Ooma Hub installed in 'WAN Loop'

[XEOS]

I just got my new Ooma Hub registered and "installed" today. I browsed the Ooma Forums thoroughly before I determined "best" installation configuration for my network environment. All info/suggestions that I came across in the Forums proved to be VERY helpful! Thanks to all those "who went before me". Your experiences and knowledge noted here in the Ooma Forums significantly reduced my mini-challenge with my Ooma Hub installation today.

I ultimately had to install my Ooma Hub BEHIND my router (Linksys WRT54GP2 w/Vonage ports) in order to get the Hub to initialize and register properly. This was NOT my preference as, ideally, I would like to take advantage of the Hub's ability to dynamically allocate bandwidth across voice (Ooma) and data (network) traffic.

INFORMATIONAL: I am NOT using a Scout; I am NOT feeding phone signal back to the whole house; and I am NOT maintaining an existing landline (I FW my Vonage line to the Ooma temp number while the number port is in process).

In preparation for the Ooma Hub installation in my home office, I ran a "WAN Loop" from my OnQ structured wiring box in my mechanical room to the home office location ~85' away. The WAN loop is intended to feed WAN signal OUT of my cable modem (Linksys CM100) via Cat5e cable run to an Ethernet jack in the home office and connect to the Hub. A second Cat5e cable run feeds the WAN signal OUT of the Hub back to the OnQ box via a second Ethernet jack in the home office sufficient to supply WAN signal to the router/LAN.

After installing the WAN loop I confirmed the continuity of BOTH cable runs with my DataShark RJ45 Network Tester http://twurl.cc/1pst and further confirmed good WAN signal to ALL network connected devices by connecting an Ethernet patch cord between the two WAN loop IN/OUT Ethernet jacks installed in the home office.

All was GOOD... or so I thought...

When I insert the Ooma Hub into the WAN loop - installed as WAN OUT from the modem fed into the Hub MODEM port, and WAN IN to the router fed from the Hub HOME port - and then power up the Hub, I get NO WAN signal to the router/LAN and the Hub will NOT initialize.

Thinking that I might have a bad Ethernet cable connecting the Hub, I used different Ethernet cables that I KNOW to be GOOD to connect the Hub to the WAN loop with the same result - NO WAN signal back to the router/LAN and the Hub will NOT successfully initialize.

SIDEBAR QUESTION: MUST the white, flat-ribbon, Ethernet cable provided with the Hub be used to connect the Hub to the WAN signal via the MODEM port? I inspected the RJ-45 plugs on the provided white, flat-ribbon Ethernet cable with a magnifying glass and it is evident that this cable is wired differently than the typical RJ-45 T568-A or T568B wiring conventions.

So, in order to connect and initialize the Hub, I accessed the Hub Setup via a PC connected to the Hub HOME port and config'd the Hub Setup as recommended multiple times over throughout the Forums for installing a Hub BEHIND a router:

1. Setup > Settings > Network
Changed MODEM port MAC address to use "Built in" MAC address rather than Automatic.

2. Setup > Settings > Advanced
Copied HOME port IP address into the hub DMZ.

3. Set router to serve STATIC IP address to Hub.

4. Plugged Hub into LAN BEHIND router.

5. Power-cycled ALL network devices and PCs and then powered up the Hub.

Hub connected to Internet and initialized successfully! Yeah!! All Ooma functions are now operating as advertised (calls in/out, voicemail, Setup access, etc.) Hub Setup and and My Ooma interface both show account properly configured. Yeah!!

So, I will consider the Hub, and the Ooma VOIP Service, installed"... for now.

However, I still do want to ferret out the WAN loop problem so as to install the Hub in my PREFERRED configuration - i.e., BEHIND the modem and in FRONT of router.

So then...

ULTIMATE QUESTION TO THE FORUM: Any ideas from the REAL "knowledge base" here on the Ooma Forums as to why the Hub interrupts the WAN loop in my described configuration?

Many thanks for all of your help!

Cheers,
JSB

[murphy]

I don't know your expertise level so I will ask the obvious question.
The two long runs of cable for the "WAN" loop:
were these prebuilt cables or did you run bulk cable and install the connectors yourself?
Is the cable at least cat 5E?
Were the connectors installed to create a straight cable or a crossover cable?
Were the twisted pairs maintained? It's possible to build a cable that is electrically correct that won't work because of crosstalk if the twisted pair structure is not maintained throughout.

Did you power cycle your modem after installing the hub in the WAN loop?
Was the modem jack of the hub connected to the modem and the home jack of the hub connected to the router's WAN jack?

The flat cable is not required and I did not use it. It appears IMHO to be inferior to cat 5E.

[XEOS]

Thanks for the reply!

My networking expertise level is "intermediate" or "enough to be dangerous".

I built the cables used in the WAN loop myself using bulk cable Cat5e cable and RJ-45 plugs. I installed the cable ends myself wired to the Gigabit T568B convention. Thus, they are crossover cables. Not sure what you mean by "were the twisted pairs maintained" but the twisted pairs in the cables were unwound ONLY at the cable ends just back far enough enough to install the RJ-45 plugs - i.e. <1/4 inch.

I power-cycled ALL network devices, including the modem and the router, after installing the Hub.

Hub MODEM jack was connected to modem and Hub HOME jack was connected to router.

Thanks for the confirmation on the flat Ethernet cable supplied with the Hub. I too thought it looked inferior to a Cat5e cable.

[hpepper]

I built the cables used in the WAN loop myself using bulk cable Cat5e cable and RJ-45 plugs. I installed the cable ends myself wired to the Gigabit T568B convention. Thus, they are crossover cables.

Not to get too detailed or picky-sounding, but did you punch down the connectors on each end of your WAN the same as each other? If this is so, it is considered straight through, which is what you need. If it is indeed a crossover cable, it will not work properly unless one end is connected to a switch that can auto-connect to this wiring. (Some switches can auto negotiate the wiring)

T568B to T568B is straight through and how both runs to and from the office should be wired... same on both ends.

[murphy]

I agree T568A to T568A or T568B to T568B is a straight through cable.
The former is common in Canada and the latter is common in the US.

T568A to T568B is a crossover cable.
With the advent of auto switching ports they don't have much use anymore.

[XEOS]

Thanks for the clarification on the "crossover" signal handling. I have studied this convention in the past and seem to have an increasing grasp on it.

Yes, the punch downs in both the Ethernet jacks in the WAN loop are wired correctly, and the same, to the T568B convention. So the WAN loop cable runs are "straight through" then.

Again, the WAN loop DOES deliver WAN signal back to the router/LAN when a patch cable is plugged into the two WAN loop Ethernet jacks. Does the Hub perhaps handle the WAN signal differently electrically such that it would interrupt the straight through loop?

[Groundhound]

You can eliminate the Ethernet cable question by just temporarily placing the hub near your modem and connect the hub's modem port to the modem with a short cable that you know is good. If it registers and you can make calls, but does not when you use your self-wired cable then you know what the problem is. BTW, once you get the hub setup the way you want behind the modem and in front of your router, undo step 2 in your OP list as it will no longer be necessary and may present a security risk.

[murphy]

The hub is not straight through. It is a router. The hub will get an IP address assigned by your ISP. Your router's WAN port will get an IP address assigned by the hub (172.27.35.x).

Disconnect the hub's Modem port and leave it empty.
Connect a computer directly to the hub's Home port.
Using IE or Firefox (not Chrome) connect to http://setup.ooma.com
Click on Network
Set the Network Connection to Dynamic (DHCP)
Set the Modem Port MAC address to Use built in
Click update.
Turn off the modem, hub, and router.
Reconnect everything ie. cable modem -> hub -> router
Turn on the cable modem and wait for sync up
Turn on the hub and wait until the tab is blue
Turn on the router.

Does it work now?

[XEOS]

Thanks for the reply.

I will go through the process that you recommend shortly and advise.

[XEOS]

The process last mentioned above did not successful connect the hub?

JSB