Adding a router to a router....

[terrain safe]

I've got SKY broadband running on fibre at 40mbs. Like it a lot but the router supplied isn't the best as you would expect. The main problem is it only has 3 ethernet ports left after plugging in the modem and they only run at 100mbs. I liked my old router which ran at a gigabit speed for when I was using my server.

Can I plug the SKY router into an 8 port gigabit router and then plug my computer, server, printer and raspberry pi into the 8 port router? I will only buy a cheapish one from ebay. Don't say change the SKY router as I tried that but they don't like you changing it and also I couldn't get it working with the broadband.

Any ideas? Thanks from TS with less hair than yesterday!

[Jycommuter]

Don't buy another router. What you need is a basic gigabit switch. You can pretty much daisy chain as many as you need. If you plug in another router without disabling its dchp functionality etc your network will probably collapse in a sea of address conflicts. Keep it simple!

[Saab Dastard]

If you buy an ethernet switch then you can plug the Sky router into one port, and everything else you want into the others.

Most modern switches (and routers) will autosense when a port is acting as an uplink / downlink, so you don't need a cross-over cable.

You can buy 8-port gigabit switches for £30 now.

SD

[Tinstaafl]

We have a 24 port switch at home. The cable modem plugs into our router which then plugs into the switch and everything else plugs directly into the switch. We never have to worry about not having enough ports.

[The late XV105]

Gigabit switch, like has been said.

I have three Netgear GS605 jobbies dotted round my home network.
Twenty five quid from Amazon the last time I looked.
No probs. Perfect reliability.
Thumbs up.

The "5" denotes five ports.
There's also an eight port version (GS608) for only a little more.