Making the Network

[Tigjaw]

Hi OC’ers,

I've finally got fed up of my wireless connection and want to try to improve our setup.
We have 10mb from Virgin Media and my dad (who is connected via Ethernet right next to the router) gets that speed most of the time - when not being throttled by VM. However my brother and I have always struggled to feel the benefits of broadband as we're both connecting via wireless G and for some reason only receive a trickle.

I want a better way of distributing the 'network' around the house. There are only four Ethernet connections on the router and we would like to provide accessibility for every room.
What would be the best way of going about this? Wireless N? Spraying Ethernet cables everywhere?

Thanks in advance for any advice - I know a lot of you must have some experience in this area,
Regards,
Tig

EDIT: Our router = WGR614 v5 - think replacing it may solve the wireless problem entirely?

 

[Tigjaw]

SNIP

Cheers for the advice Branddaly, I forgot to ask about the Ethernet network option. If my router only has four Ethernet ports is it possible to provide more than four Ethernet connections around the house?

 

[Tigjaw]

Ethernet Switch.

Ah of course, so I - for example - take one Ethernet cable, plug it into a switch and plug as many devices into it as possible but... Doesn't that effect the efficiency of the connection? If my laptop and my pc are connected via a switch at the same time, they're sharing the same switch, the same bandwidth, the same root ethernet cable. Doesn't a switch limit speeds?