Homehub3000 on Bell Fibe in Canada

[tinpanalley]

I've got Bell's FTTH network in my new apartment. 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. In the end I had to let him install it in the back by the back deck.
So...
1. The fiber cable is a thin white cable with a green jack that 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?
2. 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?
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?
4. 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.

Thanks!

 

[ylin0811]

the cable that goes into your modem's green jack is not a fiber cable. the single or multimode fiber is terminated at your apartment's demarc.

take a look at the pin layout for the cable that plugs into the green jack, and see if it is one of the following standards

if it is, you can use a coupler to extend the connection, so you can move the modem to wherever you want.

 

[tinpanalley]

the cable that goes into your modem's green jack is not a fiber cable. the single or multimode fiber is terminated at your apartment's demarc.

take a look at the pin layout for the cable that plugs into the green jack, and see if it is one of the following standards

if it is, you can use a coupler to extend the connection, so you can move the modem to wherever you want.

No, those are ethernet. That's not what this cable is going into my modem. It's a thin white wire, looks like the wire on the back of a Wii receiver.

 

[ylin0811]

can you take a picture of the connector? let me take a look at it to see what type of connector is it.

 

[ylin0811]

is this what your homehub 3000 looks like? the green jack does have an ethernet jack look to it.

 

[tinpanalley]

is this what your homehub 3000 looks like? the green jack does have an ethernet jack look to it.

That's probably the logic board, yeah. Trust me, I know computers, it's not an ethernet cable, it's way too thin. It's a white cable with a green plug on the end but it looks more like an optical audio cable. Goes roughly around where that black plug is on the right.

 

[ylin0811]

That's probably the logic board, yeah. Trust me, I know computers, it's not an ethernet cable, it's way too thin. It's a white cable with a green plug on the end but it looks more like an optical audio cable. Goes roughly around where that black plug is on the right.

can you see if the jack is a rj11 wiring/cable? this is the only other thing i can think of.

 

[tinpanalley]

can you see if the jack is a rj11 wiring/cable? this is the only other thing i can think of.

No, rj11 is telephone cable. That's not it either. I'll send a picture next time I'm in the apartment.

 

[ylin0811]

No, rj11 is telephone cable. That's not it either. I'll send a picture next time I'm in the apartment.

ok let me know. it will be interesting if they use some kind of a proprietary connector.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Probably multimode fiber, most likely LC connector, board looks like it has a spot for an sfp upper right.

1. Short answer, yes....I wouldn't though. Use #2 below

2. Don't run 4 cables, run 1 from the hh3000 to the room you want and use a switch to add more LAN ports to the network.

3. Yep, it all layer two until you leave your network thru the hh3000

4. It very difficult to answer this question without first hand knowledge our your house. But it's conceivable that the fiber coming into your house can't realistically be moved without a great deal of effort.

I would leave the hh3000 alone as long as it's working, at least for now. Get a LAN cable run to the office area, add a switch (which is completely ok), and start using that awesome connection.

When you have some time, Investigate where the fiber is now, and where you want it to be....and how to make the move. I would not suggest touching the location of the fiber without discussing with Bell first.

 

[tinpanalley]

3. Yep, it all layer two until you leave your network thru the hh3000

Sorry, maybe there's a typo in there? Didn't get it.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Meaning whether you attach four cables to the hh3000...
...or one cable with a switch, and populate the switch...
...Will make little difference.

If you find you're saturating the single link back to the hh3000 (unlikely, but possible) then you can always run a 2nd ethernet from the hh3000 with another switch.

 

[tinpanalley]

Ok, so the switch is sufficient. Sounds like a good idea, but I don't quite know what they do and what brand or speed/bandwidth I should be shopping for. Cat6 compatible I imagine?

 

[Red Squirrel]

Just curious is this using an Alcatel ONT and an Actiontec router? I have FibreOP so I'm wondering if it's the same tech. I think it is.

You can't change the ONT to anything custom as the fibre protocol is very specific to their setup. There are about 64 customers per fibre strand I believe so the ONT is programmed so it only talks on your "channel". Anything after the ONT you can modify if you want to some extent. The ethernet from the ONT is basically a vlan trunk. vlan 35 is the internet. 34 is TV I think... The other ethernet ports probably won't be enabled. If you just care about the internet you can bypass the craptiontec completely and use your own better router. You can run the ethernet for as far as you want. Does not really matter where the ONT is. You just need a router that supports vlans as you will want to setup the wan port as a trunk port too, then grab the internet off vlan 35. Essentially it would make virtual interface and that would be your WAN.

I got it working with pfsense once but I could not get the TV to work properly, it would cut in and out. Has to do with the layer 2 QoS that you need a very specific switch to support it. There is an Asus router (Asus N66U I think but I may be wrong) that someone wrote a custom firmware for that also works nicely and works for TV too and lets you completely bypass the Actiontec. The TV menus and stuff are actually faster. Who would have thought. I was surprised myself when I tried it.

 

[ch33zw1z]

VL, from googling, it seems the ONT is built into the hh3000?

Not too much, OP isnt familiar with what a switch does, VLAN and pfsense, not sure if ready yet

 

[tinpanalley]

Not too much, OP isnt familiar with what a switch does, VLAN and pfsense, not sure if ready yet

(...unrelated, but I have to say I freaking LOVE the quote interface in Anandtech now...)
Now the thing is, I am really well versed in computer/network/hardware etc things but there are details that, as @ch33zw1z suggested, I have no knowledge of and are beyond my scope. But as people will tell you who I've chatted with here for years, I've learned tons from asking and researching on my own. I always say, it's not good enough for me to be told what steps to follow, I need to understand WHY it's done that way and to understand the process. That's how I've learned. So VLAN and pfsense automatically sounds really intriguing but I can look them up on my own for personal education to not waste people's time and go with a switch for now. Some good prices online right now on newegg Canada and Amazon.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Awesome, keep learning! If you like to know why I said a switch is layer 2, check out the OSI 7 layer model..

I currently use an 8 port trendnet gigabit "green" switch. Tes-s80g I think

Got a pic of the fiber connection?

 

[tinpanalley]

Got a pic of the fiber connection?

I'll get one tomorrow and post it when I go back to the apartment. We're in the process of moving in, staying in a different place.

 

[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!

 

[ch33zw1z]

1. Looks like an SC connector.

2. Of course it matters how tight the cable gets bent.

3. Don't worry about the field tech. He used to people who complain if the gear is an "eyesore"

Extend it if you want, just take care with the fiber cable.

4. It's possible your land lord damaged the device when he pulled it off the wall.

5. Do any devices work plugged in via LAN?

 

[tinpanalley]

1. Looks like an SC connector.
2. Of course it matters how tight the cable gets bent.
3. Don't worry about the field tech. He used to people who complain if the gear is an "eyesore"
Extend it if you want, just take care with the fiber cable.
4. It's possible your land lord damaged the device when he pulled it off the wall.
5. Do any devices work plugged in via LAN?

I'm not gonna try for the time being to extend the SC connector. I'm just going to do Cat6 to a switch to my living room.
A senior tech came around. It turns out the HH3000 is so buggy still from being released too early and even basic customisation to the settings causes it to freak out for the time being. We were able to change the SSID password without problems but the moment we change the SSID, it didn't allow devices to connect even though everything was set up fine. So, it's been a full day and no problems yet. I think he must be right about not messing with it much for now. Anyway, I'm gonna get the switch and use it to hook up my living room stuff. Any recommendations on a brand for the Cat6 cable? I wanna just buy a spool and crimp them myself as I've always done.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Not sure on specific brand.

I would get stranded (aka patch), for crimping.

Solid core cable (aka riser), is for punch downs into keystone and panels

Also, I started seeing copper clad aluminum (CCA) cabling. I haven't looked into it yet, but I would just stick with pure copper if u have a choice

 

[tinpanalley]

I've just measured and I have to go 44ft. So I'm thinking of buying 100ft to have some for other hookups later. But I just read that stranded shouldn't be used for longer than 20ft. Is that true? I don't have to make tons of turns along the way but there will be some 90 degree turns that don't necessarily have to be sharp. Any cable best for that?

 

[ch33zw1z]

It will be fine. You can always just pick up a 50 foot patch cable prefab. Either way it works fine.

None of the run will be in the wall?

 

[tinpanalley]

It will be fine. You can always just pick up a 50 foot patch cable prefab. Either way it works fine.

None of the run will be in the wall?

I can't run in the wall, no. How is that cable I see that is flat?