New network plan
New network plan
Lexusboy Do Virgin offer extra wireless doggles for you to purchase
Lexusboy Do Virgin offer extra wireless doggles for you to purchase
steviewevie No, you should be able to do just as you suggest, if you've got a Virgin cable modem, plug it into your router, then put Ethernet cables from there to your other PCs if you want.
steviewevie No, you should be able to do just as you suggest, if you've got a Virgin cable modem, plug it into your router, then put Ethernet cables from there to your other PCs if you want.
Your router basically has a small switch built into it. Yes, if you want a better switch with more features/better management, or just more ports, then you should be able to plug the router together with the switch.
The only thing I'm not completely sure about is the routing, i.e. how it's all setup, whether you could plug the cable modem into the switch or have to leave it in the router ?
Love the idea of the "doggles" though :lol:
the switcher should have a specific port to connect the router to, as sort of an input?, then the rest would be outputs? i assume,
i know most routers come with like 5 ports already built in, maybe get a decent router with loads of built in ports? not sure if you can buy somehting like that.
Switches don't normally have an "in" port, you can use any socket for in or out - but I'm confused by the terminology. Are a router and a switch essentially the same thing?
I'm tending to find mostly the word router used with wireless products, but then I've also come across a few wired routers so maybe a router is required if you want to share an internet connection too?
If that is the case then the modem and wireless router would have to stay together, and a port from the wireless router should then go to the switch which would then distribute around the house.
Maybe this is a little more complicated than I thought, better speak to a network engineer before I lay cables all over the place and discover they don't work!
parthiban Switches don't normally have an "in" port, you can use any socket for in or out - but I'm confused by the terminology. Are a router and a switch essentially the same thing?
I'm tending to find mostly the word router used with wireless products, but then I've also come across a few wired routers so maybe a router is required if you want to share an internet connection too?
If that is the case then the modem and wireless router would have to stay together, and a port from the wireless router should then go to the switch which would then distribute around the house.
Maybe this is a little more complicated than I thought, better speak to a network engineer before I lay cables all over the place and discover they don't work!
parthiban Switches don't normally have an "in" port, you can use any socket for in or out - but I'm confused by the terminology. Are a router and a switch essentially the same thing?
I'm tending to find mostly the word router used with wireless products, but then I've also come across a few wired routers so maybe a router is required if you want to share an internet connection too?
If that is the case then the modem and wireless router would have to stay together, and a port from the wireless router should then go to the switch which would then distribute around the house.
Maybe this is a little more complicated than I thought, better speak to a network engineer before I lay cables all over the place and discover they don't work!
The terminology is confusing, I agree, and that's a lot to do with the fact that these products aren't really named correctly !
A switch is just something that switches the traffic between its ports. Pretty simple (although more expensive ones can do a bit more).
A router, however, usually has a bit more network intelligence in the way that it decides to send stuff, e.g. it has different network types involved which it may decide to "route" the traffic over. I'm simplifying here, the lines can be blurred quite often.
The "wireless router" that you get free from your ISP, or see in Currys etc, is actually a router with a built-in switch. So the bit with the four (or thereabouts) Ethernet ports is actually a switch, and the routing functionality comes in with talking over the wireless and/or the Internet port.
steviewevie The terminology is confusing, I agree, and that's a lot to do with the fact that these products aren't really named correctly !
A switch is just something that switches the traffic between its ports. Pretty simple (although more expensive ones can do a bit more).
A router, however, usually has a bit more network intelligence in the way that it decides to send stuff, e.g. it has different network types involved which it may decide to "route" the traffic over. I'm simplifying here, the lines can be blurred quite often.
The "wireless router" that you get free from your ISP, or see in Currys etc, is actually a router with a built-in switch. So the bit with the four (or thereabouts) Ethernet ports is actually a switch, and the routing functionality comes in with talking over the wireless and/or the Internet port.
steviewevie The terminology is confusing, I agree, and that's a lot to do with the fact that these products aren't really named correctly !
A switch is just something that switches the traffic between its ports. Pretty simple (although more expensive ones can do a bit more).
A router, however, usually has a bit more network intelligence in the way that it decides to send stuff, e.g. it has different network types involved which it may decide to "route" the traffic over. I'm simplifying here, the lines can be blurred quite often.
The "wireless router" that you get free from your ISP, or see in Currys etc, is actually a router with a built-in switch. So the bit with the four (or thereabouts) Ethernet ports is actually a switch, and the routing functionality comes in with talking over the wireless and/or the Internet port.
Cheers for that, yep my netgear router has a 4 port switch in it, that's what I currently have my PC, powerline adaptor and voip phone hooked up to. So clearly it's almost full, which is why I was thinking along the lines of a full on 8/16 port network switch.
But it does seem I may need to route it through some form of router, for which my wireless router is doing a fine job so may keep things as they are, but run one cable out into the cupboard or loft while redecorating that will allow for further expansion at a later date.
Thanks everyone for the replies
You could easily hang a cheap switch off your router to help expand it. Even though you might have a lot of traffic going down that one link between switch and wireless router, bear in mind that link will have a lot more bandwidth (e.g. 100Mbit or even 1Gbit) then your broadband link (e.g. 10Mbit or 20Mbit), so it's not likely to be a problem !