Router / Switch / Modem setup for new house advice needed

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Router / Switch / Modem setup for new house advice needed

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Wannabe Geek
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#304209 13-Apr-2023 22:42

Hello Geekzoners,

I recently moved into a new build rental and have just got the ONT box installed. I'm having trouble figuring out the best setup. My usual googling couldn't find the right answer.

The ONT box is in the garage, with ethernet cables going to each room.
If I put the router in the garage I can have ethernet in the rooms but no WiFi.
If I put the router in the house I can have WiFi but no ethernet.

What is the best and ideally cheapest way to have both?

The current router is an ASUS AX3000

Thanks!

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#3063387 13-Apr-2023 22:57

You are have just wandered into the joys of a spec house with “just good enough” wiring...

You are going to need more hardware, either a basic switch, or another wifi point

How many cable runs are there to the main rooms in the house?

Are there any rooms that have two cables that go to Ethernet port close to each other.....??

If you have a double run room then hard wire that ethernet cable into the ONT and put your modem/router in that room, the use the second cable to run a feed out from the modem router heading back to the ONT cabinet, install a switch and wire up all the other rooms..

If here is no double run rooms, then put the modem/router next to the ONT and turn off the wifi, install a wifi point in a room in the house that gives you good household coverage...

The 3rd most expensive option is to just install the router at the ONT and then just go wifi mesh from a point in the house

corksta

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#3063388 13-Apr-2023 23:03

You can have both. You'd place a switch in the cabinet in the garage connected to all the rooms that have Ethernet, then that would be connected to your router (via Ethernet) in whichever room that is in, then that would give you wireless and wired ports throughout your house.

coffeebaron

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#3063435 13-Apr-2023 23:09

Router in cabinet with Wi-Fi turned off. Network switch there too. Then dedicated Wi-Fi access point(s) in suitable location.

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#3063436 13-Apr-2023 23:09

corksta:

You can have both. You'd place a switch in the cabinet in the garage connected to all the rooms that have Ethernet, then that would be connected to your router (via Ethernet) in whichever room that is in, then that would give you wireless and wired ports throughout your house.

A switch needs to be downstream of the router/modem....most ONT require something to act as a DHCP server... although a couple of ISP do operate then in Residential gateway mode (RGW) removing the need for a modem totally

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Wannabe Geek
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#3063437 13-Apr-2023 23:12

corksta:
You can have both. You'd place a switch in the cabinet in the garage connected to all the rooms that have Ethernet, then that would be connected to your router (via Ethernet) in whichever room that is in, then that would give you wireless and wired ports throughout your house.

So the switch can plug into the WAN of the router and all the rooms ethernet plugs simultaneously?

trum

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Wannabe Geek
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#3063439 13-Apr-2023 23:14

wellygary:
You are have just wandered into the joys of a spec house with “just good enough” wiring...

You are going to need more hardware, either a basic switch, or another wifi point

How many cable runs are there to the main rooms in the house?

Are there any rooms that have two cables that go to Ethernet port close to each other.....??

If you have a double run room then hard wire that ethernet cable into the ONT and put your modem/router in that room, the use the second cable to run a feed out from the modem router heading back to the ONT cabinet, install a switch and wire up all the other rooms..

If here is no double run rooms, then put the modem/router next to the ONT and turn off the wifi, install a wifi point in a room in the house that gives you good household coverage...

The 3rd most expensive option is to just install the router at the ONT and then just go wifi mesh from a point in the house

Thanks for the advice! I feel like more hardware is definitely the answer. Would this next to the ont and then my wifi router in bridge mode be a good solution?
https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NETUBI1209/Ubiquiti-EdgeRouter-ER-X-Advanced-Gigabit-Router-5
There is a double run on one end of the house.. but would mean bad wifi for half the house 😅

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corksta

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#3063440 13-Apr-2023 23:21

So in my house the setup is a 16 port switch in the ONT cabinet, and every room that has a data port is connected to the switch. The switch is what connects all your rooms up basically.

The next step is to connect that switch to your Asus router. I didn't mention it but wellygary did, your router needs to be in a room that has two data ports. One of those ports will go to a LAN port on your router. This means your switch, and the rest of the house, is now wired in to your router. To get an Internet connection plug your cable into the WAN port, but back in the cabinet in the garage, the port which is connected to your WAN port needs to plug in to the ONT, not your switch.

So it goes ONT to port which is connected to the WAN port on your router, that will give you your Internet connection and wireless. Then LAN port to switch and all rooms connected to switch, and that will liven up your wired connections.

nova

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#3063441 13-Apr-2023 23:33

As others have said, you want a router in the garage (given that you don't have two ethernet lines running to where you want to put your wifi router).

The cheapest solution is to buy a cheap ISP supplied router, put it in the garage and turn the wifi off. Use you existing Asus in the house, and put it into AcessPoint mode: https://www.asus.com/nz/support/FAQ/1015009 - and connect it to the router over ethernet. A lot of people have Spark or Skinny Smart Modems lying around, you can often get them quite cheaply.

A better solution is to use a dedicated small form factor router - e.g. mikrotik, but given the steep learning curve I wouldn't go this way unless you have a compelling reason. Edgerouter ER-X has similar performance to a mikrotik hex but has more question marks around the timeliness of security updates.

SomeoneSomewhere

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#3063442 13-Apr-2023 23:42

trum:
corksta:

You can have both. You'd place a switch in the cabinet in the garage connected to all the rooms that have Ethernet, then that would be connected to your router (via Ethernet) in whichever room that is in, then that would give you wireless and wired ports throughout your house.

So the switch can plug into the WAN of the router and all the rooms ethernet plugs simultaneously?

No; they're confused.

You could do this if you have two ethernet cables to where the router is - one for the WAN connection from the ONT to the router, and another for the LAN connection from the router back to the switch in the box.

I'd recommend just having a router in the box and another AP elsewhere. Both can be fairly bog-standard consumer-grade routers; no need to spend silly money.

michaelmurfy

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#3063445 14-Apr-2023 00:08

trum:

Thanks for the advice! I feel like more hardware is definitely the answer. Would this next to the ont and then my wifi router in bridge mode be a good solution?
https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NETUBI1209/Ubiquiti-EdgeRouter-ER-X-Advanced-Gigabit-Router-5
There is a double run on one end of the house.. but would mean bad wifi for half the house 😅

No, do not get an Edgerouter or Mikrotik. This is not what you want and can be rather difficult to configure and secure.

Take some photos of the garage patch panel. How many Ethernet ports are in each room? Are there more than 1 port on each socket?

If there is only a single Ethernet port the better way of doing it is to get an ISP provided router (like Spark Smart Modem) and just disable WiFi and pop it in the cabinet configuring your Asus into wireless access point mode.

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Wannabe Geek
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#3063446 14-Apr-2023 00:10

Really insightful, thanks. Think I will get a cheap isp router for the garage then!

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Jase2985

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#3063479 14-Apr-2023 08:22

corksta:

You can have both. You'd place a switch in the cabinet in the garage connected to all the rooms that have Ethernet, then that would be connected to your router (via Ethernet) in whichever room that is in, then that would give you wireless and wired ports throughout your house.

router has to go before the switch, the router has 4 switch ports on it, you would only need the switch if you pkan on using more than 4 ports around the house

there is something missing in the discription of your setup

corksta

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#3063484 14-Apr-2023 08:40

Jase2985:

corksta:

You can have both. You'd place a switch in the cabinet in the garage connected to all the rooms that have Ethernet, then that would be connected to your router (via Ethernet) in whichever room that is in, then that would give you wireless and wired ports throughout your house.

no

router has to go before the switch, the router has 4 switch ports on it, you would only need the switch if you pkan on using more than 4 ports around the house

there is something missing in the discription of your setup

I've described my set up in further detail in another post in this thread.

I think at this point we're all just trying to keep the language simple and help the OP understand how they can have wireless and wired in their house using different methods.

Jase2985

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#3063490 14-Apr-2023 08:58

Wifi off AP's
ONT > Router > Patch Panel > Integrated wiring > Rooms > AP/Switches to distribute to devices in said rooms if you plan on having more than one device

Wifi off router
ONT > Patch Panel > Integrated wiring > Room > Router > Integrated wiring > Switch next to ONT > Other rooms

Most on here would suggest option 1

nztim

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#3063578 14-Apr-2023 10:28

ISP router in Garage with WiFi disabled. Ports on wall pluged into ISP router

Aruba AP11Ds in suitable locations, (need a power adapter too but cheaper than PoE switch)

The AP11D has 4 ethernet ports on the bottom so you are not constrained by single ethernet runs to rooms.

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