Networking Advice

[northshields]

I have a Smart Hub 2 running G.fast from BT.

I wish to connect more devices to the Hub than there are ports. I also wish to install a BT Mini Wifi Hotspot kit to extend the wifi around the house.

My questions (which, no doubt will seem pretty basic) are

1. Could I attach an unmanaged switch to the Hub and then connect the various devices to that?

2. If so, would it be better to connect all devices to the switch or would it be better to connect some directly to the Hub with just the "overflow" connected to the switch, or would it not make any difference either way?

3. Would it be better to connect the Wifi Hotspot extender to the Hub or the switch? I ask this because I think I recently saw it suggested in  post here that the Smart Hub 2 is not all that happy with powerline adapters and it can be better to interpose a switch.

I would really appreciate some advice on these issues.

[Keith_Beddoe · Accepted solution]

@northshields 

Its always better to rely on a separate Ethernet switch, as it has a number of advantages.

You do not lose internal network connections if the home hub restarts or is restarted manually.

The internal firmware within the home hub does not have to handle multiple Ethernet connections as well as processing the broadband connection.

Eight port and upwards Ethernet switches are not expensive, and its fine to connect all your devices to it. It also overcomes the possible problem of duplex mismatch with devices connected directly to the home hub.

[northshields]

Keith_Beddoe

Thank you very much indeed.

That is exactly the advice I was Looking for.

[Keith_Beddoe]

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@northshields wrote:

Keith_Beddoe

Thank you very much indeed.

That is exactly the advice I was Looking for.

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As a matter of interest, I am only on ADSL (my personal choice) with a TP Link router which has 100mb ports, so I have an eight port 1Gb Netgear managed switch connected to one of the ports of the router, just for Internet access.

The reason for the managed switches, is that some devices on my network can be isolated from the Internet, but can still communicate with my  main server PC. I have some old Windows XP netbooks running monitoring software which are isolated.