There is something rotten in the kingdom of our network.
Narelle wanted to get all the computers and cables out of the lounge, and move all that into the next room. Fair enough. The only slight problem we had with that is that we have a Freebox.
Most French ISPs manufacture custom ADSL modems, that usually come with a bunch of other features. For example, Free's Freebox also receives a large number of TV channels (through the DSL connection) that it can play on the TV (there is a scart connector on the Freebox). It can connect to a computer on your network, and play the video files you have on the TV. You can also connect your phone to the Freebox, and call worldwide for next to nothing. Oh and of course there is a USB plug and an Ethernet plug, so you can plug a computer and connect to the internet. Almost forgot that.
There is one downside to all that: it means your computer, TV and phone are all going to be plugged into the Freebox.
Right. So, it was decided we'd leave the Freebox next to the TV, along with the phone. We dug a hole in the wall, got an Ethernet cable through it, I learnt how to use a crimp tool, and we moved the wifi router and computers to the next room. Thus was our network:
Phone line 8m ethernet cable
--- Freebox -------------------------------- router
| |
\_ Phone |
Computer
And there was much rejoicing. For a minute we basked in the positive Feng Shui pouring out of our clutterfree lounge room. Then we realised that the Internet connection was extremely slow. Crap.
Among the things that confused me, was that the connection worked quite well downstream (Freebox towards router), well enough to FTP large files quickly, watch TV from the computer (routed from the Freebox -- another thing you can do with the Freebox)... yet the Web sites hosted on the computer (like this blog) were inaccessible from outside for the speed of the connection.
My cousin (a published administrator) suggested that twisted pairs can work one way and not well the other, which would explain everything. Indeed. So I recrimped and tested some more, to no avail.
However I noticed that the long cable worked well when connected to Narelle's laptop's ethernet card. In both directions. What? Then I noticed it also worked when connected to my computer's ethernet card. What? Then I came up with a different network architecture:
8m ethernet cable
router -------------------------------- Computer
|
--- Freebox
|
\_ Phone
And guess what? That works like a charm.
So here is the conclusion: My D-Link 604 router won't work well with a Freebox over a "long" cable, but happily works with a "short" cable. I have no idea why. The best explanation my cousin and I came up with so far is that the router gnomes refuse to work with the Freebox gnomes.
Do you have a better idea?