Network Question

Xein

Xein

Xein

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The new apartment I'm moving to comes with internet but it only has an ethernet socket, after a bit of googling I found out that you can connect a router to the ethernet socket via the WAN socket and it will effectively work as a normal router would.

But my question is, (which I couldn't find on the forums either as my knowledge of networking is pretty poor) if I connect the router to the ethernet socket in the apartment and create a wireless connection via the router, will the other ethernet ports still work and output a connection?

Thanks in advance.
 
neodude said:
Generally routers come with 1 WAN port and 4 LAN ports, so surely you meant to say "The remaining four on the back of the router"? Either way, as stated above, they will all work.
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Yes, sorry my bad :p

bremen1874 said:
Quite common to get routers where one of the LAN ports can be retasked as an Ethernet WAN port as an alternative to the built in modem.
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Sweet.

joeyjojo said:
This is the right idea, using a router means you can hide all your stuff behind NAT, but you might still need some advice from the management on setting up your router.

For example, it will need to know its IP address, subnet, and gateway addresses. These will depend on the rest of the building's LAN.
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So, what you're saying is, its not as easy as just connecting it up? There's further steps required?
 
Steveocee said:
I would imagine the socket connects back to a main switch with a router handing out DHCP over the network.

I think you will be fine either connecting a PC directly to said port and taking an IP from the flat structure or you can put your own router in and use NAT and have your own network.

Points to consider;
Your IP range will need to be different to the infrastructure you are connecting to. I doubt they would use 192.168 space but something to be aware of.
If you put a router in chances are you will end up with a double NAT, not a problem as such until you need port forwards.

**unless they hand out public IP addresses to the residents at which point you'll be fine and the above won't matter.
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Seems way past my networking knowledge, so I'm hoping its going to be the latter and be an easy set up, apparently everyone has their own connection but seeing as you're fitted with an ethernet socket I'm going to go with its a split connection between the other apartments (which is a bit naff as no doubt the connection will be terrible) even though they have promised its a high speed connection.

bremen1874 said:
Yep, there's a very good chance it'll just work without any additional configuration. Only worry about complications if it doesn't.
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Fingers crossed that it'll work without any issues.
 
joeyjojo said:
I've never seen a router than can get its IP by DHCP. Is this something you only get on better routers?

Anything that uses port forwarding probably won't work (well). Like console gaming, file sharing, etc.

The term to search for OP (I didn't know this actually) is 'router cascading'. The idea being the building will have a router, and you will be plugging a second router into that one.
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You, Sir, are a life saver. Thanking you kindly. I'll have a read up on that now.
 
joeyjojo said:
Specifically a WAN to LAN cascade, not LAN to LAN. The former means you're master of your side, the latter means being able to see (and be seen) by the other devices in other flats etc.

That's what I would start with anyway but I've never tried this personally!
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It seems really easy and straight forward, I'm going to initially test it with just connecting it up and seeing what happens but if that does not work I'll use the cascading option as it seems really simple to set up and configure.

Thanks for the info :)
 
pepp77 said:
Yep as others have said it is a simple case of plugging the wan port into the socket and letting it get a DHCP from the buildings network.

It is 99% certain you will get a private wan IP address rather than a public one so yes anything requiring NAT will be a problem.

Also as someone else has said I have never seen a router that cannot be set to dhcp on its wan port and I have used well over 50 different models.
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I'm hoping its as simple as this and not a nightmare issue haha.
 
Just did some research on the router that I was planning to use (an old Sky one) and it doesn't have a WAN port, I thought it did but I was wrong. So I need to find a new one and with a bit of luck going to try and snag a BT HH.
 
the-evaluator said:
Technically speaking the Sky router does have a WAN port but it doesn't have an ethernet WAN port which is what you need.

An older BT HH would probably work as they have an ethernet WAN port (as well as a VDSL WAN port) but there's much better routers available. Look for what is marketed as a Cable router that's meant for Virgin Media or similar. The new BT Smart Hub won't work as as it doesn't have an ethernet WAN port.
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Yeah it was disappointing to find out but I'm glad I researched more into my router now before it was too late (even though I should have done that sooner) I was tempted to pick up one of the HH5b routers but as you can't hide your SSID I opted to pass. The other router I've been looking at, albeit quite pricey is the TP-Link C9 AC1900 which seemed pretty decent for its price range.
 
Steveocee said:
I don't think he BT hub can do anything other than PPPoE if it even has an rj45 wan port (thought they were rj11 on DSL.

What functions do you want from the router as I'm sure you don't have to spend the Earth on one.
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Basically just something that has a WAN port, decent security features, allowing the user to hide the broadcasting of SSID and something that isn't too outdated.

Something like the HH5b would have been suitable if it had the option to disable the broadcast of SSID.

Edit: Sounds like I'm asking for too much.
 
bremen1874 said:
There really is no point hiding the SSID. It won't make your network any more secure and will make using the network more awkward for yourself.
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Its more for personal reasons as I'm not sure whether you're meant to hook up your own router in the apartments.
 
thenewoc said:
This not a service like hyperoptic where the fibre has already been provisioned into the property?, hence the ethernet socket?
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No, its a Dutch company.


bremen1874 said:
Possibly student accommodation? I can't think of any other situation where you can't basically do what you want (assuming you don't break something).

Whatever it is you read the T&Cs of the tenancy and make a judgement.

If they really care about what you doing hiding the SSID will make no significant difference to them knowing what you've added to their network.
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Technically yes, although its not organised by the University but the accommodation is for post grad students off campus.

There's no mention of in in the tenancy agreement but having the SSID hidden means no one can see your broadcast signal (unless their knowledge of networking is good).

Steveocee said:
You are confusing a DSL WAN port with an ethernet WAN port though (i think).
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I thought the extra slot on the rear of a hub which states WAN was a Ethernet WAN port?
 
bremen1874 said:
The HH4 and HH5 have two WAN ports. One is the DSL/VDSL connection for a phone line. The other is Ethernet.

I think they've dropped the Ethernet WAN on the very latest model.
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Yeah its unfortunate about the newest model, seems like some good improvements over the hh5b :(
 
bremen1874 said:
I'd only use a HH for this if I could basically get it for free. They're fine for a basic ISP supplied router, but there are better options available. The Asus RT range is a good place to start.
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Any model in particular you'd recommend or are they all of fairly equal standards?

I was looking at a TP Link Archer AC1900 C9 router, but the price was a bit steep.

Edit: The Asus RT AC68U seems pretty good but again quite expensive :p
 
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Update: I've just received further information regarding my apartment and to connect to the internet I have to enter some of my details beforehand. Will this change anything in regards to using a router?
 
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