How do i connect my router downstairs to my router upstairs

buckrogers

Any ideas what i can use? at the moment my internet service is provided by Sat dish and cable was run threw into the bedroom upstairs connected to a router and then my computer.


Later on, i ran cat5 Ethernet cables '2 of them' from the router upstairs outside the house down to the sitting room to connect 'hard wired' nowtv, ps4, computer, television and ran 1 cat5 ethernet cable to another bedroom thro the loft to another nowtv box, all working fine.
Bt is laying fiber broadband in the next 6 months so we will be able to get decent internet and i plan to go with a another provider and ditch sat dish internet.
Our phone socket is in the hallway so guessing the modem will have to be placed there as we have no other phone sockets.
Is there a simple way or a device i can use to connect all the Cat 5 ethernet cables 'that's been used on the router upstairs' to the downstairs modem? Or is a case i will have to run all new longer cat5 ethernet cables and start over again?


thank you for any ideas or advice that could help me

techquest

What are model numbers of the two routers?

If it helps I have shedloads of technical experience in the telecoms and IT industry.

AndyPix

If i understand correctly, I would just run one cat 5 from the new router location to the old router location and buy a cheap switch to connect all your old cat5's to it, just like they were to the old router ..


Something like this would do - others are available


https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003UWRYBI/ref=asc_df_B003UWRYBI58142110/?!!!!!googshopuk-21&creative=22110&creativeASIN=B003UWRYBI&linkCode=df0&hvadid=231989542302&hvpos=1o6&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8832134852237367021&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046652&hvtargid=pla-388419833276&th=1&psc=1


Its not very streamlined but would save rewiring your whole house

techquest

Before you go buying anything I suggest that you supply the model numbers of the routers you already have. There are a number of ways to do what you want but it would help greatly if we knew the router model details. Also what windows are you using on your PC, Windows 10, windows 7 etc?

stator

If you want a nice and simple setup then yes run a network cable from the new router location to the old router location and replace your old router with an unmanaged network switch.



If you want to save some money, it's usually possible to use your old router as a network switch, but you will want to turn off a lot of options in the router's admin menu, eg turn off DHCP so that the router stops trying to dish out IP addresses to devices on your network.

techquest

stator is correct in his post. But is buckrogers using two routers or a modem and a router, modems and routers being different. If we know what buckrogers is using, model numbers a must, then we can give him exact detail of what has to be done.

buckrogers

Hi all,
thank you for the quick reply's,
at the moment i am using a router Trendnet TEW-733GR and computer Win10


haven't got another router/modem , as i haven't got new isp provider yet as it will be 6 months time before i can switch to fibre broadband from Sat dish 'Wireless Internet Service Provider'.

DoaM

As it sounds like you are using 3 of the 4 Ethernet ports on the Trendnet device, the question will be whether it is feasible to tweak the device so you connect 1 Ethernet port to your new router (when you get it) and the Trendnet then works as a switch only. That way you don't need to change any of your cabling - you'd just need an additional cable to connect the two devices.


I think this is what techquest was alluding to.

arciere

Gigabit switches cost almost nothing nowadays, I would just buy one 5 or 8 port switch and then connect it to the router with one Cat5e cable. Having two routers is always troublesome, apart from having to switch off different services, like DHCP, some things may not work, like IGMP and multicast protocols (used for example for IPTV services)

techquest

Yes DoaM I was alluding to that. As arciere alludes to, there could be potential pitfalls and 5 or 8 port switches are 10 a penny these days, so that is a possible solution.

He could also go down the road of powerline adapters, with pass through power ports, for example. expensive but neater But we can't be definitive as he has not yet gone to a new service provider, who will no doubt provide a new router to be used in his network, as you alluded to. The Trendnet TEW-733GR is a good start, but only has 4 ports to play with.

Running in a new extension socket, so he can place the new router somewhere more practical than the hallway, might be possible and in itself simple to do.

From what I read:

Upstairs - Trendnet TEW-733GR + NowTv box + Computer (running W10) = 2 ports, 1 cat 5 circuit wired in.

Downstairs - NowTV box +Tv + ps4 + Computer = 3 or 4 ports ( depending on how things are connected) - 2 cat 5 circuits wired in.

Also interested to know TV model so that we can envisage the whole picture.

Perhaps buckrogers can confirm the above as it's a little confusing if he only has 2 cat 5's downstairs, and according to his info, a possible 4 devices for connection, and computer upstairs and downstairs? Or is this in fact just 1 laptop he uses upstairs and downstairs?

Sorry it's longwinded but exact information is always better than guesswork.

buckrogers

techquest wrote: »

Running in a new extension socket, so he can place the new router somewhere more practical than the hallway, might be possible and in itself simple to do.

Perhaps buckrogers can confirm the above as it's a little confusing if he only has 2 cat 5's downstairs, and according to his info, a possible 4 devices for connection, and computer upstairs and downstairs? Or is this in fact just 1 laptop he uses upstairs and downstairs?

I did think of just fitting a phone extension up to up stairs,and plug the new modem in there and connect cables. but read on line that the longer the phone extension is you are likely to have some internet loss compare to using a cat5 cable? i might be wrong

power line adapters, wasn't sure what to use and if they would work that's why i went with the cat5 cables :-)

my devices are connected using TP-Link TL-SG105 5-Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch unmanaged, which was advised on here by kind people when i needed to connect all my stuff using just 2 cat5 cables. which works great.
the tv is not that important as it was just it ever had updates i had it connected.
laptop upstairs and pc computer downstairs.