I can assist with setting up and troubleshooting a small home network. Let me know what you need help with!
I can assist with setting up and troubleshooting a small home network. Let me know what you need help with!
Hi everyone. I’m setting up my home network and running into a few issues. Here are some thoughts:
1. The rooms seem to be separated by color codes.
2. The number of cables matches what I have inside the walls, so any new wires should go outside.
3. Both PCs have RJ45 ports close together.
4. The left PC isn’t right next to the other devices in this area.
5. Ideally, a NAS would need two TPs, but one per room should suffice.
6. My ISP uses optical fiber and gave me a Chinese-basement ONT with only four ports—insufficient.
7. I won’t be able to use another ONT, and they won’t provide any more ONTs.
8. They won’t supply an SFP module for my own gear, and even with your own equipment it’s not straightforward.
9. Some people are trying to work around this with special SFPs or firmware changes, but results are unstable.
10. There’s a strong chance I won’t be able to put the ONT in bridge mode or access its settings.
My main concern is the limited port count—only four, not enough for my needs. What should I do?
- Use TVs and consoles wirelessly, but avoid Wi-Fi for better stability and security. I’d still need at least four ports, so no room for future growth.
- Connect one ONT port to my regular router or switch’s WAN port and continue using it normally. I’m unsure if this will work, but it might be a possibility.
- Using an SFP module seems like the best path, though I’m not sure if ISPs will allow it.
- Are there other solutions or tips I should consider? I’m new to this and used simple UTP setups for about 20 years, just plugging into PCs or routers. Now I’m stuck with ONTs and unsure about the future.
Any advice would be appreciated!
Consider using one RJ45 in the left room for the PC and connect the remaining devices via a switch. An old router can often serve as a switch by connecting all items and the wall port to LAN ports—just avoid the WAN port. Since most routers have only four LAN ports, an 8-port switch would be more suitable.
Choose a switch router setup with just a few ports. This option offers flexibility and performance. Perfect for your needs!
So I expected few choices, but they really offer speed, endless traffic, and a super low price. It’s not terrible, though I’m puzzled about why they limit who can use it. I even agreed to pay more for the convenience. It’s odd when you hand over money and they just take it. I’m curious what switches are available here—I like the MikroTik CRS125-24G-1S-IN, but it’s not black or orange like other routers. I think it might be too much for my small network, and there’s no reason to pay nearly 200 dollars.
Because this is residential service. Their tech support staff is only trained to fix problems with their equipment and not customer owned. Plus with Fiber is a lot of complicated because you dont have hardware you can just plug n play. As far as only having 4 ports, thats pretty much an industry standard.
Well I never asked support to fix problems with my own equipment, all I need from them is just simple wire with internet As for fiber complications, as far as I understand SFP module only needs to be registered on their equipment, this is it, some people got friends working at this ISP and they use their own SFPs and routers. + I bet there is very easy way to just allow any SFP usage, ISPs with classic twisted pair dont restrict usage of any routers and they can, one time I had to change my router and all I needed to do is to call support and ask them to delete my previous routers MAC so I can connect and register new, 0 problems. But I see your point, they just dont want to create potential problems like any big company, it will not give them significantly more money cause I bet Iam part of, at best, 1-2% of their clients who potentially can require something more serious than some noname 10$ router. I still wonder how they do business with small\medium enterprises, with few big servers and all. I cant believe they just give them same 4port routers, too bad internet prices are crazy, in/out 6Mbps/0.7mbps - almost 100$ per month for business customers, its not even funny considering I can get 1000Mbps for 23$ per month. You cant even get 500Mbps as business customer, their top option is 20/1 for unbelievable 220$ per month, its a lot even by USA standards I think and I know Americans got very shitty offers most of the time... very slow, traffic limits, with useless things like 100000 cable channels bundled with internet and all this good stuff from 20th century when internet was like magic
I can and believe I’ll have to, with limited choices. What bothers me is the ISP router—I don’t understand what it is, what vulnerabilities it has, or how secure my network would be. It’s possible I won’t even have access to its settings. I’ll need to contact support to change the Wi-Fi password, just like a few years ago. I found a good MikroTik router that offers enough ports, Wi-Fi, and SFP, so I won’t need any additional equipment like a switch. Another option could be putting the ISP router in bridge mode and connecting my own router to it, which sounds a bit awkward but would give me some security and safety.
So I looked at what we got, Netgear is basically nonexistent here, home or enterprise, at least at normal "consumer grade" shops, but we got literally hundreds of D-Links So, right now Iam looking at Linksys LGS116P or Linksys LGS116 or Netgear GS116. Like their looks, it would be very cool to see one of them on a wall or stand + so far cant find too much problems or complaints about them. And Netgear would be little harder to find, but I think possible. Not sure about PoE, almost 2x price difference, I dont really need it right now so not sure there is much reason to pay for PoE, and if I will need it in the future I can always buy another smaller switch right? Also...am I missing something? LGS116, GS116...they even look pretty similar, I know Linksys is Cisco, but Netgear suppose to be by themselves. Another fun thing, it looks like NA GS116 looks differently form European GS116, yours looks better