4 port Huawei Router Upgrade to 8 or 16 ports

[Paul-Hythe-Kent]

Hello, I am a Full-fibre UK Talk Talk customer with a 'Standard' 4 port Huawei  Router.

I need additional ports to accommodate a variety of home-automation devices (Satellite TV,  HIVE Hub , PowerView Hub, etc

I have asked TalkTalk customer support and they have advised that they are unable to offer an upgrade to the standard 4 port but they told me I could buy a '3rd Party router with additional ports'

Is anyone able to recommend an upgrade to the standard 4 port Huawei  that would be compatible with the TalkTalk service and be simple to swap with the existing router ?

Many thanks in advance for any advice offered

[KeithFrench]

A layer 2 switch does not do any routing at all, sorry to be pedantic. It switches at layer 2. That said, it would do everything that you need.

[fr8ys]

I tend to avoid the other well known site for electronics as I've been burnt a few times with fakes, most notably USB sticks and a 4k HDMI switch that wasn't 4k.

[blodwynblod]

no it;s the other one but amazon also do them I thought we weren't supposed to recommend particular suppliers . plugging in a switch with a cable merely extends the number of ports available so they are compatible with virtually any network or equipment , all network routing is done by the switch

[ferguson]

@blodwynblod Would that be the well known website that @fr8ys helpfully mentioned this morning?  😉

[blodwynblod]

hi try what I have done , the eero is useless with only one port , I bought a gigabit switch on a well known webysite for £12 which distributes the network to eight ports , you can buy 6,8,10, 12 or16 port switches for a good price once you go over that number the price increases substantially . Make sure it's gigabit and a good make. hope this helps

[KeithFrench]

TalkTalk no longer uses the Huawei DG8041W router. Depending on your Full Fibre package, you should either have one of the Sagemcom routers or the eero. Note that eeros have even fewer Ethernet ports on them than the normal four ports of a Sagemcom.

[fr8ys]

There are so many 3rd party devices available that TalkTalk cannot recommend devices other than those they have fully tested and supply.

It's doubtful that any device you purchase will damage supplied equipment, but you are right that some routers cannot be configured for use on the TalkTalk network or it's difficult to do so. 

Hope you can get what you need for your purposes.

[Paul-Hythe-Kent]

Many thanks for the pointer. I see the options for expansion are many and varied and not expensive.

I was looking for a product specifically  supported by TalkTalk. My concern being that if there was ever a problem/support issue, TalkTalk might say that the configuration that I am using is 'not supported'.

Whatever, I'll buy a reputable brand and one that auto-switches as you suggest.

Thanks again for your help.

[fr8ys]

Meant to add with so many devices now being WiFi enabled the move is to fewer ports on routers. The Eero for example has only 2.

I suggest you choose a reputable make and one that auto switches if you go down this route.

[fr8ys · Accepted solution]

There are many ethernet adaptors on Amazon that you plug into the router that expand the number of ports available.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=ethernet+port+extender&crid=3QDIZA58BRA9V&sprefix=ethernet+port%2Caps%2...