ONT and LAN Ports

[cn198]

Hi all,

Just moved into a new build with full fibre that has an ONT in the cupboard, but we've also had 4 LAN ports installed in the cupboard that link to other parts of the house, lounge, study, kitchen etc....

We'd like to have the router in the lounge, not in the cupboard, so I know we can use one of the LAN ports in the cupboard to plug the ONT into, and then in the lounge the LAN port then goes into the router WAN port. But then my question is, can we then have a way to then utilise the rest of the LAN ports in the house (rather than just using the wifi). My view is that once the router is in the lounge, there is no way to route back to the cupboard to enable the other LAN ports. For info, there is only 1 LAN port in the lounge. I feel like there could be a solution via unmanaged switches but without a return route from the Lounge I can't see how it would work.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Chris

[countrypaul]

Short answer is no but there may be other solutions depending on why you want the router in the Lounge. For example, if you want the router in the lounge for a better WiFi signal then an alternative option might be to put the router in the cupboard and a Wireless Access point (WAP) in the lounge, you could use a repurposed router as a WAP and switch if you want more ethernet ports in the lounge. 

If you explain why you want the router in the lounge there may be other alternative possible solutions such as using Powerline adapters.

[cn198]

Thanks for your reply.  It's a couple of reasons, signal being one, being able to see the blue light is another in case the connection is doing something weird, and also the phone. As the phone has to connect directly to the router it means a phone has to go in or near the cupboard, which we also don't want.

[licquorice]

As far as the phone is concerned, there are multiple solutions.

You can either buy BT Digital Voice handsets which are DECT (cordless) handsets which use the Hub as a DECT base station, plug your existing cordless base unit into the hub and continue to use your existing cordless handsets, or obtain a free Digital Voice Adapter from BT which is effectively a portable phone socket and can be plugged into any mains socket and provides a DECT link back to the hub.

[countrypaul]

How far apart are the Ethernet ports in the lounge and the cupboard - is there any chance of running another cable alongside the existing one. Obviously I have no idea of the layout or way the cables are installed in your place.

I was told some time ago that Cat5 cables should always be installed in pairs, so any faceplate should have 2 RJ45 sockets. Not sure whether that is true, there are obviously many  singles around. Perhaps a a discussion for a separate thread.

I know when on copper broadband the lights on the router are useful, is the same that true for FTTP, or are the lights on the ONT more relevant? Just thinking that the lights on the router will only be able to tell if the Ethernet ONT to router is working and probably not whether the fibre is working.

[David500]

Some houses are built with a standard telephone socket along side the Ethernet sockets in the cupboard which connects to telephone sockets in other rooms. If you have these telephone sockets you connect the router phone socket and telephone socket in cupboard with double ended phone lead and the phone plugged into socket in another room.

[RussK]

One other option is to connect non-BT DECT handset/s to the hub using DECT. I am doing this with my Siemens DECT handsets.

[licquorice]

That's interesting. I haven't got around to trying my Panasonic handsets yet. There was doubt as to whether BT had implemented their own version of DECT although it was originally thought third party DECT handsets should connect. I presume you won't have the added features of the BT DV handsets.

[RussK]

Well, you don’t get the full functionality of the non-BT DECT base station, e.g. answering machine, but things like multi line and call diversion work OK.

My handsets are certified DECT/CAT-iq 2.0, which gives HD voice according to the user guide.

[rbz5416]

@RussK 

What about contacts, do your handsets pick up contacts from the SH2?