Can all ports on nowadays switches act as uplink ports? [closed]

Question

I basically know nothing about networks (I just learned what switch meant yesterday), and English is not my first language but I hope I can make my question clear.

So I just moved into a new house, the house is wired with cat6 cables. They all end in one spot (I will refer to it as the spot). However, the spot is not where the modem/router currently is. I intend to buy a switch, put it in the spot, and connect it to my modem/router. My question is: Do modern switches have dedicated uplink ports, or can any port act as an uplink port (through some modern amazing technology)?

I am asking because, if any port can act as an uplink port, I wouldn’t need to moved my modem/router to the spot (where the switch will be). I will just connect it to the ethernet wall jack, and I will connect all the cat6 cables in the spot to the switch.

On the other hand, if there is a dedicated uplink port, I wouldn’t know which cat6 cable is the one coming from the modem/router (it will take an eternity to figure that out). So it I’ll be easier to get my isp to move my modem/router to the spot (where I will just directly connect it the switch there)

I hope my question is clear. If it isn’t, please tell me so I draw a diagram to clarify further.

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

You can use any switch port as uplink (unless you've got a managed switch and the ports are configured differently).

Some early switches had a dedicated uplink port that was the only one capable of managing multiple MAC addresses while the others just supported a single MAC. This is a thing of the past.

Additionally, switches built after ca. 2000 feature Auto MDI-X where you don't have to worry about switch-to-switch links, MDI-X/MDI switchable ports and crossover cables any more.