Can you place a modem in-between Openreach and Sky router?

[Anonymous]

We have a fibre-optic Internet connection going into Openreach convertor to ethernet which leads to our Sky's router. Near the Openreach box, we have 2 ethernet sockets leading to 2 other rooms, so ideally, we'd like to connect Openreach to a modem, so that we can move the router to one room and perhaps, have a switch in the other room (in order to reduce wireless load). Is that even possible and if so, any recommendations? Because Sky technicians that I called, didn't even understand what a modem is and were only able to offer Wi-Fi boosters which is not what I want, my experience with these is that they just make the signal worse.

[TimmyBGood]

@Anonymous 

I suspect you mean an ethernet switch: a modem would be entirely inappropriate.  For FTTP the ONT is the 'modem' because it's handling the optical - electrical signalling change.

Essentially no: the connection between the ethernet port on an ONT and the WAN port on an ISP router cannot be switched.

Potentially you could use an ethernet wall port/cable to relocate the Sky Hub on a straight through patch, though.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your reply @TimmyBGood. Well, I took inspiration from this diagnosis screen that came up the first time the router was connected and just needed to be reset.

My guess is that the modem in this case is acting as the gateway and the router is just "extending" the network.

Unfortunately, there's only one port leading to each room, so can't route traffic back and into the other room.

[TimmyBGood]

@Anonymous 

That illustration is for an FTTC connection using an external VDSL modem (typically a rather antique Openreach Huawei HG612 model) rather than the VDSL modem built in to a Sky Hub.  I'm not sure why anyone would want to do so, particularly as the Huawei hardware is long out of support, but it's an option.

Could you confirm if your 'fibre-optic Internet connection' is FTTC or FTTP?

[TimmyBGood]

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@Anonymous wrote:

My guess is that the modem in this case is acting as the gateway and the router is just "extending" the network.

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No, in this case the modem is handling the VDSL - ethernet signal change: it's the ISP router doing broadband authentication, gateway WAN-LAN, DHCP, DNS and maintaining a routing table (as the name suggests)

Using a separate modem like that is essentially obsolete for mainstream ISPs but can be required where a subscriber chooses to use a third party cable router model which doesn't have an integral modem.

[Anonymous]

It's a fibre-optic cable that's directly connected into the Openreach transmitter to which you connect a regular ethernet cable to your ISP's router.

[Anonymous]

We have this ONT specifically.

I think, the only option is to use the Sky router as the middle-man and get another router and a switch for the other 2 rooms that would connect into it through the built-in ethernet sockets. But a bit annoying that you can't turn Sky's router into modem-only mode.

[TimmyBGood]

@Anonymous 

A second router is rarely ideal: a combination of a single router, ethernet switches and wireless access points or mesh nodes is almost always preferable.

[Anonymous]

I can't or don't want to leave the router in the cabinet where the Openreach box is, that's for sure, so I'm utilising the only ethernet port leading to the living room. TV is connected directly to the router, but there's no way for me to wire a switch to the other room where my office is, that also has an ethernet port leading from the cabinet. Wireless access points from my experience just congest the signal.

[Anonymous]

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@TimmyBGood wrote:

I suspect you mean an ethernet switch: a modem would be entirely inappropriate.  For FTTP the ONT is the 'modem' because it's handling the optical - electrical signalling change.

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@TimmyBGood, you corrected me here and suggested a network switch instead of a modem, so would a switch connected directly to the ONT work? Would have to be a managed switch though, right? So something like Netgear GS305E should work or is that an overkill? I'm also thinking whether that single ethernet connection to the router from the switch wouldn't get too congested. Traffic from the other room would flow to the switch, to the router in the other room and back to the switch and then to WAN. But Cat5e should support up to 1Gb/s. Thank you in advance.

[jamesn123]

@Anonymous 

No you cannot connect more than one router to the Openreach ONT, doesnt matter how many switches, routers, access points you have. Only a single router can authenticate on that line at a time.

To achieve what you are trying to do you want to leave the Openreach ONT & Sky router as they are, connect a switch to your Sky hubs ethernet port then connect a cable from that switch into your wall port and connect a wireless access point to the other end of that wall port. This will provide WiFi in that room.

Or you would completely remove the Sky hub, connect a 3rd party router to the Openreach ONT, configure it to authenticate with Skys servers and use that as your router instead.

[Anonymous]

Thanks @jamesn123 for your reply. What I'm trying to achieve is to split the connection from cabinet where the ONT is, into 2 rooms that each have a single pre-installed ethernet cable inside the walls, leading from the cabinet. Ideally, I'd like to move the router to one room and have a switch in another, but in order to do that, I'd need another switch where the ONT is installed in order to relay traffic to the router and use another port to connect the other room. Does that make sense? Would that event work?

[simon194]

What I did at my sister's house because she didn't want the router under the stairs where the ONT is. Her front room has two ethernet ports and the rest of the rooms have a single port.

I bought an 8-port managed switch and set up ports 1 and 2 on a VLAN and the rest on another. The ONT was connected to port 1 and port 2 was patched to one of the ports in the front room.and the WAN port of the router connected. The other front room port was connected the an ethernet port on the router which was then patched to port 3 (on the other VLAN) and the rest of the rooms in the house were just patched into the remaining ports on the switch.

[jamesn123]

@Anonymous 

If I am understanding what you are saying correctly then no what you want to do wont work in the way you've described it.

You'd either have to run ONT > Wall Port > Sky hub then connect a booster in the 2nd room via WiFi, not ethernet. Or you'd have to leave the ONT & Sky hub where they are then run 2x ethernet cables from Sky hub > Wall ports then connect a WiFi AP in each room that feed off the Sky hub. You cannot split the connection from the ONT at all, its not possible.

[TimmyBGood]

@Anonymous 

As @simon194 indicates, VLANing the connection from ONT to Hub is an interesting solution which I hadn't thought of.  As per @jamesn123 the connection from the ONT itself cannot be split 'before' the router (logically rather than physically) because it's effectively the router which manages the ONT and the external connection as well as the internal network.  All internal connections have to be 'behind' the router (again, logically but not necessarily physically)