ONT -> Switch -> My own Wireless Router

[Tony613]

Hello, I tried to connect the ONT ethernet to a 8-port switch, and from it to my local computers (LAN) and also to a NETGEAR Nighthawk X4 Wireless Router. The ethernet connections work, but the NETGEAR Router does not. It cannot connect to the Internet, so the Wifi networks are available but cannot connect to the net.

I had to return to use the FIOS Actiontech router connected to the ONT, and from it, I connected the NETGEAR Router as Wifi. I want to skip the old Actiontech Router as I think it is not used. Any ideas?

[Cang_Household · Accepted solution]

You need a router before the switch. You can connect the ONT ethernet to the WAN port of the wireless router, then other devices to the LAN ports of the router.

The ONT is a portal to the wide area network (WAN) via Verizon. Your home is a private local area network (LAN). To communicate between two networks, you need a router to route traffic between two networks.

A switch is typically a layer 2 device. It switches ethernet frames based on MAC addresses. A layer 2 switch is only capable of connecting multiple endpoint devices in the same network.

What you are encountering is trying to connect more than one endpoint device to the public network via Verizon service provider. Verizon only provides one IP address for residential subscriptions, so a second device, i.e. your router, cannot get an IP address via DHCP.

Connecting devices to the wide area network is inadvisable since doing so would expose your devices to the public internet, which is a security concern.