Using an old router as a network switch, speeds dropped severely...

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Kirsi

Prominent
Apr 23, 2017
5
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So I followed a guide I found online and it wasnt very clear..

Basically I have my Desktop and PS4 setup in my room which is a pretty good distance away from my router, I bought a 100 foot Ethernet cord for my Desktop but the connection with my PS4 has always been abysmal and unreliable of course..

So I found a guide on using an old router as a network switch so I could have both my desktop and PS4 on a wired connection..

While this did work and my connection has been stable..my speeds have SEVERELY dropped off since I did this.


My Desktop went from 120mb/s Download to 25mb/s (Upload speeds stayed the same)
Thats with the PS4 off.

PS4 thankfully went up from like 14kb/s to like 25mb/s


Did I do something wrong or is this normal?
 
Solution
BFG-9000
Yep, you don't want to use the WAN port in double-NAT. And even worse would be if both routers are on the same subnet and both trying to hand out DHCP addresses (which is perfectly possible if both are on common defaults 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1).

Go into the old router's setup page and turn off DHCP. If you aren't using the WiFi then turn off the AP radios too. And as mentioned, plug everything into LAN ports only (some router firmware allows you to bridge the WAN port to the LAN if you really need to use that 5th port, but if you don't need it then it's just a needless complication).
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bill001g

Titan
Aug 9, 2012
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I should have no effect. Maybe if you had gigabit ports and then put a 10/100 switch in you would limit to 100m but that does not sound like your problem.

Hard to say, maybe defective cables. Unless the router is really old what is inside is a small switch chip that controls the lan ports. It is in effect a small switch connected to the router processor. The traffic does not actually pass the router processor unless you traffic goes lan-wan. lan-lan traffic never leave the switching chip.

Now if you plugged into the wan port then the extra nat and overhead may be your problem. You only want to use the lan ports
 
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BFG-9000

BFG-9000

Splendid
Sep 17, 2016
3,418
438
27,090
Yep, you don't want to use the WAN port in double-NAT. And even worse would be if both routers are on the same subnet and both trying to hand out DHCP addresses (which is perfectly possible if both are on common defaults 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1).

Go into the old router's setup page and turn off DHCP. If you aren't using the WiFi then turn off the AP radios too. And as mentioned, plug everything into LAN ports only (some router firmware allows you to bridge the WAN port to the LAN if you really need to use that 5th port, but if you don't need it then it's just a needless complication).
 
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Solution
K

Kirsi

Prominent
Apr 23, 2017
5
0
510


I have an ethernet from my modem into the WAN port and then my two connections for my desktop and PS4 into the LAN ports.... Should I have all three in the LAN ports?

 
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K

Kirsi

Prominent
Apr 23, 2017
5
0
510
OH MY GOSH THAT WAS IT!!

Thank you guys so much! I thought it should go into the WAN port and then out the other two, never thought to use all LAN ports... back up to 100mb/s

You guys are life savers.
 
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