Weird Question about routers (Read 568 times)

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The question is simple. Is it possible to get wireless routers with more than 4 wired ports? (Ideally I need 5 ports, 3 for Xbox 360s, one for PS3 and one for a PC)
Or is it simply possible to get 5 cables into a router with 4 ports (maybe some sort of adapter?)

If not, is it possible to get, a wired router with enough ports, and simply connect the wireless router I currently have to one of the ports on the wired router, but still have the wireless router work?
DRINK!!
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It would probably just be easier to get a wireless card / usb adapter for the PC than to try and figure out the networking nightmare that could become of your frankenrouters
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It would probably just be easier to get a wireless card / usb adapter for the PC than to try and figure out the networking nightmare that could become of your frankenrouters
The problem is everyone in my house has to own a PC, Xbox 360 (or PS3) and something that needs a wireless connection (iPhone, DS, PSP, ETC.). And no one wants to use a wireless connection for their PC because they tend to be crap. And no one wants to use a wireless connection on their consoles either because again, tends to be crap (and in the case of the Xbox 360s, very expensive).

I have to connect 2 PCs (must be wired), 3 Xbox 360s and a PS3 (again, must be wired, but one Xbox 360 is interchangeable with the PS3, since it is impossible to play both at once), a laptop (can be wireless), an iPhone, DS and PSP as well (all wireless) to a single modem.
This means I need a wireless router with 5 ports, but I have looked everywhere, and the maximum I have found is 4 ports.
DRINK!!
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just buy some hubs. give one line and one hub to each persons' stuff or whatever.
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Quote
And no one wants to use a wireless connection for their PC because they tend to be crap.
Get a Linksys WRT54g (version 2 or 3, you can find them on ebay for like 40 bucks or less), and replace the firmware with DD-WRT or Tomato and disable DHT on any torrent programs running on the network.

This is how you make a wireless network that is not completely awful. The reason most consumer wireless routers are awful is because the firmware running on them is BAD, DD-WRT or Tomato pretty much turns that crappy consumer router into a decent router with an active development community constantly improving things. I set one up with Tomato in some friends' place that had about 7 people using laptops on the network and they never had any slowdown or needed to reset the thing for a year.

Besides if you have a bunch of wires running all over the house you'll look like a scrub.
Last Edit: March 18, 2009, 12:08:17 am by DietCoke
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There are routers with more than 4 ports, but like GR said you can just buy hubs and link them to the router. I used to have a router that was connected to another router and the setup worked just fine!

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Don't get a hub, you can't share an internet connection properly with a hub. Just get another 4 port wired router.
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Yeah, don't hubs repeat all incoming data on all connected ports? That would be really slow if there's more than one person using it.

Switches are usually cheaper than routers and would do the job better because its a lower level network device(all it does is send packets to their proper ports where a router does more and complicates things with unnecessary redundancy). I think you can get one for around 20 to 30 dollars on amazon or newegg.
Last Edit: March 18, 2009, 12:29:51 am by DietCoke