Using the WAN port on an old Plusnet Hub One

[#1]

I read here of someone successfully plugging a printer into it: https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Router/Plusnet-Hub-one-WAN-port/td-p/1490185

I've reconfigured mine as advised elsewhere (to stop it doing DHCP and trying to get on the internet and producing a wireless signal), and the yellow ports work fine as a plain ethernet switch.  But if I plug a computer into the red port, the computer can't get on the net.  What am I doing wrong?  Having only 4 ports means since I waste two connecting it to the other switch, I'm only gaining 2.  I'd like to gain 3.

[#2]

@sunnyrio   The WAN port is an input port, so will not work in the way you want, and I can't see in the post you linked how it would. Perhaps back then it had some dodgy firmware.

All you need is a switch with more ports.

[#3]

In the linked post, the OP says "I have plugged the new printer into the WAN socket and it prints fine."

I wouldn't call it "dodgy" firmware if it added usability.  What a waste of a port.

"All I need", yeah I'll just go waste money on one.  I've got 12 machines, and enough expense without having to buy more switches!

P.S. don't tell Plusnet how much bandwidth I get through 🙂

[#4]

If all you want is a switch then over the course of the guarantee period, if buying a new one, you will find that the difference in power consumption will save you as least as much due to the lower power consumption, compared with a hub, as the cost of a cheap switch.

[#5]

It may not be environmentally sound, but I don't hug trees.  I like to use old stuff and keep it running.  My car was made in 2002.  I have 12 computers dating back to 2007.  It doesn't seem right to throw things away.  You don't kill off your grandparents because your kids can mow the lawn faster.  Anyway the power is not wasted, it creates heat.  Then I don't need a heater.

[#6]

Actually the cheap switch I already have makes just as much heat.  You need an expensive switch to save power, which is counter productive.

My neighbour paid about £1500 for a new gas boiler because it was more efficient.  It lasted about 4 years, during which he saved about £600 on gas.  Mine from the last century still runs.

[#7]

Tp-Link ls1005g 5 port switch

Cost <£10

Power consumption 3.5W

Plusnet Hub power consumption approx 10W

Power saving 6.5 W

6.5 W  24 hours per day at 30p per KWh costs about £17 per annum.  
Payback time 7 months.

[#8]

Think you are wasting your time with logic @Baldrick1  - seems to me the shields are firmly up!

[#9]

Life is boring if you calculate it.  If it ain't broke don't replace it.  The switch I have gets warm, the Plusnet hub equally gets warm.  I don't buy stuff to save money.  Spending money to save money is daft, like when the government paid us £2000 to actually scrap a still working car!  And re-read the other example about the unreliable modern boilers.  You might not buy your electricity at 30p a unit.  You might have solar panels.  And consider extra power consumption makes heat, which you might use.  It's not as simple as just numbers.

[#10]

@Mustrum  I think you are absolutely spot-on there. There is no way through.

@sunnyrio  Whatever you are trying to do with the WAN port I think you are wasting your time.  It can only be used for an outgoing  PPPoE connection to a VDSL2 modem or FTTP ONT.

[#11]

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@sunnyrio wrote:

... I don't buy stuff to save money.  Spending money to save money is daft, ...

...  You might have solar panels.  ...

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Unless someone's giving away free solar panels, bit of an oxymoron there methinks @sunnyrio  

[#12]

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@RealAleMadrid wrote:

Whatever you are trying to do with the WAN port I think you are wasting your time.  It can only be used for an outgoing  PPPoE connection to a VDSL2 modem or FTTP ONT.

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So explain how the guy in the link I first posted got a printer working on it?

I'm just trying to use it for a computer.  I have many computers, and control them all with remote desktop from this one.  They're running Boinc science projects.  They need to retrieve and send back data sets to various universities.

[#13]

@RobPN wrote:

Unless someone's giving away free solar panels, bit of an oxymoron there methinks @sunnyrio  

Actually, if you shop around, you can create electricity with solar at ONE TENTH of the price of grid electricity.  You need to think outside the box more, do things yourself, grab free stuff on freecycle, build your own things.  I can make a log cabin out of old furniture (which is in huge supply on freecycle) - cut up the thick wood and make your own joists!  And solar is not the only way to get free electricity, for example hydro power if you have a stream, 24/7 not just in daylight.  Never ever buy anything from a big company.

[#14]

@sunnyrio  You are relying on a post from over 5 years ago from a user with 2 posts on the forum as concrete proof that the WAN port can be used as a LAN port, when there is no way to configure the router to achieve that. As you have found out by connecting a computer, it doesn't work.🙄

Edit: Maybe the printer was working over wi-fi and not actually using the ethernet connection at all.🤔

[#15]

To run the printer on WiFi he'd have to give the printer the password so he couldn't have done that by accident.

It only takes one to succeed, to prove it can be done.  I find it hard to believe they "upgraded" the firmware so it has less functionality.  There's no reason to prevent someone using the port out of spite.

At least the hub one has one more yellow port.  The new one is less usable!