Virgin Media Community

[highwalker]

I'm looking at putting in a 3rd party router+WiFi (Draytek) using PoE in a different location to improve WIfi coverage (& hopefully performance, bearing in mind how flaky the Hub 3 seems to have become). Whilst the 3rd party router does have LAN ports, its going to be wall mounted, so they are not very accessible. The 3rd party router will need to do DHCP.

The Hub 3 currently has a VM powerline range extender connected to it (to enable reach the TV in the back room) and also my Zigbee Hive box.  These need to be close to the power sockets in the room.

Can I put a switch in the WAN route between the PoE inserter and the Hub? (or combine PoE inserter with switch?) and hook the powerline extender & Hive hub to it?  (so WAN route would be WiFi router - PoE inserter - Switch - Hub )  

[jbrennand]

Once in modem mode only one of its ports will work - and its the one you have the router plugged into. All other ethernet connections have to come from the router or a switch that is connected to the router

[tehwolf]

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@highwalker wrote:

I'm looking at putting in a 3rd party router+WiFi (Draytek) using PoE in a different location to improve WIfi coverage (& hopefully performance, bearing in mind how flaky the Hub 3 seems to have become). Whilst the 3rd party router does have LAN ports, its going to be wall mounted, so they are not very accessible. The 3rd party router will need to do DHCP.

The Hub 3 currently has a VM powerline range extender connected to it (to enable reach the TV in the back room) and also my Zigbee Hive box.  These need to be close to the power sockets in the room.

Can I put a switch in the WAN route between the PoE inserter and the Hub? (or combine PoE inserter with switch?) and hook the powerline extender & Hive hub to it?  (so WAN route would be WiFi router - PoE inserter - Switch - Hub )  

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It should be possible, but it'll be a bit more complicated..

1. you'll need a managed switch so that you can put two ports into a separate VLAN to all of the others

2. Connect the HUB to one of these two ports and the Router's WAN port to the other.. 

3. Connect a cable from one of the Router's LAN ports back to the switch into a port in the "other" vlan on the switch..

If you're going to do this, i would also recommend that you give the switch a static IP address so that it never requests a DHCP lease - else it might end up requesting a lease from the hub and getting a public IP address 🙂

[Z92]

If you want your 3rd party router and other things connected to the hub 3 at the same time it's best to leave it in normal router mode. This means all the ethernet sockets are available. If you put it in modem mode only one socket is available. 

[kpanchev]

It is a bit pointless to have a switch between the hub in modem mode and the router's wan port, as the other ports on the switch will not be available (unless you go for the VLAN option, but this makes it a complicated exercise).

What is your reasoning to want a switch there? I can't really see a reason to do it this way?

[tehwolf]

@kpanchev wrote:

It is a bit pointless to have a switch between the hub in modem mode and the router's wan port, as the other ports on the switch will not be available (unless you go for the VLAN option, but this makes it a complicated exercise).

What is your reasoning to want a switch there? I can't really see a reason to do it this way?

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sounds like OP has a few cables for their other devices terminating at the hub today.. rather than running new cables to where the new router is gonna be sited, i assume they just want to plug them in where they already are.. 

the vlan thing doesn't have to be complex - and a managed switch isn't vastly more expensive than it's dumb counterparts.. 🙂

[kpanchev]

If the switch and hub are close together, the way to do is run a cable from the hub to the router (WAN link), then run another cable back to the switch (eliminates the need of a managed switch and VLAN setup).

From my experience if the OP is asking this question, they are very unlikely to be able to setup a VLAN environment...

Better stick to the KISS principle...

[highwalker]

It's principally power supply & coverage issues.  The new WiFi router would be wall-mounted in the hall of the house to provide better coverage & hopefully less intermittent WiFi, and will require drilling a hole through the partition wall (plasterboard thankfully) for the ethernet WAN to run in to the room where the VM connection & Hub come through close to the power sockets. The lack of nearby power sockets implies PoE to the hall-mounted WiFi AP/router. If the powerline extender & Hive hub are to connect by ethernet directly to the LAN ports on the new router, then this would require a larger hole and physically cabling back an additional few metres of ethernet cable towards the Hub to connect them in.  The power supply for the PoE injector would also need to be close to the same power sockets.

So, it made me wonder if I could save the additional cabling and hole drilling, by combining switch & PoE injector into the route between Hub & router. It would certainly lbe more compact and look neater. I guess that the switch would need to have a (V)LAN set up to get its IP from the (new) router for the relevant ports.   Alternatively there is leaving the Hub in router mode, but that could lead to WiFi channel management issues with both devices radiating

[tehwolf]

You could ditch the router idea and just buy an access point, I’d recommend unifi. 

leave the hub in router mode but disable the wireless broadcast... leave that all to the AP, this would retain the Ethernet ports on the hub..

[legacy1]

The VLAN way needs two switches