ActionTec ECB6200 MoCA adapters

closeHey, just so you know ... this post is now about 7 years and 3 months old. Please keep that in mind as it very well may contain broken links and/or outdated information.

ActionTec ECB6200

I was doing a bit of a network re-org and realized that the old MoCA adapter that connects my home office to the network was only a 100mbps ethernet connection. Since everything else on my network is now gigabit (except for the occasional exception like my PiDP-8), I decided to upgrade to ActionTec’s ECB6200 MoCA adapters.

These units support the MoCA 2.0 specification which allows for theoretical throughput of 800mpbs via two 400mpbs bonded channels (while still being backward compatible with MoCA 1.1 devices) and gigabit ethernet. I figured swapping out the two ECB2200s (one in my office, the other in the computer closet before the cable modem) with the ECB6200s would be plug-and-play easy.

Unfortunately, after swapping in the new hardware, I couldn’t get the Coax light on the adapter in the computer closet to light up (no MoCA connection). The one in my office was “fine” except it couldn’t see the internet (because the adapter in the closet wasn’t connected … the Coax light on the office adapter was lit because it could see the other MoCA devices the network, my TiVo Minis). After re-confirming that the coax splitters in the cable box on the outside of my house and in the computer closet were MoCA compatible (passing up to 2GHz), I still couldn’t get a connection. I finally tracked it down to the splitter/amplifier in the attic. The PCT-Ma2-4P was passing the 54-1002MHz range, which was apparently fine for MoCA 1.1, but 2.0 uses the 500-1650MHz range! I replaced the amplifier with a 2GHz compatible 4-way splitter, the Coax light on the computer closet adapter lit up, and my home office was back on the network with a gigabit connection. The only MoCA 2.0 compatible amplifier I could find was from Eagle Comtronics (the EAG-SB-MBA), but I wasn’t able to find a place to buy it online and the sales department never responded to my e-mail inquiry. However, all of my cable drops seem to be fine using the splitter without the amplifier so far, so I’m going to stick with the current setup and see how it goes.

The ECB6200 doesn’t have a config switch like my ECB2200 did, but it turns out you don’t need it. You can access the web interface of the adapter to change configuration settings (like the MoCA privacy password) by following a few simple network instructions. And in case you’re wondering about firmware updates, at the time of this writing, the current version was 2.11.1.50.6200.7.

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