Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Another Router question

I feel like that should frighten me, but it doesn't. Huh. I guess my meds are working extra good today.

…. I prefer Porter Cable myself. I’ve got four of them. I use Whiteside bits and buy them cheap from routerbits.com

Tom, I still haven’t told you that you could leave your room, you damn troublemaker.

Ken,

In my media room I do have an Ethernet jack, but it’s on the wrong side of the room so I have a cable running from the jack, under a rug, and back around to the equipment rack. It works, but I just hate having cables exposed. I use this for firmware updates right now, but this new 3808 I am getting has some pretty cool network functions I’d like to try – including media streaming from any network connected PC, and it also has internet radio streaming. So what I was hoping to do, is have some sort of device that I could connect the 3808, my A35 HD player, my PS3 and possibly another device to in the future. These A/V components would then use the device to communicate to the wireless router that would be located in my office. I suppose what I’m looking for is a wireless switch or hub that talks to the router. If nothing like that exists, then I’ll settle for plugging each one of my A/V components into a single port communication device.

The second location that I want a wireless solution to, is my son’s X-box so he can use X-box live. When I hooked that up for him the other night I found out that the cable is bad going to the particular Ethernet jack in this room.

I had no idea that each one of these devices worked at different rates and that I need to make sure the router will work with each one. This is starting to sound entirely too frustrating and complicated to screw with.

It was my understanding that Mike was pretty darn handy with woodworking ... I would've thought he was very knowledgeable with routing and the associated hardware. I guess sometimes you just never know.
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I see I am late, as usual.

Most of the time the devices overlap in functionality; it's just something to consider.

I think it would be far easier to just get a wireless access point (not a new router) and hook that to your ethernet jack in the media room. Then get wireless adapters for your av equipment.

The higher up the chain you go the more backward compatiblity they have built in. The N routers work with B & G. The only one to avoid are the A's, they are usually in business environments. It is not that complicated. You can also buy wireless access points and media streamers to connect up to your receiver. There is also a seperate gaming access point for the Xbox.

Linksys access points

mdrew, are your cat 5 cables secure in your walls or just run in the walls? It is preferable to have a hardline for xbox live as you will get better performance. Mabey try fishing a new line to his room? You could pull the old one out and attach a string to it...

For N routers, I'd recommend the new Apple Aiport Extreme. I have it and it's easy to configure/use. If you want more flexibility, the Cisco/Linksys ones are fine. Because of background info that I know, I STRONGLY suggest that you don't use Netgear 11n stuff.

I think what Ken is referring to is Ethernet over powerline adapters. This allows you to run your network over the AC wiring in your house. Why would you use this vs Wifi? Because Wifi is subject to interference. If you want the fastest rates, think hard wired. These are what you need. Works assuming your house is on one transformer. I use these to connect my PS3, Slingbox, and HD Tivo to my router, using only AC powerlines. I want hardwired because I transfer large files (4 to 9 GB) from my Tivo.

http://www.netgear.com/Products/PowerlineNetworking/PowerlineEthernetAdapters/XE104G.aspx

I use the Netgear 104G kit.
- Plug the XE103 into the wall and connect that Ethernet jack into your router.
- Plug the XE104 into ANY AC outlet in your house. That will give you 4 ports of Ethernet where ever it is. This is a great solution for your AV rack. No wires to run.

I use this version because it's rated up to 85Mbps. Older ones are much slower, 14 Mbps IIRC. You can get ones rated up to 200 Mbps, but that is theoretical and you'd probably need Gigabit ethernet on your router/switch/end devices for it to make any difference.

The beauty is that you can buy more adapters and add ethernet connectivity anywhere you have an AC outlet.

Any brand should be fine, but you probably don't want to mix brands.

Oh, actually I wasn't, but that might work.

Ah, I stand corrected (after actually reading your post correctly). DOH!

There are a few "wired to wireless" adapters. Usually these are x-in-1 (4 in 1, 7 in 1, etc) pocket/travel routers that have multiple functions. They should be $50 or less. I think you can do the same thing w/ an Airport Express, but I'm not exactly sure.

That power line gadget looks like it would work well. I have receptacles next to the router.

Ken, can you post a link to one of these wired to wireless adapters?

Rob,

No, I can not pull new cable. It was ran through log walls, up and down and all over the damn place. One of the joys of log homes is that no matter how much care you put into routing cables and plumbing, things move and you are bound to have problems somewhere. I do have two coax connections at the same J-box if there was some sort of coax Ethernet gadget?? All the coax lines are ran to the same spot as my LAN cables.