Two routers connecting directly to a modem

Tomska111 · Mar 23, 2014

Hi guys,

I'm wanting to set up two separate networks using two routers. One router (as well as the modem) came with my BT Infinity package which is the BT Hub 3 and then I recently got another router, Dlink DIR 615. The Openreach modem that I'm using does have two ethernet ports, but without hacking it (which I don't really want to do) I can only use one of the ports. So I was wondering if it would be possible to use a splitter (yes, a splitter, not a switch) to split the one ethernet port from the modem and ten go to each router. I've managed to set up the Dlink to be able to access the internet with the correct credentials and so on, but want to try it with the splitter. From what I understand cascading routers is connecting a second router to the LAN port on the original router, but I may be wrong so please correct me if so.
Any suggestions, or links to a page that may help me, will be really appreciated.

Thanks!

bill001g · Mar 23, 2014

There is no such thing as a splitter for ethernet. Electrically it is a direct device to device connection. Pretty much you can only have 2 devices on a cable. Even when you use a switch or hub electrically the data goes from a pc to the switch/hub and then a second set of signals go from the switch/hub to another hardware device.

You can if you really want connect either the dlink or the bthub to the modem and then connect the other router to a lan port of the first as you suggest. It really depends on your purpose for doing that. Running 2 routers tends to make things complex in a home network. It will mostly work you just run into issues if you want to do machine to machine communication inside your house. Many people do this to extend wireless to a different part of the house the main router will not reach. In that case you want to use the second router as a AP. There instructions all over the internet but pretty much you connect the routers lan-lan and disable the DHCP on the second router. But it really depends why you want to use both routers in the first place.

Tomska111 · Mar 23, 2014

Then how would you explain these being on Amazon? http://www.amazon.co.uk/TWIN-Network-Splitter--Female-Connections/dp/B0039OOEYM/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1395606470&sr=8-4&keywords=ethernet+splitter

So basically I would have to use a switch to be a be to do what I want, and there is no other way at all?
I just want to have two separate networks (I don't really care about one PC being able to reach another on the other network), so that say something happened to the Hub so that it went off (but the modem remained, the other router would continue to work as per normal.

Thanks for the reply.

bill001g · Mar 23, 2014

That does not do what you think it does. I does not take 1 ethernet connection and connect 2 devices to it. It just allows you to use a 4 pair ethernet cable as 2 2 pair ethernet cables. It really is no different than running 2 cables that had only 2 pair each. It just allows you to connect say device A to device B and device c to device d. It also restricts each connection to 100m.

Your main problem is the ISP will only give you a single IP address and only 1 device can own that. Hard to say if they will sell you another and if it will even work with the technology you have. If this was a cable modem you can hook a switch to the modem and buy 2 or more ip addresses and put multiple routers directly behind the modem. You will need to call the ISP and see if this is even a option. Generally I have only seen this done on cable modems.

sora · Mar 24, 2014

bill001g :

That does not do what you think it does. I does not take 1 ethernet connection and connect 2 devices to it. It just allows you to use a 4 pair ethernet cable as 2 2 pair ethernet cables. It really is no different than running 2 cables that had only 2 pair each. It just allows you to connect say device A to device B and device c to device d. It also restricts each connection to 100m.

Your main problem is the ISP will only give you a single IP address and only 1 device can own that. Hard to say if they will sell you another and if it will even work with the technology you have. If this was a cable modem you can hook a switch to the modem and buy 2 or more ip addresses and put multiple routers directly behind the modem. You will need to call the ISP and see if this is even a option. Generally I have only seen this done on cable modems.

I'm pretty sure it is only possible on cable modems.

Tomska111 · Mar 24, 2014

Well, as I don't have a cable modem I'm kinda done. So not even having a switch in place of a splitter would work, right?

bill001g · Mar 24, 2014

The question would be why you needed to set up 2 networks. You can of course put one router behind the other one and with proper firewall rules in the second router you could keep them separate.

Tomska111 · Mar 25, 2014

All four of the ethernet ports on my BT router are already taken, so I was hoping to be able to just another router (so that I can get wifi in a dead spot) and just plug it into the modem instead of having to get a switch to go into the main router. But I'll guess I'll have to get one anyway, anyway thanks for your help.

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