Until now I have been using Wifi for all of my devices and am now looking to use ethernet wherver possible.
I currently have a Technicolor XB7 Gateway and 800/50 Xfinity cable internet.
My gateway only has four RJ45 ports. I’m not looking to replace this unit, we need it for Xfinity voice and it is included with my internet plan for free.
I’m trying to start connecting my devices (starting with my PC) via ethernet to my internet connection.
My Desktop PC, Server, NAS, HDTV and Nvidia Shield and other devices reside in my bedroom.
The router/gateway is in the next room over on the other side of my wall in the living room.
My plan is to have a RJ45 jack in my room connected to another jack on the other side of the same wall via a short patch cable in the wall for a cleaner look.
So I added the following to my cart:
- 1 pair of Cat6 RJ45 keystone inline coupler jacks,
- 25ft Cat6 UTP cable (for PC to keystone jack#1)
- 0.5ft Cat6 UTP cable (to connect coupler jacks together in wall)
- 3ft Cat6 UTP cable (to connect XB7 gateway to the keystone jack#2) in opposite room
The goal of the item(s) above are to provide a Cat6 jack on my wall and the other side of that wall (next to the XB7)
(my bedroom) PC-----------------25ft--------------------|X–1ft–X|----3ft----------XB7 (living room)
- --------10ft-------- = cat6 cable w/length
- |= drywall
- X (on left) = Cat6 coupler jack #1
- X (on right) = Cat6 coupler jack #2
The items above should connect just my PC to the gateway in the next room. But I would like to be able to connect more than just one device (and more than the four) my gateway has ports for.
Assuming I have the keystone coupler jacks installed on both sides of the wall, how would I go about connecting the rest of the devices in my room to ethernet? I’d like to install a large (at least 8 port) switch/panel in my bedroom. I definitley would like the switch located in my bedroom for easy access to wiring my devices which are all in my room except for the gateway.
I am trying to figure out what I can use to expand my XB7’s 4 ports. I noticed the XB7 doesn’t seem to have an uplink port either.
I’m not sure how I would connect a switch/panel to my XB7 gateway. Do I just use one of it’s four RJ45 outputs? The XB7 doesn’t seem to have an uplink/WAN port so I don’t know if it’s even possible to use a large switch with it.
The Xfinity gateway must remain in the neighboring room, however I prefer to have the switch or other network equipment you recommend to be placed in my bedroom where all of my devices are located.
Any advice is appreciated
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If I’m following your questions, the “uplink” / WAN port you’re looking for is just the coax connection. That is what your gateway uses to communicate with the outside world. (Edit to add: it used to be more common to have a separate gateway/modem & router. In that case, the router would have an uplink port which you connect to the gateway. Nowadays they are commonly in the same box, often along with a wifi access point)
The rest of the ports on the gateway should be LAN ports. So you would run one of those into your bedroom as you describe, connect that to any of the ports on your switch, and then plug your devices into the remaining ports on the switch. If you don’t need/want any fancy management, an 8 port gigabit switch is cheap.
With most switches, it does not matter which port is which, but some may have a specific uplink port–if so, you would want to connect that to the Xfinity gateway.