Moca SFP transceiver: Magic-SFP

[nereith]

FYI, the Magic-SFP transceivers are now on sale for $125.

MaGiC-SFP™ : Solving the Last Mile Bandwidth Challenge V2 1.0G

MDSlink speed test

swginc.com

From my last exchange with SWG, they mentioned the adapter will only be able to do 1G with Mikrotik routers. I suspect that is due to the typical SFP+ negotiation of 1G/10G only.

The 1G limitation here (at least for Mikrotik routers) would mean Magic-SFP would behave similarly to a Moca 2.5 adapter with 1G ethernet port.

What's notable about this transceiver is its operating band starts from 400MHz rather than the usual 1125MHz.

Anyone intending to try this new transceiver?

 

[gocoax]

An interesting product. Why they don't use a MoCA adapter? Cheaper and can provide 2.5Gbps bandwidth.

 

[nereith]

I looked deeper at some of the presentation material.

Looks like the Magic-SFP uses Moca Access, whereas typical consumer devices use Moca Home.

That would explain why the transceiver RF band starts from 400MHz. It might not be compatible with typical consumer adapters.

 

[gocoax]

I looked deeper at some of the presentation material.

Looks like the Magic-SFP uses Moca Access, whereas typical consumer devices use Moca Home.

That would explain why the transceiver RF band starts from 400MHz. It might not be compatible with typical consumer adapters.

With changing the band filter, the normal MoCA adapter can run over 400-900MHz, as a MoCA Access CPE.
The quesiton is, who want to use MoCA Access. Looks like more and more ISPs are moving to fiber.

 

[jim.luciano]

FYI, the Magic-SFP transceivers are now on sale for $125.

MaGiC-SFP™ : Solving the Last Mile Bandwidth Challenge V2 1.0G

MDSlink speed test

swginc.com

From my last exchange with SWG, they mentioned the adapter will only be able to do 1G with Mikrotik routers. I suspect that is due to the typical SFP+ negotiation of 1G/10G only.

The 1G limitation here (at least for Mikrotik routers) would mean Magic-SFP would behave similarly to a Moca 2.5 adapter with 1G ethernet port.

What's notable about this transceiver is its operating band starts from 400MHz rather than the usual 1125MHz.

Anyone intending to try this new transceiver?

The frequency is 1100-1600 for the MaGiC module. 2.5gb is functioning in a fiber port that can be 2.5gb fixed - lots of MikroTik's. The 1.0gb version is plug and play in SFP and SFP+ ports - Version 2 just now being produced. Version 1's can be upgraded by MDS Link. Why use MaGiC SFP? Meant for WAN - VLAN and VLAN tagging - but finding its way to LAN use cases, building to building plugging into edge device - no boxes. Cost is less now. Meant for B2B and PON where you cannot install fiber due to the building, leverage the architecture use the copper. Simple, clean, easy, no boxes.

 

[tgl]

Reviving an old thread ... I experimented with a pair of these, and was rather sadly disappointed. They would not sync at higher than 1Gbps with either of the switches I tried to put them in (a Cisco CBS350-8MGP-2X and a Zyxel XGS1250-12). Reading the fine print of what Jim wrote above, maybe I should have expected that for the Zyxel, because its SFP+ port only supports 1G and 10G rates --- but the Cisco can be set at 2.5G so it seems like it should've worked. Alas, no.

They did pass data OK at the 1G rate, but that's a disimprovement over the MoCA 2.5 adapters I was using before, so I won't be using them. Too bad, because they're cute for sure, and elimination of the wall-wart power supplies needed by the others would've been nice.

Relevant to the earlier part of this thread: I found that the Magic-SFPs would exchange data with my ScreenBeam ECB7250s but not my ASUS MA-25s. Interesting, because I'd thought that those two sets of boxes were about interchangeable. They must be using different bands. (Which makes me wonder if I could put both sets on the same coax cable and LAG them. That's off-topic here, though.)

 

[theoden144]

Reviving an old thread ... I experimented with a pair of these, and was rather sadly disappointed. They would not sync at higher than 1Gbps with either of the switches I tried to put them in (a Cisco CBS350-8MGP-2X and a Zyxel XGS1250-12). Reading the fine print of what Jim wrote above, maybe I should have expected that for the Zyxel, because its SFP+ port only supports 1G and 10G rates --- but the Cisco can be set at 2.5G so it seems like it should've worked. Alas, no.

They did pass data OK at the 1G rate, but that's a disimprovement over the MoCA 2.5 adapters I was using before, so I won't be using them. Too bad, because they're cute for sure, and elimination of the wall-wart power supplies needed by the others would've been nice.

Relevant to the earlier part of this thread: I found that the Magic-SFPs would exchange data with my ScreenBeam ECB7250s but not my ASUS MA-25s. Interesting, because I'd thought that those two sets of boxes were about interchangeable. They must be using different bands. (Which makes me wonder if I could put both sets on the same coax cable and LAG them. That's off-topic here, though.)

Thank you for your update. I was debating pairing these with my Ubiquiti setup and the sfp+ ports are only 1/10 Gbps. I'd love to use these to clean up my setup, but I need (well want) the full 2.5gpbs.

 

[nereith]

Thank you for your update. I was debating pairing these with my Ubiquiti setup and the sfp+ ports are only 1/10 Gbps. I'd love to use these to clean up my setup, but I need (well want) the full 2.5gpbs.

The 2.5G variant is being sold now.

MDSlink MGC-2.5-H MaGiC SFP - MoCA SFP 2.5Gbps High

• Install and deploy MAGIC-SFP in minutes • Reduce the cost of installation by using existing coaxial cable • 2.5Gbps actual data rates • Works over coaxial cable regardelss of type or age • Up to: 1000ft

www.streakwave.com

It works on my Mikrotik CRS309 with ROS 7.12.1, but not RB4011.

Auto-negotiation has to be disabled. The ROM has some typo and the model number (1.0-H) on the box and SFP module were marked over with a black ink, but looks like this is the real deal. The box and SFP module also have a red stamp over them.

The module works if the link is manually set to 2.5G baseX/baseT, but not 1G baseT/baseX even though Winbox shows the SFP link is up. That's probably why there are different variants for 2.5G and 1.0G.