Networking

[jsen]

i have a home network and i need to be able to run 5 computers + a wireless laptop on dsl without any switching

what kind of router can i buy? ive looked on tigerdirect and i cant find any

i need a 5 port wireless router with 10/100 speed or higher but for a max price of around 100$... i need some help

(i dont know if this is the right forum, please correct me if im wrong)

 

[donkey42]

check out this
and it's 108mb/s wireless

Edit: their here on tigerdirect

 

[jsen]

????
i already looked on tiger direct, i saw a ton of routers, all 4 ports...

"Ports 1 x 10/100M WAN; 4 x 10/100M LAN"
WAN=wireless? so its wireless and 4 ports?...

 

[donkey42]

????
i already looked on tiger direct, i saw a ton of routers, all 4 ports...

yeah, some routers have 3, 4, and 5 ports, my ADSL router has 4 Ethernet ports

"Ports 1 x 10/100M WAN; 4 x 10/100M LAN"

one WAN port to connect to the internet & 4 ports to connect equipment to your LAN, 10/100 is just the speed of Ethernet, and it's mb/s (megabits per second) not Mb/s (Megabytes per second)

WAN=wireless?

no, WAN = Wide Area Network & LAN = Local Area Network, anything plugged into the router is connected locally, so it is connected to your LAN, the internet one big WAN,

so its wireless and 4 ports?...

that is exactly what you want, a wireless router with 3, 4, or even 5 Ethernet ports[ot]i personally don't fully understand networking, but i've pointed you in the right direction[/ot]

 

[DaRuSsIaMaN]

Alright, after a brief search, I found 2 wireless routers with more than 4 LAN ports. (copy/paste the below URLs, then delete all the spaces. For some reason the links become broken when I insert them in the standard method but it works when i copy/paste the URL into a new window *shrug)

Newegg.com - CISCO CISCO1811W-AG-A/K9 IEEE802.11a/b/g, 802.1Q, 802.3af, 802.1X Wireless Router - Retail
rofl.
I'm guessing $950 bucks is not exactly the price range you're considering?? Okay here's the other one:
Newegg.com - D-Link VWR-VR IEEE 802.3/3u, IEEE 802.11b/g Broadband Telephone Adapter/Wireless Router with Vonage - Retail
I have no idea what that second router is, really. It says Vonage on it... ?? I have no idea what that means exactly.

However, there are also WIRED-only routers available that have more than 4 LAN ports, like this one:
Newegg.com - LINKSYS BEFSR81 10/100Mbps EtherFast Cable/DSL Router with 8-Port Switch 1 x 10Mbps WAN Ports 8 x 10/100Mbps LAN Ports - Retail

So, unless you buy that odd Vonage router, the only way for you to go is to buy additional equipment. Here are the options I can think of.
1. You could get a standard wireless router with 4 ethernet ports and get 1 wireless adapter for one of your PC's. Then you would have 4 PC's wired to it and 1 PC and 1 laptop connected wirelessly.
2. You could get a switch along with the router (which will provide additional ports) and plug it into one of the ports on the wireless router. That way you'll have 3 comps wired to the router, the remaining 2 wired to the switch, and the laptop connect wirelessly to the router
3. You could get 2 routers and connect them together, which is almost exactly the same as option #2

And another option to consider if you're willing to change your original plan:
4. get the wired only router with 8 ports and connect everything with cables, including your laptop, and forget about wireless.

 

[jsen]

so... there is no cheap 5 port wireless routers, id have to sign up to vonage to get a cheap 5 port, or i can use a switch? we already have a switch on our router and my dad doesnt want one and our router is breaking so we wanted to buy a new one...
he wont want to mess around with making his computer wireless so we pretty much have to buy another 4-port and use a switch, am i right?

thanx for the info

PS: yes, my dad, im his kid, im 13 :)

 

[DaRuSsIaMaN]

so... there is no cheap 5 port wireless routers

It sure does seem like it to me. The router industry seems to be very standardized these days, in this aspect at least, so all the routers have the same basic design: 1 WAN port, 4 LAN ports.

id have to sign up to vonage to get a cheap 5 port

Well, I don't know. Have you looked at that router? I really have no idea what the Vonage logo on it means... Maybe it doesn't really mean anything?? I only looked at it briefly and saw it had a vonage logo on it in the picture

, or i can use a switch? we already have a switch on our router and my dad doesnt want one and our router is breaking so we wanted to buy a new one...
he wont want to mess around with making his computer wireless so we pretty much have to buy another 4-port and use a switch, am i right?

Alright, one at a time. Every router has a switch in it. Routers do the same job as a switch, only difference is they do something more too. Every router also has the functionality of a switch built in but a switch is not a router. So of course you already have a switch in your router.

Secondly, how do you guys connect the 5 PC's plus the laptop wirelessly now? Does your current router (the one you say is breaking) have more than 4 ports?

Since you say your dad does not want to "mess around with making his computer wireless", then yes, you will need two devices. Either 2 routers or 1 router and 1 switch. A router and a switch may be cheaper than 2 routers, since, like I said, routers do more than switches do. But seeing as how consumer-grade routers are often very cheap anyway, it may not make much of a difference. It might be easier to set up two identical routers rather than 2 different devices (router and switch). But if ease of setup is much of a factor, then using my option #4 would definitely be easiest lol, no question about it.

 

[jsen]

Secondly, how do you guys connect the 5 PC's plus the laptop wirelessly now? Does your current router (the one you say is breaking) have more than 4 ports?

its a 4 port wireless with (i dont know its name, the thing i call a "switch") one of them thingys that has 2 ports on it you plug into the 1 port on the router

and either i dont know what a switch is, or i just dont know what youre talking about

i looked at a couple other vonage routers (not on newegg) and it said you need a vonage account to use the router so id asssume the same for the one(s) on newegg

 

[DaRuSsIaMaN]

its a 4 port wireless with (i dont know its name, the thing i call a "switch") one of them thingys that has 2 ports on it you plug into the 1 port on the router

Ohhh, okay. Well in that case another 4-port router should suit you fine, it seems.