Switch

Kemik · 2 Jun 2008 at 00:46

Hey,

Am I right in thinking a switch takes an Ethernet cable and creates 5/8/16/etc more ports (like a USB hub does for USB ports)?

I'm moving out for my last year of uni but you only get one Ethernet port for the internet access. Your also restricted to one MAC address. I have a laptop and a PS3 I want to take with me.

I was looking at this Netgear GS605 5-Port Gigabit Desktop switch. Will that fit the job? Are there any which include wireless or would I need something like the Linksys WAP54G 54Mbps Wireless Access Point for that?

Thanks for the help.

Daegan · 2 Jun 2008 at 01:13

Kemik said:
Your also restricted to one MAC address.

That makes a switch pretty useless. If you want both devices to have access to the internet you'll need a router.

You'll find plenty of people willing to recommend one of these.

Dist · 2 Jun 2008 at 01:18

Like Daegan said, if you are restricted to 1 MAC address then you will need a cable router. The router has its own MAC address, and will act as a gateway between your ps3 and laptop and the outside network. Should you ever have more devices and run out of ports on the router, you can simply connect the router to a switch to allow more devices to be connected.

PhillyDee · 2 Jun 2008 at 01:31

Are you actually able to do this? They may not allow another router on the system if its in the uni network. I would check that this actually works first (Beg / Borrow / Steal a cabek router first!).

J.B · 2 Jun 2008 at 11:53

There was a thread like this a few weeks ago, think it was from sidewinder.

I did the same thing when I was in halls with a cable router, worked perfectly