Hi All,
So the situation. After having recently acquired a laptop, I now have two computers in my bedroom that require internet access. Our broadband line comes into our study downstairs where we have a fairly sturdy Linksys router (although I can't remember the exact model number). The house is wired with network cables linking most rooms to the study, meaning I have only one network socket in my room (which I have linked to my desktop), which is the current cause of my problems.
Due to all floors and most walls in our house being concrete, the wireless doesn't quite reach my room. Therefore at the moment I have my laptop wired into the second network port on my desktop, with a bridge setup so that both computers have internet access. The problem this creates is that my desktop must be on for my laptop to receive the internet. I can ofcourse switch network cables around, but I'd rather be without the hassle of crawling around on the floor and behind computers too often.
My ideal solution would be to have some form of hub/switch in my room that I would plug into our current network via the socket in my room. I could then plug my desktop and laptop into this separately without having to form a bridge/create a dependency on one machine being on for the other to connect to the network. However I was hoping to find a solution that also offered a wireless access point, so that my laptop wasn't restricted to my desk by a network cable.
My first idea was to simply purchase a wireless router with built in switch and wireless capabilities. For example, this product. My concern is that it won't act like a switch unless there is an ADSL connection going into it. My first question is would I be able to use a router such as the one above to act like a switch and provide wireless within my room without disrupting our current router downstairs? My second question is what do you, the experts of OcUK, recommend as a solution to my problem? Would the product linked above fulfill my requirements or are there cheaper/better ways of achieving my aim (I know there are other routers that do the job and are cheaper, I am just using the product above as a reference)?
Apologies for the long post and I hope some of you have made it all the way through!
Any advice would be most welcome.
Thanks, Simon.
So the situation. After having recently acquired a laptop, I now have two computers in my bedroom that require internet access. Our broadband line comes into our study downstairs where we have a fairly sturdy Linksys router (although I can't remember the exact model number). The house is wired with network cables linking most rooms to the study, meaning I have only one network socket in my room (which I have linked to my desktop), which is the current cause of my problems.
Due to all floors and most walls in our house being concrete, the wireless doesn't quite reach my room. Therefore at the moment I have my laptop wired into the second network port on my desktop, with a bridge setup so that both computers have internet access. The problem this creates is that my desktop must be on for my laptop to receive the internet. I can ofcourse switch network cables around, but I'd rather be without the hassle of crawling around on the floor and behind computers too often.
My ideal solution would be to have some form of hub/switch in my room that I would plug into our current network via the socket in my room. I could then plug my desktop and laptop into this separately without having to form a bridge/create a dependency on one machine being on for the other to connect to the network. However I was hoping to find a solution that also offered a wireless access point, so that my laptop wasn't restricted to my desk by a network cable.
My first idea was to simply purchase a wireless router with built in switch and wireless capabilities. For example, this product. My concern is that it won't act like a switch unless there is an ADSL connection going into it. My first question is would I be able to use a router such as the one above to act like a switch and provide wireless within my room without disrupting our current router downstairs? My second question is what do you, the experts of OcUK, recommend as a solution to my problem? Would the product linked above fulfill my requirements or are there cheaper/better ways of achieving my aim (I know there are other routers that do the job and are cheaper, I am just using the product above as a reference)?
Apologies for the long post and I hope some of you have made it all the way through!
Any advice would be most welcome.
Thanks, Simon.
