Affordable way to get a wired network to another room?

[Shaitan00]

In my office I have a wireless Cisco Linksys EA4500 router, it has 4x wired ports (which are all in-use right now). Now across the house I have setup some HW that requires 4x wired RJ-45 connections (the hardware is not WIFI ready) so I see 2 simple solutions:

1- Buy 2x switches one to free up a port on my wireless router then run an RJ45 across the house and setup another switch there, costly and got to make some holes

2- Buy RJ-45 to WIFI adapters for each box ($40+ each) which is again costly


I am looking for an affordable solution to my network woe’s…


What I thought – can’t I buy a 4-port wireless SWITCH or ROUTER to act as a repeater in the room (so WIFI connect to my wireless router) and connect my 4-devices physically to the box? If so are there cheap boxes that can do this?


If not – any suggestions?

Thanks,

 

[VirtualLarry]

Yes, look for a "Media Bridge", preferably one with 3x3 wireless AC and four Gigabit wired ports.

TrendNet makes a AC1200 one, which I have, although it never got any firmware updates, and sometimes seems to drop out, or at least, it did for me.

If you wanted to do it RIGHT, then get the two wired switches, I just picked up some TrendNet GreenNet Gigabit 8-port switches, they are tiny and low power, for like $15 ea. at Newegg on sale.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Linksys-WU...Universal-Media-Connector-Bridge/273407977811

 

[ch33zw1z]

Switch to switch is the best option. If you're considering using WiFi to the link the two rooms, you have to consider how much traffic will be going over the link.

 

[mikeymikec]

Option 3 (unless I've completely misunderstood) - mains networking adapters. They can be purely for hooking up distant ethernet-connecting devices or one of a pair can be broadcasting a wifi network and sending the throughput over the mains back to the main router.

In my previous home I had long network cables doing weird and wonderful things like going over doorframes and under doors. In my current home I have a mains networking adapter in each room I need networking in plus one near the router. In the year I've been using it, one adapter has needed rebooting twice, one once. The other two have performed flawlessly.

 

[Hans Gruber]

I use a TL-WPA8730 TP-link powerline with wifi extender and 3 gigabit ports on the receiver end. I run Cat5e from my powerline receiver to a Ethernet double sided wall plate pass through to my garage. I would post pics because it is quite complex. Essentially powerline gives me a 150mbps internet connection down and 40mbps up as well as a wifi repeater function both 2.4ghz and 5ghz bands. So the 3 gigabit ports on the receiver powerline act as a gigabit switch. I bought the parts short cat5e cable 6" and 1ft and plate from monoprice for around $10

 

[JackMDS]

Ignoring the Environment and level of usage, which are personal in every situation.

The Best Solution is always Wire. Then (if needed) adding an Inexpensive (there are few of them for around $25) configured as an Access Point.

Using Wireless Routers (or Modem/Wireless Router) as a Switch with an Access Point - http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html

I never found consumer Repeater that work well. Good Repeaters need two transmitters, consumer repeater use only one that flip-flops between Receive and transmit. As a result the Bandwidth is cut by 50%.

If a repeater is a must, One should get two inexpensive Good Wireless Routers.

One Wireless Router should be configured as a Client Bridge, then with short CAT6 connect a LAN port of the Bridge to the second Wireless Router configured as an Access Point.

By doing so you One get a Pro like Repeater that does Not cut any bandwidth while extending the distance to be a good Wireless Signal.

Ethernet over Powerline. It is not a matter of Good or Bad. Powerline depends on the Electrical wires in the environment and in most cases they are very “Noisy”.

As a Result the same PowerLine hardware can work perfect in one environment and be a completer “dud” on another.




P.S. The catalog rating of all Wireless component is Not a reflection of the total capacity of the unit. It is just the manufacturer rating of the chipset per-se and does not take into consideration the rest of the Design and component of the Wireless Product and the environment that it is used in.

 

[Hans Gruber]

Ignoring the Environment and level of usage, which are personal in every situation.

The Best Solution is always Wire. Then (if needed) adding an Inexpensive (there are few of them for around $25) configured as an Access Point.

Using Wireless Routers (or Modem/Wireless Router) as a Switch with an Access Point - http://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html

I never found consumer Repeater that work well. Good Repeaters need two transmitters, consumer repeater use only one that flip-flops between Receive and transmit. As a result the Bandwidth is cut by 50%.

If a repeater is a must, One should get two inexpensive Good Wireless Routers.

One Wireless Router should be configured as a Client Bridge, then with short CAT6 connect a LAN port of the Bridge to the second Wireless Router configured as an Access Point.

By doing so you One get a Pro like Repeater that does Not cut any bandwidth while extending the distance to be a good Wireless Signal.

Ethernet over Powerline. It is not a matter of Good or Bad. Powerline depends on the Electrical wires in the environment and in most cases they are very “Noisy”.

As a Result the same PowerLine hardware can work perfect in one environment and be a completer “dud” on another.




P.S. The catalog rating of all Wireless component is Not a reflection of the total capacity of the unit. It is just the manufacturer rating of the chipset per-se and does not take into consideration the rest of the Design and component of the Wireless Product and the environment that it is used in.

Powerline works very well. Typically when powerline doesn't work well, the polarity of the outlets throughout the home is wrong creating noise and interference. There are polarity testers to make certain the wiring in all power outlets is correct. I agree with your statement about wireless repeaters not working well. Down in my basement I have a separate dual band wireless router setup through my powerline with separate SSID's from my main SSID's. I have 3 sets of dual band SSID's over 3 routers not counting the dual band repeater on the powerline. Incidentally my powerline has a built in wireless router of 2.4ghz and 5ghz bands but it was too slow.

 

[Hans Gruber]

This is powerline about 100ft of wire or less from the router. My XB6 modem. That is the max download speed for powerline for AV1200/AV2000 via internet.