I sense a pattern here.
Either I am too far into retirement to read instructions correctly or
Actiontec needs to write them better. I
followed the instructions for setup number by number. I looked at the pictures and I read the
instructions. I connected everything as
the instructions demanded. The last
sentence instructs to make sure that both Coax and Ethernet lights turn solid
green on both adapters. The Ethernet
light glowed a pretty green, the coax light never lit. I checked the TV and the pass through on the
unit worked fine, I saw no degradation of the TV signal. I never showed an Ethernet connection and
try as I might, checking all connections triple checking the setup I found no
way to get the Coax light lit. I’m
guessing that a solid connection needs to exist on both legs for the Ethernet
to work. Cable TV worked as a pass
through and that was all I could accomplish.
This is not plug and play or at least for me it was not plug and play. On the plus side, the box contained all the
necessary cables and included a coax splitter.
So the intent was good but the delivery was not successful.
This is the second ActionTec product designed to get good
solid signals across a building that is not Cat5 wired. I had no luck with either. It is certainly possible my environment
played a part or even an inability on my part to read directions. However after spending 25 years selling and
servicing personal computers and networks I read directions diligently. It is certainly possible I am missing some
essential part to the installation but it sure isn’t obvious.
This may be a decent product and if I called their customer
support and spent however long it took to make it work, I might be
satisfied. However my view is that these
are consumer products and they should work, out of the box, no tech support
necessary to set them up. In fact, the
instructions read as if that is what Actiontec expects as well. If these were sold as needing technical
expertise to install, I would not hesitate to seek it out. As this is a consumer targeted product, my
expectations are for it to work out of the box by following the vendors
directions.
Comments