.

So, to restate; if you're only changing your LAN there is no need to call Verizon.  Just use the LAN Ethernet connections on your router and you'll be good to go.  If you're changing your WAN and have TV service, be prepared to have things break.

Good Luck.

(*) There are some atypical situations which have TV and WAN Ethernet.  These are for very high speed service (MoCA is a couple of hundred Mbps or so), or for people who really, really, really want their own router at the center of the network.  These are complex setups, as the FiOS router still needs to be installed as it supplies some unique services to the TV set-top-box.  There is a how-to on DSL reports that explains all this.  Links are often posted here.