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Hi,

I am looking for some advice for a good home network setup, at the moment I am using a Virgin Media Superhub and currently have used all the ports up on it, but I want to get rid of this because of its limitations (i'll switch it to Modem mode as Virgin won't let me use there old Modems which are not both modem and router) of not being able to set my own DNS server to OpenDNS and other things.

What I am looking for is a reasonably priced (UK ?) home network setup but I want to move the WiFi by using a Homeplug because where the router is currently, it is something about this room where the WiFi just drops out, if I go out of this room, the WiFi decreases dramatically, but I never get mobile phone signal in this room either. I don't want to do big streaming over WiFi all I want to do is use it for emails & web browsing with a stable WiFi connection so i thought of having a Homeplug connected to a port and put the router in another room running with just WiFi on (I have a spare router to do this).

because I don't really need WiFi can I do Modem > Switch then from a switch port > Homeplug and from other Homeplug > Router running WiFi? Do switches include Firewall features and everything a Router can do but without the WiFi?

Hope you understand what I am after and can give me some advice on what I can do here...

Matt.

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No a Switch does far less than a Router minus the WiFi.

Routers can do DHCP, DNS, Firewall, Port Forwarding and some level of policy management. A switch does none of the this.

As for your proposal, I think it would work.

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No a Switch does far less than a Router minus the WiFi.

Routers can do DHCP, DNS, Firewall, Port Forwarding and some level of policy management. A switch does none of the this.

As for your proposal, I think it would work.

So Ideally It would be like Modem > Router > Switch?

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So Ideally It would be like Modem > Router > Switch?

Well: Modem >> Homeplug (Modem side) >> Homeplug (Router side) >> Router >> Switch

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Well: Modem >> Homeplug (Modem side) >> Homeplug (Router side) >> Router >> Switch

Well I want to keep the speed between the 5 computers/devices connected to the router/switch, and only use the Homeplug to serve WiFi so I can put a Router with WiFi in another room in the house. Moving the Modem is not an option and with WiFi i am not after speed, I am after a stable connection just to browse the web with, without drop outs.

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Oh ok.

So switch off the wi-fi on the Virgin Superhub and use the other router as an Access Point.

So: Hub >> Switch >> Homeplug >> Homeplug >> Access Point

But you have to keep the Hub in router mode.

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Oh ok.

So switch off the wi-fi on the Virgin Superhub and use the other router as an Access Point.

So: Hub >> Switch >> Homeplug >> Homeplug >> Access Point

But you have to keep the Hub in router mode.

Ah ok makes sense now thanks, I want to get rid of the SuperHub anyway because it doesn't let me set my dns to OpenDNS because virgin restrict it :\ so I am going to have to have this:

Hub >> Router >> Switch >> Homeplug >> Homeplug >> Access Point

so stupid, when the SuperHub is bulky too, but looks like that is what I want then.

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  • 1 month later...

Sorry to bump this but does anyone know any good routers, I don't need the WiFi option just something with 4 ports that is Gigabit on all the ports and has good firewall features and is good at handling a lot of connections and I also need recommendations on a 8-port gigabit switch which is also very good at handling lots of data transfers to and from NAS drives and computers.

Thanks!

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I recommend NETGEAR. They are very reliable and lots of them have open firmware support for DDWRT,Tomato, OpenWRT,etc....

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I recommend NETGEAR. They are very reliable and lots of them have open firmware support for DDWRT,Tomato, OpenWRT,etc....

For router and switch? I don't need the router to support WiFi i will probably plug another router in a port on the switch to provide WiFi

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For router and switch? I don't need the router to support WiFi i will probably plug another router in a port on the switch to provide WiFi

Yes they have nice routers and they also have managed switches.

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