More MoCA: D-Link DXN-221 & Actiontec ECB2200 Reviewed

[Unregistered]

Does the Dnx-221 support moca 1.1?

 

[thiggins]

Does the Dnx-221 support moca 1.1?

No. It's certified to Moca 1.0.

 

[rtfm]

Configuration

a) Are there any available MOCA devices that do NOT require Windows to configure; i.e. use a tiny webserver?

As I read it, both the DXN-221 & MCAB-1001 require you have a Redmond machine upon which you load some program to configure the boxes. Is this true? [Yes, I know they are allegedly "plug & pray" but.....]

Are there any MOCA bridges that are windoze-free?

b) I can't find specs that say if the boxes are MOCA 1.0 or 1.1 versions.
I make it a rule to not buy 1.0 of anything so I'm worried.

And with 1.0; how many bridges can I use on a given net?

c) There was a mention of the stats being worthless but I did not follow why that was the case...

 

[thiggins]

a) Are there any available MOCA devices that do NOT require Windows to configure; i.e. use a tiny webserver?

Not that I'm aware of.

b) I can't find specs that say if the boxes are MOCA 1.0 or 1.1 versions.
I make it a rule to not buy 1.0 of anything so I'm worried.

Look up the products' Certifications here.

And with 1.0; how many bridges can I use on a given net?

16 for both 1.0 and 1.1

c) There was a mention of the stats being worthless but I did not follow why that was the case...

They're not helpful because you can't run traffic and look at the stats at the same time.

 

[rtfm]

Thanks.

1) I have to wonder what's going through the heads of the designers re: needing to install a M$ program. A full decade ago I {successfully} harangued another major Taiwan firm that I did some betatesting for that their [then upcoming] new network gear MUST have a webserver for configuration. They listened, and avoided much grief re: installation programs etc.

I wonder why this relapse to that era; Actiontech has such built into their MI424WR but that's more than just a bridge.

2) It looks like the later Netgears are 1.1 but there's always the issue of ensuring you get the current version.

3) The sample & hold on the stats sounds like a PITA but better than none at all. I'm guess the internal CPU is straining to carry the traffic, much less talk to the monitor.

 

[stevech]

D-Link DXN-221 Utility software problem

D-Link DXN-221 - Fry's today. $175 for the pair. Ouch.
Plug-and-play. Just worked out of the box. My cable has TV and Cable Modem. All's well. Except:

I could not make their config utility work:
Win XP Pro PC connected by cat5 to Linksys WRH54G router. No software firewall on PC.
DXN-221 connected to same router's LAN port (switch).
DXN-221 in "Config" mode. Power cycled. Rebooted PC.
Utility when run says CONNECTING... then a popup says "LOST CONNECTION". Gee, in never had a connection. Tried all sorts of things. I'm quite LAN-literate. To no avail. Tried both units. Well, I'm just using these and they work fine. Fortunately I don't need the config utility. It may be needed later to do firmware upgrade.

I suspect the utility is doing MAC layer 2 packets to discover the DXN-221. Nowhere in the D-LINK docs does it say I must have a certain IP address scheme.

Tech support level 1, 2 were totally untrained, unprepared, and had big ESL problems.

Any clues?

 

[thiggins]

I could not make their config utility work:

The config utility will only work from a computer plugged directly into the adapter.

 

[Mani]

Hi there,

I took a bit of a gamble and just purchased 4 of the Actiontec - EBC2200 moca units for use within the United Kingdom which will be shipped from the US (Moca units are not available in Europe yet but the US versions should work).

As the UK does not share the same mains power supply system here I was hoping someone might be able to help in determining the wall wart power supply specs for the EBC2200 as I will need to get UK equivalents. Specifically I am looking for

- Voltage (5V dc)
- Regulate or Unregulated DC ?
- Amps
- Polarity of the connector (Outer ring +, Inner Ring - etc)
- Size of the connector into the moca unit.

Many thanks,

Mani.

 

[thiggins]

Uh,there is no wall wart. The power supply is built into the unit. You just need a proper AC mains cord or plug adapter.

 

[Mani]

Uh,there is no wall wart. The power supply is built into the unit. You just need a proper AC mains cord or plug adapter.

Hmm that's strange, I just watched an Actiontec video where he was definitely was using a wall wart adapter to power it (see about 55 seconds in).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2TaySm2khE

All the press shots I have seen also show a typical wall wart connector socket on the unit too.

http://www.actiontec.com/products/images/Actiontec ECB2200 Front Panel.jpg

As it turns out, Actiontec have confirmed to me that they will run at 240 Volts anyway so I just need a few US 2pin to UK 3pin adapters and should be good to go.

Mani.

 

[Belushi]

Which MoCA Bridge?

I realize this thread is somewhat old, but I'm trying to decide on a set of MoCA adapters to stream video from Windows Media Center PC to several Xbox 360 Extenders.

From looking at the ixChariot plots, it seems to me that the D-Link DXN-221 is the only one of the three adapters to provide consistent, steady throughput with four simultaneous connections. Am I reading the plots correctly? If so, that seems like a huge differentiating factor.

The thing is, I'm actually planning on using only two or three MoCA adapters for my purposes; however, I have FiOS, which transmits TV and Internet signals using MoCA, as well. I will probably have only two FiOS Set-top Boxes plus, of course, the FiOS Actiontec MoCA router itself and the ONT.

My questions are:

1) Will using these two or three additional MoCA adapters be a problem/cause all of the MoCA signals to collide? Will the MoCA network be able to adequately support a typical, slightly demanding, usage scenario--i.e., streaming HD from the PC (connected via MoCA) to two Xboxes simultaneously (each connected via MoCA), while a STB is watching TV and someone is surfing the Internet? I don't think the above scenario would be a problem bandwidth-wise, but I'm concerned that it might be a problem signal collision-wise, especially since the additional MoCA bridges I'm buying would need to be able to communicate both with each other, as well as with the FiOS Actiontec router to get Internet access... which means they all have to communicate on the same channel, I believe.

2) Would the D-Link be the best choice, given its more graceful handling of four simultaneous MoCA streams? Or would the presence of the Actiontec MoCA router nullify any advantage the D-Link has over its competitors?

3) How does the D-Link handle more than four simultaneous streams compared to its competitors?

4) Are more than four simultaneous streams a problem even if each stream doesn't use a ton of bandwidth?

It would be great if someone could answer these questions. Thanks a lot.

-Jonathan

 

[thiggins]

From looking at the ixChariot plots, it seems to me that the D-Link DXN-221 is the only one of the three adapters to provide consistent, steady throughput with four simultaneous connections. Am I reading the plots correctly? If so, that seems like a huge differentiating factor.

I would not read a lot into the simultaneous results. MoCA devices all use Entropic chipsets. There may be minor performance differences due to firmware. But performance is more alike than different.

1) Will using these two or three additional MoCA adapters be a problem/cause all of the MoCA signals to collide? Will the MoCA network be able to adequately support a typical, slightly demanding, usage scenario--i.e., streaming HD from the PC (connected via MoCA) to two Xboxes simultaneously (each connected via MoCA), while a STB is watching TV and someone is surfing the Internet? I don't think the above scenario would be a problem bandwidth-wise, but I'm concerned that it might be a problem signal collision-wise, especially since the additional MoCA bridges I'm buying would need to be able to communicate both with each other, as well as with the FiOS Actiontec router to get Internet access... which means they all have to communicate on the same channel, I believe.

MoCA is designed to handle 16 nodes. There should be no "collision" issue. MoCA, like powerline, uses many different frequency bands that are dynamically assigned based on many factors.

2) Would the D-Link be the best choice, given its more graceful handling of four simultaneous MoCA streams? Or would the presence of the Actiontec MoCA router nullify any advantage the D-Link has over its competitors?

Don't know. All MoCA products are built on Entropic chipsets. But firmware differences can produce different results.

3) How does the D-Link handle more than four simultaneous streams compared to its competitors?

See this
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanw...thernet-adapter-kit-reviewed?showall=&start=2
After four streams, total bandwidth doesn't increase significantly and per-stream bandwidth falls as total bandwidth is divided.

4) Are more than four simultaneous streams a problem even if each stream doesn't use a ton of bandwidth?

See above.