Fibre-optic Modem -> switch -> wifi router

Associate
Joined
26 Feb 2004
Posts
971
Location
China (Qinhuangdao)
Hi,

This is probably a stupid question, but since all UK search engines are now blocked, I need to ask it!

My new apartment has been finished, and the decorators have put all the network cables terminating in my bedroom for some reason. This is also the place that the fibre optic line will be installed. When it is installed, they will supply a fibre optic modem (for free), with a single RJ45 connection out.

My stupid question is as follows: Can I simply get an RJ45 cable to connect this to the switch (and all other network cables to the switch)? And can I then buy something like the Asus RT-AC87U wireless gigabit router and fit it to another network port in my office, which is more central, to provide wifi to the apartment? Or would I need to get a wireless access point instead?
 
I think from what you describe, the first device you're going to need to connect to the Ethernet output of the fibre modem is something that can route network traffic, I.e. The router. It will need to go into the WAN port of the router.

Then you'd need to plug all the other network cables from the rooms into a switch including one from one of the LAN ports on the router.

Use cheap wireless access points (routers can also act simply as these pepp77 points out) hanging off the Ethernet ports in other rooms to extend the wireless coverage.
 
Hmmm, that's what I was fearing. I really want as little equipment in my bedroom as possible. So it wouldn't work if I went fibre-optic modem -> switch -> WAN port of router?
 
Hmmm, that's what I was fearing. I really want as little equipment in my bedroom as possible. So it wouldn't work if I went fibre-optic modem -> switch -> WAN port of router?

Probably not the router wan port is for outbound/inbound internet traffic, the router lan ports are for exactly what is says, local.
 
Do any of your rooms have more than one Ethernet port wired up? If so you could send the fibre output up one port to the router in another room and then from the router's LAN port back down the other run to the switch in your bedroom.

Or depending on how quick your broadband is (and ridiculous as it sounds) use AV1200 power line adopters to send the fibre modem output to another room where you put your router and then from the router's LAN port back down the installed Ethernet to your bedroom switch and distribute from there.
 
So your incoming fibre line will go into a modem.

You need to go modem - router - switch

How are they in your room, terminated onto faceplates or direct crimp?
 
Do any of your rooms have more than one Ethernet port wired up? If so you could send the fibre output up one port to the router in another room and then from the router's LAN port back down the other run to the switch in your bedroom.

Or depending on how quick your broadband is (and ridiculous as it sounds) use AV1200 power line adopters to send the fibre modem output to another room where you put your router and then from the router's LAN port back down the installed Ethernet to your bedroom switch and distribute from there.


Yes, my office has 2 ports in one corner (where I plan to have my two computers), and 2 ports in the other corner (one high, where I was planning on having my WiFi router, and one low, where I was planning on having my NAS).

So your incoming fibre line will go into a modem.

You need to go modem - router - switch

How are they in your room, terminated onto faceplates or direct crimp?

In each individual room they are already terminated onto faceplates. However, where they come out in my bedroom is simply the naked wire, i.e. no RJ45 ends crimped on (not sure why).

How many ports are there?

Apart from the 4 network ports in my office, I have one port in the living room under where the TV will go, and one port in the bedroom, where the TV will go. All terminated onto faceplates already.

So as Big T says, I think I could take the line which goes to the office (high port) and connect the fibre-optic modem directly to the WiFi router, then drop two lines down (one for the NAS, and the other I could plug into the low network port). Then I could add a switch in my bedroom to connect everything else. It will mean having to see the two network cables trailing down the wall, but it's not a problem.
 
Assuming your switch supports VLANs this would be possible.

Modem > VLAN1 > SWITCH > VLAN1 > ROUTER WAN PORT > VLAN2 > SWITCH > VLAN2 EVERYTHING ELSE.
 
Assuming your switch supports VLANs this would be possible.

Modem > VLAN1 > SWITCH > VLAN1 > ROUTER WAN PORT > VLAN2 > SWITCH > VLAN2 EVERYTHING ELSE.

This is interesting, I hadn't heard of that before. Would I still need two cables between my router and the switch? Or can VLAN1 and VLAN2 use the same cable?

I haven't bought any hardware yet, so this could influence what I buy.
 
In theory they can use the same cable, in practice I'm going to imagine that the kit you will be playing with is likely to not support 802.1q
 
Just another option but I run Sophos UTM as a Hyper-V VM on my main PC and that routes all traffic from the "fibre" modem via the PC to the rest of the internal network. There's also pfSense which can do the same but is more more like a software layer 3 switch where Sophos is more of a configurable firewall with some networking features.

Fibre/DSL >> Modem >> NIC 0 >> PC (Sophos UTM VM) >> NIC 1 >> Gigabit switch >> Internal network.

That works for me as I don't have many devices on the network so didn't need a wireless router switched on all the time. The software routers could also be run on low power small form factor PCs directly or even in combination with a NAS VM as well. Plenty of options to reduce the hardware count.
 
Last edited:
So as Big T says, I think I could take the line which goes to the office (high port) and connect the fibre-optic modem directly to the WiFi router, then drop two lines down (one for the NAS, and the other I could plug into the low network port). Then I could add a switch in my bedroom to connect everything else. It will mean having to see the two network cables trailing down the wall, but it's not a problem.

Is there a particular reason you want the NAS in the office and not the bedroom? Given it's all well cabled you only need drop one cable down from your office "high" to a "low" port back to your bedroom switch and plug the NAS in to the switch there as well as every other outlet being plugged into the switch.

Or if for aesthetic or other reasons you want to keep more devices in the office but "low" then still only drop one cable and drop it into a cheap gigabit switch that you can route back to the bedroom switch and hang the NAS off it in the office.

Or, if I've understood correctly about having multiple "low" office ports, just drop one cable to a low port, back to the bedroom switch, which sends it back up to one of your other low office ports and plug the NAS in that.
 
Is there a particular reason you want the NAS in the office and not the bedroom? Given it's all well cabled you only need drop one cable down from your office "high" to a "low" port back to your bedroom switch and plug the NAS in to the switch there as well as every other outlet being plugged into the switch.

Or if for aesthetic or other reasons you want to keep more devices in the office but "low" then still only drop one cable and drop it into a cheap gigabit switch that you can route back to the bedroom switch and hang the NAS off it in the office.

Or, if I've understood correctly about having multiple "low" office ports, just drop one cable to a low port, back to the bedroom switch, which sends it back up to one of your other low office ports and plug the NAS in that.

Yeah, the main reason is lack of space in the bedroom. What I call the junction box, where all the cables terminate, is behind the door (see photos below).

Wow, not even crimped that's excellent.

Cowboys.

Yeah, I know. The rest of the house is immaculate, so I don't know if they just forgot to do this or what. Anyway, I've finally uploaded some photos which will hopefully clarify things:

Bedroom Junction Box (behind door) (the box still has a wrapping on it, it's not dirty on the outside):
Bedroom%20Junction%20Box%2001_zpssr7gtfrg.jpg


Bedroom Junction Box (inside):
Bedroom%20Junction%20Box%2002_zpssxsfoebp.jpg


Bedroom Junction Box Ethernet Cables:
Bedroom%20Junction%20Box%20Ethernet%20Cables_zpsphhtxc0x.jpg


Bedroom Junction Box Power Cable:
Bedroom%20Junction%20Box%20Power%20Cable_zpsj9v0b8at.jpg


Bedroom Junction Box strange cable (is this the Fibre connection?):
IMG_1634_zpsnrl66oy6.jpg


Bedroom TV network port:
Bedroom%20TV_zpsfyrt4esc.jpg


Living Room TV network port:
Living%20Room%20TV_zpsblslkfsu.jpg


Office Computers network port:
Office%20Computers_zpsh0qpfxj1.jpg


Office NAS network port (low) not quite sure why they installed so many power sockets here, I think something got mistranslated!:
Office%20NAS_zpsessaewko.jpg


Office WiFi Router network port (high) (annoyingly, they haven't installed an international socket up here):
Office%20WiFi%20Router_zpsw4grcrjc.jpg
So, because it's such a mess in the box, I'm not sure whether to have a go and connecting some ends on the network cables, or because I have to sort out that power line, maybe I'll just get a man in to sort it all (I've never actually put an end on an Ethernet cable).

What I have managed to find out about the fibre-modem they will be providing:
FiberHome AN5506-01-A GPON FTTH ONU, 12V, 0.5A
High speed High Quality
one LAN port with high speed (I think this is 10/100M)
Support PPPoE+;STP/RSTP;
Support IEEE802.1Q VLAN; QoS;
Support IGMP Snooping, IGMP Proxy;
 
OK by the looks of it they've run cable to each room back to the central point, when the modem it installed it'll be easy enough to crimp a few cables and plug in a decent router to provide net access to all the rooms. Crimping cables is simple and the tools are £5-10 over here, considering you're where they're usually made i'd suspect they're even cheaper for you.

Side note: Strongly consider using a VPN while in China if you'd like to have unrestricted internet access - from what I know of friends who travel back to china regularly it's basically an essential for access to non domestic content.
 
OK by the looks of it they've run cable to each room back to the central point, when the modem it installed it'll be easy enough to crimp a few cables and plug in a decent router to provide net access to all the rooms. Crimping cables is simple and the tools are £5-10 over here, considering you're where they're usually made i'd suspect they're even cheaper for you.

Side note: Strongly consider using a VPN while in China if you'd like to have unrestricted internet access - from what I know of friends who travel back to china regularly it's basically an essential for access to non domestic content.

OK, I'll give it a go. I think I'll make some test cables first, until I get the hang of it!

I am now thinking of getting an Asus RT-AC88U, which has 8x gigabit network ports and 1 GB WAN, which is enough for my 6 points. And it's wall-mountable, so I am now actually thinking of mounting this on the door of the junction box, and keeping the modem inside the junction box. I think the WiFi coverage should still be ok (furthest part of the apartment is 10.5 metres away). The door is very thin metal, so hopefully won't interfere with the router.

And VPN - I only use one on my mobile at the moment, but will be investing once I move into my new apartment, and once I get a decent internet speed!
 
That sort of distance should be fine, the other option is to run the cable through the back of the wall to the room on the other side and plug the router in on that side if it's any easier? They have located the access hatch in a less than ideal location or run cables from the hatch so it clears the door etc.
 
Back
Top Bottom