Homeplugs - connecting outside office to house for BB

funnyname

Hi

I have 2 BB connections coming into the house, eircom DSL (5mb down, 0.6mb up) and Lightnet FWA (4mb down, 1mb up). I have D-Link homeplugs and these work well in the house when I connect either service to them.

However only the lightnet connection works well when I use it in the outside office. The Eircom totally degrades to about; 15mb up/down.

Any known reason for this?

The office is connected to the main fuse board and has a mini fuse board itself.

Also I bought the following item to I thought get the most from both connections in case one went down or even the best upload matched with the best download. However it didn't go to plan. If one service went down the other didn't kick in staright away, I would have perform some manually intervention like totally switch off the bad service for the ok one to kick in. So I just ditched it and kept them separate.

Is there something I am missing in addition to following the normal setup for this router?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001VFS5B4

Many thanks

FN

Mallagio

I've 200/15 mb in the house and a ran an extention lead to the end of the garden as a test to a lappy.... About 30 feet, to see what I'd get using homeplugs.

Got 10 down, 15 up.

Cuddlesworth

funnyname wrote: »

Hi

I have 2 BB connections coming into the house, eircom DSL (5mb down, 0.6mb up)

The Eircom totally degrades to about; 15mb up/down.

Any known reason for this?

Your post makes no sense. Eircom degrades to a better connection?

Homeplugs performance will decrease the more fuses they have to go through and the longer the cable distance. The same as wireless and walls/LOS issues.


[QUOTE=funnyname;94996861Also I bought the following item to I thought get the most from both connections in case one went down or even the best upload matched with the best download. However it didn't go to plan. If one service went down the other didn't kick in staright away, I would have perform some manually intervention like totally switch off the bad service for the ok one to kick in. So I just ditched it and kept them separate.

Is there something I am missing in addition to following the normal setup for this router?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001VFS5B4

Many thanks

FN[/QUOTE]

WAN loadbalancing is a complicated game, WAN failover not so much.

For failover, ideally your router would want a constant ping to a external IP, with a reference point of x pings lost over x amount of time to force a switch to the second link for outgoing traffic.

For loadbalancing, the router will just drop out clients to one or the other link. You don't get to mix both services together and communication streams would only utilize one connection at a time. A good example of this, if you open a second "speed test" while the first is still ongoing you will find it dropped onto the second line. In general, it won't work the way you think it will and it tends to cause more problems than it solves.

funnyname

Sorry got my decimal places wrong, signal degrades to 0.15mb.

Think my best option is to run a cat 5 or 6 cable from the house to the outside office.

Many thanks for the replies and experiment.

ThisRegard

Mallagio wrote: »

I've 200/15 mb in the house and a ran an extention lead to the end of the garden as a test to a lappy.... About 30 feet, to see what I'd get using homeplugs.

Got 10 down, 15 up.

I have a home office out the back of the house and I get from 35 up to 55 down, 25 up via wireless homeplugs in the office. Sufficient to work with and stream using a internet radio simultaneously, and occasionally also stream Netfix in HD if one of the kids is home sick and I need to keep an eye on them

I never test via Ethernet so not quite sure what I'd get that way.

What type of homeplugs are you using ? Maybe you'd get better performance with a different set ?

mass_debater

ThisRegard wrote: »

I have a home office out the back of the house and I get from 35 up to 55 down, 25 up via wireless homeplugs in the office. Sufficient to work with and stream using a internet radio simultaneously, and occasionally also stream Netfix in HD if one of the kids is home sick and I need to keep an eye on them

I never test via Ethernet so not quite sure what I'd get that way.

What type of homeplugs are you using ? Maybe you'd get better performance with a different set ?

You have a wired office, the OP tested with an extension lead. YMMV with homeplugs, you can get great speeds or nothing, for no explainable reason

ThisRegard

It wasn't the OP who tried with the extension though, so just demonstrating that much higher speeds are available.

Cerco

Are you using surge protection on power sockets in the office?
Surge protectors are known to degrade performance of these devices.

funnyname

Gonna run a cable from the gable of the house to the gable of the office. Then can rule out issues with home plugs.

Anyone know of a dual Plug Power and Ethernet socket face plate? I've googled but the only ones that I've seen are plug and usb power sockets.

Would save a bit of bother with the internal point.

Bog Standard User

homeplugs will only pair if both power outlets are on the same power circuit and not on ext leads - directly in power outlet

if your shed has a separate fuse box they wont work

better off with either a dual high gain wifi setup (1 in house 1 in shed) or running an optic line between the two buildings

funnyname

Do I need to run two cat5 cables for bb and phone line or can these be brought from the house to the external office on one cable?

mass_debater

funnyname wrote: »

Do I need to run two cat5 cables for bb and phone line or can these be brought from the house to the external office on one cable?

Run two

funnyname

mass_debater wrote: »

Run two

Thanks and I presume it would be best to tape the two together so they're not flapping off each other when it's windy.

BTW why are two required?

mass_debater

funnyname wrote: »

Thanks and I presume it would be best to tape the two together so they're not flapping off each other when it's windy.

BTW why are two required?

It's possible with a single cable but there will be compromises, gigabit uses all 4 pairs leaving you needing another cable for phone

funnyname

Is it OK to run the cable via an electricity pole between the house and office?

Could it cause interference or be illegal as even though pole is on my property it's belongs to the ESB.

Just would fit better to go via the pole as cable would be higher and more secure in the wind.

Unfortunately there's no duct between the two.

funnyname

So I ran two lengths of cat 6 cable around the garden from the house to the office, luckily it was about 90m.

Currently one of them is connected to the phone point in the house and ends with a phone point in the office. The other has rj45 connections at either end.

So what I'm currently doing is connecting the Eir router (the black one) to the main phone socket in the downstairs sitting room and then connecting the router to a home plug. Then upstairs I connect the 2nd cat6 cable to another home plug and down in the office I connect my work computer directly to the cat6 cable.

Now I have a spare Linksys wrt54gl router that I've tried connecting to the free 2nd cat 6 cable in the office but I'm not getting any connection.

Any ideas on how I get this to work so that I can have WiFi in both buildings?

mass_debater

funnyname wrote: »

So I ran two lengths of cat 6 cable around the garden from the house to the office, luckily it was about 90m.

Currently one of them is connected to the phone point in the house and ends with a phone point in the office. The other has rj45 connections at either end.

So what I'm currently doing is connecting the Eir router (the black one) to the main phone socket in the downstairs sitting room and then connecting the router to a home plug. Then upstairs I connect the 2nd cat6 cable to another home plug and down in the office I connect my work computer directly to the cat6 cable.

Now I have a spare Linksys wrt54gl router that I've tried connecting to the free 2nd cat 6 cable in the office but I'm not getting any connection.

Any ideas on how I get this to work so that I can have WiFi in both buildings?

That's a whole lot if different mediums. Start by testing at the homeplugs, then at the cat6, then add the Linksys. It's madness to connect everything up and then try troubleshoot

funnyname

mass_debater wrote: »

That's a whole lot if different mediums. Start by testing at the homeplugs, then at the cat6, then add the Linksys. It's madness to connect everything up and then try troubleshoot

The home plugs work perfectly, the cat 6 via the home plugs works perfectly, last bit is connecting the Linksys router that doesn't work. I've heard of bridging so wondering if I did that to one or both of the routers would it work for me.

mass_debater

funnyname wrote: »

The home plugs work perfectly, the cat 6 via the home plugs works perfectly, last bit is connecting the Linksys router that doesn't work. I've heard of bridging so wondering if I did that to one or both of the routers would it work for me.

Set the Linksys to access point mode so it becomes a wireless extension of your existing house network. Having it as a router creates a new network that brings it's own issues that are impossible to troubleshoot.

funnyname

mass_debater wrote: »

Set the Linksys to access point mode so it becomes a wireless extension of your existing house network. Having it as a router creates a new network that brings it's own issues that are impossible to troubleshoot.

Sound, I'll give that a go over the weekend.

funnyname

mass_debater wrote: »

Set the Linksys to access point mode so it becomes a wireless extension of your existing house network. Having it as a router creates a new network that brings it's own issues that are impossible to troubleshoot.

All sorted re internet, so I have the main Eir router in the house downstairs, a homeplug connected to that and then off a homeplug upstairs I have the cat6 cable running to the outside office and is connected to the Linksys router in access point mode.

But there's a bit of trouble when I connect a spare phone to the 2nd cat6 cable which is connected to a phone faceplate in the office and runs to the house and is connected directly to the phone faceplate up there. I lose my internet connection down in the office, is there any way around this?

Many thanks for all the help so far

FN

ED E

If they're independent runs it shouldnt matter? The way you describe it sounds like the same pair was shared between ethernet and POTS links.

If the main internet connection stays up then the wiring "house side" is fine, so its probably wrong in the wall box in the office.

funnyname

Confused

So I connected the cat6 cable that's connected directly to the Eir router to my computer in the office (rather than via the Linksys router) and Internet and phone work perfectly.

So in the office Linksys router only works when the phone is not plugged in. However I have the cat 6 cable connected to the Linksys router via one of the 1-4 erthernet ports at the back rather than the internet Ethernet port as that doesn't work.

However I connected the Linksys router directly (internet Ethernet port) to the Eir router from one of the Ethernet ports 1-4.

Any ideas?

ED E

Last sentence there doesnt really make sense, you should be using LAN ports not the ETH-WAN port on the linksys as you dont want to have a double NAT situation and needless extra firewalling splitting your network in half.

funnyname

Thanks, was trying to say that if I connect the linksys router to the Eir one it works fine when connected from the Eir lan to the linksys wan.

mass_debater

funnyname wrote: »

Thanks, was trying to say that if I connect the linksys router to the Eir one it works fine when connected from the Eir lan to the linksys wan.

Double NAT, this is not the setup you want. You'll need to disable DHCP on the Linksys and use a lan port, rebooting your pc after so it gets a new DHCP lease from the Eir router.

funnyname

Right so, more info.

I connected a 2nd PC to the linksys router which is connected to the Eir wan via the lan as suggested.

So I plugged in the landline phone and my personal laptop stayed connected to the net however my work one lost the connection although the network icon on the bottom right of the screen said I was still connected to the Eir router.

mass_debater

Have you rebooted it

funnyname

I did indeed but I'll turn off everything and start afresh.

mass_debater wrote: »

Have you rebooted it

funnyname

Have you tried turning it off and on again?!

All sorted, many thanks for yer help and patience.

FN