Posted by Chris Barbere | Sep 14, 2016 | Networking | 13

Occasionally we’ll get some gear rolling through the PCPer offices that are a bit off the beaten path.  The pair of devices on tap today are something you may not come across often, and could very well be something you may not have even heard of.  They are niche products serving a niche need, and that niche is “MoCA.”  Today we’re looking at the Actiontec WCB6200Q 802.11ac MoCA 2.0 Wireless Network Extender and its partner in crime the Actiontec ECB6200 Bonded MoCA 2.0 Network Adapter.

So, what the hell is “MoCA” you ask?  “MoCA” stands for “Multimedia over Coax Alliance” and is a standard for running data over in-house Coax wiring.  Whether you know it or not, you may have already run into MoCA networking as it's often used by cable and satellite companies to connect multi-room DVRs.  Established in 2004, the ‘Alliance’ currently has 45 members including pay TV operators, OEMs, manufacturers and IC vendors.  These members came together and developed a standard to create an in-home backbone for wireless network extension, multi-room digital video recorders (DVRs), over-the-top (OTT) streaming content as well as network access in MDU (Multiple Dwelling Unit) environments.  Using unused frequency bands on the Coax cabling, MoCA comes in 3 flavors, MoCA v1.1 that has speeds of up 175 Mbps, MoCA v2.0 was released in 2010 with speeds of up to 800 Mbps, and just recently announced in April of this year, MoCA v2.5 will see throughput of up to a whopping 2.5 Gbps.  Unfortunately, MoCA v2.5 is so new that we’ve not seen any related hardware yet.

So, what does all that actually mean?  Simply put, MoCA is a way for you to easily get high speed network connectivity to areas that you normally couldn’t.  Unless you are lucky enough to have a house with network drops in each room, you are most likely are using wireless to reach the far corners of your house.  But what if you can’t get a good signal somewhere in your home, or you can get a signal, but the throughput just isn’t up to snuff?  This is where MoCA is supposed to help.  You likely already have a ‘hard wire network’ running into every room of your house, and that’s Coax.  Using a MoCA network you can extend your high speed network’s footprint anywhere in your house you have a Coax port.

Continue reading our review of the Actiontec MoCA adapters!!

MoCA adapters are really only MoCA adapters are really only good if you’re renting a place and are not allowed to mess with stuff. However if the owner hasn’t properly grounded the coax, there are high chance this gear will burn out. Otherwise there is a lot of cheaper stuff.

I disagree that this is only I disagree that this is only useful if you rent. I own my house but don’t want to pay someone to rip up the walls of my finished basement and then rip up the walls upstairs to string CAT6 up to my bedroom on the second floor. That’s why I’m interested in this MoCA extender.

Thanks for the great review–very helpful on the results. But I disagree with your conclusion that getting WiFi extenders is a better idea than this MoCA extender. WiFi has never been reliable and fast to distant corners of even medium sized houses. If you’re sharing files across a LAN, having 600 to 800 Mbps of solid and reliable throughput is head and shoulders above what any wireless repeater/bridge can do. Wish it could do the full gigabit speeds in both directions though–maybe I’ll wait for the MoCA 2.5 devices to hit the market.

I’ve run, installed and used I’ve run, installed and used MOCA in many residences as FIOS customer and for cable customers. Never had any moca adapters “burn out.”

I disagree also. We bought a I disagree also. We bought a newly renovated house in the Bay Area in February, and while the house was equipped with all of the latest energy saving appliances, LED lighting, and a highly efficient heating system, etc., there was curiously no thought to wiring the house with cat6 while the walls were open. What it does have is coax. I considered doing the job of running the cat6 myself, and may still do sometime in the future, but I couldn’t wait for that and went with the Actiontec adapters. I had to connect and terminate all of the coax runs myself, and added two new runs. Bottom line is that these work beautifully. I have a few Tivo devices on the network so connecting them via MOCA was a bonus, not my initial objective. Great show every week guys!

The ECB6200 Bonded Network The ECB6200 Bonded Network Adapter worked great in my situation. I have a back house that is currently wired for cable but not ethernet. I was able to use my adapter and the Verizon supplied Fios Quantum Gateway and achieve pretty decent performance. I would have ran ethernet but I’d rather not dig up the conduit.

I have been using moca I have been using moca extenders and wifi for about 3 or 4 years(maybe 2, who cares) now with fios. I really like them. Every room is already wired with cable coax. Made it easy to get a wired connection to 4 computers, a television, and 3 game consoles. Add the 2.4ghz and 5ghz wifi network of each to extend the wireless with to a total of 5 phones, 2 laptops, 2 tablets and whatever else is running on it. There’s not a dead spot in the house. Mind you, everything is always running, but it’s stout enough for the average consumer. The only drawback my setup has is sharing from one computer to the other, but no one in my household shares files as such. The only thing that is shared is a printer.

Why can’t you share files? I Why can’t you share files?

I currently have an inexpensive DECA extender made by directtv (100Mbps max, not gigabit) up to my second floor bedroom using coax, and it works great, including sharing files. I just wish it were gigabit, which is why I’m interested in MoCA.

It’s a choice. I can make a It’s a choice. I can make a homegroup, stream from one device to another. It’s a simple thing of I have no interest in what a 16 and 18 year old teen female is saving, nor a 20 year old male. Me and my wife use the same desktop. It’s nothing to do with the tech.

If I had to guess on the If I had to guess on the speed of the network, I’d say 150-250 mbps from one device to another. Im guessing on the abbreviation. I use gen 1 or 2 of moca.

How did you confirm you had How did you confirm you had the latest firmware? I can’t find any reference on Actiontec’s website.

Also, one user pointed out issues with transfers of large files, with speed dropping to 0 for a couple of seconds.

References: http://www.snbforums.com/threads/actiontec-wcb6200q-extender.28150/ https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeNetworking/comments/3n4rgp/wcb6200q_is_now_available_moca_20_80211ac_network/cwx0f2e

Another user pointed out issues with the web-based admin, which “works only occasionally.”

Reference: https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeNetworking/comments/3n4rgp/wcb6200q_is_now_available_moca_20_80211ac_network/cyqubhp

Did you experience either of those problems? What is your firmware dated?

Confused about MoCa and this Confused about MoCa and this Wireless AC Extender. I have CableService Internet (Coax) upstairs to my TC8717T Gateway (with AC WiFi), Which is MoCa 2.0. CableService Coax also goes to my Cable/DVR unit downstairs, with HDMI to my SmartTV. TheSmart TV also has ethernet and WiFi channel in (for Amazon & Netflix & other applications) and today I only use the WiFi.

I want two things: 1. Wired Ethernet to the TV (for Amazon, Netflix other), and 2. Extended WiFi downstairs (with wired ethernet backhaul), so I don’t lose connection when I go outside (very small house/patio, but the 5G upstairs has to go through both floor and multiple walls. If downstairs it would just be 1 wall or maybe 2).

There is no CAT5/6 in the house, and I can’t practically speaking add them.

If I insert a Coax splitter and wire up the WCB6200 near the Cable/DVR box and run ethernet from the extender to the SmartTV, would this work? And for WiFi, if I use the same SSID and passwords from the Gateway wireless settings (or use the WPS sync, per the WCB6200Q user manual) will the extender wireless connect and work correctly (with coax cable as wired backhaul)? Keep in mind the extender is ActionTec and the Gateway is Technicolor. Also the TC8717C has only one Coax connector.

I don’t really want to spend the $170 just to hope it “might work”.

If you have Fios you can buy If you have Fios you can buy or rent the extender from Verizon. It come with a slitter for $99.00. works great and I am going to add a second one on the other side of the house. The Gateway is in the basement and my WiFi does not do well on the first floor without the extenders.

I have the FIOS Quantum I have the FIOS Quantum Gateway router and recently purchased the WCB6200 to extend wifi and hardwired coverage in my home. However, I am not sure I understand how the two work together. The WCB6200 is connected in an upstairs room using coax cable while the Gateway is connected downstairs also using coax cable. Do the two devices communicate over coax cable such that the WCB6200 emulates my Gateway or is the communication done over RF which would reduce broadband speeds to the upstairs? I have a 75 mbps broadband connection to my home and was hoping that I would have that same connection speed whether I was hardwired connected downstairs or upstairs. Can anyone help me understand please?

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