Network router/switch question

o and ao and a
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I have a home network with an asante router with 4 ports and now i need one with at least 6 ports. I would like to keep the current router and wanted to know how I could do that. Do I buy another router and connect it to this router? Or a switch? Or a hub? I know little about networking so I was hoping someone could help me out on this. Thanks.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    dmband0026dmband0026 Posts: 2,345member
    An access point may do what you are looking to do...but I also think another router would do the trick too. I'm not really sure, I've never heard of anyone wanting to do this before. Be careful of IP address problems. Hypothetically, if you have a 4 port router it may assign each port a different number (192.168.0.x. x being a number 1-4 depending on which port you are plugged into) so if you plug a new router into port 4 of your first router than your router will have the IP address of 192.168.0.4. Your second router will than assign the same IP addresses to the 4 ports on it. Although I don't know if this will happen, I'm sure there is an easy fix should something go wrong.



    My recommendation: Sell your current router and go with an 8-10 port. That way you'll always have a few extra ports, and you'll avoid issues like this.
  • Reply 2 of 5
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    Hold on a second. You already have a router. You only need one to share internet to a home network. Just get another switch and connect it to your router, then connect your other computers to the new switch. Try to use a switch, no a hub. Switches are faster under a heavy load.



    If you connect two routers together you can fit more than 253 computers on a LAN, but most routers have a WAN port that is only 10Mbps, not 100Mbps. If you want to transfer file you will have to open ports in your firewall and other configs and it will be 10x slower.
  • Reply 3 of 5
    o and ao and a Posts: 579member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Ebby

    Hold on a second. You already have a router. You only need one to share internet to a home network. Just get another switch and connect it to your router, then connect your other computers to the new switch. Try to use a switch, no a hub. Switches are faster under a heavy load.



    If you connect two routers together you can fit more than 253 computers on a LAN, but most routers have a WAN port that is only 10Mbps, not 100Mbps. If you want to transfer file you will have to open ports in your firewall and other configs and it will be 10x slower.



    So your saying I should get a switch and connect that to the router and only use two ports on my router to connect it to the switch and the router to the net. Therefore my connection between computers will be faster and I will still have internet access? Will I have firewall issues with this setup? For instance will I have problems transfering files with Instant messenger with friends or my brother who likes to play PS2 online?
  • Reply 4 of 5
    123123 Posts: 278member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by O and A

    Will I have firewall issues with this setup? For instance will I have problems transfering files with Instant messenger with friends or my brother who likes to play PS2 online?



    You'll have the exact same issues you have with your current setup.
  • Reply 5 of 5
    o and ao and a Posts: 579member
    Thanks for the help. I think i'm gonna go ahead and buy a switch.
Sign In or Register to comment.