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- Thread starter Kreeeee
- Start date
Pretty much all routers on the market can handle 4 directly wired computers (or more if a switch is added), and a huge number of wireless (256 for most iirc).
So if you are using a second router to connect the wired pc and xbox360, you should be able to run a wire from that to the main router and connect to the 4th free port (as the other 3 will be taken up by the xbox and 2 PCs).
I assume from your post that the router you already have is wireless. If that is the case it will allow you to do a number of things:
1. Buy a wired router, and use the existing router for all wireless connections, and wire the existing router to it using ethernet cable.
2. If the existing router is a cable router, then you could just buy a switch to allow more than 4 pcs/consoles to be connected wired.
3. Buy a new wireless router. This way you can place both the new router and the existing router spearately (eg ground and second floors), with one set as DHCP/DNS and the other as a slave access point, allowing you to maximise your wireless network coverage. You can then connect these together either wired or wireless.
As for traffic shaping, the cheapest way to do this would be to use a software shaper, rather than have it built into the hardware (as to my knowledge this would be out of your budget)
So if you are using a second router to connect the wired pc and xbox360, you should be able to run a wire from that to the main router and connect to the 4th free port (as the other 3 will be taken up by the xbox and 2 PCs).
I assume from your post that the router you already have is wireless. If that is the case it will allow you to do a number of things:
1. Buy a wired router, and use the existing router for all wireless connections, and wire the existing router to it using ethernet cable.
2. If the existing router is a cable router, then you could just buy a switch to allow more than 4 pcs/consoles to be connected wired.
3. Buy a new wireless router. This way you can place both the new router and the existing router spearately (eg ground and second floors), with one set as DHCP/DNS and the other as a slave access point, allowing you to maximise your wireless network coverage. You can then connect these together either wired or wireless.
As for traffic shaping, the cheapest way to do this would be to use a software shaper, rather than have it built into the hardware (as to my knowledge this would be out of your budget)
I'll draw up some simple network diagrams when I get home at 6 ish. Hope that would help with what we want.
The problem is that the DSs are pigs to connect to routers and I know that my current router works on 1-2Mbps only (as most do) which is unacceptable for a whole network so it needs to be a node on another network.
How far (internally, eg distance and # of walls) would a wireless g signal travel? How much would a QoS/traffic shaping router cost?
The problem is that the DSs are pigs to connect to routers and I know that my current router works on 1-2Mbps only (as most do) which is unacceptable for a whole network so it needs to be a node on another network.
How far (internally, eg distance and # of walls) would a wireless g signal travel? How much would a QoS/traffic shaping router cost?
Kreeeee said:
There is only one cable company that operates in Bristol and it's Blueyonder. I had no problems with my 10mbit Blueyonder when I lived in Fishponds.
Actually, that might not strictly be true as I think NTL cover one small section of somewhere just on the outskirts of Bristol
Still, the chances are it's Blueyonder.A router such as the Linksys WRT54GL would give you the QoS that you need. I haven't used one with stock firmware but I think it can do QoS with it - someone else will confirm. It can definitely do it with 3rd party firmware anyway.
It's pretty hard to say how far wireless generally works as some houses will allow the signal to travel further than others. Some people get crappy signal when they're out of the room that the AP is in, other people will get full coverage throughout their house so it depends on many factors such as thickness of walls, if anything else is going to cause interference, etc. In all the places I've lived in though, I've never had any wireless reception issues. Just try and place your router/AP in a pretty central location.
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If you are putting router on middle floor then hopefully signal should be ok but if not then use wireless cards that have replaceable aerials and then get some better ones - i just upgraded aerial on my card from a 2db standard to a 19db omni-directional big fat tube. Cant fault signal now and you will pick up a lot more networks. One thing though stick away from netgear rangemax cards (their routers are great though) as the drivers cause constant bsod's. Now using a 3rd party driver and software and seems ok so far
In theory the one (new) wireless router should be sufficient for all wireless devices and up to 4 wired. You should be able to use the USR as a simple switch (though i couldn't give specifics having never used that particular router), or worst case scenario shell out a few quid for a wired switch to add more wired devices
if you want to stick to wired I would say a switch is your way to go. A switch per floor means only 1 cable going between floors whihc is always good. then a switch from those in hallways of each floor maybe to each of the others
oxygene said:
The only problem with that is that you will get bottlenecks on that one cable, not a major issue for web browsing, but could be a big issue when you start copying movies and music
If you are going to be linking switches by only one cable then I would be looking at getting 2 switches with gigabit ports. Link the two switches via a gigabit port and plug the middle floor router into the gigabit switch on the middle floor.
We tried using one cable to link upstairs and downstairs at work while we were rewiring the building and our speeds plummeted, and there was only 3 pcs down stairs.
Could I suggest homeplug? For the machines that are out of range wirelessly homeplug will give them a fairly decent connection.
Consider sticking a cheap gigabit switch on the middle floor, plug the router into it, get 2 gigabit switches for the other floors then let folks use 100Mbit connections into that (or gigabit for the ones with it) as its a switch it will autosense each port - its only a hub that will slow to the slowest node on its part of the network.
Gigabit switches are in the region of £30 each which brings you in to total cost of about £100 including cables. You will probably find carpets can be lifted to hide cables - so long as your not pulling it up and re-seating all the time it really should be absolutely fine. If the carpet is glued just push cables into the edges and pop a carpet tack in next to it to gentle pin it against skirtingboard - job done. For pinning cables against walls use staples as they will leave almost totally un-noticable holes (call that £10 weekend hire of gun + staples)
I supose it really is down to how reasonable your landlord is. Most will likely try and pocket deposit anyway so you may find you go massive expense only to be seriously out of pocket at the end - try and gauge it
Wired networks >>>>> homeplug > wireless.
Consider sticking a cheap gigabit switch on the middle floor, plug the router into it, get 2 gigabit switches for the other floors then let folks use 100Mbit connections into that (or gigabit for the ones with it) as its a switch it will autosense each port - its only a hub that will slow to the slowest node on its part of the network.
Gigabit switches are in the region of £30 each which brings you in to total cost of about £100 including cables. You will probably find carpets can be lifted to hide cables - so long as your not pulling it up and re-seating all the time it really should be absolutely fine. If the carpet is glued just push cables into the edges and pop a carpet tack in next to it to gentle pin it against skirtingboard - job done. For pinning cables against walls use staples as they will leave almost totally un-noticable holes (call that £10 weekend hire of gun + staples)
I supose it really is down to how reasonable your landlord is. Most will likely try and pocket deposit anyway so you may find you go massive expense only to be seriously out of pocket at the end - try and gauge it
Wired networks >>>>> homeplug > wireless.
Doesn't that depend on the range of each individual wireless card though?TheVoice said:
The Linksys WRT54GS-UK Wireless-G SpeedBooster Broadband Router/4-Port Switch (NW-006-LS) is on special offer now. Should I go for this or the GL version?
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