So everything is sort running fine right now aside from one minor issue I would like to fix. I currently have the Linksys Velop Tri-Band Router System installed in my house, but I am not able to run a wired connection between the nodes (satellites) units to get the best wifi signal possible. For some reason, as soon as one of the nodes detects it has been wired to the main, the Ethernet connection drops for the whole system. This normally isn’t a problem for web browsing, but if I want to game on a mobile (wired PC fine) I will randomly get a poor signal.
I tried contacting Linksys to fix the issue, but they gave up and just offered me a refund if I sent it back (they couldn’t replicate the issue and didn’t want to send an engineer or networking expert to record the data in person).
My network setup
1.Verizon FIOS fiber optic cable to outside Verizon FIOS box.
2. Verizon FIOS box outside to Verizon FIOS ONT box inside.
3. Verizon FIOS ONT wan ethernet port to Linksys Velop Main node.
4. Linksys Velop main node Wifi Router to all devices.
Possible Problem I suspect:
One of the testing engineer kept asking me if I had modem or router after the inside ONT box. I said no, but now I am wondering if I was actually supposed to use one for this velop mesh system instead of connecting it directly to the inside ONT box.
Any suggestions before I pay for an another router only to have it a bridgemode?
Without digging too deep into this system, I suspect this maybe due to how the system is designed to operate. As consumer mesh networks are typically wirelessly uplinking to each AP, adding wired backhauls may mess with how the devices determine the best AP for a client to be connected with. Which would result in the poor signal for wireless clients.
You won’t need another router as the “main” unit should detect that it has a WAN link and assume router status. (However, older models may require a separate router. I do not know)
When the nodes are not wired together, does both the wired and wireless connected devices to a satellite node work ok?
Yes. I have computers wired to the satellites (one connected to main and one connected to child) and mobile devices on WiFi. The problem is that this is an old home so the main satellite has trouble sending a reliable WiFi signal to the other 2 satellites in the house (fast but with drops). However, if you are in the room near the main satellite the connection is solid.
I think the reason why they gave up is because they couldn’t get the exact report of what happened when the nodes are being wired to each other since the connection would drop. They said the report before the drop and after restarting were the same. This is what made think I would need something in between the two wired satellites and the ONT box to avoid having them get confused on who is in charge.
One thing I would like to mention is that this whole system used to be on a Verizon Modem/Router combo unit. After finding out how much I could be saving and improve my signal from watching Level1Techs videos, I made the move to using a third party router and got rid of the cable TV.
I did notice by accident that I skipped the step relating to releasing something from the Verizon router. The instructions said my router wouldn’t work unless I did that, but after calling Verizon to enable the Ethernet port on the ONT box the Linksys Velop system got a connection right away (I didn’t notice I grabbed the wire connected to the Linksys Velop Router).
The reason why I went with this Velop Mesh system is because of the positive feedback from running them in a wired setup. The irony is that the competition has better WiFi speed and signal, but are known to have issues when you use the wired back-haul connection.
Hmmm interesting. Within the settings, is there a way to manually specify the WAN uplink port on the main node?
On a different note an interesting thing I have noticed in the manual for the velop system, when setting it up with wired backhauls it only ever shows the nodes daisy chained together.
Do the problems with the wired backhaul stop if you turn off the un-wired node?
Yes, I believe so as this router has several advanced settings (Basic, Internet Settings, Local Network, Advanced Routing, and Administration menu).
Unfortunately, no. We tried with just 2 of the wired nodes connected to each other and it still took the network connection down.
Everything points towards a problem with the routers it seems. I was hoping after I sent 3 of my units we could replicate the issue in their lab, but I’m guessing their boss told they were out of time for this isolated issue (got refund email right after shipping it).
This can be the most infuriating part of boxed solutions is that they’re great when they work, but when they don’t you’re pretty much SOL and at the mercy of the vendor.
Unfortunately I do not know what else I can suggest as I do not have one of these systems.
While I dont have FIOS. I have read a lot of posts on how it works. The ONT is kinda like a modem. Anything after would be a router. Verizon will use that ONT to convert the Fiber connection to Coax or Ethernet depends on the service level you are subscribed to.
If your FIOS service uses Ethernet you should be able to connect any router. If your FIOS service uses Coax, then things git a bit more difficult.
I read somewhere that if you are no longer using the Verizon router, you would need to detach or reset something before using a new one. I never did that since the Linksys router started working right away. I wonder if maybe the reason why it can’t tell who is primary node has something to do with that.