Do you even need two switches?
Do you even need two switches?
A friend here sent me a quote to set up my home network. I'd really like to know if this setup works well and if we actually need two separate switches. All the gear will go in my laundry room. The plan is this: one Starlink router connected to TorGuard's VPN service so I can watch US TV. Another Asus router with wireless turned off will also connect to TorGuard via WireGuard. Both routers and their cables (Cat6A) need to run from the laundry room to different rooms, including two living rooms, two master bedrooms, and two guest bedrooms, plus a TV in each of those rooms. To get internet out to all those spots, I'm running two switches in the laundry room: one for Switch 1, another for Switch 2. Each switch will connect to an Apple TV device on the other side. One switch goes straight to the Starlink router, and the other goes directly to the Asus router. The whole lot of stuff in the laundry room is going into a special wall mount box from TrueEdge. It's going to be a little tight inside that box, but if there are other ideas for better space, I'd love to hear them. The quote also includes a PoE adapter from Ubiquiti. Thanks everyone for helping out!
Thanks for getting back to me. I noticed that TorGuard (via their affiliate Private Router) sells the Asus RT-AC88U, which already has firmware set and has 8 internet lines. If I bought this router instead of the AX86U, could I skip buying both switches? Could I plug the Starlink router into the AC88U, run all six of my LAN cables from the Starlink router to the AC88U, and then configure the AC88U so that three of those lines go through TorGuard's VPN while the other three go straight to internet?
I am not 100% sure if you have just one internet service provider (ISP) or two. You mentioned using Starlink but also talked about a VPN. Is that VPN connected to a different ISP, or directly to your Starlink? It seems like the idea was to use two switches so the VPN is completely separated from all other traffic. I don't get why this matters. Maybe it could be done with VLANs or even by setting up a split-VPN connection. However, I would always suggest using a switch instead. That way, if you change your router or your ISP, you only need to move one cable. You wouldn't have to juggle multiple ones.
I only use Starlink for internet because I need to watch US shows while abroad. My router links up to a VPN called TorGuard so that everything goes through the right path, which helps me stream content even though I'm not in America anymore.
Thanks for letting me know. That would be great. But the site says they're coming in 2024, so maybe just a while before that. Does it seem like people aren't getting WiFi 6 yet even though it's supposed to happen soon?
Vendors always drop their software before the rules are set. Then they roll out a firmware update that might cause problems if you have an old router like Starlink Wi-Fi 5. Most Wi-Fi 6 devices are on sale right now, but 6E ones cost more. I think 6E prices will go down soon when you can buy 7 routers for less.
I bought a cheap Wi-Fi 6 router back when 6E launched. My main goal was to find the best spot in our condo that no neighbor is blocking so everyone has good signal. My laptop sees up to 76 different routers at once. Lots of neighbors are on the same channel and try to make their signal strong enough to drown out others. LOL this doesn't work well. I should take a picture to show how bad the trouble is, but it's not clear.
Funny things happen: the cable company gets mad when people complain, then buys a powerful router, and finally pays extra for faster service. They don't really need to change anything; they just need to pick the right Wi-Fi band or channel. Wi-Fi 6 adds more bands, and Wi-Fi 7 adds another one at 2.4 GHz (for old devices).
Funny enough, I looked at the 2.4GHz channels and there were too many crowded spots with no clear peaks to read. Just took a photo of the LG washer access point on channel 11 because it had the widest range and strongest signal. Old phones and regular routers just have to limit how strong their signals get. Maybe that dumb smart washer doesn't need this limit? I saw an Archer BE9000 router up for sale, though I'm not sure about when it ships in Q1 2023. Heard the price was going to be between $600 and $700.
I think kanewolf is probably what you mean, though your answer sounds pretty normal for a VPN setup. I don't know much about Torguard's firmware because I've always used Merlin on Asus routers. This plan should work in general. The vpn router will have to figure out which traffic uses the vpn and which traffic goes straight through. There are better ways to do this, but nobody has made one that looks at a physical port. Most people make all their stuff on one piece of silicon right now. Basically there is just one tiny switch chip for the lan ports. It also connects to the wifi chips inside it. This little chip then talks to the router chip. The router thinks all those devices are connected to one single port. You can't even tell if wifi traffic should be different from ethernet traffic with this setup. The router has to use other tricks to figure out which traffic you want. The easiest way is to give each device a special IP address. You could set up static IPs or just use the DHCP static feature so those devices get a fixed address. There are some fancy ways like using vlans or class of service tags, but those need lots more work and sometimes extra hardware.
Thank you guys for all your helpful input. Here is how I plan to set things up: Internet will come through Starlink, and I'll put it into bypass mode. The Starlink router will connect to my Asus RT-AX88U, which has been flashed with Merlin. On the AX88U, wireless will be turned off, and antennas removed.
The AX88U comes with 8 LAN ports, so I'm going to run CAT6A cable all the way from the AX88U to three UniFi access points and three Apple TVs. The AX88U will route traffic for my Apple TV through a TorGuard VPN connection called WireGuard, while everything else gets straight into the open Starlink Internet.
Now I'll probably need three POE injectors for the three cables going from the AX88U to the UniFi APs. This is going to be a bit messy because I have to plug all three injectors into electrical outlets. How do I best organize this neatly in my laundry room? There isn't enough space here to put up a real server rack, so please give me some ideas on how to do it properly. My local installer was suggesting a TrueEdge Wall Mount enclosure, but it's very big and would block the door from opening completely. Also, I'm not sure if Starlink routers and AX88Us will fit into that enclosure without being awkwardly stuck inside. Plus, the wall mount costs $1,160.
There is already a small server rack built into the wall, but it seems too small to do anything useful with it. The conduits for running the cables are located at the bottom of that rack. I'm going to try to attach a photo here.