Help needed...2 routers bigger house.

Hi everyone i would be gratefull of a little advice in overcoming a problem i think i will be getting when moving to a bigger house end of August.

Here is the present set up.............

Live in a smallish 2 bedroom barn conversion that is single storey and my pc is in the living room attached to a Netgear Dg834n router.[No problems] About 15 feet away under the lcd television is a Xbox 360,Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii all running on a wirlesss network with no worries or problems.

Now for the problem.

We are moving to a 3 storey new build and the pc will be on the second floor in the office and obviously the consoles will be downstairs in the living room under the television.

now i wont the best possible connection and i know the distance between the pc and my consoles is going to be a far bigger margin than my house at present and i need a stable connection.

I would like to continue to have a set up for the consoles on a wireless network so could i introduce another router downstairs or something.

I do not want to use a ethenet cable constantly switching over from console to console..

So people what is the solution here and please if you have one explain it in a simple way as technology baffles me .

I know that the signal if using the router i have at the moment is not going to be very good and its the first time i have encountered this problem due to the fact that we have everythib in one room and this is now going to change.

Cheers in advance....

Why would you need to swap cables, just connect a switch with the required number of ports on the end of the ethernet cable and plug in as many devices as you like. Latency is far lower over ethernet than it is over wireless (ping response lower) so much better for your consoles anyway.

Not sure i follow you here but i think you mean that i have a ethenet cable coming out of the adsl socket going into some box or something for the consoles to plug into.

Re Going_Digital's reply- a switch in this context is just a device to distribute a single Ethernet feed to multiple devices. Like a router but without the modem, NAT, firewall and all the other twiddly bits. They're pretty cheap.

In your situation I think I'd go for:

Upstairs- as is, but with an Ethernet feed from the router to a HomePlug or similar.

Downstairs- HomePlug feeding to a switch, the consoles fed from the switch.

It's not dissimilar to what I've got here, but for "consoles" read "printers and a PC". Works a treat.

You implied the problem with using ethernet is that you would have to keep unplugging the cable and moving it to the other console each time you wanted to swap from one to the other. An ethernet switch http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132456 for example would connect to the end of your ethernet cable and allow you to connect up to 4 devices to the one cable.

Cheers guys and thanks for the information,still its a little bit unclear to me as i dont really understand.

Might go into pc world and they may be able to explain a set up and how it works so i can see it with my own eyes.

Simple diagram might help:

Router -------- ethernet cable ------ switch ----- consoles

You can get switches with multiple ports so you would not have to swap between the consoles.

Hi,
I wouldnt be rushing out to pc world for advice as im sure it would consist of 'Buy this' without too much thought.
Remember they are sales people not computer technicians.

The other posters are right about wired connection being better/ more reliable.
You currently have a router with 4 wired ports. Why not keep that downstairs with the consoles and connect them up with ethernet cables then get a wireless dongle for your pc upstairs.

I wouldnt think that there would be a problem with the wireless signal across that distance unless your house is lead lined... after just checking the stats on you router I would be very surprised if you didnt get a great signal on your upstairs pc.

In reply to a post by Rockh:

Simple diagram might help:

Router -------- ethernet cable ------ switch ----- consoles

You can get switches with multiple ports so you would not have to swap between the consoles.

Sorry you completly lost me here...................Pc is upstairs are you suggesting i run ethenet cables all around the house.

The pc is going to need some sort of adsl modem or router for starters and if the wirless signal is not that clever then i need some sound advice.

I only intended to ask the guys in pc world for some solutions for this situation as been in the shop when they are showing me stuff is a lot easier to understand than from these forum posts.

You basically need to explain it like you are talking to a 10 year old with clear simple parts and instructions.

The router has to be upstairs as its a modem/router and my girlfriend uses the wireless connection for her work.

I just need a solution for the network downstairs.................So what do i need to buy for the consoles...

Edited by time2die (Tue 28-Jul-09 16:21:56)

Get a switch. Plug all the consoles into this switch. This can be located right beside. the consoles.

Then you just need to connect this new switch to the router. Which is wherever in the house. You can do this a number of ways.

For the fastest / more reiliable way. Connect the new switch to the other router with a single ethernet cable. Put the cable in before you put the carpets / funiture in. (your moving right?)

Either use a Wireless connection. (in this case by an access point with a switch in it most routers will also function for this). And a bridge for the other end. This is the worst by performance when the number of wall you needs to go though increase. as well as distance. (Floors are counted as walls).

for sanity sake. a wireless bridge connects cable to a wireless access point. Or the other way around. so a switch and a bridge will be able to connect to your main router. If you have to go though many walls / floors this is probably a bad option.

Or

Use a ethernet over power (you need 2) Also know as a home plug. you plug these into the mains. One beside the switch with the consoles and one beside the main router. then patch the whole lot together. This is probably the most flexible as you can move them around and add another later