MoCa Packet Loss with TP-Link Equipment

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MoCa Packet Loss with TP-Link Equipment​

I am at a loss, and have nearly given up on Moca. I have a semi large network of iOT devices for the smart home. No issue and is stable.

But every 10 minutes or so my MoCa backhaul to the upstairs Switch and AP experience pack loss for a brief moment.

I have tested the MoCa between my laptop and the switch and i don't experience the packet loss. Its only when its between my switch and router. I have confirmed its not the coax because I'm using a different RG6 Short cable and experiencing the same behavior. The moca devices and network equipment all have the latest FW. This has been going on since day 1, over a year ago.

The only thing I can conclude is that there's a bug in MoCa that when there are may clients on the network it seems to fail. Because when I use it to connect a few clients I don't experience this when I tested it.

I added images of the Topology and the packet loss and equipment model #'s. Is there anyone that can help me get this to working correctly? Screenbeam support has not been helpful.

Tried:
Different Mocas Adaptors ecb7520
Short RG 6 Cable
New Terminations on Cat5 and RG6 cables
Limiting # of clients to under 40 that connect to the Switch and AP that Use the MoCa
Factory Resets on all ECB
Linksys MX4200 Routers (my original router / APs with the same behavior)
Tried FCA252 Mocas. Happens on both frequencies.
Used the SFP Ports on my Network equipment, PER TPLINK EEE isn't supported.
Also Disabled EEE protocal on all my network switches.

This is clearly an issue with MoCa or TP Link, I also notice. That if I click a website and having been using much BW in a while or suddenly want to goto multiple sites. I get pack loss or latency for like a few seconds and then it will start to work.

I truely believe this is simply a flaw and shouldn't be used as a reliable backhaul, what a waste of time and money.

 

[fpetillo]

I have the EXACT same issue. Running TP-LINK Omada equipment and trying to use GoCoax moca devices. Packet drops every few minutes. 10-15 mins. Nothing wrong with the network setup as it is all business quality er7206, EAP773's, with OC200 controller, etc. Just would like to figure it all out without having to diagnose the entire coax network throughout the house. Xfinity 1.2gb service installed.

 

[fpetillo]

update!

I have isolated the Moca devices on the cable without hooked up to TPlink equipment. No packet loss of as long as I tested it. About 4 hours. Laptop on both ends with an assigned IP address. They can ping plotter each other all day without loss, so that excludes the Moca devices and the cable infrastructure as the culprit. I have to assume there is a flaw in the network design or a flaw in the network equipment making this packet loss occur with the Moca devices. Gocoax devices.

 

[tgl]

I get reliable 2.5G service from a pair of ScreenBeam ECB7250 units, but getting to that point was fairly frustrating. I've concluded that the ethernet chips in these things are not super compatible with all other equipment. I haven't seen any packet-loss problem, but what I do see with some connected gear is weird asymmetry in throughput rate on iperf3 tests: solid wire speed (2.35Gbps) in one direction, but a tenth of that (and very variable) in the other. I'm currently using them between a pair of Cisco CBS350 switches, and not seeing that issue, but I did see it before with a Zyxel switch and also with a Ugreen ethernet adapter. Swapping the two MoCA units didn't change which direction was slow, bolstering the idea that it's something about the connected gear not MoCA per se.

I also tried a pair of ASUS MA-25 MoCA adapters, and got exactly the same results, to the point where I suspect that both manufacturers are using the same chips.

Perhaps your problem is unrelated to my story, but it sure sounds like a similar "not as compatible as you'd expect for ethernet gear" issue. If you are using 2.5G MoCA adapters, you might try backing down to 1G adapters --- I suspect the bottom line here is that the NbaseT ethernet chips in these things aren't as mature as one would wish.

 

[sfx2000]

One thing to consider is interference, e.g. bursty noise on the COAX itself.

The levels look good - note that MOCA is a radio device at the physical layer... many home appliances can be significant broadband noise sources, esp on startup (think things like the fridge, etc). Same would apply to the HVAC for intermittent interference.

General guidance for the internal cable layout is to avoid running the coax parallel with AC power, and if you have to cross the lines (which is usually the case), try to cross as close to a 90 degree angle as possible.