Mixed Wired & Wireless Home Network

Greetings,

I have a wired network setup in my house because the layout prevented a
wireless signal to the most remote computers without multiple boosters.
There are 4 computers currently on the network. Two computers are in the
office where the cable modem & 4-port SMC 7004VMC reside. Two cables were
run to the other end of the house to each of my children's bedrooms to a
wall socket. Everything works fine. I know I can piggy-back a 2nd wired
router (SMC 7004 I have laying around) with a crossover adapter attached LAN
port to LAN port with DHCP disabled in the SMC 7004. Earlier in the year I
had done this while I was building a 5th computer & temporarily hooked it to
the network with both routers connected directly together in the same room.
Now I must move the 2nd computer in the office to the other end of the house
just across the hallway where my daughter's computer is hooked to the wired
network at the wall.

Questions:

- Would I be able to attach the 2nd router via a LAN port & crossover
adapter to my daughter's CAT-5 wall plug, turn off DHCP, plug my daughter's
computer directly into the 2nd router & plug in a WAP to another LAN port
on the router to network the computer across the hall after adding a
wireless NIC?

-Instead of buying a WAP, would it be cheaper or make more sense to buy a
wireless router equipped with direct LAN ports instead of a WAP? Would both
the computer connected by cable & the wireless computer be able to access
the network/internet with DHCP disabled? I do understand that, depending on
which new wireless router, the interface with the CAT-5 wall plug may be
different (via WAN or LAN port, with or without a crossover cable).

Anyway, I am an amateur & probably over-thinking this. Maybe instead of
asking how to make my solutions work, I should ask how would you experts
solve this problem.

Thanks,

Rich

On 2008-12-28 21:23:26, Rich wrote:

> I have a wired network setup in my house because the layout prevented a
> wireless signal to the most remote computers without multiple boosters.
> There are 4 computers currently on the network. Two computers are in the
> office where the cable modem & 4-port SMC 7004VMC reside. Two cables were
> run to the other end of the house to each of my children's bedrooms to a
> wall socket. Everything works fine. I know I can piggy-back a 2nd wired
> router (SMC 7004 I have laying around) with a crossover adapter attached LAN
> port to LAN port with DHCP disabled in the SMC 7004.

I'm not 100% sure about the SMC7004 series, but I'm 99.9% sure that you
don't need a crossover cable because the router LAN ports are
auto-sensing.

> Earlier in the year I had done this while I was building a 5th
> computer & temporarily hooked it to the network with both routers
> connected directly together in the same room. Now I must move the 2nd
> computer in the office to the other end of the house just across the
> hallway where my daughter's computer is hooked to the wired network
> at the wall.
>
> Questions:
>
> - Would I be able to attach the 2nd router via a LAN port & crossover
> adapter to my daughter's CAT-5 wall plug, turn off DHCP, plug my
> daughter's computer directly into the 2nd router & plug in a WAP to
> another LAN port on the router to network the computer across the
> hall after adding a wireless NIC?

Should work (and you shouldn't need a crossover cable; see above). The
2nd router works just as a hub/switch in this case.

> -Instead of buying a WAP, would it be cheaper or make more sense to
> buy a wireless router equipped with direct LAN ports instead of a
> WAP? Would both the computer connected by cable & the wireless
> computer be able to access the network/internet with DHCP disabled? I
> do understand that, depending on which new wireless router, the
> interface with the CAT-5 wall plug may be different (via WAN or LAN
> port, with or without a crossover cable).

In such a setup, you typically don't want to use the WAN port on the
wireless router. You'd only want to use the WAN port if you want to
separate the network into two subnets, with limited access to each other
(and associated configuration headaches). But connecting the cable from
the main router to a LAN port of a wireless router works just fine
(disabling DHCP and other router functions in the wireless router,
leaving it as a hub/switch and wireless AP). FWIW, this is what I'm
doing with a Linksys WRT54GL.

Whether this makes sense financially depends on what you have and what
you're looking into buying... just add it up

Gerhard

"Gerhard Fiedler" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On 2008-12-28 21:23:26, Rich wrote:
>
>> I have a wired network setup in my house because the layout prevented a
>> wireless signal to the most remote computers without multiple boosters.
>> There are 4 computers currently on the network. Two computers are in the
>> office where the cable modem & 4-port SMC 7004VMC reside. Two cables were
>> run to the other end of the house to each of my children's bedrooms to a
>> wall socket. Everything works fine. I know I can piggy-back a 2nd wired
>> router (SMC 7004 I have laying around) with a crossover adapter attached
>> LAN
>> port to LAN port with DHCP disabled in the SMC 7004.
>
> I'm not 100% sure about the SMC7004 series, but I'm 99.9% sure that you
> don't need a crossover cable because the router LAN ports are
> auto-sensing.
>
>> Earlier in the year I had done this while I was building a 5th
>> computer & temporarily hooked it to the network with both routers
>> connected directly together in the same room. Now I must move the 2nd
>> computer in the office to the other end of the house just across the
>> hallway where my daughter's computer is hooked to the wired network
>> at the wall.
>>
>> Questions:
>>
>> - Would I be able to attach the 2nd router via a LAN port & crossover
>> adapter to my daughter's CAT-5 wall plug, turn off DHCP, plug my
>> daughter's computer directly into the 2nd router & plug in a WAP to
>> another LAN port on the router to network the computer across the
>> hall after adding a wireless NIC?
>
> Should work (and you shouldn't need a crossover cable; see above). The
> 2nd router works just as a hub/switch in this case.
>
>> -Instead of buying a WAP, would it be cheaper or make more sense to
>> buy a wireless router equipped with direct LAN ports instead of a
>> WAP? Would both the computer connected by cable & the wireless
>> computer be able to access the network/internet with DHCP disabled? I
>> do understand that, depending on which new wireless router, the
>> interface with the CAT-5 wall plug may be different (via WAN or LAN
>> port, with or without a crossover cable).
>
> In such a setup, you typically don't want to use the WAN port on the
> wireless router. You'd only want to use the WAN port if you want to
> separate the network into two subnets, with limited access to each other
> (and associated configuration headaches). But connecting the cable from
> the main router to a LAN port of a wireless router works just fine
> (disabling DHCP and other router functions in the wireless router,
> leaving it as a hub/switch and wireless AP). FWIW, this is what I'm
> doing with a Linksys WRT54GL.
>
> Whether this makes sense financially depends on what you have and what
> you're looking into buying... just add it up
>
> Gerhard

This all started because my company wanted me to set up a separate cable
line to work at home. He connected a totally separate line to the pedestal
tap & connected it directly to my computer & downloaded at 15-20Mbs. When I
insert the SMC7004BR or 7004VBR, the speed drops to between 6 & 7Mbs. These
routers are 6 years old. Do they go bad? Any way, I purchased a Linksys
WRT160N to replace the main router. Now I get the full 15-20Mbs over the
wired network. I installed a wireless card in the computer that will
eventually be moved & it gets 6-7Mbs about 10 feet away from the router in
the same room. I appreciate that you confirmed that a wireless router will
function as a WAP if DHCP is disabled & connected LAN to LAN port. Since the
signal drops off before the final potential locations that the computer
needs to be moved to, I will now purchase a 2nd Linksys WRT160N , plug it in
the wall on the other side of the house, disable DHCP & use it as a WAP. The
added benefit of doing this is that my daughter can now use her I-Touch all
the way in her bedroom & the kids have a WII down that end of the house that
I am told can connect wirelessly to the internet also.
BTW, the Linksys WRT160N comes with a CD installation guide that walks you
through both replacing your old router or hooking it up to use with your old
router....very clear & helpful.

Thanks for your input.

Regards,

Rich

Rich wrote:
>
> "Gerhard Fiedler" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> On 2008-12-28 21:23:26, Rich wrote:
>>
>>> I have a wired network setup in my house because the layout prevented a
>>> wireless signal to the most remote computers without multiple boosters.
>>> There are 4 computers currently on the network. Two computers are in the
>>> office where the cable modem & 4-port SMC 7004VMC reside. Two cables were
>>> run to the other end of the house to each of my children's bedrooms to a
>>> wall socket. Everything works fine. I know I can piggy-back a 2nd wired
>>> router (SMC 7004 I have laying around) with a crossover adapter attached
>>> LAN
>>> port to LAN port with DHCP disabled in the SMC 7004.
>> I'm not 100% sure about the SMC7004 series, but I'm 99.9% sure that you
>> don't need a crossover cable because the router LAN ports are
>> auto-sensing.
>>
>>> Earlier in the year I had done this while I was building a 5th
>>> computer & temporarily hooked it to the network with both routers
>>> connected directly together in the same room. Now I must move the 2nd
>>> computer in the office to the other end of the house just across the
>>> hallway where my daughter's computer is hooked to the wired network
>>> at the wall.
>>>
>>> Questions:
>>>
>>> - Would I be able to attach the 2nd router via a LAN port & crossover
>>> adapter to my daughter's CAT-5 wall plug, turn off DHCP, plug my
>>> daughter's computer directly into the 2nd router & plug in a WAP to
>>> another LAN port on the router to network the computer across the
>>> hall after adding a wireless NIC?
>> Should work (and you shouldn't need a crossover cable; see above). The
>> 2nd router works just as a hub/switch in this case.
>>
>>> -Instead of buying a WAP, would it be cheaper or make more sense to
>>> buy a wireless router equipped with direct LAN ports instead of a
>>> WAP? Would both the computer connected by cable & the wireless
>>> computer be able to access the network/internet with DHCP disabled? I
>>> do understand that, depending on which new wireless router, the
>>> interface with the CAT-5 wall plug may be different (via WAN or LAN
>>> port, with or without a crossover cable).
>> In such a setup, you typically don't want to use the WAN port on the
>> wireless router. You'd only want to use the WAN port if you want to
>> separate the network into two subnets, with limited access to each other
>> (and associated configuration headaches). But connecting the cable from
>> the main router to a LAN port of a wireless router works just fine
>> (disabling DHCP and other router functions in the wireless router,
>> leaving it as a hub/switch and wireless AP). FWIW, this is what I'm
>> doing with a Linksys WRT54GL.
>>
>> Whether this makes sense financially depends on what you have and what
>> you're looking into buying... just add it up
>>
>> Gerhard
>
> This all started because my company wanted me to set up a separate cable
> line to work at home. He connected a totally separate line to the pedestal
> tap & connected it directly to my computer & downloaded at 15-20Mbs. When I
> insert the SMC7004BR or 7004VBR, the speed drops to between 6 & 7Mbs. These
> routers are 6 years old. Do they go bad? Any way, I purchased a Linksys
> WRT160N to replace the main router. Now I get the full 15-20Mbs over the
> wired network. I installed a wireless card in the computer that will
> eventually be moved & it gets 6-7Mbs about 10 feet away from the router in
> the same room. I appreciate that you confirmed that a wireless router will
> function as a WAP if DHCP is disabled & connected LAN to LAN port. Since the
> signal drops off before the final potential locations that the computer
> needs to be moved to, I will now purchase a 2nd Linksys WRT160N , plug it in
> the wall on the other side of the house, disable DHCP & use it as a WAP. The
> added benefit of doing this is that my daughter can now use her I-Touch all
> the way in her bedroom & the kids have a WII down that end of the house that
> I am told can connect wirelessly to the internet also.
> BTW, the Linksys WRT160N comes with a CD installation guide that walks you
> through both replacing your old router or hooking it up to use with your old
> router....very clear & helpful.
>
> Thanks for your input.
>
> Regards,
>
> Rich
>
your old router is a 10mb unit and is ok at 6-7mb your new one is a
100mb which takes the full bandwidth of the cable 15-20mbs

smile now please

<SNIP>


> your old router is a 10mb unit and is ok at 6-7mb your new one is a 100mb
> which takes the full bandwidth of the cable 15-20mbs
>
> smile now please

:-)

I hadn't even thought of that. They had functioned without a hitch for over
6 years....until bandwidth overtook them.

Thanks,

Rich