MHC, your patch panel solution makes more sense, but you either end up having to run two cables (which the OP doesn't want), or you lose Gigabit speeds. How much is a patch panel nowadays? Probably not that much cheaper than 20 Quid either...

The OP seems to want 2 devices at one location but only 1 cable! I still say two cables is the easiest way.

I don't like the splitters either - they work but are an expensive option! Splitting at the patch panel and sockets is a solution - not very clean but it should work and as we both know takes it down to 100Mbit only with no Gbit capability

Right, so in summary we have either running two cables to a patch panel, or having a seperate switch at the end of one cable. Nothing wrong with either approach to be honest, but I swear mine is more future proof

But he may want several locations with two devices ...

I would use a switch next to the router and pairs of cables - but the OP seems to want no more active devices and minimal cabling so that is what my solution does. No where near the best and not even good but it will give some capability!

Right then. The OP knows what he wants, but will readily listen to informed advice (i.e. you guys!)

I have spoken to a work colleague who will give me some cat5e or even cat6 if he has enough, and in different boxes. In that case I am happy to run two cables. I will be piping them through a tight loft space, and then down an external wall in plastic conduit, so having a couple of pre cut lengths catching on any and everything in their path would have been far more hassle than it was worth when doing the job alone.

My aversion to switches is that I don't properly understand their function, and didn't want to add devices or latency to anything if I didn't have to.

Do switches add anything in the way of latency?

What is the benefit of modules one end and patch panel at the other instead of modules?

If I use a switch from the router upstairs, I assume that is to give me more outlets from my router?

I want the cleanest fastest low latency option at the ps3. All of the upstairs stuff can be utilised via a switch if it makes life easier outlet wise.

Sorry to keep asking , thanks guys.

Do switches add anything in the way of latency?

More than a piece of wire but not really enough to notice. Typical latencies for 100Mb/s switches maybe 100us, for gigabit maybe 10-15us

Edit: That's consumer grade stuff BTW, more exotic switches only need to see the Ethernet header to decide which egress port to use and introduce very, very little latency.

Edited by mr_bean (Mon 18-Apr-11 20:06:03)

Your ADSL router has four ethernet ports, correct?

That is (usually) an ethernet switch. (On very cheap routers it can be a hub, not a switch, and hubs can slow things down).

So you've been using one for ages if you have more than one wired device .

Thanks for that

Switch Latency - nothing you would notice, almost certainly well under 1mS. My Gbit switch add tens of microseconds.

A patch panel is 8, 12,16 , 24, or 48 RJ45 modules in a single mounting and are designed to manage the cables too. And a patch panel will be a lot cheaper than using RJ 45 modules.

Use back boxes and modules at the other end where you have 1 or 2 sockets.

It will give you three advantages (at least) and a small 8 port switch is under £20

1. More ports available - just connect one link from router to switch

2. The switch does the work rather than put extra processing onto the hub - if a hub is heavily loaded managing the DSL/WAN interface, DHCP server, wireless interface, and the switching function, it can impact on the response times for interrupts and thus latency.

3. The switch can give you (providing you use all 4 pairs) 1Gbit networking which hubs tend not to do.


You can continue to use the hub for wireless and it will all look like one small network and if you want you could patch your games console direct to a port on the hub.


The cleanest way is 2 cat5e cables to each location and those brought back to a patch panel. Use short patch leads from panel to an 8 port switch. If you want to increase in future, just add another switch to the hub.

Thanks RobertoS.

So the only reason to install switches is to increase internal network speeds or expand the amount of connections on that network?

I assume that I will get a good enough performance for my up to 40meg connection on my existing router (HH2)?