OT : Are routers good as Network Switches

A question for you networking experts.


Currently, I use the ISP supplied router to go 3 ways.



2 of those spurs go to Netgear switches, (which go further via more Netgear switches), and one goes to a media server/backup drive.

Very occasionally I get loss of some internet functionality, and was wondering if the "low-tech" nature of the ISP provided "switch" capability of the broadband router gets overwhelmed by its responsibilities.

If I were to introduce another decent (such as Netgear) switch immediately after the router, leaving only one physical connection fro the router to the home network, does anyone think it will help with the occasional loss of functionality ?


TIA

I would sketch the layout and distances and post the picture.
are the switches managed or unmanaged?
james

I see where you going with this but it's unlikely the ISP router got overwhelmed. It's mostly like your ISP. Does the router also function as WiFi AP?

However, I see no issue with having a switch take over home switch responsibility instead having a lot of home traffic going through the router. It's not going to hurt anything.

My home setup is ISP modem - Home router. I use a Tomato Firmware based Asus router where I can monitor all kind of parameter like processor load, etc..

Quality makes a big difference but a router should have more functionality than a simple switch. There are different levels of switches.
You can also search for router vs switch.

James Mcquade said:

I would sketch the layout and distances and post the picture.
are the switches managed or unmanaged?
james

Click to expand...

James this is my modest home, not a mansion. Longest distance to any device is worst-case 15 metres. Switches are Netgear 8-port unmanaged switches. I basically standardised on them for my training business, metal-cased, robust, etc.

My concern is that the ISP provided 4-ports on the router are not up to the job, and if so, why provide 4 domestic ports ? It could be that the ISP router doesn't have "switch" technology, and is a simple "hub", which might therefore be operating out of its comfort zone, considering the number of devices I have connected to, or through, it

If I get chance tomorrow I'll put a switch in the cabinet where the router is, and just use one connection to the ISP's router.

I just wondered if anyone had any insight as to how good "home routers" are at handling traffic....

Well, it depends on the router.

I got the famous (ya, I know) Asus RT-AC86 which can be flashed to DDWRT or Tomato open-source firmware. I got them used from T-Mobile who give them out to customers with bad reception to act as wifi-voice router.

I have never came close to overload that thing but I don't run a video server out of my home either.

unmanaged switches poll every comm port for information.
managed switches as I under stand things, asks if you need data or have data making them more efficient. if I am wrong, someone please correct me.


james

Are you sure it isn't your Internet service that is having problems? I use the wireless router in the ISP supplied box to connect a mobile phone to the Internet, then if I have problems on the wired side I can check if I still have connections on the mobile. I think that some ISPs are having occasional issues with their DNS Servers.

I am currently using 3 of the four ports on my modem, one for the TV, one for my Satellite system and one for my Security cameras, the WIFI is mostly connected to 4 PC's & 3 phones and never had a real problem. If there is a problem it is often no internet connectivity, the WIFI & lan work fine.

The standard consumer type modem/router/thinginaboxwithwires can be thought of as one box with several networking devices in it. The usual suspects for distinct devices in that box is a modem, a router and a switch. Most of the time the switch is a standard unmanaged switch. Switch functionality in these boxes is in standard chips. They pretty much work, no questions asked. The router being busy with other things should have no impact on the switching functionality.

If your ISP provided router has a managed switch of some sorts, then there might be some glitches in the box' firmware. Sounds unlikely to me, then again if you happen to have a spare switch available it wouldn't hurt either to add it even if only temporarily, just see if it helps.


One thing that could be good to know: what are the max speeds on your home switches (netgear branded it seems) and on the switch ports on your router? If part of your network is gigabit but the router is 100mbit max, then you may have a bottleneck in communication between your home network and the "media server/backup" device. In that case it might help to add a small gigabit switch at that point instead of having everything pass through the onboard switch in your router box.

Have you contacted your ISP? I have found that they can be (not always) helpful. If you can determine the exact times where you have had problems, they generally have logs that may shine some light on your problem. I have in the past asked for a different router/switch box to see if that was my issue. I have also had them come out to my home to diagnose how well the connection between router and their other equipment was working. Also depending on the type of internet provider you have, local usage may limit your bandwidth to the web. I can almost guarantee that you dont have a hub unless you have had this equipment for over 10 years. If you have - once again - go to your ISP and request an equipment replacement. If you have something that old they want it off their network anyway!

Toine said:

One thing that could be good to know: what are the max speeds on your home switches (netgear branded it seems) and on the switch ports on your router? If part of your network is gigabit but the router is 100mbit max, then you may have a bottleneck in communication between your home network and the "media server/backup" device. In that case it might help to add a small gigabit switch at that point instead of having everything pass through the onboard switch in your router box.

Click to expand...

All of the Netgear switches are 10/100, so those will force the NICs of any PCs that have 1000 capability down to 100.

It is worth noting that I don't have this problem repeatedly, it's just an occasional "glitch" that occurs rarely, but usually at a time when I want it fast, you know what I mean.

Yesterday, for instance, I couldn't Google anything, Firefox just kept saying it couldn't find the site, and at the same time other pages websites either didn't load, or were very slow to load.

The earlier comment about ISPs DNS servers now makes me believe the issues I get are ISP related, and nothing to do with my network....

Do you happen to have SBG6850?

BachPhi said:

Do you happen to have SBG6850?

Click to expand...

No : I have Huawei HG635

Sound fishy enough. Isn't Huawei the one company that Trump banning their product for putting spyware.