With a Zyxel GS1200 do I need a router to get internet on my PC?

Placebo

Maybe this is a stupid question, but anyway, I bought the GS1200-8 believe that I could connect it to my fiber box on the wall and then connect my PC and other home devices and they would run the home network and I'd obviously have internet on my PC, but I have no internet on my PC unless I from from fiber box - router - GS1200-8 - PC, problem is I was trying to remove my router from the equation because it needs rebooting every day or 2 because it simply stops sharing the internet.

When I connect my PC to the GS1200-8 I get no internet connection, I've set up the IP as the leaflet instructs and I can access the switch's management but how do I get the internet from it please?

Mijzelf

Placebo said:

What I guess I obviously failed to grasp is that a switch can't do DHCP and thus connect my PC to the internet

DHCP is not the issue. That is just some nifty trick to auto-configure your network. But you can do without. What you actually need is the router, some central point in the network, which can send packets to the internet, and return the answer to the right device.

Placebo

Mijzelf said:

Placebo said:

What I guess I obviously failed to grasp is that a switch can't do DHCP and thus connect my PC to the internet

DHCP is not the issue. That is just some nifty trick to auto-configure your network. But you can do without. What you actually need is the router, some central point in the network, which can send packets to the internet, and return the answer to the right device.

Thanks, I've booked the return on the switch and will choose a router for my needs

Placebo

Also, why does connecting my PC ethernet cable to the Switch keep making the switch shut down? And yes I've upgraded to the latest firmware...

Placebo

I should add other than upgrading the firmware and disabling POE on all ports I've not configured anything with VLANs etc. etc. as the whole thing is very new to me, so maybe that's why I'm having these issues?

Mijzelf

You always need a router to connect 2 networks, in this case your home network and the internet. If you have only one device in your home network, you can in theory connect it directly to the fiber box, skipping the wole home network. Only in this case you don't need a router, and you don't need a switch either.

But as soon as you want to connect more than one device (and I suppose you want, why would you need an 8 port switch either?) you need a router.

Placebo

Mijzelf said:

You always need a router to connect 2 networks, in this case your home network and the internet. If you have only one device in your home network, you can in theory connect it directly to the fiber box, skipping the wole home network. Only in this case you don't need a router, and you don't need a switch either.

But as soon as you want to connect more than one device (and I suppose you want, why would you need an 8 port switch either?) you need a router.

Well as for why an 8 port switch, my plan was to run fiber box to Home Office 1 + Bedroom (another unmanaged switch in there) + Home Office 2 and I liked the possibility of adding POE security cameras in the future so this gave me room to add onto.

Home Office 1 and bedroom need to communicate because I have an android media player in there I copy files to. I wanted to add a router onto the end of the network for wifi only, but still be on the same network so I could communicate with my PC via my phone.

What I guess I obviously failed to grasp is that a switch can't do DHCP and thus connect my PC to the internet but the router can take the internet from the switch and then spread it down the network. Well as I bought from Amazon I guess I get to return it at no cost to me and to pick out a new router instead.

Mijzelf

Placebo said:

What I guess I obviously failed to grasp is that a switch can't do DHCP and thus connect my PC to the internet

DHCP is not the issue. That is just some nifty trick to auto-configure your network. But you can do without. What you actually need is the router, some central point in the network, which can send packets to the internet, and return the answer to the right device.

Placebo

Mijzelf said:

Placebo said:

What I guess I obviously failed to grasp is that a switch can't do DHCP and thus connect my PC to the internet

DHCP is not the issue. That is just some nifty trick to auto-configure your network. But you can do without. What you actually need is the router, some central point in the network, which can send packets to the internet, and return the answer to the right device.

Thanks, I've booked the return on the switch and will choose a router for my needs