I'm the multiple-Macintosh user who posted a question on the first page of this thread. I've been waiting for the D-Link DXN-221 to be released. Now it has, as of late last week. The only problem is that, unlike the Netgear MCAB1001 devices, the DXN-221 HD MediaBridge® Coax Network Starter Kit has only only
one coax port on each DXN-220 device. Can I use a proper splitter on a DXN-220 to get the equivalent of
two ports?
The reason I want to go with D-Link is an unfortunate experience I had a few years ago when I owned a Netgear router. The router went bad after about 6 months, and I phoned Netgear tech support to get a fix/replacement. I was connected to an Indian script-monkey (no disrespect to Indians in general, and I'm sure this particular fellow was much more intelligent and flexible off the job), who kept repeating "this device must be connected to a Windows PC to diagnose the problem." This was despite my telling him that by then I could fully configure the router using an obsolete version of Mac Internet Explorer (I had taken the router to work and used a Windows machine to start with). When I recently called Netgear pre-sales tech support to ask whether the MCAB1001 could be configured from Firefox (I didn't dare say from a Mac), I again got an Indian fellow.
By contrast, when I phoned D-Link earlier this week to ask whether the DXN-221 could be configured from a Macintosh, I got a flexible American/Canadian. After checking with someone else, he told me that the requirement of Windows XP or Vista is only to run the configuration Wizard. If I am willing to do the configuration manually, a Mac using Firefox should be fine.
For anybody who is wondering why I don't run Cat 5e or Cat 6 cable instead, I live in an apartment where that would be expensive to do in a non-ugly manner. The two rooms I want to connect are across an interior hall from one another, and the ceilings are reinforced concrete above a thin coating of plaster. All apartments in the building were pre-wired with TV coax (under the wood floor), and for 11 years I have been running Ethernet between the two rooms using a 10 Mbps hub with a bayonet coax port on each end.
Now that MoCA makes it possible, I immediately want to increase my Ethernet speed beyond 10 Mbps. However, in order to make the original coax connection part of my LAN, I had to disconnect the coax between the two rooms from the cable TV connection that comes into my living room. I am currently OK with having a TV only in the living room, but I might eventually want to stream HD TV from one of my computers--all of which are in the two other rooms that are part of the LAN.
For what it's worth, the DXN-221 that D-Link demoed on 6 January had two coax ports on each DXN-220 device. I also note that dlinkshop.com is advertising the DXN-221 for almost $50 US less than other sites advertise the MCAB1001. I am hoping that D-Link delayed releasing the DXN-221 kit in order to redesign the DXN-220, making it significantly cheaper by eliminating the second coax port (presumably after having done market research that showed many potential customers didn't need it). Would someone please check
this to see if the DXN-221 specs seem otherwise comparable those of the MCAB1001?
Thanks in advance,
David H.
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