BT Smart Hub 2 Alternative

[druid43]

Never said I wanted 2 routers 😀
It’s getting to be a long thread now so understandable that things get lost amongst the mix.

[druid43]

I have a spare POE switch which I will try by swapping out the Netgear ‘none POE’ switch to see what happens.

[licquorice]

We are still none the wiser as to your problem 

[WSH]

Yes, but you still haven't been precise about the problem.  What is the problem with the setup I've suggested?  Is something not working?  Everything should work fine with that setup, including any POE at the far end.

[gg30340]

I think you are over complicating what you are apparently trying to do and that you are not "up to speed" with the correct terminology of what you are trying to achieve, even if none of us that have posted here have a clue what that is!

I would suggest that all you need is a POE Network switch with sufficient ports for your needs.

You plug the switch into one of the three LAN ports on the BT Smarthub then connect everything else directly to the POE Network switch. It will power everything that needs POE and the devices that do not need POE will just continue to work as they do now.

[druid43]

Really 🤨
I have 2 connections that don’t work when I connect them to my Gig switch but work when I connect them to the router. There are only 3 usable router ports and they are already being used by other connections also requiring to be connected to the router
I have tried swapping the various connections from the router to the switch and have identified that all 5 connections need router connectivity to work.
I reached out to ask for advice based on what others in my predicament have tried but my ask has got lost in the myriad of people trying to help but perhaps picking up a previous answer as opposed to looking at the original question - no offence meant.
I am going to swap out my Gig ‘non - standard’ POE switch tomorrow with an equivalent POE switch to see what happens. I’m aware that someone here said that the BT Smart Router doesn’t support POE switches but that doesn’t explain why my shed POE switch works off the existing non-POE switch which hangs off my router.
Hope that makes sense and apologies if I haven’t been clear enough but I think my ask was ‘reasonably’ clear but then I’d say that 😀.
To clarify:
I only have 3 usable router ports
I have 5 connections that will only work off router ports
I have a Gig Ethernet switch but the connections won’t work off the switch hence my exploratory question at the beginning.
I don’t think there is any need for more responses folks. I’m going to try the POE switch tomorrow and work from there.
Time for a beer.

[druid43]

As stated /asked in my original thread 😀 but seems to have been missed.

[licquorice]

Your original post was very vague, you have now clarified what your problem is for the first time in this thread.

I didn't say the Hub doesn't support PoE switches, I said it doesn't support PoE, entirely different.

It seems extremely odd that 5 devices won't work when connected to the switch but do when connected to the router. I would suspect a fault with the switch.

Edit: Do the devices work when connected to the first switch if the second switch is not connected?

[licquorice]

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@druid43wrote:
As stated /asked in my original thread 😀 but seems to have been missed.

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Obviously not clearly enough as 3 of us were confused.😀

[WSH]

The implication of what you have now said is that the switch is at fault.  Things work on one switch but not another.  That doesn’t happen.  All switches are essentially the same, unless one is faulty.  There is one potential problem I can think of and that’s the CAM table is full and the switch is rejecting new connections.  Previous connections would be alright as their MAC addresses would already be recorded.  When was the last time that switch was restarted?

What do you mean by “non-standard” POE switch?  Non-standard in what way?

As Licquorice said, the SH2 does not provide POE but it makes no difference to it if the switch it is connected to does.

I doubt you will find a router with more ports.  I’ve never seen one with more than 4 and, if anything, the industry trend is to provide less not more.  That’s not what your problem is anyway.