Homehub3000 on Bell Fibe in Canada

[tinpanalley]

Sorry if this isn't the right place for this question...

I've just gotten an FTTH fiber optic internet provider in Canada. The problem I'm having is that the technician would only install the router/modem by the back of my apartment where the fiber comes in. He said it was completely not possible to have it next to my desktop where I wanted it so that I could connect to my computer via ethernet rather than WiFi. In the end I had to let him install it in the back by the back deck. The apartment is in a large mansion sectioned off into apartments and goes: back hallway with the modem on the wall with access to a back deck -- bedroom -- small kitchen -- living room. It'll be 20-30m to where the desktop will be from where the modem is right now. So... questions:

1. Is this true that this modem really can't be moved to a more convenient place in my apartment? This makes no sense to me. What if you want your desktop hard wired to a modem? I upload videos to my website all the time that are several GB in size. I dont want to do that via WiFi on this 50mbps Fiber signal.

2. The fiber cable is a thin white cable (not ethernet) with a small green plug that comes out of a hole in the wall and goes into the Homehub3000 modem. Can I extend this cable with a coupler or a hub or something and run more of this same cable the length I need to get to my living room, about 20m?

3. If I run one Cat6 and split it in the living room with some hub device, can I run the fiber signal effectively to four devices at the same time the way I would with four SEPARATE ethernet ports and cables or are they essentially going to be sharing one port. And will that cause I conflicts on each device?

4. The four ethernet ports on the back of this thing are useless to me because I'm not gonna run FOUR Cat6 cables 20m each through my bedroom, through the kitchen, into the living room to where they need to go to connect to different devices. How do I effectively "put" the four ports in my living room if moving the modem isn't an option?

Thanks!

[Mr.McMister]

Grab a gigabit unmanaged network switch and a cat5e (unless longer than 100m then cat6) ethernet cable long enough to reach from your modem to wherever you want to have your extra ports. A 5 port Gbit switch can be had for under $40cdn.

[tinpanalley]

1 hour ago, Mr.McMister said:

Grab a gigabit unmanaged network switch and a cat5e (unless longer than 100m then cat6) ethernet cable long enough to reach from your modem to wherever you want to have your extra ports. A 5 port Gbit switch can be had for under $40cdn.

So let's say you get 50Gbps, you have four ports on a modem/router.. as you plug different devices in, you lose more and more of that 50gbps. But is the use of the bandwidth exactly the same if you pull a signal JUST from 1 port and split it later or does that cause more problems, conflicts, speed issues etc?

[Mr.McMister]

2 hours ago, tinpanalley said:

So let's say you get 50Gbps, you have four ports on a modem/router.. as you plug different devices in, you lose more and more of that 50gbps. But is the use of the bandwidth exactly the same if you pull a signal JUST from 1 port and split it later or does that cause more problems, conflicts, speed issues etc?

The consumer home router is really a combination of multiple devices. In your case a modem, router, switch and wireless access point. A switch simply switches which packets go down which cables it does not hand out IPs or do any routing logic. The bandwidth between any 2 devices on the same switch in isolation will be the full duplex gigabit regardless of other traffic on the switch in theory (in practice it's ever so slightly slower with more traffic). Once assigned IPs traffic between 2 devices on a switch never has to go back to the router (you can even disconnect the router after the IPs have been assigned and devices on the switch will still be able to comunicate). If multiple devices on a switch are accessing something over a single connection on the switch then the bandwidth of that single connection will obviously have to be split. Now adding layers of switches increases latency slightly, but this is imperceptible fractions of a millisecond.

[tinpanalley]

22 minutes ago, Mr.McMister said:

A switch simply switches which packets go down which cables it does not hand out IPs or do any routing logic.

So a switch is more like a splitter/hub that just splits a signal to more cables? It does nothing more than that?

Is there a particular speed or bandwidth spec I should look for when I buy one? Brand?

[Mr.McMister]

16 hours ago, tinpanalley said:

So a switch is more like a splitter/hub that just splits a signal to more cables? It does nothing more than that?

Is there a particular speed or bandwidth spec I should look for when I buy one? Brand?

Sort of. A hub is a little different in that it does a little more processing and you can use it to capture packets. It's quite in depth so I won't get into that here.

 

For what you need an unmanaged gigabit 10/100/1000 switch is what you should be looking for. Most of the affordable consumer grade switches come in 5 port or 8 port. One port is used for uplink so you effectively expand to 4 ports or 7 ports respectively. For the most part brand doesn't really matter, trendnet, tp-link and netgear make some decent switches in the low end of the market and you can go for one of the metal cased ones for extra durability of the case. To set it up it's just plug and play, simply plug in your uplink to any port and your client devices to any port and it will work.

 

You'll probably also see many managed switches as your looking. These are much more expensive and have features used in enterprise applications which you don't need such as VLANs, link teaming, failovers, traffic logging, etc.

[tinpanalley]

Sorry for the delay.. here is the photo of the cable:



But now there's a whole other thing to deal with.
My landlord came by to get the Bell equipment he thought was his while we weren't here (we let him). He saw my HH3000, took it off the wall, yanked the fiber cable and snapped it. We finally got it back from him but got stuck with the problem that my fiber cable was broken. Fine, technician came back to fix it, refinished the end of the cable, left it running fine. He wouldn't put the modem in a better place for me either but at least admitted that extending the fiber or running an ethernet cable to the living room would be fine but stated AGAIN about the aesthetics. I just don't get it! That's NONE of your business if I wanna run cable! Can you do it or not, I don't need your interior decorating tips.
Anyway, he leaves and about 10 hours later, none of my devices can connect to the modem via WiFi. None of them. They can all see the network, see my SSID, but none can connect. So I call tech support, they run me through a factory reset over the phone. Everything works again. 10-15 hours later, nothing can connect AGAIN. I spoke to Bell again and now they're treating this as a big deal and are sending a senior tech tomorrow. So, the cable is fine, the modem shows no errors whatsoever, my devices see the network, but the modem refuses connection to anything. Seemingly even Bell doesn't know what to do. I'm using a generous neighbour's WiFi.
Does anyone have any idea of something I can try? Does this problem sound familiar? I feel like I've tried everything.
Anyway.. THAT's the cable I was talking about. What is it and can I extend it myself? The last tech said it had no issues with being bent.
Thanks!

 

[markyj]

Old post, but same questions always getting asked.  I'm the "senior Bell Fibre Tech" for all intents and purposes.

 

1. Is this true that this modem really can't be moved to a more convenient place in my apartment? This makes no sense to me. What if you want your desktop hard wired to a modem? I upload videos to my website all the time that are several GB in size. I dont want to do that via WiFi on this 50mbps Fiber signal.

 

Ofcourse it's not true, the tech's job (as he's supposed to do it) is to place the modem centrally for best wifi coverage.  You're renting, so he should have permission granted in advance by the property owner if he's going to be running wire or fibre or drilling any holes. That being said, your wifi connection (assuming you're using current hardware) is not the bottleneck, your HomeHub3000 will connect to most 5gb clients at over 200mb/s.  Your transfer speeds to a web server (assuming you have a symmetrical 50/50 connection) can never saturate the wifi connection.

 

2. The fiber cable is a thin white cable (not ethernet) with a small green plug that comes out of a hole in the wall and goes into the Homehub3000 modem. Can I extend this cable with a coupler or a hub or something and run more of this same cable the length I need to get to my living room, about 20m?

 

That is corning clearcurve, yes it can be coupled, but you lose light at every joint.  When you lose light, you don't lose speed until a certain point (aprox -12db) you lose service alltogether. Depending on your light level at DMarc, you're probably better to run ethernet from the modem to your computer.  Copper is much more durable too. You can get a 20m ethernet cable at any computer store for $15 or less.

 

3. If I run one Cat6 and split it in the living room with some hub device, can I run the fiber signal effectively to four devices at the same time the way I would with four SEPARATE ethernet ports and cables or are they essentially going to be sharing one port. And will that cause I conflicts on each device?

Assuming you get a gigabit switch, your max to each device (if using all simultaneously without any type of Quality of Service) is about 250mbps.  Pretty close to the wifi connection speed.

 

4. The four ethernet ports on the back of this thing are useless to me because I'm not gonna run FOUR Cat6 cables 20m each through my bedroom, through the kitchen, into the living room to where they need to go to connect to different devices. How do I effectively "put" the four ports in my living room if moving the modem isn't an option?

Use powerline adapters (slower than wifi), or just use wifi.  The four ethernet ports are by no means useless, but it is not Bell's job to wire anything past the modem, your devices are your devices, if you can't choose where to put them (and I'm guessing the Tech saw no good reason to move the modem inwards, possibly because of your own uncertainty, but he could have atleast left you with a 25' patch cord.)

 

My HH3000 is in the basement, my house is 4 storey's i get my full 50mbps downstream and 11 mbps upstream (I am on Fibre to the Node service, so my entry wire is copper with VDSL2 frequencies from the Alcatel 7330 down the street) on any wifi device on the top floor, I have 2 servers connected by wire in the basement, everything else is wifi.  I'm certain mu applications are taxing the HH3000 far more than your occasional video upload, and I never have a problem.

 

Lastly, your landlord shouldn't have done that, that would normally be a billable service for damaged inside wire.  Be happy you didn't get the $75 charge.  You're likely out of service again because the tech did a poor job cleaving the fibre and attaching the SP connector, your repair prompted a change in the splitter and pigtail at the CSP and the tech didn't change it, so now you don't have light, or perhaps another tech came along and stole your pigtail.  Regardless, nothing you can do without a light meter, access to Bell's TAP2 system and a Corning clear curve termination kit.

[markyj]

*also

 

You don't have 50gbps service, at time of writing the fastest a HH3000 can connect is 1.4gbps downstream and 170mbps upstream.

 

The Bell Fibre Network is (one day with better hardware on both ends) capable of about 40gbps at the very most, although it will never be used for that speed to the home, as AT&T's plans for wireless nodes where we currently put fibre terminals on poles and pedistals that connect wireless to modem-like devices in the home through a small dish on the exterior of the home will likely be adopted far before we're even close to getting 10gbps in the home.