Hubs get a bit of negative press, presumably for the additional cost. However, my experience has been that they are great for keeping accessories connected and keeping your wifi network uncluttered. I could not imagine what my wifi would look like if all my switches, smart bulbs and sensors were attached directly.
I have some Meross smart lights and smart bulbs that connect directly to my wifi, and they’re a pain. They only connect to the 2.4GHz band, so you have to split the names of the frequencies on the access point so that the Meross accessories can find the 2.4GHz band. You can re-merge the bands afterwards, but you have to go through the process all over again if a Meross accessory loses the connection or you add another one.
It would look like a simple VLAN with some firewall rules set up separating your OT from your IT. Keeping them on the same network, even behind hubs, is absolute insanity in todays day and age. Just begging for a breach of your personal data.
A wifi controller with client isolation can accomplish the same thing without the complexity of VLANs. At least, as long as the IoT devices only need to talk to the internet and not each other.
I’d just like to say I’ve been following this thread with rapt bewilderment. I have no idea what any of you are talking about, but I love the conversation.
I ran power and light to the closet. I connected all the Ethernet lines in the attic to a patch panel and mounted it. I cut a hole in the closet wall and fished a coax cable into the attic for the modem connection.
I’ve hit a roadblock though, as I can’t get the connector for the current cable line undone. Screwed tight it is. I have to balance fairly precariously to get at the join, so it’s no easy task to have two hands free to get at the problem.
Taking a break and will have another go once I’ve come up with a cunning plan.
ETA: Got it done. The previous owner left a bunch of shit in the storage locker, including a couple of sturdy planks. Gave myself a stable platform and switched the cable over. xFi gateway now moved to the network closet and functioning normally.
Calling it quits for the night. Will run the Ethernet lines tomorrow and button it all up.
It was all going so well. I ran the ethernet lines from the attic to the network closet and punched them down into the patch panel. I set up everything in the rack and connected my first wall plate; in my office to my computer. Got a hit back on the switch first time.
But when I ran a speed test on my Mac, I get <100mb/s. The switch shows it’s receiving 1gb/s from the gateway, so somewhere along the way through the walls it gets downgraded to 100mb/s. I’m using Cat 5e all the way, so I don’t understand how the signal is getting cut back so terribly. Could I have made a wiring error that still allows signal to come through but at reduced speed?
I’m going to press on with connecting up wall plates and see if they’re all the same.
ETA: I have made three wall plate connections and I’m getting 100mb/s at all of them. Could it be the original cable in the walls?
Are you testing from the wallplates to the switch or the gateway? Wouldn’t hurt to test to the latter if you can, just in case your switch is serving up fast ethernet for some reason. Unlikely, but possible and easy to try, and might save you from the next step…
…which is, it’s more likely that it’s a wiring or termination problem. Gigabit uses all four wire pairs. If it doesn’t get continuity on all eight conductors then it will step down to the fastest connection it can manage, such as 100mbps which only uses two pairs. Sometimes it may even register a link but not pass traffic at all.
So… check and recheck all your terminations, both at the wall plates, the attic, and your network closet. Are you putting the right wires in the right places? Are you punching them down all the way? If you’re confident that they’re all good then you may want to invest in a cable tester. You plug it into both ends and it will tell you which conductors are good and bad. Better testers can also give you a basic diagnosis of the problem. If you are still confident in your terminations after all that, then the bad news is that there may be a break in the cables somewhere. Most likely, though, you’re terminating them wrong.
I was testing from the switch to the wall plates. I can try connecting directly to the gateway and see if there’s a difference. It’s a gigabit switch, so that shouldn’t be the problem.
I am pretty sure that I terminated everything correctly. I bought a kit, so I have the necessary tools, including a pukka punch down tool.
I did notice a difference between the Cat 5e that I bought and the Cat 5e in the walls; the latter’s brown wire doesn’t have a sleeve, it’s just bare. I’m worried that it’s down to shitty wiring in the walls.
I just tried the direct connection to the gateway and it’s still 100mbs at the wall plate bypassing the switch.
My kit came with a cable tester, and it registers one dead wire on each of the three outlets; two are #4 and one is #5.
I guess my next job is to find out if the break is between the wall plate and the attic patch panel, or the attic patch panel and the closet patch panel. Spending more time in the attic is not my preferred form of recreation, but at least that will narrow down the search.
I think I would start with the latter, as that would give you an idea of whether most of your terminations are good. Doesn’t mean there aren’t problems elsewhere, though - it happens to the best of us.
Yeah, I’m not assuming that my work was flawless. I was careful, and I had boned-up on what to do, but it’s not something I’ve done before. Either way, I have to get back up in the attic.
I have been thinking, though, that the electrician securing the loose cables in the attic by attaching them to a beam with a staple gun might be the culprit.
Cat5 is not nearly as tough as Romex - the jacket and insulation are much thinner and the wire twists are defined to a spec to reduce interference. Stapling it is not a best practice, and if they’re stapled tightly enough to kink the cables then all bets are off w.r.t. continuity and performance.
It stands to reason that if the cables are stapled where you can see them in the attic, then they’re probably also stapled where you can’t see them (e.g. studs in the wall). If that’s the case, and assuming that the preexisting cable is indeed the problem, you’re better off just cutting your losses and running all new Cat6, baybee.
