Cat5 what router?

[Harry Bloomfield]

Did you attempt to connect one of the units to the cat5 lead in your garden room?

View attachment 357159

Why does that right hand router have red x's above two of the ports, and a tick above the third one? Any port can normally be used.

 

[robinbanks]

Blurry as it is the device on the right hand side (probably a switch, less likely to be a router) seems to have ports numbered 1,2 and 3. They would likely function equivalently. I don't recall seeing devices that must use a particular port for a modem, but they may exist

Sometimes routers have a port that is physically the same shape but is marked up in some way that draws the distinction as to how it is wired internally, such as "wan"or "uplink" - in a situation where the router is logically downstream of another network device. The router manages its own small network and lets devices on it communicate directly with each other, and it can forward traffic it knows is destined for the upstream network to allow computers inside its network communicate up.

Typically special provisions have to be made for upstream computers to communicate down into the downstream network; this is the pivotal difference between using the wan port and plugging into any other port - if you plug into another port you're connecting to the regular switch within the box and your devices in the other non-wan ports join the network at the same level rather than being downstream of the other box

The small nuisance in this is you may then have two devices on the same level in a network that both think they're responsible for providing services like routing and doling out IP addresses, and whether they play nice with each other is down to how they're programmed

This is often the potential pitfall of reusing an ISP supplied "all in one" box that has a modem, router and switch, and trying to use just the switch part of it - the router may be hard coded to treat the modem as the upstream and not offer an option for deactivating the services that serve the local network, because it has been created to solve a common problem in a particular way and not to be a flexible network device

 

[Why Not Indeed]

Why does that right hand router

I think it's not a router, it's [probably] an ONT, the fibre equivalent of a modem.
LOL, or not, it's a "Strong Atria" [no, me neither] mesh wifi thing.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I think it's not a router, it's [probably] an ONT, the fibre equivalent of a modem.
LOL, or not, it's a "Strong Atria" [no, me neither] mesh wifi thing.

Not an ONT, but well spotted on the Strong Atria. Port #3 appears to be a WAN/LAN port.

 

[chirpychippy]

Back Again....

I bought a TP Link Access Point and Network Switch. The network switch is still in its box.

I connected the cat5 to lanport 2 in the router and into the access point in the shed and all five lights were green "last night".

This morning the Internet light on the access point is not green "it's off". I plugged the access point directly into the router "in the house" with the supplied cable that came with the access point and it works with all the available lan ports on the router, yet in the shed through the cat5 "nothing" so yesterday it worked, today it doesn't.

I'm off a mind to change the cat 5 to a cat 6 with the connections factory fitted.

It is doing my head in...

Do you have any idea why it works then doesn't work please...

 

[Why Not Indeed]

If it's an access point, there won't be a WAN light. What's the model number?

 

[chirpychippy]

 

[chirpychippy]

If it's an access point, there won't be a WAN light. What's the model number?

I thought I'd post pictures....I'm wondering...last night nothing was being used in the house whereas today my wife has two laptops on the go and her mobile...

 

[Why Not Indeed]

Use a laptop to check the port where you'll be connecting your AP. Make sure it works OK.
Set up the AP with the same wireless details as the rest of your network. Plug it in to the above port.
Leave it for a few days. See how it behaves. It should have a status thing that says when clients are connected, so you should be able to see things connected occasionally.
Once the above is working, move it to its final resting place.

 

[robinbanks]

Do you have any idea why it works then doesn't work please...

Test the cable by plugging a laptop into it first; laptop in the shed, router in the house. Do a speed test too

 

[chirpychippy]

So the signal dropped out completly yesterday on the cat5. As suggested I plugged it into the laptop in the shed and still in the same Lan Port on the router. Eventually I managed to do a speed test which gave a Download of 1.59mbps and upload of 5.59mbps which is pants

The RJ45 is connected to the cat5 the cat5 doesn't go into a module, yet! Just direct to Laptop or AP.

I connected the laptop via the cat5e supplied with AP to all the ports on the router individually and carried out speed tests, the average Download is 610mbps and consistant upload of 105mbps.

I put the RJ45 connectors on the Cat5 myself but did use a tester that told me that cables 1-8 are correct, other than this I can't test the cable for continuity, so.....

I think buying a Cat6 with connectors factory fitted is my only option.

 

[robinbanks]

The things the testers won't check is that the correct cores have been used - wires inside an Ethernet cable are paired and twisted (and twisted at different rates too) to minimise degradative cross talk between the wires (each wire generates an electric field as signals pass, and the twist helps prevent it from influencing the other cores that are around it).
I once made a cable and got the wiring wrong, so the relevant send/receive signals were passing over the wrong cores, and it behaved like yours- it would show a connection but the speed was awful

I think buying a Cat6 with connectors factory fitted is my only option

Well, not only option but for the cost of a pre done and verified wire versus the worth of your professional time messing around fixing this one, it's probably a hiding to nothing

Hopefully if nothing else the cat 5 will work as a good draw cord to pull the new length through!

 

[Diver Fred]

Why does that right hand router have red x's above two of the ports, and a tick above the third one? Any port can normally be used.

The 'manual' is dreadful... I guess the 'Atria Strong' is a 2 piece system; the Left hand box plugs into a LAN port on the Incoming Router, it has it's 'own' communication standard between that box and the slave box where the link cable plugs into the 'ticked' port, presumably a WAN port but may recognise it's comm's standard.
I see on the 'manual' it suggests that the buttons on top of the Atria Strong boxes need to be pressed - are they power buttons or 'S/W link' setup button? on the simple manual it isn't explained.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

So the signal dropped out completly yesterday on the cat5. As suggested I plugged it into the laptop in the shed and still in the same Lan Port on the router. Eventually I managed to do a speed test which gave a Download of 1.59mbps and upload of 5.59mbps which is pants

That suggests either the cat5 is damaged, or you have used the wrong colour pairs, when making the ends off. The testers, only confirm the same wire is used at either end, they cannot check the pairs of wires, have been maintained as pairs - you have to do that visually.

Another potential issue, is that the crimp on RJ45 plugs, don't work reliably with solid wires, they work best with stranded cat5. A more reliably work around, is to install a socket at either end of the cat5, then use a pre-made short cable, from the socket, to the router, or AP.

 

[SUNRAY]

That suggests either the cat5 is damaged, or you have used the wrong colour pairs, when making the ends off. The testers, only confirm the same wire is used at either end, they cannot check the pairs of wires, have been maintained as pairs - you have to do that visually.

Another potential issue, is that the crimp on RJ45 plugs, don't work reliably with solid wires, they work best with stranded cat5. A more reliably work around, is to install a socket at either end of the cat5, then use a pre-made short cable, from the socket, to the router, or AP.

My experience is solid is better but do ensure you have the right plugs they are different for solid and stranded, that aside I wouldn't suggest using stranded for a 30m run due to the reduced performance.