just bought a new home cinema system and have abruptly run out of Ethernet ports. i have 4 ports and 7 devices. i CAN cut down by a couple by relying on WIFI but that doesnt really solve the problem and gives me a worse connection. I've Googled around and found something called a switcher. im not familiar with these at all and im not sure exactly what their function is but is this what i need? If yes, can anyone recommend one which has good built in WIFI. really appreciate any help that can given. total novice as far as networking is concerned.
Can't you just add in a switch? http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/1412075.htm As an example that's cheap and local.
Yup, I would buy a switch for 20 odd quid. Run one cable to the router and the devices to the switch. 8 port gigabit for 20 quid would suffice for now, or alternatively buy a switch with more ports to allow you to add more devices later.
looks like a switch is what i need. thanks for the help. With these will i need to swap the virgin media router to "modem only" mode or will this work like a splitter. ie. plug it into one of the existing ports on the virgin router and leave the other 3 still functional?
can do it both ways. modem only mode will nerf your wireless though. easiest would be just to patch a switch into the superhub, it should sort itself out IP addresses and the other ports should stay live.
That's way I do it, one cable from superhub to a small switch in dads office for his PC, printers etc. Another goes into my bedroom for a 24 port switch - all dhcp etc work without any issues
