Hi again Graham - mine is the older 4G box (pic below) - had it since they brought them out. Maybe there is a different thing with the lights but the info with the router will no doubt tell you how they should be. With mine I need 2 blues!
I have a multiport LAN switch attached to my router and it works just fine with no change in the lights. Not sure why you’d want to connect a PC to it via LAN anyway - the WiFi signal is really good. The phone socket is disabled on all Bouygues 4G routers.
Just one thing though - the Bouygues 4G routers are address specific i.e. you’re not supposed to be able to use them at an address different to the subscriber one. Not sure how they enforce that but it’s pretty clear in their T’s & C’s.
Hence I wondered what he was trying to connect to the RJ45 on the Bouygues router and maybe if I could figure out why it wasn’t working whereas a single PC did - I’d expect the situation that you described, connecting an ethernet switch should work if you want to connect more than one PC (unless they’ve done something weird with the setup to prevent use with multiple PCs - which wouldn’t make much sense to be frank).
The requirement is actually the other way round Paul. In my present setup, I have an Orange Livebox 4 (a wired solution, I realise) with an RJ45 to an 8 port Netgear switch (not router and no wifi capability) to which I have attached 3 PCs and a NAS as well as an RJ45 link to my Orange TV box. I have 2 iPads which attach wirelessly as well as 2 smartphones and an HP wireless laser printer (some network eh!).
What I was trying to achieve was to replicate that network structure using the 4G router to test it out in order to encourage me to make the change over to 4G.
Graham - just connect everything wirelessly to the 4G box. The only thing I have ‘plugged in’ is the house alarm system and only then because it’s a requirement of the alarm company.
I’d expect taking the ethernet cable that currently connects the Livebox to the switch and moving the Livebox end to the Bouygues RJ45 socket should work.
Stuff which is connected to the Livebox wirelessly will have to connect to the SSID from the Bouygues box, obviously.
Depends whether the NAS can connect via wi-fi and whether Graham can cope with the inevitable slow-down between it and the PCs if all are connected wirelessly.
My guess is that this could only work with the device registering itself on the mast nearest to the users address (perhaps the first one it connects to) which would still work for us here as it’s the same mast…
It can’t. There is no wifi connection to (our) NAS, just an RJ45. The NAS is a 1TB WD MyBookLive and there is no need to change it. It serves as mass storage between 3 OSs - Apple (iPads), Linux and Windoze (legacy stuff).
Precisely - but it doesn’t and our initial investigation suggests there is a problem which others have identified with connecting the Huawei 4G router to a switch which is what I referred to. On the other hand, the Orange 4G offering (which we will look at more closely now) has 4 RJ45 ports like the old Livebox used to.
From what to what?
Crossover cables (modem) are no longer required (supported) on more modern PC equipment for connection to each other.
Besides that, there are at least 5 devices connecting to the NAS through the discrete network served by the data switch.
It’s a wild stab in the dark, as you say they just aren’t needed for modern equipment (I think I have one lying around somewhere).
My reasoning was that, if it works for a single connected PC but not via a switch then the most likely (trying to diagnose at a distance) is failure to negotiate the physical link between the router and the switch.
That could happen for a couple of reasons that I can think of - one of which is that the Huawei end doesn’t auto-negotiate transmit receive pairs (odd, I know but maybe if they actually want for some bizarre reason to limit use to a directly connected PC).
Going for some obvious stuff - have you tried a different, known good cable between the Huawei and the switch - don’t forget 1Gb Ethernet use all 4 pairs, 100Mb just uses 2 pairs, maybe the Huawei doesn’t want to fall back to 100Mb if the cable won’t support 1Gb - or the switch (I assume it’s a 1Gb switch?)
Most switches have a couple of LEDs to indicate the negotiated speed and activity on each port - what do they show on the port connected to the Huawei?
I used to make cat 5e cables professionally in my former life and still have my cat 5e cable test equipment. I never assume a cable will work unless I have tested it first before using it the first time but thanks for the input. Always helpful to have a different view on things
That said a cable tester is something I’ve never quite gotten round to acquiring, even though they are not that expensive for a basic item, I normally rely on a multimeter set to continuity if I need to check the integrity of the connection - I also tend to assume if it works on gigabit it’s probably OK.
So, back to - do the status lights on the switch indicate that the physical layer is up?
too late Paul. The rightful owner has resumed possession and is now enjoying the benefits of super-fast 4G internet at their house.
tbh, I didn’t check it whilst the router was here and when it didn’t work, as I didn’t need it for myself, I moved on to something else.
Lazy bastard, I know but hey, as I wasn’t paying myself for my time, it seemed less than important other than to lock the info away in the back of my mind for another day.
