Installing a switch on my ONT

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Installing a switch on my ONT

nzlowie

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#315063 11-Jun-2024 07:25

Hi team,
I’m having trouble with weak wifi in my garage which is a little way from my router. The Chorus ONT is in the garage so I called my ISP to see if they could activate another ethernet port on the unit so I could connect directly to this unit, of cause they said no, its another connection and will be charge accordingly!
Can I put a network switch on the one active port that feeds the ISP provided router in the house? Will it be open data or will it have to go through the ISP’s router?

What do you think??

Cheers

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#3247207 11-Jun-2024 07:46

Is there just the one Ethernet cable from the Ont to your router?
What router do you have?
There are ways of doing what you want using the appropriate equipment and VLANs.
A wireless mesh system may be another option.

Edit: should have said no, you can’t connect a switch directly to the port on the ONT, without doing some vlan magic. :)
In saying that I know of one ISP who does this, as they use a virtual router for each connection.
That does allow you to plug a switch into the Ont directly as a physical router isn’t needed.
You can still use one if you want to.

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wellygary

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#3247234 11-Jun-2024 08:57

Nope, you can't have the switch upstream of the Router.... the ONT doesn't have DHCP etc to run your network, that's in the Router.

BUT assuming that Router is just routing and not acting as an wifi AP then you could move he router to the garage and put the switch on the end of the cable that runs from Garage to where the router is now...

However if the Router is also your wifi AP then you are going to need more hardware to service the Garage.... If you want to have a connection in the Garage you will have to either run another Ethernet cable back to the ONT (cabinet?) or move the router to the garage and put a new wifi Access point in the house...

nzlowie

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#3247236 11-Jun-2024 08:58

Yes there is one network cable that comes out the back of the ONT and heads inside to the office and the ISP router. Only one network port is active, this is set by the ISP.
Potentially I could run a network cable from the office router (Huawei) to the garage but everything is lined so would just be lying on the floor and will look s**t.
Its just that the ONT is right there…… gotta be an easy solution. I already have one wifi extender in the system to provide a bit better signal to part of the house.

Maybe I need to relook at the complete setup??? Open to idea’s.

Thanks

freitasm

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#3247238 11-Jun-2024 09:02

Your router runs your network, not the ONT. You have to add a second router in bridge mode, or a mesh node if your router support mesh. The link between the router and the second unit can be Wi-Fi or Ethernet but seeing you already have weak Wi-Fi, you will need to extend the Ethernet there or use a different equiment.

But nothing to do with the ONT.

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CYaBro

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#3247246 11-Jun-2024 09:28

How is the wireless extender connected? Is that just wifi or does it have an ethernet link to the office where the ISP router is currently?

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

bagheera

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#3247247 11-Jun-2024 09:29

what i would do is, buy a switch, and an ap, unplug the ONT, move the router to the garage, with a new cable plug into the same port on the ONT to the wan of the router, plug the old cable into the lan of the router, other end (in the office), plug the switch in, and configure the AP to use the same ssid and password, plug AP into switch and whatever you had in the router into the switch. the moved router will have the wifi in the garage covered, new ap covers what the router used to cover.

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Scott3

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#3247392 11-Jun-2024 10:46

The solutions as I see it:

Run a 2nd ethernet cable from the router back to the ONT area (this is what I do, so I can have my combined router / access point in a good location for Wifi. You can then conenct this to a switch and as many devices as you like.
Relocate your router to the ONT area, use the existing ethernet run to feed a WIFI access point in the location of your current router
Use ethernet splitter's to turn your single run into two runs and configure as per the first point. Note passive splitters only support 100mbps, and active ones won't get true gigabit speeds. opinions on these are mixed. I would choose option 2 before this. Example:

https://www.amazon.com/CAPUP-Ethernet-Splitter-Simultaneously-Networking/dp/B0CBKFLJ65?th=1

Mehrts

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#3247395 11-Jun-2024 11:01

This is an extremely basic generalisation here, but think of the ONT as a media converter, from a fibre connection to an electrical one that your router can connect to for WAN purposes.

Your router is where all the LAN stuff happens, and this is where you run any extra connections from.

nzlowie

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#3247400 11-Jun-2024 11:23

Thanks team, appreciate your thoughts. Some good info here that will help me moving forward.

I might do whats suggested and move the ISP router to the shed and use the existing network wiring (in the house) to feed AP's so I can get full coverage.

Once again, thanks.

nzlowie

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#3248168 12-Jun-2024 19:54

Hi team,

Back as I'm still working out what to do, little confusing for me as I didn't do the original setup so let me give a bit more detail on what I have.

A previous post suggested I move my router to the shed where to ONT is, was looking to do this so started identifying the cabling but come unstuck...

My broad band into the router (from the ONT) goes into my Huawei router which is my wifi broadcaster, then there is another ethernet cable from one of the router ports feeding a Luxal router that feed a Luxal AP that was in the house when we moved in. Trouble is when I remove the cable between the two routers I loose internet...... The Huawei is my ISP provided one so should do the main connection.

Checked and the Luxal wifi isn't connected so I thought this would only be working as a router. As I have a different AP feed from the Huawei I should be able to disconnect the Luxul, but no, I loose internet.

Any ideas?

Cheers

bagheera

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#3248207 12-Jun-2024 21:28

without photo of the setup, it a bit hard to get what you are saying - the cable from the ONT to the huawei, does it plug into the wan port of the huawai? if so then all you need to do is move huawei to the garage, with a new cable, unplug the ONT, plug the new cable into the wan of the huawai -> to the same port on the ONT, then plug the cable that was in the ONT into any lan port on the huawei, then in the office plug in the new switch with the cable that was in the wan port of the huawei, and plug everything else that was on the LAN ports of the huawei into the switch and everything should work as before BUT base on what you have said, you really need someone that knows what they doing to look at the setup as it sounding like you got double NAT happing if you got 2 router, which is not the best.

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nzlowie

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#3248233 13-Jun-2024 07:27

I agree that I should get someone who knows what they're on about to look at it as I only have a very basic understanding....

Works ok so I don't want to spend a fortune on getting the last bit out of it so where would I look for someone to look at this for a reasonable rate?

Thanks

bagheera

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#3248241 13-Jun-2024 08:28

what town you in?

Spyware

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#3248244 13-Jun-2024 08:45

nzlowie:

My broad band into the router (from the ONT) goes into my Huawei router which is my wifi broadcaster, then there is another ethernet cable from one of the router ports feeding a Luxal router that feed a Luxal AP that was in the house when we moved in. Trouble is when I remove the cable between the two routers I loose internet...... The Huawei is my ISP provided one so should do the main connection.

Checked and the Luxal wifi isn't connected so I thought this would only be working as a router. As I have a different AP feed from the Huawei I should be able to disconnect the Luxul, but no, I loose internet.

In your thread from last month you claimed that wifi was off on the Huawei.

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nzlowie

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#3248282 13-Jun-2024 10:24

Kawerau

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