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expired Posted by Tokar • May 14, 2018
expired Posted by Tokar • May 14, 2018

Actiontec WCB3000N Single Dual-Band Wireless Extender

$9.00

$70

87% off
Amazon
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Supreme Deals 18 via Amazon has Actiontec Single Dual-Band Wireless MoCA Network Extender (WCB3000N) on sale for $9.82 > now $9.01. Shipping is free with Prime or on orders of $25 or more. Thanks Tokar

Editor's Notes

Written by brisar
  • Don't have Amazon Prime? Students can get a free 6-Month Amazon Prime trial with free 2-day shipping, unlimited video streaming & more.
  • If you're not a student, there's also a free 1-Month Amazon Prime trial available.
  • The Actiontec WCB3000N extends a homeowner's Wi-Fi network to an area of the home where wireless coverage was previously weak, such as a dead zone in the 2nd floor bedroom or 1st floor family room.

Original Post

Written by Tokar
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Product Info
Community Notes
About the Poster
Supreme Deals 18 via Amazon has Actiontec Single Dual-Band Wireless MoCA Network Extender (WCB3000N) on sale for $9.82 > now $9.01. Shipping is free with Prime or on orders of $25 or more. Thanks Tokar

Editor's Notes

Written by brisar
  • Don't have Amazon Prime? Students can get a free 6-Month Amazon Prime trial with free 2-day shipping, unlimited video streaming & more.
  • If you're not a student, there's also a free 1-Month Amazon Prime trial available.
  • The Actiontec WCB3000N extends a homeowner's Wi-Fi network to an area of the home where wireless coverage was previously weak, such as a dead zone in the 2nd floor bedroom or 1st floor family room.

Original Post

Written by Tokar

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To use just ONE of these you need one OTHER MOCA device. It could be the ethernet bridge (ECB2500), it could be the router (MI424WR), it could be the XFinity Gateway (can't remember the model), or it could be a second one of these wifi extenders. You require two devices.

If you choose to go with the ethernet bridge (ECB2500) or a second one of these WCB3000N devices, you do the following. Plug one device via ethernet into your router, and then connect the coax line to the wall. With the second device, all you need to do is plug it in via coax into the wall. That's it. The DHCP from the router will be picked up and the wifi will properly distribute the IP table.

If you choose to go the router route (MI424WR, G1100, or one of the cable modem gateways from XFinity or Arris) all you need to do is setup your router as you normally would (be it as the primary router connected to your cable modem, or as a coax bridge), then connect the coax to the wall. Using the second device, just connect the coax to the wall. And you are done. The second device will pick up the IP table no problem.


In both cases, after you plug it in you can setup the Wifi settings on the WCB3000N as you like...SSID, wifi password, etc. I know there is someway to have this automatically extend your MoCA router wifi network, but i never cared to figure it out as I like to have separate networks.
Make sure to read up on the original deal thread before buying: https://slickdeals.net/share/android_app/fp/374511

I bought eight of these (at $13.99) and returned five of them. Here's a quick breakdown:

Yes, these work if you have fios and cable. It will also work if you don't have internet at all. Any room that has coax/TV can get hardwired level connections with these.

You'll need one box per head, including at the router... If your router doesn't have MoCA built in.

These are MoCA 1.1...it caps at around 130-140 mbps... Or just slightly over fast ethernet speeds. This is between endpoints with a six foot coax cable.

Good parts:

Plug and play wifi extenders if you have WPS.

Very easy to install.

Not much degradation even if you have a ton of splitters and lines.

Will crush any wireless solution in latency.

Great for use as backhaul between APs

The main issues:

These are likely rebranded TWC boxes. Many things are disabled by default... And the firmware will NEVER be upgraded.

Cannot turn off wifi easily without going into the individual elements of the GUI and turning them off. You need to repeat this everytime power goes out.

No MoCA security... If you're in an apt complex... This means you neighbors may see your computers. Not an issue if you're in a detached home with fios.

These boxes come with:
One splitter
One rg59 cable
One ethernet wire
The box itself, of course.

I kept two (for parents) and one as a spare if a friend should need it... But I found more flexibility and tweakability in just buying old fios routers and turning them into bridges. Also, with the advent of cheap gigabit internet... I need. Bonded MoCA 2.0 minimum... Worth the extra $ to get those boxes for me.
OK, well regarding the wifi repeater thing, MoCA, and Powerline, will not degrade the wifi speed as a result of extending the network. Both powerline and Moca act LIKE an ethernet connection connected to your router giving you the ability to connect a second Wifi AP in another location (or use the powerline/moca built-in extending abilities if you get such a device, e.g. the WCB3000n). As I understand it, Wifi repeaters have to cut the Wifi speed in half to "expand"/"extend"/"repeat" the wifi network - meaning if your router is N-300, and you want to repeat it, the original signal will run at 300 but the repeated signal will only be 150. So in this regard, powerline and moca have a huge advantage over the wifi repeaters.

Now as far as the difference between powerline and moca. Powerline, of course, is over your powerlines while Moca is over your coax. The major benefit that moca has over powerline is line noise. Powerline is injecting a networking signal over powerlines which are inherently noisy and susceptible to interference (e.g. magnetic field). As a result, as you move the two powerline adapters further away from each other, the speed degrades. Originally, powerline adapters were a mere 10 mbps, but now they offer 2 gbps. So a 50% drop in speed from a 2 gbps adapter is not so bad as a 50% drop in speed from a 10 mbps adapter - you get to "suffer" from a 1 gbps speed. The PROBLEM is, even with that speed, because of the noise on the line, you will likely encounter jitter - your ping won't be rock solid 1ms. Hell, 50% may not be all the speed drop you experience. If your powerlines are old, your drop could be bigger if you intend the two adapters to be far away. For basic internet you it will be acceptable, but...coax is much more solid, has much less jitter, great pings, no speed drop as you increase distance (at least I haven't experienced it...and I have my mom's network over a huge ranch house).

Pros of Powerline over Coax:

Every home has power lines to use for networking. Not everyone has coax wiring (as much as one would like to believe...the cost to get these lines installed could be pretty pricey. And at that point, you might as well get ethernet wiring)
Powerline adapters are now up to 2 gbps. Moca 1.1 is 270 mbps total, while Moca 2.0 (bonded) is 1 gbps.
More adapter choices with better price points (for the new 2 gbps adapters. Obviously this WCB3000N is $10 which is a stellar price, even for coax). The new Moca 2.0 bonded devices are prohibitively expensive. A 2 pack of Moca ethernet-only adapters are $160, the upgrade to the WCB3000N, the WCB6200Q, is $150. All of them made by Actiontec. The TP-Link 2000 powerline 2-pack is $85. Zyxel is $80. Netgear is $130.

Pros of Coax over Powerline:

The signal is much more solid on Coax. No jitter, no noise, no interference (as long as you arent using filters, amplifiers or satellite tv)
Speed doesn't drop over distance
Signal will never drop. If you have newer coax wiring it is shielded RG6 cables, very robust. Shielding helps the signal. Even the older RG59 cabling is good - its not shielded, but it will still keep a solid signal.


Both systems suffer from the same cons (vs ethernet network):

Need powered adapters. Ethernet doesnt need power.
Need to be careful what you put on the line to avoid noise on the line (e.g. filters, amps, splitters).
Both act like a wired network hub as opposed to a network switch - it is not 1 gbps (Coax 2.0) coax at each adapter, it is all locations use bandwidth which maxes out at 1 gbps, or in the case of 1.1, it is 270 mbps shared.



I spoke too soon lol. I made Front Page for the first time ever

244 Comments

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Pro
May 14, 2018
13,796 Posts
Joined Feb 2007
May 14, 2018
sarcasmogratis
Pro
May 14, 2018
13,796 Posts
Ethernet over coax?
May 15, 2018
3,583 Posts
Joined Dec 2010
May 15, 2018
wighty
May 15, 2018
3,583 Posts
Quote from sarcasmogratis :
Ethernet over coax?
Essentially, yeah.

I just bought these for $11-12 a few weeks ago, going to set them up now. I never had this confirmed but I'm hoping that I can connect 2 of these together with a non-MOCA router...
Original Poster
May 15, 2018
1,610 Posts
Joined Jul 2005
May 15, 2018
Tokar
Original Poster
May 15, 2018
1,610 Posts
Quote from sarcasmogratis :
Ethernet over coax?
Yup. Works perfect as long as you have no amplifiers or filters on the line.
Pro
May 15, 2018
13,796 Posts
Joined Feb 2007
May 15, 2018
sarcasmogratis
Pro
May 15, 2018
13,796 Posts
So, to use one of these need a MOCA router, and unused coax line from router to AP locations?
May 15, 2018
1,431 Posts
Joined Nov 2008
May 15, 2018
bizreporter
May 15, 2018
1,431 Posts
Quote from sarcasmogratis :
Ethernet over coax?
I bought one for $16 in February for exactly that purpose. My play room has an unused cable outlet, so I connected this to it and then plugged the Xbox One to it for Ethernet over coax to take some of the load off of the WiFi.
May 15, 2018
35 Posts
Joined Dec 2011
May 15, 2018
dealdealsang
May 15, 2018
35 Posts
Price has come down to $9.49 and no tax. Prime eligible.
May 15, 2018
35 Posts
Joined Dec 2011
May 15, 2018
dealdealsang
May 15, 2018
35 Posts
As OP said, the product was a Front Page deal at $17 several months ago. I found it tonight at $9.49. I added the 3-year protection plan for $2 just for the heck of it.

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Original Poster
May 15, 2018
1,610 Posts
Joined Jul 2005
May 15, 2018
Tokar
Original Poster
May 15, 2018
1,610 Posts
Quote from sarcasmogratis :
So, to use one of these need a MOCA router, and unused coax line from router to AP locations?
To use just ONE of these you need one OTHER MOCA device. It could be the ethernet bridge (ECB2500), it could be the router (MI424WR), it could be the XFinity Gateway (can't remember the model), or it could be a second one of these wifi extenders. You require two devices.

If you choose to go with the ethernet bridge (ECB2500) or a second one of these WCB3000N devices, you do the following. Plug one device via ethernet into your router, and then connect the coax line to the wall. With the second device, all you need to do is plug it in via coax into the wall. That's it. The DHCP from the router will be picked up and the wifi will properly distribute the IP table.

If you choose to go the router route (MI424WR, G1100, or one of the cable modem gateways from XFinity or Arris) all you need to do is setup your router as you normally would (be it as the primary router connected to your cable modem, or as a coax bridge), then connect the coax to the wall. Using the second device, just connect the coax to the wall. And you are done. The second device will pick up the IP table no problem.


In both cases, after you plug it in you can setup the Wifi settings on the WCB3000N as you like...SSID, wifi password, etc. I know there is someway to have this automatically extend your MoCA router wifi network, but i never cared to figure it out as I like to have separate networks.
Last edited by Tokar May 14, 2018 at 10:34 PM.
May 15, 2018
3,667 Posts
Joined Dec 2006
May 15, 2018
Arkus
May 15, 2018
3,667 Posts
Quote from dealdealsang :
As OP said, the product was a Front Page deal at $17 several months ago. I found it tonight at $9.49. I added the 3-year protection plan for $2 just for the heck of it.
I don't understand purchasing protection plans with items in this price range, essentially disposable, what's the rationale to increasing your item price by more than 20%?

Do you get a lot of lightning strikes taking out electronics where you live, or did you research the product and see they are prone to failure?
Last edited by Arkus May 14, 2018 at 10:37 PM.
Original Poster
May 15, 2018
1,610 Posts
Joined Jul 2005
May 15, 2018
Tokar
Original Poster
May 15, 2018
1,610 Posts
Quote from dealdealsang :
As OP said, the product was a Front Page deal at $17 several months ago. I found it tonight at $9.49. I added the 3-year protection plan for $2 just for the heck of it.
This is how slickdeals works for me. I see it FP in the past. I post it cheaper and...no upvotes. Lol. Maybe someday I will get an FP post...
Original Poster
May 15, 2018
1,610 Posts
Joined Jul 2005
May 15, 2018
Tokar
Original Poster
May 15, 2018
1,610 Posts
Quote from Arkus :
I don't understand purchasing protection plans with items in this price range, essentially disposable, what's the rationale to increasing your item price by more than 20%?
Some people like that peace of mind. Others like to use it as an opportunity to have an end-of-life replacement plan. I know many people who buy the replacement plan, and at the end of the plan they just bring it in and get it replaced, no questions asked...thanks to the plan.
May 15, 2018
3,667 Posts
Joined Dec 2006
May 15, 2018
Arkus
May 15, 2018
3,667 Posts
Quote from Tokar :
Some people like that peace of mind. Others like to use it as an opportunity to have an end-of-life replacement plan. I know many people who buy the replacement plan, and at the end of the plan they just bring it in and get it replaced, no questions asked...thanks to the plan.
Big ticket items I could see needing piece of mind, but no one's bringing this in to Amazon at the end of life.

Call me skeptical, but that business model wouldn't work if people generally came out ahead with protection plans.
Original Poster
May 15, 2018
1,610 Posts
Joined Jul 2005
May 15, 2018
Tokar
Original Poster
May 15, 2018
1,610 Posts
Quote from Arkus :
Big ticket items I could see needing piece of mind, but no one's bringing this in to Amazon at the end of life.

Call me skeptical, but that business model wouldn't work if people generally came out ahead with protection plans.
I agree with ya man, trust me. $9.65...or well $9.48 now, is well worth the price for this device. I've had it in my parents house now for, I think, 3 years? I paid $30 for it at Office Depot on the Clearance Rack. Rock solid, great signal, great speed. It won't fail...unless you intentionally damage it. $2 is, as you said almost 20%!
May 15, 2018
599 Posts
Joined Dec 2006
May 15, 2018
cos777
May 15, 2018
599 Posts
Thanks, got it to extend my Fios

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May 15, 2018
510 Posts
Joined Dec 2013
May 15, 2018
kevlar51
May 15, 2018
510 Posts
The is the cheapest MOCA device I've seen. Nice deal.

Keep in mind this is MOCA 1.1. If you have gigabit internet, you'll need MOCA 2.0. Otherwise your wired speeds will cap at around 500 Mb/s. Still not bad, but not full potential. If you're paying for anything less than a 500 speed and have something with a gateway router, then this is more than enough.

I've been on MOCA for probably 10 years now. It's a fantastic solution for houses not already wired for ethernet. Wifi has always been spotty at best for me, especially when gaming, so finding out about MOCA was perfect. I definitely recommend figuring out where all your splitters are in the house and reconfigure them in the most efficient way possible. Every coax split will hurt speeds a bit more.

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