I'm having a look for a peripheral but not turning up with anything as yet so I wonder if anyone here has seen anything like this. I'm after a device where you can plug an rj45 lan cable into, and then its sole purpose is to share the network connection over multiple usb-c cables connected to devices such as a bunch of laptops. So essentially you're sharing one network connection over multiple usb-c connected laptops, for example. I'm unsure if it even exists but all I'm finding are the usual usb-c hubs with network ports built in, which is not what I'm after.
To the best of my knowledge, there is no one-box solution for this. What you would need is a USB Type-C network interface per laptop connected to a central N+1 switch, where N is the number of laptops and the +1 the uplink to the rest of the network. Plus side, the USB Type-C NICs wouldn't need power supplies; downside is all the laptops would share a single uplink to the rest of the network (although they would in your one-box version, too.) EDIT: Bunch of these and one of these, basically. And some RJ45 cables.
I don't think USB can have more than one host on the bus, so you're pretty much stuck with wireless or what Gareth suggested.
I'm not sure it does exist, but it absolutely should - a switch and perhaps AP as well (to operate in both client and AP mode), network port for uplink, and 4ish integrated USB-Ethernet adaptors with and just the USB-C ports on board. Perfect for mobile working groups. If I was more motivated I would steal your idea and do a kickstarter, invest heavily in marketing collateral, never develop a product, take the money and run.
Hmm.. got me thinking lol! After having a look around, I think the most possible is four usb-c ports, with one as a sort of 'uplink' I guess, i.e. it's the one normally plugged into the usb-c of the computer, with the other three being available to share the bandwidth over for other usb-c devices. I'm wondering if, rather than plugging a computer via a usbc cable into the uplink port, that a usb-c to rj45 adapter could be plugged in, and then that might be shareable across the three remaining usb ports? The main reason this got me thinking was I have a load of laptops at work with no built in ethernet port which is a royal pain when it comes to imaging over network. I either get a load of usb-c to rj45 adapters or, I was wondering if, using the usb-c connection on each one, whether that could be usable as the 'rj45' port so to speak and connect to a hub where a network connection is coming in. From the sound of it though, at least for the moment, it looks like it's the dongle dream once more. You would've thought with usb-c that anything would be possible given the available bandwidth but I guess there's just limitations on the number of ports at the moment.
Buy 4 USB- ethernet adapters and a 5 port gigE switch (optional, to save space) strip down to bare PCBs stuff them all in a project box or custom 3D print something Internally wire them up (bonus points if the switch is 5V and you can hack the first USB port to power it) ... Profit? Personally, I find it easier to just order laptops with RJ-45 ports.
It's the logical thing to do. It's just when a department other than IT get involved and think they're saving money, the end user requires a usb-c rj45 dongle and the cost is about the same as one with a port built in anyway.
