Basic home network question

[nemgreen]

I have a 7800N which is currently connected to my main PC and NAS box (both using 1G ethernet) in an upstairs room.

I want to add a switch to give me additional port connections downstairs (PS3/laptop etc) and am thinking of using an 8 port Gbit switch
Is there any advantage of connecting more than 1 of the 7800N ports to the switch?
Is the extra WAN port useful for anything if you only have a single ADSL connection?

Much of the traffic to the downstairs equipment will be from either the ADSL link or the NAS box (ie from the 7800N)

Any tips appreciated

[tinytim]

Is there any advantage of connecting more than 1 of the 7800N ports to the switch? Can't see anything to be gained.
Is the extra WAN port useful for anything if you only have a single ADSL connection? As an extra 100mbps ethernet connection.

[Dink444]

Hi nemgreen,

Don't know if this is help , my 7800n is upstairs ,but I have an extra gigabit router downstairs and 2 gigabit switches daisy chained off the 7800n and all works pukka , DO NOT connect extra LAN ports , this can cause serious probs , only 1 port from 7800n to each piece of equipment and so on , and use fixed IP addresses for everything that is static eg : NAS boxes or Routers / wireless extenders , easiest way and works great.

Set DHCP to work ONLY in the 7800n and change the range in 7800n so you have a few IP addresses outside DHCP to give to your equipment.( eg : Billion 7800n set as 192.168.1.254 , DHCP 192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.100 , then use one IP address between 192.168.1.101 to 192.168.1.250 for each piece of fixed equipment , that means you have 98 addresses free for Laptops and Mobile phones that will be automatically given out by DHCP as soon as the equipment connects and will refresh after 24hrs normally. )

Goodluck

Remember when playing with IP addresses to restart PC EVERYTIME you make any significant change.