Can you split a cable modem line twice?

[StealthElephant]

Here's my dilemma.

I have cable internet in the den of my house. There is a router in the den which is hooked up to 2 computers and fed by the cable modem. 1 computer in the den, and another to my room to my computer. I just got Halo 2 and I want to play XboX Live in my room. Now the ghetto person would simply switch the line from computer to xbox as needed, but thats weak, and what if I want to use AIM while shooting people in halo 2. You can see my problem.

We drilled holes through 3 walls and ran a 50ft cable from the router in the den to the computer in my room. My dad says he's not drilling a second hole, and I can't fit a 2nd 50ft cable through the same hole.

Can I take the 50ft line connected to the router, and put a 2nd router? Will that even work? Will I have a stable connection?

Basically, I have a single line coming from a router going to my room, and I need to operate two pieces of equipment with that internet connection, while making sure both maintain a strong enough connection to play games on.

The router we have has not only 4 ports for hardlining the connection, but has wireless built in. However in my past experience, wireless is not stable enough for cames like CS etc etc. Any ideas?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

edit: cad model of what I'm trying to explain:

Cadd JPG

 

[InlineFive]

On the end with the computer and the XBox simply add a switch to the 50ft cable, and then plug the two devices into the switch. Voila.

Caveat: Unless the switch has an "uplink" port you will need to rewire that end of the cable to make it a cross-over cable.

 

[BZeto]

You could easily add a small switch to that line to split it. It wont affect connection quality but keep in mind your total availible bandwidth from the cable company. I dont see why you would have a problem with wireless just for computer gaming as it is becoming quite quick these days. Its just a matter of cost.

 

[StealthElephant]

A switch huh? Yea, the computer in the den is my parents, they use it 30 minutes a day total for email. At most the line going to my room would be AIM and 1 game at a time.

Linksys Switch - Will this work? So in my CADD drawing, I use this switch in place of New Router2? Is it really that simple? Any problems I could run into other than bandwidth?(which I don't think would be an issue)

Whats the difference between a switch and a router? Does a router handle bandwidth distribution better? Seems like the switch would basically be functioning like a router, even if it is spliting a line that is already being split.

As far as wireless, the router we currently have is a microsoft with wireless option built in.

My buddy brought his brand new sony vaio with wireless over and warcraft III kept disconneting from games and lagging real bad. Connect the laptop with a hardline to the router and it worked flawless. I'm just really picky and I don't think I'd be happy with wireless for gaming.


Thanks for the info.

 

[InlineFive]

Originally posted by: StealthElephant
A switch huh? Yea, the computer in the den is my parents, they use it 30 minutes a day total for email. At most the line going to my room would be AIM and 1 game at a time.

Linksys Switch - Will this work? So in my CADD drawing, I use this switch in place of New Router2? Is it really that simple? Any problems I could run into other than bandwidth?(which I don't think would be an issue)

Whats the difference between a switch and a router? Does a router handle bandwidth distribution better? Seems like the switch would basically be functioning like a router, even if it is spliting a line that is already being split.

As far as wireless, the router we currently have is a microsoft with wireless option built in.

My buddy brought his brand new sony vaio with wireless over and warcraft III kept disconneting from games and lagging real bad. Connect the laptop with a hardline to the router and it worked flawless. I'm just really picky and I don't think I'd be happy with wireless for gaming.


Thanks for the info.

1. That switch should work fine. It looks like it has an Uplink port that could be used.
2. A router has Network Address Translation which is essential for sharing a broadband internet connection effeciently between multiple devices on a network. They also have DHCP servers which dish out IP address to computers who need one. Having two DHCP servers on one network is asking for lots of trouble. Other then these major details routers are actually switches.

Good luck.

 

[StealthElephant]

Oh okay, so basically if I was doing something on both connections that were IP senstive I might be in trouble. But I get that switch and use AIM on the computer and play games online with my Xbox I should okay right?

Anyway to verify an uplink port on switches?

Thanks

 

[JeffMD]

I dont think there exhist a 10/100 switch that dosnt have an uplink port today.

bandwidth isnt an issue here. switches and routers will effectivly connect one device to all. you can add more cables and more switches and the bandwidth stays the same. Also your xbox uses very little bandwidth.

 

[addragyn]

Double NAT is not a good idea, which is what comes two mind when you say two routers.

You need a switch or a hub. Just get the cheapest one you can find.

Wireless would also work for XBox Live over 50ft. Your friend might've been connecting to a neightbor's AP.

So have fun with you MS Xbox on your MS network you MS whore.

 

[InlineFive]

Originally posted by: addragyn
Double NAT is not a good idea, which is what comes two mind when you say two routers.

You need a switch or a hub. Just get the cheapest one you can find.

Wireless would also work for XBox Live over 50ft. Your friend might've been connecting to a neightbor's AP.

So have fun with you MS Xbox on your MS network you MS whore.

Actually, a switch would be better since it handles traffic much better.

Example, hub:
Computer A sends information to Computer C. However, the hub also transmits the data to Computers B and D.

Example, switch:
Computer A sends information to Computer C. The transmission is exclusively between those computers and bandwidth is saved.

Originally posted by: StealthElephant
Anyway to verify an uplink port on switches?

Well, if you read the description for the Linksys switch you picked out, it says the device has five ports. But if you look at the picture, it has six ports. Since switches don't have a WAN port it seems logical that it should be a shared 5th-port/uplink-port. So either the 5th LAN port or the Uplink port will work, but not at the same time. Since you only have two devices this won't be a problem.

 

[kotss]

I currently am using a DLINK DI-614+ router with a Linksys Hub. I works fine and there are no problems
with IP addresses. In the description posdted for the Linksys Switch from Newegg it even states there is
an uplink port. I have an uplink port on my hub and that is where a line from the router goes. The other
ports are for devices to be added to the network.

 

[addragyn]

"Actually, a switch would be better since it handles traffic much better. "

For 2 machines, especially an Xbox and a PC it's irrelevant. An the hub might actually be marginally faster.

Just get whatever is cheapest is my point.

 

[StealthElephant]

Good stuff, I'm going to go to BB and see if I can get that linksys switch or something similar to it.

 

[JohnG86]

Many new switches today have auto-uplink so there is no need to change the cable to a crossover cable just plug it in and hook up your Xbox and computer to the switch.