Noob Home Network Question

BaZ87

BaZ87

BaZ87

Don
Joined
9 Jun 2004
Posts
48,076
First of all don't kill me if what I'm asking is stupid or doesn't make sense, as you're about to find out I have no idea about these things.

Ok. We've got a home network built into the house with all the cables connected to a router in one of the bedrooms. We're about to have a 2nd phone line along with BT Infinity installed however this has to be installed in our lounge. Providing the home network is still hooked up in the bedroom, if I connect the BT home hub to a switch in the lounge will the home network be able to use that internet connection or does it have to be connected directly to the router in the bedroom?

Hope that makes sense.
 
Nope as long as the router and switch are on the same physical network it should all work fine.
 
Since this is a second phone line you presumably already have internet through the first one? Having two gateways might mess things up.
 
There is another line and internet connection but that won't be running over the network when the 2nd line is installed.
 
If the Home Hub has a gigabit port (iirc the new one does) connect this to the switch where all your network cables terminate, preferably a gigabit switch too. Won't make much difference to browsing experience if it's 10/100, but for home streaming and file transfer etc, worth the extra. You could then have a server/NAS somewhere for back/sharing
 
Yea, I barely understand a word of that. As I initially said the home network runs from a router in one of the bedrooms but the BT home hub will be installed in the lounge so I can't directly link the 2.
 
You're losing me now. As I said, we've already got a home network built into the house - the cables run through the walls and are all linked together by a router in 1 of the bedrooms. I specifically don't want the home hub run or controlled from that room though which is why it will be set up in the lounge. All I want to know is whether the internet connection will run on the home network if it's connected to a switch in the lounge or whether it needed to be directly connected to the router in the bedroom where the home network is run.
 
A picture is needed rather than all this description of bedrooms and lounges. :p

But I think d_brennen was just saying wire the new router into an existing switch (and disconnect the old router (bedroom?) as I mentioned) and it should all be fine, preferably keeping it gigabit everywhere for best performance.
 
So is this what your asking?:

Homehub ----->switch (lounge) ------>switch (bedroom) -----> supply internet connection to all rooms.


Yes, that would work.
 
I should have quit after WYNIR0's post. You guys are just confusing me :p

joeyjojo said:
A picture is needed rather than all this description of bedrooms and lounges. :p

But I think d_brennen was just saying wire the new router into an existing switch (and disconnect the old router (bedroom?) as I mentioned) and it should all be fine, preferably keeping it gigabit everywhere for best performance.
Click to expand...

I can't emphasise enough how little I know about this stuff (yea, I have no idea how I ended up on this forum either). From the little I understand, individual cables from 6/7 rooms in the house run through the walls and all end in 'bedroom 1' and they're then linked together by a router or switch. Correct me if I'm wrong but for the network to work there has to be a router or switch there to join everything together?

My idea was to leave the router/switch in bedroom 1 untouched (it won't have an internet connection hooked up to it) and then either plug the home hub into a switch I've got in the lounge or directly into the wall/home network.
 
BaZ87 said:
My idea was to leave the router/switch in bedroom 1 untouched (it won't have an internet connection hooked up to it) and then either plug the home hub into a switch I've got in the lounge or directly into the wall/home network.
Click to expand...

Got it, and yes this is correct, as long as that device in bedroom 1 is a switch and not a router.

A router links two networks (e.g. your LAN and the internet).

A switch links devices on a single network (your LAN).

To avoid headaches you only want one device doing router duties, but you can have as many switches as you like.

These days most people use one integrated modem/router (e.g. a BT Home Hub) that also integrates a DHCP server and WiFi access point, then everything else connects to that. This is what you want, which is why you have to disconnect the old router from the network first.

Hope this helps and doesn't confuse you more! :D
 
Right, understood.

To be honest most of the devices that need to be wired in are in the lounge anyway. There's probably only one other room in the house that needs an ethernet connection and worst case scenario I'll use home plugs.
 
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