Unable to split internet from MPOE with switch or direct

I got a couple IP's and an MPOE T1 drop.

I quickly configured a while ago to connect my Router to the MPOE drop and things worked fine. I'm trying to utilize a second internet connection so I connected the MPOE drop to a switch, to which the router was unable to get a connection. I tried a few different setups and uplink ports etc.. but nothing seemed to work.

I even plugged my laptop directly into the MPOE port and it said "network cable unplugged", so it didn't seem to be detecting anything. The connection is HALF 100 mbit and I tried setting all ports on as witch to this. Nothing worked. Plugging directly back into my router worked w/o an issue.

Am i missing something here? I feel like a switch or direct connect to laptop should work, and I do not know what makes the Router anything special?

Thanks for any help