Verizon FiOS gigabit, with Verizon routers. One main router, one extension.

Main router on first floor. Extension router in attic. Ethernet from NIC to main router. Coax from main router to attic extender.

Problem: attic EXTENDER will NOT stay connected.

Knowns: coax is apparently OK. When coax is disconnected, then reconnected, the attic extender comes to life, and its ethernet connection to a gigabit switch works. Attic extender front panel light most often blinks white, suggesting it is not connected. Attic extender LAN indicator LED is not illuminated, most of the time. Problem seems to occur when the computer goes to sleep (Apple Mac mini). Upon waking, the ethernet is connected, from switch to Mac, but has no internet connection.

Troubleshooting with Verizon has been of no value. Typical request is to reboot router and / or main NIC power. Sure, this helps, but not for long.

I will gladly give you one of my super amazing IPA from Virginia brewer if you can figure out how to keep this attic WiFi access point alive. 24 / 7.

Why do you have coax connecting routers???

I would suggest scrapping the Verizon routers and get yourself a good powerful mesh router to cover the entire house and use the mesh extenders as needed for weak areas.

Some questions.

(specific questions require specific answers, in order to help eliminate or pinpoint cause/effect)

How is the ISP provisioned to the edge device?
(Coax, Fiber, Copper line?

Edge device is the one your ISP hands off data to you. Is it used as a managed router provining connectivity to end user devices, or is it "bridged" and passing through to your managed router?

In the "old days" ISP provided a "MODEM", that basically acted as a media converter to change from COAX, ISDN, DIAL UP, or xDSL to Ethernet, and to a personal managed router. Then ISP started providing manage routers that they "managed" the "public" side (outward facing), and the subscriber managed the "private" (inward facing) side. (or "interfaces" the connecting ports).

I am not clear on the COAX connecting the two routers. Since 10Base-2 (coax cabled networks) has not been widely used since the mid 90s.

And I think you are saying the PC's ethernet is RJ-45 cabled to the "main" router, and if so, what it the "attic router" doing? It's purpose and to what devices is it connected, and how are it/they connected?

I can tell you several ways to keep it "alive", but understanding your set up better, will help in a best solution.

If you want to email me pics, specifics and such, please do.


(And I am old and the hard drive in my head has some bad sectors and crosslinked files, so WYSIWYG and worth every penny anyone reading has paid me...)

I concur with the mesh router system. We had a wifi unit and extenders all over the house. Frequently they would go to 'sleep' and had the be reset. Bought a Google mesh system and 4 hubs. Main base and 2 hubs downstairs, 2 hubs upstairs - seamless internet anywhere in the house and yard.

I suspect the OP has both routers wired with Coax from the FIOS WAN and they are fighting each other.

There should only be one router and extenders as needed, not two routers.

The FiOS gigabit is fiber to the NIC, at the house, and ethernet into the house direct to the WiFi router.

The use of coax from main WiFi to the attic WiFi EXTENDER is a matter of convenience. The coax was there, and it is a direct connection, rather than a WiFi connection. A WiFi connection failed, between the Verizon router and extender, so I wanted to use wire.

The use of coax is not unlike what Verizon does with their set top box and WiFi access points. They typically run coax to the WiFi, as well as the set top box. I don't use a set top box, so I had Verizon bring ethernet from the NIC to the home, where it is connected via ethernet to the main router.

I was told by hopefully an informed source that coax could be used to hardwire the router and extender together.

Now I understand the COAX LAN used.

Try this, no cost and easy to test.

Discover the IP address used for the Wifi extender in the attic, and then open a CMD window, and type in the following command.

ping -t x.x.x.x

Where x.x.x.x is the ip address of the extender.

Then minimize the window and leave it running.

It may be a "keep alive" issue, where the constant ping, keeps the device from going into a standby mode and not "waking up" in demand from devices that suspend/sleep.

You can also try that command once the extender is in it's "not alive" state and see if it "starts replying" to the ping command.
If so, it is a "keep alive" issue, and that can be solved with the CMD and you can make that a simple automated function.

Typically, in this area at least, Verizon FIOS is fiber to the house, to an ONT (optical network termination) box (usually mounted outdoors) which breaks the optical signal into three components, a twisted pair that provides Telco tip and ring pairs (usually connected to the old Chesapeake and Potomac terminal box the distributes the telephone signal to the "house pairs"), a coax cable (RG-59) that connects to a premises cable modem+router+WiFi access point+mini hub device (1), and a coax cable (also RG-59) that brings a TV signal to a "set-top box channel decoder+DVR" device.

(1) in my case this is an Actiontec MI424-WR which has a Coax WAN port (for connection to the ONT), a four-port 100baseT LAN switch, one 100baseT WAN port, and a USB port (unconnected to anything and with an uncertain purpose). It is not a particularly featureful device and runs some custom Verizon software that allows the admin to do some basic configuration. It certainly does not monitor the power/"live" status of anything connected to it. The web-based interface does not provide particularly useful information on the details of switching and routing, for example it is unclear whether the 100baseT port is bridged to the Coax port, or is an independent network interface. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find alternative open source software for this device that might provide more transparency. It does appear that it is possible to configure the 100baseT "WAN port" separately from the Coax "WAN port"

However, if the OP is using this so-called WAN port to connect his attic router/access point, this may certainly cause trouble. I would certainly not be using this attic device as anything other than as an additional access point. Of course, there are many other considerations and possibilities. As aptly-noted by the Monkey, provision of details would help significantly in diagnosis.

Thanks to everyone for guidance. My inability to describe the equipment is causing some confusion. The "NIC" is the ONT, more correctly. From that ONT, the Verizon signal is only ethernet into the home. No telco, no coax.

The router is the G3100 which services the gigabit speeds. The extender is the E3200.

I think that we may be on to something here. The coax on the G3100 in the first floor closet may need to be configured to be a bridged output from the coax of the G3100 to the attic extender E3200.

The E3200 and G3100 are MoCA 2.5 devices. Multimedia over Coax Alliance. MoCA is a way of networking devices over coax cable. It’s supposed to be plug and play. MoCA 2.5 enables speeds up to 2,500mbps.

I’d be using my browser to look at both devices looking for any error logs that might give clues as to why the two devices stop communicating with each other. I’d also be looking for how the two devices are connecting to each other. I know they are physically connected with the coax, but they do have the ability to connect to each other wirelessly. Perhaps there’s a problem with the cable and they attempting to connect wirelessly. The manual says there’s a BHM log. I’d look at that.

Being in the attic, I’d look at the environmental parameters in sec 6.2. Is the attic over 104 degrees Fahrenheit?

E3200 Manual

G3100 Manual

Good news for the mesh fans, it is mesh. I don’t believe it goes bing however, so maybe he needs a new machine that does that.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: trapper189,

The attic is not over rated temperature. Fans.

Thanks for MOCA insights. I’ll attempt to RTFM from you links.

Hopefully it is a configuration issue.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
(1) in my case this is an Actiontec MI424-WR which has a Coax WAN port (for connection to the ONT), a four-port 100baseT LAN switch

If I am (mis)understanding you correctly, you have FIOS service, but are only able to carry 100Mbps to/from your LAN and the Internet? I thought Verizon FIOS offered much higher speeds than that. It seems that the Actiontec 100baseT switch is a bottleneck.

The quote is not relevant to my installation. I have gigabit speed and speed is not the issue.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
The attic is not over rated temperature. Fans.

Thanks for MOCA insights. I’ll attempt to RTFM from you links.

Hopefully it is a configuration issue.

The E3200 manual says there’s a BHM log which keeps track of the Back Haul Method being used to connect the two devices. The manual explains the lights as well. On the back of the unit next to the coax connection, that light should be green.

On page 119, the G3100 manual shows a switch in the software to enable the coax connection.