1

Currently, cable internet (WAN) from ISP enters my house through a junction box and runs to the WiFi router in one of the rooms.

However, I have quite a few devices (TV, Consoles) that do not have WiFi and need direct LAN cable connection.

I have 3 rooms that need LAN ports, so can I do as shown below: Network Diagram

The reason I am asking for this type of setup is that I cannot use LAN ports on the WiFi Router, because to do that, I would have to put my WiFi router at the junction box and I do not want to do that because it spoils the decor of the room. A network switch smaller in size will get hidden in the junction box.

  1. Is this a correct setup? If yes, what additional steps do I have to carry out other than plugging in the cables?
  2. Will there be any adverse effect on the network speed?
Improve this question
3
  • You need to have the router as the first device as this does all the NAT and internal network routing... so it SHOULD go: modem/router -> switch -> devices. Alterntively: if your cable/ISP provider has given you a modem/router all-in-one device then use this as your router and disable the "router" capability of your wireless router. You are going to end up making your network very complicated for the sake of your decor...
    – Kinnectus
    Apr 14, 2015 at 14:03
  • As the others have said, a Switch cannot have a WAN port. Switches extend a single network. Routers bridge two networks together, and have WAN/LAN ports.
    – Frank Thomas
    Apr 14, 2015 at 14:51
  • Can you edit the title? It's not useful for future visitors
    – Canadian Luke
    Apr 14, 2015 at 16:31

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
0

No, it is not the correct setup. In fact, it might outright not work, since you'll be trying to pull 4 IP addresses from your ISP, and they won't like that.

You can keep your switch and wifi router where they are. You just need to run an extra cable. Run some Cat5e (or 5, or 6, or 6e if you're feeling fancy) from the modem to your router WAN port, and then one from a router LAN port back to your switch. From there, you can plug in anything you want to the switch or router, and everything will be on the same network.

As others have said, switches to not have WAN ports. At the risk of oversimplification, think of a switch as a magic box that lets you plug in more things - no distinction between WAN and LAN.

Improve this answer
0

as long as the switch can act as a firewall then you should be find. if it does not what I would recommend is picking up a Linksys or Netgear router that can be flashed with DD-WRT. My setup goes 

ISP->DD-WRT->WiFi
          ˫-> Switch in Office
          ˪-> Switch at DMARK (For PBX)

This works well and makes isolating connectivity issues (ISP and Power are both Flaky in my area) easier.

 My DD-WRT is a four port Linksys (with wireless that is disabled as it is only A/B and my Wifi does A/B/G/N)
Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    Even if the switch can filter packets, it cannot route traffic between two networks, unless it is an enterprise grade layer-3 switch, and those are primarilly made for trunking VLAN traffic, rather than border/gateway routing.
    – Frank Thomas
    Apr 14, 2015 at 14:53

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .