----------------------------------- josh Fri Nov 19, 2004 7:03 pm Splitting an Ethernet Connection ----------------------------------- Here is my situartion: I have a LAN in my home so that multiple PC's can access y rogers internet connection. For about a year I was using a wireless card in my PC but it kept cutting out becuase I was at the edge of the routers range in my room. So me father and me spent the time to drill a few holes through walls and the garage ceiling in order to run an ethernet wire up to my room. It was a pain the the but becuase as u know an ethernet wire has a fairly wide plug. So now that I have Xbox Live I have to kep switiching the wire beteween my Xbox and PC. I called microsoft before and I got them to give me to a high level help person becuase the person I started with was an incompentent bimbo. THe smart guy told me that if I used a HUB the Xbox Live would not work and if I put a secnond router in my room It would just slow the connection down. What I want to know is if there is a device that acts like a switch (like the kind that lets u switch between speakers and headphones) so that i do not have to keep moving the wire. I don't care that I wouldn't be able to use the net on the pc and Xbox at the same time, I just don't want to have to keep moving the wire. thanx -rhysticlight p.s. sorry for the long post I just wanted to fully explain my situation. ----------------------------------- Tony Fri Nov 19, 2004 7:33 pm ----------------------------------- not that I know of. It's really cheap to just buy another network card ($10) and just share your connection. Xbox might be bitchy about it, but [url=http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20041112101646643]here is a solution to network it with a Mac. Though if you have a PC, it should be the same. But if you absolutly must have a Y split with a switch, you'd probably have to do it yourself. It's not hard, cat5 cables are really simple. ----------------------------------- josh Fri Nov 19, 2004 7:56 pm ----------------------------------- ya, I was looking at a switch but I don't know tone about networkng and wasn't qute sure what it did or how it worked. I would do the network card but the guy told me that using ICS s even worse than doing a second router. ----------------------------------- Blade Fri Nov 19, 2004 8:26 pm ----------------------------------- i'm not too sure about this solution, or if it will work... but i know that if you wanted to hook a 2nd pc (in your case an xbox) up to your network in your room, you could hve 2 network cards in the main pc and use the bringing feature that comes with windows xp... as i said i'm not sure if it will work (but i dont see any reason it wont) its just an idea off the top of my head.. ----------------------------------- josh Fri Nov 19, 2004 8:28 pm ----------------------------------- yeah, that is what ICS does (internet conection sharing) but like I said the xbox live guy told me it would cause a major drop in performance. ----------------------------------- SuperGenius Sat Nov 20, 2004 12:18 am ----------------------------------- what about a "wireless range expandes, such as this one: http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=33&scid=38&prid=629 ----------------------------------- Tony Sat Nov 20, 2004 2:47 am ----------------------------------- well cat5 wiring is simple http://www.aviom.com/Images/CAT5-patch_A.gif just 8 wires, colourcoded and run parallel to each other. You would need to mod the switch so that at a flip it would make 8 connections instead of 1. You can use one of the cable's ends that you would cut off (to expose the connections) as the switch end that will make the connections.. I don't know. The whole idea seems farfetched. Flawed connections will defenatly screw you over more than a slower connection. Perhaps if you just wire together a Y split and ensure that the other machine does not attempt to connect and mess over the sygnals. :? ----------------------------------- Martin Sat Nov 20, 2004 4:59 am ----------------------------------- Just get a wireless router, and all of your problems will go away. ----------------------------------- josh Sat Nov 20, 2004 10:06 am ----------------------------------- as I mentioned above I have a wireless/wired router but the signal strength is two low by the time it reaches me room, and for about a year when I was using the wireless for my PC I sometimes went through whole days were I could not get a signal. I was thinking of a wireless range exteneder but I wanted to see if there was a less expensive alternative first, I guess I could use 8 switches (but would I ned like a three way kind becuase there will be the input and two outputss)??? ----------------------------------- Andy Sat Nov 20, 2004 11:09 am ----------------------------------- its not all that expensive to get an atenna.. 50-60 bux i think ----------------------------------- josh Sat Nov 20, 2004 11:18 am ----------------------------------- alright I will look into it more becuase the only ones that I have seen so far are closer to 80 - 100 and I would like to try and avoid that if possible, but if not I will just do it. ----------------------------------- Mazer Sat Nov 20, 2004 11:18 am ----------------------------------- I'd say that's pretty expensive. Wasn't there a way to make your own out of coffee cans or something? ----------------------------------- rdrake Sat Nov 20, 2004 11:30 am ----------------------------------- Wasn't there a way to make your own out of coffee cans or something?There's the [url=http://www.turnpoint.net/wireless/cantennahowto.html]Cantenna. ----------------------------------- Paul Sat Nov 20, 2004 11:31 am ----------------------------------- lol, I moved my router and modem to a location where its easiest to reach from all rooms, just drill a few holes, it isn't THAT hard. ----------------------------------- josh Sat Nov 20, 2004 11:47 am ----------------------------------- well If I am gunna drill holes n e way then I may as well drill a second set of holes and run a wire up. I will ecperiment with moving the rouer around a bit, but for I know i guess I will be looking at a range extender. I am surprised there isn't something like an A B switch for ethernet lines. ----------------------------------- octopi Sat Nov 20, 2004 3:00 pm ----------------------------------- You shouldn't be suprised....since theres no reason to have an AB style switch, when both things can be connected at the same time. Get yourself a 'switch', or a smart hub. ----------------------------------- Paul Sat Nov 20, 2004 4:42 pm ----------------------------------- lol, the google ads in this page should save you some googling. ----------------------------------- josh Sun Nov 21, 2004 12:10 am ----------------------------------- when u say a switch do u mean something like this??? but a little less indutsrial grade... http://www.omnitron-systems.com/Ethernet/6000view.htm ----------------------------------- Blade Sun Nov 21, 2004 12:45 am ----------------------------------- ok, well reading the post over again, it sounds like bs to me, because having a switch in your room wont noticably slow down the inet performance on your pc, so why should it do it to your xbox? ... its like having a 4 port router and wanting an extention so you buy another 8 port switch, joining the router ot the switch and having the inet noticably slow down, i dont really think so... i hate tech support knobs... oh wait, knobs are useful :roll: 5 port switch as in http://dlink.com/products/?sec=1&pid=69 btw, you can join networks by running a patch cat5 cable from your router to the "uplink" port on a switch... it just like joining the switch on the router to this switch.. which will give you more ports -- this is basically what you need, i used to do it all the time because i had more than 4 computers wired in a house... it never slowed any of the computers down at all, so why an xbox? ----------------------------------- josh Sun Nov 21, 2004 9:32 am ----------------------------------- thanks I will give this a try, the guy told me a second router ewills low it down, he did not even mention a switch. ----------------------------------- md Mon Nov 22, 2004 12:11 pm ----------------------------------- A switch will not slowdown anything, even a second router will not slow things down noticably. I had to run a wire across my basement, then up two stories to get internet, only to get another machine a few weeks later. My switch saved me tons of time putting in a second wire. BTW, you do know that you can buy cat5 cable, and then cripm end connectors on it right? It makes wiring SOOOO much easier. ----------------------------------- josh Mon Nov 22, 2004 2:06 pm ----------------------------------- u r right, I should have done this, but before tony told me, I did not know how simple CAT5 wiring was.