Using a switch better than extension?

cymatty · 3 Mar 2011 at 18:17

Ok quick question, I am having broadband installed soon and will get a free wireless router.

To this router I want to connect,

Xbox- Wire
PC - Wire
Blu-ray - wire

Laptop - wifi
Phone - wifi

Now my master socket is a good 40ft from where all the wired things need connecting, so rather than using a telephone extension I thought about using minimal wiring to the router then a Ethernet cable run to a switch.

So my questions are,

A) would this work
B) is this better than using a 40ft extension?

Thanks

mothermachine · 3 Mar 2011 at 18:23

I'd say it might be. I'm running my router direct into the tel socket then running all my devices off a switch off that. That way if my router dies my LAN at least still stays up (as it's all running off the switch). But that's more of a business/office setup than yours, which is more general and gaming etc, so it might not be right for you.

I have been told in the past that super long telephone extension cables can degrade the connection quality/reliability but I'm not sure if 40 feet would be long enough to do that.

I'm sure someone else here will know more about this than me

3dcandy · 3 Mar 2011 at 18:51

I'd say it would improve it. I'd hazard a guess and say the sync speed would *probably* be better!

Without sounding to general, I'd go the way you're saying as I reckon it would be better. Harder to run the cat5, but unless the master socket is in really a bad place the wifi hould still be fine, and you can add plenty more ports via the switch

cymatty · 3 Mar 2011 at 18:55

3dcandy said:
I'd say it would improve it. I'd hazard a guess and say the sync speed would *probably* be better!

Without sounding to general, I'd go the way you're saying as I reckon it would be better. Harder to run the cat5, but unless the master socket is in really a bad place the wifi hould still be fine, and you can add plenty more ports via the switch

The wifi should be fine as the room is 40ft long but all open so there shouldn't be anything stopping me getting a good signal.

I can get a switch which gets good reviews for £12 (Zyxel Dimension 8-Port Desktop Switch) so its not massively more expensive than a telephone extension.

lurkio · 3 Mar 2011 at 19:50

1. Yes it will
2. Defo , 40ft extension will reduce your sync rate

agw_01 · 4 Mar 2011 at 11:48

Si, as has been said really I'd have the router right next to the master phone socket and run a long Ethernet cable from the router to the switch.

Extension leads are the work of the devil when it comes to ADSL and cause all kinds of problems.