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castarr's avatar
castarr
Aspirant
Aug 27, 2020
Solved

Looking for cable and voice modem with two ethernet ports

I bought a Netgear CM500V Cable and Voice modem (no router) to replace my Xfinity modem/router.  I don't need an integrated router because I have a Nest Mesh WiFi, which includes its own router alrea...
  • antinode's avatar
    Aug 27, 2020

    > [...] I have a Nest Mesh WiFi, which includes its own router already.
    > [...]

     

       How many LAN Ethernet ports does it have?  (Has it a model number?)

     

    > [...] I need two ethernet ports. [...]

     

       Perhaps, but not on your modem.

     

       Almost certainly, your Internet service provides one external/public
    IP address, which means that you can connect only one client device
    directly to your modem.  If you have multiple client computers/devices,
    then that one device connected to your modem must be your (NAT) router,
    and all your other client devices must be connected to the router (LAN
    ports).

     

    > Do I need to be looking at another manufacturer to meet all my needs?

     

       No.  You can look, but the same will be true for anyone's stuff.


       The wiring might be more convenient if you could connect both a
    router (WAN/Internet port) and a computer/device directly to the modem,
    but that wouldn't work.  There are some modems which have multiple
    Ethernet ports, but, for users with typical service (one external/public
    IP address, only one port on the modem can be used; the other ports are
    useless.

     

       If the _router_ doesn't have enough LAN Ethernet ports, then you can
    use a network switch to expand one of those to serve more devices.  But
    that wouldn't work for a modem port.