Repeater vs Router / Wireless vs Wired

[pothi]

The question is... Can we use any of those, 4 LAN ports, as input?

 

[VivekA]

Yes, any of them.

 

[popcorn]

Guys !!
WAN port is an input port for getting a internet connection in a router.
LAN port is local port for connecting computers using ethernet.

A Lan port from a primary router can become a WAN input port of another router.
You need to buy router based on your WAN & LAN requirements.

In few routers you can have multiple WAN & LAN ports or a software based dashboard to select if you wish to make a port a LAN or a WAN.

I have atleast 7 routers distributing combined internet from 4 sources of internet.
2 Jiofi, 1 MTNL landline, One 3G dongle.
Its complicated setup and has combinations of wan and lan.

 

[Sushubh]

Adsl routers have a wan only port usually 🤔

 

[pothi]

I have a modem-router (Netgear 1500) where I can use a LAN port as wan port, depending on the configuration that I can choose from the Netgear backend or software, so that I can use it purely as a router.

The question here is... On a normal router, such as dir 615, can we use any one of the LAN ports as input when there is a separate wan port?

The whole point of providing wan port is to act as input and lets us decide how to use it, either with the same IP subnet as the primary or in a different IP subnet.

 

[pothi]

I am just trying to learn about normal routers. I own Mikrotik hap ac2 where there are 5 LAN ports. All can be configured either as input or output. If I have 5 internet connections, I can connect all of them to the LAN and let the router act as a load balancer between them. In that case, all local computers have to connect to the router via wireless only. If I have only two internet connections, I can connect them to any two LAN ports and let them act as wan ports. The remaining LAN ports can be used to connect the local computers.

 

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[pothi]

So, I'd appreciate if anyone can confirm the following...

On a normal router, such as D-Link DIR 615, can we use any one of the LAN ports as input when there is a separate wan port?

This is to learn about the routers in general and also to know if the following is possible...

@popcorn , lan output from primary router needs to go into the lan input of secondary, NOT wan.

 

[ijsa]

So, I'd appreciate if anyone can confirm the following...

On a normal router, such as D-Link DIR 615, can we use any one of the LAN ports as input when there is a separate wan port?

This I have confirmed many times.

 

[Sushubh]

If you are using it as a switch. Lan ports can be used for both. Wan only port is wasted in that case. I have an old mi router which I am as a repeater.

 

[pothi]

Thank you, both @ijsa and @Sushubh .

 

[popcorn]

DIR 615 has 1 WAN port / a WISP repeater & 4 LAN ports.
Can be used as a switch as confirmed by Sushubh so WAN becomes waste.

 

[pothi]

Correct. But, if we have a router that supports dd-wrt, then it would not become waste when used as a switch.

As per the following article... How to Reuse Your Old Wi-Fi Router as a Network Switch

When you convert a Wi-Fi router to a switch, in most situations, you’ll lose two port as the “Internet” port cannot be used as a normal switch port and one of the switch ports becomes the input port for the Ethernet cable linking the switch to the main network. This means, referencing the diagram above, you’d lose the WAN port and LAN port 1, but retain LAN ports 2, 3, and 4 for use. If you only need to switch for 2-3 devices, this may be satisfactory.
However, for those of you that would prefer a more traditional switch setup where there is a dedicated WAN port and the rest of the ports are accessible, you’ll need to flash a third-party router firmware like the powerful DD-WRT onto your device. Doing so opens up the router to a greater degree of modification and allows you to assign the previously reserved WAN port to the switch, thus opening up LAN ports 1-4.

Since I never owned a traditional router, I didn't know this and was confused by the term "LAN input".

 

[dryash]

Ok hope this helps- this is the picture of the Router (both of them)- SO from what I understand is the primary router will have a cable coming out from one of the 4 yellow coloured LAN ports and then going into the others WAN (blue) port - but can also go into the others LAN port

 

[VivekA]

No. On both primary and secondary router, the yellow LAN port has to be used.

 

[dryash]

Thats what the tutorial said too. LAN to LAN