Good 5+ port Router recommendations?
 

Hey, folks. Recently, my mom got her hands on a new computer and finally decided she wants to get online the with thing. Unfortunately, the old WRT54G only has 4 ports, and those are all taken. Which brings me to the thread title:

What are your recommended picks? They need to have at least 5, though not limited to that as some extra ports for the future definitely wouldn't hurt.

You could just keep your WRT54G and spend a lot less money on a switch. You will see no difference in performance.

I agree with ElectricSheep. That's what I did when I needed to expand the network.

Really? So I should get her computer a wireless card? The only problem I have with this is that the router has a real problem with maintaining a reliable wireless signal (or maybe it's just my sister's laptop).

Is this to be expected from wireless routers, or is it out of the norm?

It depends on what is in wbetween your router and the PC in question. Some things seem to interfere with the signal pretty effectively. You can also increase your range by replacing the default antenna with a better one, in some cases.

I don't quite know how we got to wireless, though. Weren't we talking about a switch? A switch is quite simply the easiest way to expand your network topography, if you've run out of ports.

Oh, it's because I have no idea what a switch is. Is it essentially a router? Or does it connect to the former, and simply add more available ports?

I'll try replacing the antenna with some longer range ones I saw available for it and see if that'll help the situation.

You don't really need to know the details of switching and routing, just that a Switch is for connecting computers together in a Local Area Network (your home), and a Router is for connecting a Local Network to a Wide Area Network (The Internet).

In your case, you have a WRT54G router with integrated four-port switch. The switch part of your router (in combination with the wireless part) create a local network consisting of all your computers and game systems (or whatever else is plugged into it). The router portion allows the entire network to access the internet.

Switches are designed to be connected together in a tree-like fashion to build a larger local network. One switch at the root of the tree (built into your router), cascading out to other switches with no closed loops.

By plugging a Switch into your router, you are simply adding another branch to this tree.

EDIT:

I should also clarify that it will actually say "Switch" on the box when you buy the thing. DO NOT BUY A "HUB". Hubs are outdated ways of making a local network larger. The more things you plug into a hub, the slower your network will be.

Without getting technical on you, yeah... it's like a much more basic version of a router. Connect one port on your switch to one port on your router, and you can then plug whatever networkable device you like into the remaining ports on the switch.

For example, I have a router with an integrated four-port switch, and I also have a second four-port switch elsewhere in the house. With one port on each device being used to connect to each other, this setup gives me a total of six available ports.

A perfectly decent switch should only set you back about half the cost of a router, or even less. It's much more cost effective than buying a router with more ports.

Thanks guys, I appreciate the help. Are there any particular specs (Base 10/100 or Base 10/100/1000, any caveats I should watch out for, certain brands to avoid) I should keep an eye on?

Unmanaged consumer switches aren't very complicated pieces of hardware; just about any vendor will offer a product that will function well enough.

I recommend getting a 10/100 switch, unless you have two computers with Gigabit NICs and plan on transferring a lot of data between them.

Yeah, I'll pick up a 10/100 switch, since I don't think the home network will be used to transfer huge files or anything. Thanks for the help ElectricSheep and Soluzar.