I Wrote This A While Ago - How To Use One Long CAT5 Cable To Satisfy All Those Network Sucking Boxes?

jjjackson

Active member
Your computer and internet connection is in one room and your Home Theater (HT) stuff is in another. I don't know about you, but I have 6 internet sucking STBs for entertainment in my living room. Some have wifi and some don't. Some of the ones that have wifi don't work good on wifi.

Here's what I did to get excellent internet connections without running a ton of cables. Much cheaper and neater that way.

I have 70Mbps internet. I don't think you want to do this with less than 30Mbps, but.... I went to my local thrift shop and found a pair of powerline internet cubes. You can buy new ones pretty cheap these day. I hooked one to my router and the wall and the other near my HT. You can do this project with a CAT5 or powerline. I attached a second router to the HT end of my line and connected the lines from the second router to my STBs. If you just want internet, then your probably done.

If you still want to use your computer as a media server, then you need to change the second router from a normal router to something similar to an internet switch.

First, make sure your second router can be bridged, different companies use different terms for bridged, but the object is to keep your second router from issuing an IP address, so READ your manual. Try searching for the word Bridge and see what you find. BTW, If you don't have a second router, check out a thrift store, they usually have several. My old Belkin calls bridging Access Point Mode. Whatever, you need to go into the second router's software access and Enable that. In some cases you need to put in your first routers IP address and in others you can and should leave it blank. You can tell, because the program won't let you submit the changes, until you enter the IP address.

Now comes the fun. You'll probably need to go into your STBs that can stream from your computer and redo your network setting. In my case I had to redo permissions on my Mac and restart everything.

So now I have my Mag254, Network Media Player, Dish STB indirectly connected to my router. My Android Box is WiFi, so it doesn't need to be connected directly to the internet. I have a direct line with no long cable runs. Like I said, you can do this with one CAT5 cable run or not. Makes the wife a lot happier.

Anyway, this is one way you can get internet to the second router.
 
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Your computer and internet connection is in one room and your Home Theater (HT) stuff is in another. I don't know about you, but I have 6 internet sucking STBs for entertainment in my living room. Some have wifi and some don't. Some of the ones that have wifi don't work good on wifi.

Here's what I did to get excellent internet connections without running a ton of cables. Much cheaper and neater that way.

I have 70Mbps internet. I don't think you want to do this with less than 30Mbps, but.... I went to my local thrift shop and found a pair of powerline internet cubes. You can buy new ones pretty cheap these day. I hooked one to my router and the wall and the other near my HT. You can do this project with a CAT5 or powerline. I attached a second router to the HT end of my line and connected the lines from the second router to my STBs. If you just want internet, then your probably done.

If you still want to use your computer as a media server, then you need to change the second router from a normal router to something similar to an internet switch.

First, make sure your second router can be bridged, different companies use different terms for bridged, but the object is to keep your second router from issuing an IP address, so READ your manual. Try searching for the word Bridge and see what you find. BTW, If you don't have a second router, check out a thrift store, they usually have several. My old Belkin calls bridging Access Point Mode. Whatever, you need to go into the second router's software access and Enable that. In some cases you need to put in your first routers IP address and in others you can and should leave it blank. You can tell, because the program won't let you submit the changes, until you enter the IP address.

Now comes the fun. You'll probably need to go into your STBs that can stream from your computer and redo your network setting. In my case I had to redo permissions on my Mac and restart everything.

So now I have my Mag254, Network Media Player, Dish STB indirectly connected to my router. My Android Box is WiFi, so it doesn't need to be connected directly to the internet. I have a direct line with no long cable runs. Like I said, you can do this with one CAT5 cable run or not. Makes the wife a lot happier.

Anyway, this is one way you can get internet to the second router.

Don't get me wrong, it's useful information & it's not the worst option available if you happen to have a spare router lying around :). (Thanks for taking the time to help out some other members :).)

However, configuring a second router can be a complicated way to go depending on the specifics/circumstances of that second router or even sometimes the first too. Certainly more expensive to purchase a second router specifically for this purpose over other simpler alternatives too.

A very basic 5 or 8 port plug n play unmanaged network switch (or managed if required) would make life so much easier if a specific purchase is being made to accomplish the same end result IMHO ;). Also much smaller & more discrete too.

Even the managed variety is still 100% plug n play out of the box until you actually access the available settings to change or specifically configure something.

Nevertheless, good share :).
 
Actually it's very easy and if you've been an online person for sometime you probably have a spare router or two lying around.
 
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