Short answer: plug an unmanaged gigabit Ethernet switch into one of your router’s LAN ports. One of the switch’s ports links to the router, so a 5-port switch gives you four more ports and an 8-port switch gives you seven. There’s nothing to set up: plug in the cable, plug in the power, then plug in your devices. Keep the switch after the router, use only one cable between them, and buy a multi-gig or PoE switch only if your router or devices actually need one.

What a switch does

A switch connects wired devices to each other and lets them all use the router’s internet connection. Google’s help pages describe adding LAN ports to its routers exactly this way: you connect a switch. The router still runs the network. It gives out the addresses, runs the Wi-Fi and connects to the modem. The switch just turns one router port into several.

Modem, router and switch The modem connects to your provider, the router creates and manages the home network, and a switch adds wired ports. Wi-Fi devices connect to the router directly. Internet Modem ISP connection Router NAT · DHCP · Wi-Fi Switch extra ports Phone Desktop TV
  • Wired (Ethernet)
  • Wi-Fi
The modem connects to your provider, the router creates and manages the home network, and a switch adds wired ports. Wi-Fi devices connect to the router directly.

NETGEAR describes its 5- and 8-port gigabit switches as giving a router 4 or 7 additional wired connections, because one port is used for the link to the router. Basic switches are unmanaged: NETGEAR and TP-Link both sell them as plug-and-play, with nothing to install or configure.

How to connect a switch

  1. Pick the size. Count the devices you want to plug in, then add one port for the link to the router. Five ports suits a TV stand; eight suits a desk or a closet with a NAS and a printer.
  2. Use a LAN port on the router. Routers have a WAN (or Internet) port that faces the modem, and LAN ports for your devices. Google’s instructions connect the switch’s uplink port, if it has one, to a LAN port on the router. If every LAN port is already used, move one device to the switch to free a port.
  3. Use a normal Ethernet cable. Not every switch has a dedicated uplink port: on NETGEAR’s gigabit Essentials models every port is Auto Uplink with auto-MDI/MDIX, so any port works and no crossover cable is needed. NETGEAR doesn’t include cables, so you’ll need one for the router link and one per device.
  4. Power it on and check the lights. On NETGEAR’s GS305 and GS308, a solid green port light means a working link, blinking means traffic, and no light means no link. For other switches, the manual says what each light means.
  5. Plug in your devices. They join the network the same way they would on a router port, with nothing to change on the devices.

Keep the switch after the router

The switch goes between the router and your devices, never between the modem and the router. Google’s supported layout is modem, then router, then switch. It explains that if a switch sits in front of its router, a mesh point gets its address from the modem instead of the router, and the mesh doesn’t form.

Will a switch slow anything down?

Not on its own. NETGEAR rates its 5-port GS305v3 at 10 Gbps and the 8-port GS308v3 at 16 Gbps of non-blocking bandwidth, so every port can run at full gigabit speed at the same time. Each link runs at the fastest speed both ends support.

The limit is the single cable to the router. Everything on the switch reaches the router and the internet through it, so on a gigabit switch those devices share 1 Gbps between them. Copying files between two devices on the switch stays on the switch and doesn’t use that link. For most homes, with an internet plan of 1 Gig or less, that’s not a bottleneck.

If your plan is faster than 1 Gig and your router has a 2.5 or 10 Gbps LAN port, a gigabit switch on that port caps everything behind it at 1 Gbps. That’s when a multi-gig switch is worth it: multi-gig Ethernet explained covers the cabling and port speeds, and the best multi-gig switches has picks.

Use one cable, and avoid loops

Connect the switch to the router with one cable. Two cables between the same switch and router, or a cable with both ends in the same switch, create a network loop. Some unmanaged switches have loop prevention. TP-Link lists it on some of its models to stop the disruption a loop causes, but not every switch has it.

Unmanaged or managed?

Choose an unmanaged switch unless you know you need more. Google recommends an unmanaged switch with its routers, or a managed one with Spanning Tree Protocol disabled and BPDUs forwarded, to avoid problems with routing and network loops. Managed and “smart” switches add VLANs and traffic control. NETGEAR notes that unmanaged switches can’t separate or prioritize traffic. Most homes don’t need that.

Mesh systems and old routers

Mesh systems. You can wire mesh units through a switch too. Google says switches and mesh points can be connected in any order, as long as they’re downstream of the main router. If you’re wiring mesh units together, mesh backhaul explains why a wired link helps.

An old router as a switch. A spare router can work, but not as it comes out of the box. Google says to set it to bridge mode and turn off its Wi-Fi. Left in router mode, it creates a separate network behind its own NAT, and devices on it may not be able to reach the rest of your network. That’s double NAT. A basic switch is usually simpler.

When you need something other than a basic switch

  • The devices need power too. Access points, cameras and some mesh units can run on power through the Ethernet cable. See what PoE is and the best PoE switches.
  • Faster than 1 Gig. Use a multi-gig switch on a multi-gig router port, as above.
  • The ports are needed in another room. A switch adds ports where a cable already reaches. To get a wired connection to another room in the first place, see Ethernet, MoCA or powerline, then put a switch at that end if you need more than one port there.