Coupler affecting ethernet connection?

[Gobel]

Hi,

A few days ago I did cabling in my house. Put the modem in a more central spot and added a router for the living room that's too far away. The router is a Xiaomi Router 4A. I can connect it to the Wi-Fi no problem and use it as an access point, but I want to connect it with an Ethernet cable. The cable goes from the modem -> coupler -> ethernet cable that goes through the wall to the living room socket -> router. When I connect it like this, it can't connect. When I try connecting it directly to the router it does work as intended. I then suspected maybe the coupler was the problem, so I tried using another one but still the same issue.

Then I tried the connection like this: modem -> coupler -> router this worked as intended. Then I added another coupler to this connection, and it didn't work. Search the internet for the issue, but everyone is saying that if you don't go overboard with the couplers, connection wouldn't be an issue. Sorry for the structural mistakes in the post. Any help is appreciated.

 

Decided to include an image so you can understand more easily. The blue part goes through the wall to the socket.

[BillBill]

29 minutes ago, Gobel said:

Hi,

A few days ago I did cabling in my house. Put the modem in a more central spot and added a router for the living room that's too far away. The router is a Xiaomi Router 4A. I can connect it to the Wi-Fi no problem and use it as an access point, but I want to connect it with an Ethernet cable. The cable goes from the modem -> coupler -> ethernet cable that goes through the wall to the living room socket -> router. When I connect it like this, it can't connect. When I try connecting it directly to the router it does work as intended. I then suspected maybe the coupler was the problem, so I tried using another one but still the same issue.

Then I tried the connection like this: modem -> coupler -> router this worked as intended. Then I added another coupler to this connection, and it didn't work. Search the internet for the issue, but everyone is saying that if you don't go overboard with the couplers, connection wouldn't be an issue. Sorry for the structural mistakes in the post. Any help is appreciated.

 

Decided to include an image so you can understand more easily. The blue part goes through the wall to the socket.

With a fiber connection using an ONT. You don't need a modem. 

[manikyath]

24 minutes ago, BillBill said:

With a fiber connection using an ONT. You don't need a modem. 

not on topic.. you still need some sort of conversion box, it's not an analog signal so it's not technically a modem, but the ISP still usually wants a box there.. so for convenience sake it's referred to as a "modem".

 

----

on topic:

 

it depends a lot on what sort of couplers you got. there's very good ones, and there's ones that are essentially just suitable for telephony.

[mariushm]

An 100 mbps coupler may have only 4 of the 8 contacts in the ethernet jack connected.

 

I'd check the socket and make sure the wires in the cable are connected to the socket in the right order.  Seen to often ethernet sockets being installed by electricians who have no clue about proper wire color order

 

one of these two color orders should be used on both ends of the cable inside the wall :

 

 

A coupler will degrade the signal quality a bit, but on its own it shouldn't be so bad that you wouldn't get 1 gbps link between devices at both ends of the total cable.

[Lurick]

<removed>

 

OP: Can you post a picture of this coupler in question?

Edited September 10, 2024 by SansVarnic
Cleaned

[GuiltySpark_]

I mean, I'm pretty familiar with FTTH and I'd like to know exactly what the devices they have labeled as Modem and Router are in this image. ONT, assuming its functioning as a media converter and giving you copper out, that should go directly to the router. There is nothing in-between, at least with FiOS installations. 

[Lurick]

38 minutes ago, GuiltySpark_ said:

I mean, I'm pretty familiar with FTTH and I'd like to know exactly what the devices they have labeled as Modem and Router are in this image. ONT, assuming its functioning as a media converter and giving you copper out, that should go directly to the router. There is nothing in-between, at least with FiOS installations. 

AT&T definitely disagrees because you need (unless you want to go far above and beyond to bypass it) their device after the ont (BGW210 and older models) on slower plans, in other situations their device (2Gb/s plans and up) becomes the ONT but you can't bypass it easily either.

[Gobel]

3 hours ago, Lurick said:

IT. WORKS. WHEN. CONNECTED. WITHOUT. THE. COUPLER!

Seriously dude, get that through your head, the "modem" is needed to connect to the ISP network in this case. Semantics aren't important right now and arguing over pointless garbage and not contributing anything to the thread is pretty dumb when it works just fine when the coupler isn't in play.

 

OP: Can you post a picture of this coupler in question?

This is the new coupler I got. I don't think this has any issues since it worked when I connected the router without using the wall socket. Also I don't think the wall cable has any issues with it since I was using it to connect the ONT device to the Modem before. It gave gigabit speeds while using it like that.
Alternate link to the US site. I think they're the same.

 

 

2 hours ago, GuiltySpark_ said:

I mean, I'm pretty familiar with FTTH and I'd like to know exactly what the devices they have labeled as Modem and Router are in this image. ONT, assuming its functioning as a media converter and giving you copper out, that should go directly to the router. There is nothing in-between, at least with FiOS installations. 

The thing labeled modem is the router(?) given to me by my ISP. It's a Huawei HG255s. Router is a Xiaomi Router 4a. Also the ONT device is something like this. I just called the ISP, they said that the copper out from the ONT device must be connected to a router/modem.

Would using a network switch instead of a coupler work better. I'm not very knowledgeable about networking stuff.

[GuiltySpark_]

20 minutes ago, Gobel said:

The thing labeled modem is the router(?) given to me by my ISP. It's a Huawei HG255s. Router is a Xiaomi Router 4a. Also the ONT device is something like this. I just called the ISP, they said that the copper out from the ONT device must be connected to a router/modem.

So as I suspected, while it may not be the issue here, that image to some of us screamed "double NAT" which should be avoided unless configured in a very specific way. Two routers inline with default configurations can cause all sorts of issues with connectivity down the line that may not be immediately apparent. What you should have bought instead was a switch and an access point that has no router/firewall functionality since you already have that with the Huawei HG255s.

 As to your actual problem, it simply sounds like a physical cabling issue either with the coupler, the in wall wiring, or the wall socket. 

 

1 hour ago, Lurick said:

AT&T definitely disagrees because you need (unless you want to go far above and beyond to bypass it) their device after the ont (BGW210 and older models) on slower plans, in other situations their device (2Gb/s plans and up) becomes the ONT but you can't bypass it easily either.

I can't speak to AT&T but again, the Verizon installed ONT's for their FiOS service don't care whats hanging off the copper Ethernet jack. In their own routers interface you can click "Release IP" on the WAN interface, unplug it and plug in your own and it'll pull a new public IP from Verizon without an issue. 

[SansVarnic]

-= Cleaned =-

Arguing semantics doesnt add to the discussion. 

[Gobel]

39 minutes ago, GuiltySpark_ said:

So as I suspected, while it may not be the issue here, that image to some of us screamed "double NAT" which should be avoided unless configured in a very specific way. Two routers inline with default configurations can cause all sorts of issues with connectivity down the line that may not be immediately apparent. What you should have bought instead was a switch and an access point that has no router/firewall functionality since you already have that with the Huawei HG255s.

Right now the "router" isn't connected via ethernet. I set it up as a Wi-Fi access point, so I think it just extends the same network. I will look into disabling router functionalities in the morning. Would this setup be correct?

[Alex Atkin UK]

2 hours ago, Gobel said:

Right now the "router" isn't connected via ethernet. I set it up as a Wi-Fi access point, so I think it just extends the same network. I will look into disabling router functionalities in the morning. Would this setup be correct?

You must have set it up as a WiFi Repeater which may also explain why plugging in  a cable wont work in that mode, as the ports on the unit likely are configured for connecting wired clients to your WiFi in that mode, or may even be disabled entirely.

 

It would need to be in WiFi Access Point mode to use a cable to connect it to your main router.  It may require a specific port to be used for this uplink, but it should specify if this is the case.

 

I tried to use an Honor Router as a WiFi Access Point and it works really weird compared to most consumer routers.  It doesn't let you plug wired devices into the other ports to connect them to your LAN, it ONLY lets you plug a single specific port back into the main router/LAN.

 

WiFi did work okay however it forced client isolation/broadcast filtering which if I recall correctly meant it wouldnt see my Plex server, smart lights, network shares (without typing in the server hostname), so I ditched it for a dedicated Access Point.