Network Sugestion plz

S

Sucka

Gawd
Joined
Mar 7, 2004
Messages
536
Is it possible (and inexpensive) to have some sort of wireless switch in my living room? I need hardwire capabilities in the living room, but wireing it isn't a good choice for me at this time, would require over 1000' of cable and i'm not prepared to take that on right now. Currently i have my Notebook on my Linksys WRT54GS which is in my office. Right now the only way i can get it done is by connection sharing off my notebook, but it's also not working out well for my needs. So any suggestions on hardware would be nice, thanks.

Edit: Not interested in a USB adapter, would prefer some kind of switch.
 
Ouch, i was afraid of that :eek:

That 1000' of cable all of a sudden isn't sounding so bad. Thanks.
 
Sucka said:
I need hardwire capabilities in the living room, but wireing it isn't a good choice for me at this time, would require over 1000' of cable and i'm not prepared to take that on right now.
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Wiring would *require* over a 1000ft? Explain please...........
 
SJConsultant said:
Wiring would *require* over a 1000ft? Explain please...........
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It's the way my house is setup. I need to go from one side all the way to the other, that's a rough estimate in distance it would take to make the trip around the house. Other option is over the roof, but i would rather run it along the eve. I don't have the know-how to wire it through the walls, so that's not any option either.
 
Why don't you move your WRT54GS to the living room? It's got a 4 port switch already so why not use it?
- Range shouldn't be a problem for your notebook; if it is you can always upgrade the antenna for less than 1/6th of the price of a bridge.
- Moving your Cable or DSL modem shouldn't be a problem; if it is, you only have to run a single ethernet cable from the modem to the WAN port on the router (in your living room).

Dunno.... seems easier/cheaper to me. ;)
 
SilverMK3 said:
Why don't you move your WRT54GS to the living room? It's got a 4 port switch already so why not use it?
- Range shouldn't be a problem for your notebook; if it is you can always upgrade the antenna for less than 1/6th of the price of a bridge.
- Moving your Cable or DSL modem shouldn't be a problem; if it is, you only have to run a single ethernet cable from the modem to the WAN port on the router (in your living room).

Dunno.... seems easier/cheaper to me. ;)
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Seems like an obvious solution, however then i would be stuck with 3 computers in my office with no LAN/net access. :(
 
Sucka said:
It's the way my house is setup. I need to go from one side all the way to the other, that's a rough estimate in distance it would take to make the trip around the house. Other option is over the roof, but i would rather run it along the eve. I don't have the know-how to wire it through the walls, so that's not any option either.
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Somehow I cannot believe it would take over 1000ft........... :confused:

Anyhow, 100Baset can run a max of 100 Meters (roughly 300 ft) before a switch would have to be put in place to reduce signal degradation.
 
SJConsultant said:
Somehow I cannot believe it would take over 1000ft........... :confused:

Anyhow, 100Baset can run a max of 100 Meters (roughly 300 ft) before a switch would have to be put in place to reduce signal degradation.
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I could take pictures of my house....lol

How is it hard to believe there's over 1000 feet around someone's house. I'll admit i wasn't being exact, but it's well over 700 feet at least. We're talking from one side to the complete other on a one story home, that's really not hard to believe with the angles and what have you.
 
Heh, I don't think you have much of a choice bud. If you truly believe your gonna need 1000 feet of cable run which I think is MUCH more then you think it is unless you live in a mansion. Either way, ethernet standards set the maxim length of cat 5 to 325 feet before the signal needs to be repeated by either a bridge, hub, repeater or switch.

I say fork over the $170 and make it easy on yourself.
 
IceWind said:
Heh, I don't think you have much of a choice bud. If you truly believe your gonna need 1000 feet of cable run which I think is MUCH more then you think it is unless you live in a mansion. Either way, ethernet standards set the maxim length of cat 5 to 325 feet before the signal needs to be repeated by either a bridge, hub, repeater or switch.

I say fork over the $170 and make it easy on yourself.
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I thought it was more than 500 feet (and i have a few switches i could have used) but that changes things slightly. And it's not a mansion, but it's a good size home ;) Supprised to see someone second guess me when they've never been here, it's probably somewhere between 600-700 feet. Much less than that and i would be supprised. Between the 20 feet i need to get it from both the router to the eve on both ends alone, we're already at 40 feet. Then 6 angles, each about 50 feet, that adds up very fast. Not to mention the extra 25 feet or so i would want just for movement sake, i don't know how you guys wire yours...lol
 
Sucka said:
Seems like an obvious solution, however then i would be stuck with 3 computers in my office with no LAN/net access. :(
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Well that kinda sux :p

A slightly cheaper option than getting a bridge is to find another WRT54GS (or a cheaper wireless router, but you'd loose the 'speed boost' option which may or may not be relevant) and choose 'Router' mode rather than 'Gateway' mode - that will make it defer any DHCP stuff to the one in your office and act as a wireless switch. I think this will work without having to VPN into the other network but I've never tried it so I can't be sure. Either way, both routers should have 15dbi antennas so you should have a great connection regardless of HOW big your house is.

Otherwise you can get a regular ethernet switch for the living room and running the uplink to your wireless router.
 
SilverMK3 said:
Well that kinda sux :p

A slightly cheaper option than getting a bridge is to find another WRT54GS (or a cheaper wireless router, but you'd loose the 'speed boost' option which may or may not be relevant) and choose 'Router' mode rather than 'Gateway' mode - that will make it defer any DHCP stuff to the one in your office and act as a wireless switch. I think this will work without having to VPN into the other network but I've never tried it so I can't be sure. Either way, both routers should have 15dbi antennas so you should have a great connection regardless of HOW big your house is.

Otherwise you can get a regular ethernet switch for the living room and running the uplink to your wireless router.
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Could you explain that idea a little better? There is a way another Wireless router (i have a linksys B sitting here) could grab the connection, and output to the 4 port switch within it? Never tried/heard of this. Thanks.
 
If you run the network cable under the carpet you shouldn't use that much cable..try going under the carpet right down the hallway to the livingroom and use should be good...

in my house i can go from front to back and back again and not use more than 200ft...
 
It's hard for me to imagine a place where you would need that much cable but could still reach it via wireless. I mean, even if your house were 250 ft wide by 150 feet deep (and really, that would be a huge single level home - approaching the size of a US football field), you shouldn't need more than 500 feet of cabling to run something in a convoluted way side to side. You could run it the longest possible way outside the house and still only run 400 feet plus whatever you need to bring it to a termination point inside the house.

Please realize that I'm *NOT* saying this to disprove the size of your house (although I could see how one might think that, thus my disclaimer), but rather pointing out that if you really would need as much cable as you believe, then you will likely also be well beyond the range of a wireless connection without replacing your antenna. You may not have a choice of using wireless without spending a good bit extra on a router and card both with replaceable antennas plus the cost of antenna you would want to use. On the other hand, If you can successfully get wireless right now at the range you have to traverse, you could probably get an access point to hook up to a standalone switch in your living room and use the AP as a bridge to your wireless router.

RagManX
 
Erland said:
If you run the network cable under the carpet you shouldn't use that much cable..try going under the carpet right down the hallway to the livingroom and use should be good...

in my house i can go from front to back and back again and not use more than 200ft...
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Hardwood floors :(
 
RagManX said:
It's hard for me to imagine a place where you would need that much cable but could still reach it via wireless. I mean, even if your house were 250 ft wide by 150 feet deep (and really, that would be a huge single level home - approaching the size of a US football field), you shouldn't need more than 500 feet of cabling to run something in a convoluted way side to side. You could run it the longest possible way outside the house and still only run 400 feet plus whatever you need to bring it to a termination point inside the house.

Please realize that I'm *NOT* saying this to disprove the size of your house (although I could see how one might think that, thus my disclaimer), but rather pointing out that if you really would need as much cable as you believe, then you will likely also be well beyond the range of a wireless connection without replacing your antenna. You may not have a choice of using wireless without spending a good bit extra on a router and card both with replaceable antennas plus the cost of antenna you would want to use. On the other hand, If you can successfully get wireless right now at the range you have to traverse, you could probably get an access point to hook up to a standalone switch in your living room and use the AP as a bridge to your wireless router.

RagManX
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Again, i'm not going to argue the length i need. It's hard to explain the layout of the house, it has 6 long running angles to go from the one side of the house to the other. If i ran it across the front of the house it would probably need 150-200FT, however the old lady wouldn't allow this. What you all need to understand is i am making the longest possible run around my house. My office sits at the front of the house on the west side, and where it needs to enter again is on the same area, only on the east side, meaning it needs to run all 6 angles, ground to eve, router to wall, wall back to switch on other side of room. When i said 1000 i was just throwing that out there because i wasn't considereing it as an option at the time. Now that i really think about it, i am guessing it's well over 500FT to fit my needs. I have 2 6dbi boosters on my router right now, and i get coverage for the whole house, probably the worst spot is right where i have my laptop in the living room, which is why i want hard wire capabilities (that and for another lappy out here without wi-fi). First and formost i want the other lappy online (yes a wireless card will do just that, but still doesn't take into account i want another switch out here) secondly, i would like my xfer rates on my LAN to be over the 500kpbs it is currently, i get 3mb or so when i'm in the router room. I appriciate the advice and all, but enough with the second guessing. I'm 23, well educated, and i know how to use a tape messure......lol
 
Hey Sucka,

Is your house built up, meaning is there crawl space beneath your home?
 
Well, bit the bullet and hard wired it. It took around 400ft. of cable, so i do stand corrected, i was off by about 150' feet from my estimate before i went to buy the goods. I didn't know it could stretch so far when it's pulled tight :p Anways, won't even be doing that again. Not only was it tedious and time consuming, but cutting/crimping is not for me, i had a hell of a time getting that down (was my first time). I got it all hooked up, tested it, worked first try....so i then put it into the wall plates and bolted them in, and then guess what, didn't work anymore?!?! I must have nudged a wire or whatever, but i was so pissed my dogs wouldn't even come out of hiding :mad: So of course i couldn't un-do the wall plate thingy, so i had to go buy more supplies since i didn't know which side was the culpret, i just bought an additional two. I re-did one side, still nothing, then the other, and of course that side was the culprit. So 6+ hours later my living room has internet now Yay. Now i can see why electricians can charge 50 bucks an hour, that was some hard work.

Edit: All said and done, it costed me $100 bucks (i did cable TV at the same time into the wall plates). I think i would rather have done the wireless switch now. I have an extra hub, but if i were to buy a 5 port linksys switch, i would already be sitting at about $150. So anyways, live and learn.
 
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