Computer router/hub question...

[Kevin Palmer]

I have a PC down stairs that is where my router is located.



My laptop is wireless but I am using it hardwired due to not being able to change out my router to a wireless system as the router is used for my wifes work.



I have run third wire up stairs to one daughters room. Required MUCH work to do so. To the point of taking cabinets off the wall.



Well now we are putting a PC in my other daughters room and I really do not want to do the cabinet trick again.. LOL



I have heard the term "Hub" and think it is what I am after.



What I want to know is; what can I do to use the existing line upstairs to feed both of the computers rather than running a complete new line down to my router????



Thanks in advance....

 

[Dale Carlson]

Coastie,



You could use a hub, but a small 4-port switch is fairly inexpensive would be a better choice. Hubs share the bandwidth between the hosts connected to it, switches do not. Probably not a big deal with only two hosts, but small switches don't really cost anymore than small hubs. Not even sure you can find small hubs anymore. I think Linksys and Belkin, among others make'em

 

[Kevin Palmer]

Will this switch allow more than one user at a time to use the net or is it like it sounds, a switch???

 

[Todd Cloutier]

Ethernet switches have pretty much replaced hubs nowadays. You can find them at any big box electronics store, and the price for a basic switch is pretty low.

 

[troy malone]

you could use another 4 port roter. it would work like a bridge.. the current wire would be pluged into one of the numbered ports and not the wan port. then you could run 3 more lines from the roter from the oter 3 numbered prots.. you can do wireless the same way from you hard wired router.. say port 4 is open on your hard wired router. you can un a jumper wire from port 4 to port 1 on a wirelss router and make it a wireless access port for your laptop..



hope this helps



troy

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Coastie, the two PCs upstairs could share the one connection via a SWITCH (don't use a hub), as long as you want to run CAT-5E between the two rooms.



Another alternative, though it may be too late, is to go wireless anyway. You say already have a non-wireless router that you can't change out and it's used for your wife's work. I suspect that's a VPN node or firewall.



Since you can't change that device out, if it has at least one available ethernet jack, THEN you could "daisy chain" off from it with another router, in this case a wireless router.



Ideally you would change out the existing router to a wireless one, saving the hops, but since you can't do that, just add the new router onto the existing one.



What can be tricky with such a daisy chaining is assuring that only ONE of the routers is setup as your DHCP server (that's the protocol and subsystem for giving out IP addresses to the PCs that connect), OR if they BOTH give out addresses, then to make sure they service different IP ranges (one starts at .101, the other at .200).



If all this is greek to you, let me know. If someone else has better advice, also chime in.



TJR

 

[Allen Smith]

Does your existing router have a port on the back labelled UPLINK?

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Yeah, Allen, I was thinking the same thing...daisy chain to wireless router. That probably would require UPLINK, right?

 

[Todd Cloutier]

I'd just skip buying an additional router and just get a 4-port switch. Most of them can detect when they are plugged into a router, so you don't have to worry about uplink ports or crossover cables.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

I agree with Todd, that's the easiest *IF* running cat-5 between the upstairs rooms is easy, and if Coastie isn't hankering for wireless anyway!

 

[Allen Smith]

Todd C has a good plan. Mine was to plug the existing cable running upstair to a WAP and have it plugged into the uplink on the router. Without the uplink port it would require that to be a crossover cable though. Using a WAP would then require no cable runs to the new room.

 

[Kevin Palmer]

I have a new in the box Lynksys Wireless router. If I am able to jump off my wired router to the Wireless router that would be great.



Why I am not able to get rid of the wired router is because it has been seriously modified for security reason because of my wifes work.



That will change in a few weeks but for now I must stick with it.



Let just say Las Vegas is really serious about access to their money files... LOL.



I can easily jump off my wired router or easily run wire to the other bedroom.

I like the wireless option as I would use it for my laptop as it is wireless as well.



For the upstairs stuff the wire option is easier just because I do not have the PC's set up for wireless.



But I could put the Wireless router upstairs jumped off the existing wired router and solve everything from what I am hearing from you guys.



I recall having to go to some specific website address to set up the router. If I jump off the wired router how do I access the wireless router to set it up???



I appreciate your help with this...

 

[Kevin Palmer]

Allen, laymens explanation please.



My existing Router has :

One port labeled "Internet" and

Four ports not labeled. They are where my cables run to my various computers.

 

[Todd Cloutier]

You can use your Linksys router as a wireless access point. By default, the Linksys has an ip address of 192.168.1.1 You will have to go into the configuration and change that to a number that's compatible with your network, like 192.168.X.2 where the X is the subnet you network is using (probably 0 or 1). You will probably need to turn off DHCP on the Linksys since your existing router is probably doing that job already. There should also be an option to have the Linksys operate as a gateway or a router - select router. You can use one of the 4 ports on the back of the Linksys to connect to your network (don't use the WAN port).



If you go wireless, make sure to enable encryption, preferably WPA. It may be adviseable to check with your wife's employer as well, since depending on how the VPN to her office is configured, your network may be inside the corporate firewall. Operating a wireless access point may be a security issue.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

What Todd C said!

 

[Allen Smith]

Ignore what I said her before.



2 things - I was reading on the Linksys site - you can just connect a switch from a numbered port to the uplink port on a switch via a straigh/regular cable. What brand/modle router do you currently have.



the other thing - if you wanted to connect a wireless access point and do it that way - there may be a security risk involved then that your wifes employer may object to.



Sorry for the confusion - my pain pills were kicking in!

 

[Allen Smith]

ignore

 

[Dale Carlson]

Actually, allen, because of network address translation (NAT), you could create two separate networks that'd still share their Internet connection and would still provide the security that the wife's employer requires.



See the link for a discussion between Leo Laporte and Steve Gibson (THE security guru), bottom quarter of the page.

 

[Richard L]

Coastiejoe,



New 4 Port Wireless routers can be bought for under $50 and often for as little $29-$39.

4 port hubs contains connections for 4 PC's or printers, but you can share a printer attached to one of the other PC's so you don't need to use one of the ports for a printer.



Even though they are called "wireless" you can also connect 4 PC's wirelessly or via a cable. Usually you will get better speed over the network when wired, but the new Extreme/Turbo "G" routers are quite fast (54 Mbos) and there are some that are twice as fast.



The router should be an 802.11g which is faster than the older 802.11b equipment and all the new "G" routers are backward compatible to the older "B" models wireless cards.



I have a D-Link 4 port wireless Xtreme-G router (802.11g), but my laptop only has a 802.11b compatible wireless card built in, so I cannot use the higher speeds unless I get a 802.11g PCMCIA wireless card.



...Rich

 

[Allen Smith]

kefguy,



Yeah, that is possible, but I figured that would be way more complicated than he probably would want to do. Thanks for bringing it up though - nice read.



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