WARNING!!! I highly suspect this is a rookie question but I’m not sure if I’m thinking right.
I have a 1Gbps ithernet connection. My devices are: Tenda SG108 1Gbps switch, 2x 100Mbps Xiaomi routers (main and wired repeater), 2PCs and smart TV.
My original plan was to connect main router’s WAN and one of the PCs to the switch. Second repeating router is WAN-LAN connected to main one and both Smart TV and second PC are connected to it’s LAN ports.
Until today I had 100Mbps internet going directly to the main router and everything else was connected to it. But as I upgraded I bought the switch to be able to have gigabit on my PC and 100Mb for all other devices. My PC is connected to switch and all’s good but main router as well as secondary one simply can’t connect to the internet. I reseated all my cables, tested all connections and the only scenario when my routers are connected to internet is when I’m connecting the main one directly to the outside connection. But this way I’m getting 100mbps.
Is it possible to connect existing routers to switch or do I need to buy one powerful gigabit router and throw my switch behind it?
You must log in or register to comment.
From the Home Networking FAQ in this sub reddit…
Under Helpful Resources section, you find Home Networking Examples.It starts with the basic structure:
[Modem ==> router]* ==> switch ==> All other devices (including switches)
orModem ==> [router ==> switch]* ==> All other devices
* Sometimes, network devices have two components of the basic structure. So, if the modem has more than 1 LAN port, then it is also a router. A router usually has more than one LAN port, so there is, in fact, a “switch” mechanism inside of it.
The number one thing to know is that one in a home environment should be putting the switch before the router. (Unless you are paying for multiple IP addresses from your ISP) The ISP’s modem is looking for only one MAC address to deliver its data to; if you were to connect a switch to the modem, then only one of the devices connected to that switch will get the data to it, and be assigned a public IP. [There’s more to this, but I don’t want to overwhelm anyone]
The second thing to know is that there should only be one “master” or “main” router, and any other routers downstream should be in “AP mode” [aka Bridge mode – mainly for routers that don’t have wifi] or else they will fight to control all the traffic, and cancel each other out.
The third thing to know, is what rockker60 said, if the router is slower than the switch, then you’re stuck at that slow speed for your network. Your network speed is the speed of your slowest network device in the chain/down-line.
The fourth think to know, is there are two categories of switches, managed, and un-managed. The unmanaged are your plug-and-play type. In layman’s terms, it’s a glorified splitter. There are also a sub category: power-over-ethernet [PoE] and regular.
I’ll stop here. I suggest to read the FAQ. It’s very enlightening for beginners, especially for home networking.