This topic has been marked solved and closed to new posts due to inactivity. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one.
I recently purchased an 8 port switch to replace another one I was having similar issues with. I keep getting wifi dropouts which cause me to have to reset my NightHawk R900 to fix the Wifi. My setup is a FIOS ONT box running a Cat5 to the 8port switch in my garage media box. The switch then has multiple Cat5s plugging into it which run to various levels of my home where there’s wall mounted ‘female’ Cat5 plugs and one of those plugs is occupied by my NightHawk.
Can I not place a switch before my router? Does the FIOS ONT need to plug directly to my router and then the 8port switch can occupy one of the routers available Ethernet ports? I think not since it works for hours then randomly drops out..?
@mfitz10 wrote: Can I not place a switch before my router?
For specific reasons - like the need of operating an Ethernet link > 100 meters one cna install a switch as kind of an "amplifier" (technically a bridge but this does not matter here) and not using any other port. For most users - certainly the consumer FIOS environment: No.
@mfitz10 wrote: Does the FIOS ONT need to plug directly to my router and then the 8port switch can occupy one of the routers available Ethernet ports?
Yes, the router WAN/Internet port is the only port you must connect there.
The router does handle NAT, does create your local network for the router LAN port, for the wireless, and for your additional switch and it's connected devices.
@mfitz10 wrote: I think not since it works for hours then randomly drops out..?
The connections direct to the switch on the ONT have no connection to your router LAN and wireless. Your router does usually pick up the public/Internet/(or carrier grade NAT) routed IP. FIOS (like many others) is only supplying one IP address. When you connect the switch, and there are more devices, another device might be able to pick up this IP address, and the router is busted, as it can't work. Rebooting the router - and it might happen randomly only - can help the router to re-establish the Internet connection.
This isn't a problem of the switch nor your router. It's a problem caused by the switch and it's other connected devices added to the wrong network.
If you need more Ethernet/LAN ports, e.g. for adding more devices and covering existing cables/rooms, the switch must be installed behind the router, connected to a LAN port.
@mfitz10 wrote: Can I not place a switch before my router?
For specific reasons - like the need of operating an Ethernet link > 100 meters one cna install a switch as kind of an "amplifier" (technically a bridge but this does not matter here) and not using any other port. For most users - certainly the consumer FIOS environment: No.
@mfitz10 wrote: Does the FIOS ONT need to plug directly to my router and then the 8port switch can occupy one of the routers available Ethernet ports?
Yes, the router WAN/Internet port is the only port you must connect there.
The router does handle NAT, does create your local network for the router LAN port, for the wireless, and for your additional switch and it's connected devices.
@mfitz10 wrote: I think not since it works for hours then randomly drops out..?
The connections direct to the switch on the ONT have no connection to your router LAN and wireless. Your router does usually pick up the public/Internet/(or carrier grade NAT) routed IP. FIOS (like many others) is only supplying one IP address. When you connect the switch, and there are more devices, another device might be able to pick up this IP address, and the router is busted, as it can't work. Rebooting the router - and it might happen randomly only - can help the router to re-establish the Internet connection.
This isn't a problem of the switch nor your router. It's a problem caused by the switch and it's other connected devices added to the wrong network.
If you need more Ethernet/LAN ports, e.g. for adding more devices and covering existing cables/rooms, the switch must be installed behind the router, connected to a LAN port.
