Hey,
I have LTE modem that needs to get feed over ethernet (POE) and I have a spare PCIe slot on x86 Openwrt router and though that adding an PCI NIC with POE would be cheap because I can get cheap POE injectors and cheap NICs but cheapest PCIe NIC with POE I could find was on AliExpress for 40 USD while I can get POE injector and a PCIe NIC for 5 EUR each.
Go for 2nd option. Your router should have WAN port if it is a router.
Thanks for the advice. I went and actually looked at my switch. I know I should have done it before but I assumed it was just dumb unmanaged switch with full multiplexing.
However, I have a dumb-ish Utepo PoE switch 8+2. It dose not have management but I discovered it has a hardware switch that isolates 1-8 ports except to WAN1 and WAN2, so if I have Openwrt router connected to WAN 1 and the LTE modem to one of the 1-8 PoE ports all traffic should flow to Openwrt and then to modem. No hardware needed. In theory...
I will have to figure out how to create an interface or routing from openwrt to one of devices... or how to exclude from LAN either way it sounds like it could work.
Unless you have a decent managed PoE switch, a 5-buck PoE injector is a better option (no security risks to your LAN).
I am at the limit of power outlets/space, so I avoiding injector it would be good. However, after doing some initial research, I do not see any guides on how to set this up, meaning I would have to trial and error that and there may be no good way of doing this.
Probably cheaper to add outlets in the wall.