On-Q Ethernet Setup

[keith701a]

I purchased a house pre-wired for internet. In the media cabinet is a TM1041. Everything is wired into it, including a coax splitter with/four prewires. After doing some research, I've realized the TM1041 is for telephone only. The wires are cat5e and the jacks in the rooms are Ethernet, not telephone.

The setup is this: I have a "feed" cable going into the TM1041, and then three drops going out from the TM1041 to rooms (loft/master bedroom, and the living room). I have one drop, my gameroom/office, just hanging in the cabinet (blue cable).

How should I setup my modem? Should I /can I add a coax from the spliter going to my modem, and then plug the modem into a drop (office) and have that go into a wifi router? Could the other drops (loft/master/LR) be then plugged into a switch connected to my router?

My issues lies with my routers; I recently bought a three pack of Google Wi-Fi. My house is 3400 square feet and I wanted blanket coverage. Because of their shape, a google wifi puck does not fit in the media cabinet. As a result, I'm confused as to how to handle the other wired drops because I'll need a switch, right? Should I consider running another line where a google wifi router will be to route to a switch?

I'm also confused as to what the feed ethernet cable is for. Should I ignore it while setting up my network?
http://imgur.com/a/AxxCa

 

[bill001g]

So lets say you router/modem is in the living room and works fine and is connected somehow via the coax.

All you need to do is plug a cable from a lan port into the wall port. Then go back to this main box and put a inexpensive switch in it. You then cable all the rooms to the switch.

 

[keith701a]

So lets say you router/modem is in the living room and works fine and is connected somehow via the coax.

All you need to do is plug a cable from a lan port into the wall port. Then go back to this main box and put a inexpensive switch in it. You then cable all the rooms to the switch.

I figured I could just take the modem out of the box, but the point of the media cabinet (which I upgraded to make larger), was to hide things like the modem. What if I ran another drop from where the routher was and hooked that up to the switch? Would that work?

 

[bill001g]

It depends what the box you call "modem" really is. If it is a modem/router you could just put that in the cabinet and hook all the ethernet to it directly without a switch since you have so few cables.

If the box is actually a modem then it needs a dedicated cable to the WAN port of a router and you still must carry a lan port back to this cabinet. So you would need 2 cables going to the room with the router one for the WAN and the second for the LAN.

The main reason people do not place their router in these cabinets is because it is the worst possible location for a router that has wireless. Since it appears you have wireless AP to place in the remote rooms that is not as much a issue for you.

 

[keith701a]

It depends what the box you call "modem" really is. If it is a modem/router you could just put that in the cabinet and hook all the ethernet to it directly without a switch since you have so few cables.

If the box is actually a modem then it needs a dedicated cable to the WAN port of a router and you still must carry a lan port back to this cabinet. So you would need 2 cables going to the room with the router one for the WAN and the second for the LAN.

The main reason people do not place their router in these cabinets is because it is the worst possible location for a router that has wireless. Since it appears you have wireless AP to place in the remote rooms that is not as much a issue for you.

The hardware isn't my confusion. I do not have a gateway, it is strictly a modem (SB 6141). I realize that cabinet is the worst spot, which is why I'm trying to avoid it by going the AP route with Google Wifi. So my two cable solution would be correct? Have one run from the cabinet modem>router and one from the cabinet router>switch?

When working with the TM1041, should I just leave the "feed" cable plugged in? Would my solution of adding a coax cable from the included spliter work to hookup the modem?

 

[bill001g]

I wish I could give you a answer but you are just going to have to try. If the feed cable is telephone then I suppose it would stay. There should be some coax coming in from outside the house. If it is one of those cable in the coax splitter it may work best to disconnect and hook it directly to the modem. Otherwise you should be able to add a coax from the splitter to the cable modem.

The 2 cable solution works it is no different than it is hooked up on a table modem----router----switch. It is just getting 2 ethernet cables from the same location to one of these cabinet is not common but if you can run another there is really no reason it will not work.

For most people buying a modem/router is a lot more cost effective than running another cable.

 

[keith701a]

I've considered purchasing a modem/router combo and using the google wifi to expand the network, but in doing so I'd miss out on some google wifi features that are important to me, such as device time limiting and other features of the app.

If I were to buy a modem/router combo would there be a way to setup that router as the secondary router instead of the google wifi? I assumed not since it would be directly connected to the modem, not the google wifi APs.

 

[bill001g]

I have no knowledge of the google wifi boxes but you are correct the main router is in control. You could I suppose run router behind router but in your case it would be 3 routers behind the main router each independently running the room they are in. The problem with router behind router is sharing between devices.

 

[keith701a]

I have no knowledge of the google wifi boxes but you are correct the main router is in control. You could I suppose run router behind router but in your case it would be 3 routers behind the main router each independently running the room they are in. The problem with router behind router is sharing between devices.

I mean i could, but then I'm running into double NAT issues. I'm leaning towards just running the line(s). It doesn't hurt to have extra.

 

[bill001g]

Now if you are willing to spend a little more money you can use 2 managed switches. The whole purpose is to make your single cable appears are 2 cable by the use of vlans. You would place a switch in the cabinet and hook it to the modem say on port 1 and define than on vlan 10. Then you hook the cable to the room the router is on to say port 2. You define port 2 to have vlan 10 and vlan 20. Then in the remote room you put another managed switch. On port 1 you hook the wall cable and put vlan 10 and 20 on it to match the one in the cabinet. Then on port 2 you put vlan 10 and hook it to the wan port. You then define port 3 to be on vlan 20 and plug a cable to the lan port of the router.

Then back in the cabinet you define the rest of the ports to vlan 20 and hook them to all the rooms.