Why two Ethernet ports?
Why two Ethernet ports?
I just got Deco M5 installed and working. But I'm curious about two Ethernet ports. One is connected to a router CTS FWR5-3105, a device with ports for Ethernet (Deco M5 connected), optical fiber (Internet), and wi-fi. So what is other Ethernet port (in Deco M5) for? Is it a passthrough for a desktop computer without wi-fi hardware? Can I use Ethernet ports to connect desktop computers without their own wi-fi hardware?
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@Matti I have a mesh system with Deco M5 devices. Connecting one LAN port to the Internet modem and configuring the local LAN (not really needed but I wanted to change the subnet) resulted in the WiFi connections and anything connected to the second LAN port to be on the same subnet. That means the second port is routed through the device and protected, etc. It would have been helpful if they had simply labeled one port as WAN and the other as LAN as other manufacturers do.
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@Ken_in_Boise It appears that the second port is "behind" the firewall as it's the same subnet as assigned to WiFi. The other port is upstream typically to your Internet modem or router.
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When you connect your computer to the second Ethernet port, does it give you more MB to the wired device, and take away MB from the WIFI?
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Hi,
I'm not sure what MB means but one Ethernet port is to connect to the Internet, the second can be used for a local LAN connected device or devices behind an Ethernet switch. The WiFi devices and Ethernet connected devices are all on the same subnet. So, if your WiFi subnet is 192.168.1.0.24, both WiFi and Ethernet devices connected will have addresses in that range (192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.254).
Some folks seem to think this is in the documentation. IT ISN'T. That's too bad because it is very important information for folks that want ot connect via Ethernet.
Hope this helps,
ibwalkn
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Thank you very much for the explanation and feedback.
As for the 2* WAN/LAN auto-sensing ports detailed usage, I have reported this feedback to the related department and hope it would be added later;
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@TheClerk hi could I connect a NAS drive to a secondary deco in the mesh? My main deco is outside up on a water tower so don't want the drive living outside but would like to have the Nas on the network on one of the other 8 meshes
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Jonopops123 wrote
could I connect a NAS drive to a secondary deco in the mesh?
You can do that. Unless you configured Satellite Deco Ethernet port for IPTV (overwriting default settings), it will behave just like any other Ethernet port on your home network. Meaning, you can connect any Ethernet wired device to it and that should work.
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