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Router question
(lemmy.ca)
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this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2026
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OK that makes sense, thank you. WAN from bell to new router would cover the WiFi, then the blue cable into the new router, which would pass the signal back through the WAN line to the bell router and out the fiber line? Or would I need another cable to go LAN to LAN from new router to bell to get the signal to the fiber line? Does WAN go in both directions?
Edit:
Wouldn't that just completely bypass the Bell modem/router though?
The only thing the Bell modem should be doing is providing your ISPs service to your new router, thus one cable from the ISP to the Bell modem, and one cable from the Bell modem to your new router. Everything else would be plugged into the new router's LAN ports or connected via wifi to the new router. Internal traffic (from, say, your laptop to your networked printer), would only ever go through your new router. Anything that needed to go to the internet would go wired/wifi -> your new router -> the bell modem -> the internet
That's where it broke down for me. It all makes sense except for the wired ethernet in the SFP port on the bell modem/router. The routers I've been looking at that were suggested like TP-Link with openWRT capabilities only have Wan and Lan, there's no SFP.
Yup, that's why you need to keep the Bell box in the mix as basically an SFP->Ethernet converter
Ok, so the SFP cable would stay on the isp box. The internet signal would go through WAN into the new router for wireless, and the signal for wired ethernet would go through WAN into the new router, then back through WAN into the isp modem and out the SFP.
I didn't know the signal would go through WAN both ways and thought if the SFP cable was connected to the isp modem the signal just wouldn't bother going through the new router. This stuffs confusing lol. I really appreciate you taking the time.