Hi,
I would like to confirm a suggestion I received from an alleged former network engineer.
Here is the background:
My ISP is comcast. I have supplied my own (i.e. purchased) cable modem from the get go. My current system has been in place for a good number of years (10+, perhaps).
The requirements of my household have advanced quite a bit since the infrastructure was installed. I have been slowly upgrading. During a major remodel about 5 years back, I ran Cat 6 from the utility closet (where the cable comes in) to any room we thought we would ever need a connection. For wireless, I have an access point at the other end of the house; between the router and the AP I have decent to great coverage anywhere in the home. The only downside being the multiple SSIDs and explaining it to company.
I upgraded it last year to an Arris 8200 cable modem. Shortly thereafter my router bricked and I ran out and picked up an old (ancient?) belkin N300 router at the local electronic surplus store just to keep the household running through the holidays. Now I am finally shopping for a router that can keep up with the modem and the supposed bandwidth that I am paying the ISP to deliver.
The Question (finally):
In the past, just following the setup instructions I have configured the hardware as Cable Modem connected to router, router to household network.
Apparently, according to the expert I just met, I can just as well configure the hardwar as: Cable Modem connected to a Switch; Switch connected to household network; two of the lines coming out of the switch goes to my router and access point.
My reaction has been: wow, can that even work?? I'd like it to, gives my a lot more flexibility about where to place the router (actually the antenna on the router); but lots and lots of follow up questions come to mind:
What identity (i.e. the mac address) that is being presented to comcast? And what is the IP address that is being handed out and which device does the IP address belong to. These all may be the same question, just being asked from different perspectives - I don't know.
Doesn't the traffic on the lan cables double? And in fact doesn't household intra-net trafic leak out to the ISP?
I would like to confirm a suggestion I received from an alleged former network engineer.
Here is the background:
My ISP is comcast. I have supplied my own (i.e. purchased) cable modem from the get go. My current system has been in place for a good number of years (10+, perhaps).
The requirements of my household have advanced quite a bit since the infrastructure was installed. I have been slowly upgrading. During a major remodel about 5 years back, I ran Cat 6 from the utility closet (where the cable comes in) to any room we thought we would ever need a connection. For wireless, I have an access point at the other end of the house; between the router and the AP I have decent to great coverage anywhere in the home. The only downside being the multiple SSIDs and explaining it to company.
I upgraded it last year to an Arris 8200 cable modem. Shortly thereafter my router bricked and I ran out and picked up an old (ancient?) belkin N300 router at the local electronic surplus store just to keep the household running through the holidays. Now I am finally shopping for a router that can keep up with the modem and the supposed bandwidth that I am paying the ISP to deliver.
The Question (finally):
In the past, just following the setup instructions I have configured the hardware as Cable Modem connected to router, router to household network.
Apparently, according to the expert I just met, I can just as well configure the hardwar as: Cable Modem connected to a Switch; Switch connected to household network; two of the lines coming out of the switch goes to my router and access point.
My reaction has been: wow, can that even work?? I'd like it to, gives my a lot more flexibility about where to place the router (actually the antenna on the router); but lots and lots of follow up questions come to mind:
What identity (i.e. the mac address) that is being presented to comcast? And what is the IP address that is being handed out and which device does the IP address belong to. These all may be the same question, just being asked from different perspectives - I don't know.
Doesn't the traffic on the lan cables double? And in fact doesn't household intra-net trafic leak out to the ISP?