Can I pass WAN and LAN traffic through the same ethernet cable? - eviltoast

My parent’s have their ONT inside a basement cabinet, where all the house ethernet cables terminate. One of those cables runs up to their office, where the main Wi-Fi router is located (Plume homepod provided by their ISP).

Could they setup their network similar to what’s shown in the diagram where the WAN and LAN traffic passes through the same ethernet cable? If so, are there any specific network settings that should be enabled to prevent any issues?

https://preview.redd.it/wqvuy427vz2c1.jpg?width=691&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4f3cc265ddef6b894df39f9339cfc9ce118159dc

  • pcfreak4@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Technically you could through VLANs, but I would just put your router in the basement near the point of entry, and then put an Access Point where your current router is now.

  • bigjoebowski22@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Do the basement and office have coax available? If so, MoCA might work for you. Pass the LAN traffic over MoCA into a switch in the basement.

  • gust334@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Yes, with VLANs and managed switches. But if you don’t already have managed switches, you’d have to replace both of them. By far the cheapest solution is to put a small wired router (e.g. I’ve owned a TPLINK ER605 that would work, performing routing and DHCP) between the ONT and SW1, and then reconfigure the WiFi-Router to turn off the router and DHCP functions, leaving the internal switch functional and allowing the WiFi to serve as an Access Point.

  • lagunajim1@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    This setup doesn’t make any sense. You need to route all traffic from the ONT into a router, and then into switches and access points.

    Any other topography is unnecessarily complicated and a losing game.

  • aaronliwf@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Why can’t you connect directly to wifi router instead of using SW 2? That extra and unnecessary.

  • AlexisColoun@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    You simply have to get two managed switches that support VLANs and setup a trunk port to connect them. That’s not difficult at all.

  • No_Wear295@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    As others have said, this can absolutely be done, it’s commonly referred to as a router on a stick if you’re trying to do research.

  • DonnellyJohn@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Very easy if both switches are L2 managed. Ont to switch1 “wan vlan ” Switch1 to rest of house “lan vlan” Switch1 to switch2 “trunk” Switch2 to router wan port “wan vlan” Switch2 to router lan port “lan vlan”

    Keep your management traffic off the wan vlan.

  • Constrained_Entropy@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    It can be done with VLANs, but I don’t recommend it.

    Much better to put the router in the basement between the ONT and Switch 1, and an AP for WiFi in the office.