My antenna line and modem/router used to be in the same room so I was plugging the tablo directly into my modem/router and using an ethernet line to get upstairs to a second router for my wifi. Everything worked well. THEN, I got the brilliant idea to have the first router moved to my living room allowing a much shorter run for the line coming into my house. I did not imagine the problems this could cause. The Tablo was still in the old room where the antenna line enters the house. I had the Tablo plugged into an internet switch attached to the ethernet cable running up to the second router.
My Tablo could not be found. I made sure DHCP was enabled on the router and tried various things. I know the internet gets to the antenna room because the switch supplied my MagicJack w/o a problem. The only thing that worked was removing the switch and having the ethernet cord run directly, and only, to the Tablo. I had to find other solutions for the MagicJack and printer.
Is there something else I could have done? Are newer ethernet switches more compatible?
The old system let me use the house phone wiring for my magicjack. Now, I had to move the magicjack and phone system base over by the router and only use wireless for the spare phones.
Changing where the antenna wire enters the house would be difficult. There aren’t many antenna installers these days.
Multiple DHCP servers results in a double NAT.
Disable DHCP or configure the second router to act as a Wi-Fi extender or access point so that this router and those devices connected to it will get their IP addresses from the main router. Or, alternatively, you could just remove the 2nd router and install a 5- or 8-port gigabit switch and call it a day. Be careful about installing too many switches and routers - such things can really muck up your network if you have too many.
You can just Google how to do this for explicit instructions.
“Or, alternatively, you could just remove the 2nd router and install a 5- or 8-port gigabit switch and call it a day.” Yes that was my question: Would a modern switch do better? My Linksys switch that I was using is pretty old. I will try out another and report back
A new switch and Cat5e (minimum) cable would be best. It’s best to avoid Cat5 or lower cable if your router and new switch can operate at 1000 mbps. Cat5 could lower your speed.
I have come up with 2 solutions: A) replace my router with a wireless mesh system. The TP-Link 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐨 X55 AX3000 WiFi 6 Mesh System is only $100 right now and will put a second access point where the router is that I can plug the tablo via ethernet and still have another port for a second device or a switch. B) An even cheaper solution is a mini router/access point. The GL.iNet GL-SFT1200 (Opal) Secure Travel WiFi Router is only $34 and should be able to receive intenet via the one ethernet cord and redistribute to the two other ethernet ports while still getting IP addresses from the main router. I think switches are supposed to assign an address and will not work for my Tablo. I will report again when it arrives.
UPDATE:
Yes, the Travel WiFi router has an access point mode and solved the problem. The ethernet cord to my main router now plugs into the Travel Router and it has two lan ports available. The Tablo plugs into one of them and is found by the Tablo software.
You still haven’t said if you have multiple DHCP servers feeding different subnet addresses to various devices.
It depends on what you need in the room where the Tablo is located.
Switches do not assign IP addresses. This should ONLY be done by your LAN’s main router. DHCP on your satellite router(s) should be disabled.
You might also want to look on YouTube for a video explaining 1) whether you need another wifi router or a switch and, 2) how to install a second router if you decide to go this route.
If you have adequate wifi signal in this room where the Tablo is located for your other devices, then maybe a switch is the better choice to avoid unnecessarily complicating your network.
I’ve had good luck using the Google wifi mesh network “pucks”. One puck is setup as a router. Other pucks are setup in other rooms throughout the house. Each puck has 2 Ethernet connections, so devices (like the Tablo) can be hardwired and setup as a hardwired device even though it’s not directly hardwired to the puck that is the router. The pucks communicate via it’s own wifi mesh network but If you have an Ethernet cable between the router and a remote puck, you can connect them together using the Ethernet cable and they will work even better. Since there are only 2 Ethernet ports at each puck if you need more ports just connect up an Ethernet switch to expand the ports. Note that in this setup there is only one router. It’s worked great for me.
I’ve never seen an exact explanation of what the problem is. Doesn’t that make it had to know a solution.
The Linksys ethernet switch was automatically assigning an IP address so yeah, it is a secondary DHCP server. The tablo needs to be able to access the main router directly so connecting it to a second router (the travel router mentioned above) that is in access point mode and has additional lan ports solved the issue.
Super, thanks for the feedback on the solution.