Somehow use one ethernet cable drop as 2?

[OuchIAteMyself]

Calling all network wizards! 

 

I have a 3 story house. I want to put my router on the 2nd floor because WiFi is going in and out due to weak signal in my (1st floor) home office.

 

3rd floor has: Internet signal (108Mbps/20Mbps), Patch panel going to all Ethernet jacks in the house, ASUS rt-n66u Dark Knight router, switch

2nd floor has:  1 network jack

1sr floor has: 1 network jack and a switch for my multiple wired computers in home office.

 

 

Here's my predicament - I could do this -  (3rd floor) modem --> (2nd floor) router, but how do I get back up to the  switch and patch panel on the 3rd floor if I only have 1 ethernet cable going from 3rd to 2nd floor?

 

I don't want to buy another expensive 5gHz router and set it to bridge mode if possible and bandwidth+latency are critical. :unsure:

[Luc401]

just ethernet cable to router on the second floor.

[OuchIAteMyself]

just ethernet cable to router on the second floor

 

Currently, the cable modem is connected to the WAN port of the router on the 3rd floor.

 

Are you suggesting that I perform the following steps?

(1) unplug all cables from the router

(2) move the router to the 2nd floor

(3) plug and Ethernet cable into any port on the router

[skywake]

You could always get another router, it doesn't have to be an expensive router to do the job. If I was you I'd scrounge through the pile of long forgotten routers and use one of them just for internets. Alternatively I'd find a now very unloved old laptop/netbook/pc and install pfsense on it and use THAT as a router.

 

Alternatively you could pick up something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-R460-Advanced-4-Port-Router/dp/B002OMX0XQ/

[OuchIAteMyself]

Here's what I did, and it worked. Ethernet cables only use 4 out of 8 wires, pins 1,2,3,6. The additional wires (4,5,7,8) provide absolutely no additional value at all. 

 

I had to spilt BOTH ends of the cable running from 3rd to 2nd floor into 2 cable ends. 1 jack used 1,2,3,6 and the other one used wires 4,5,7,8. 

 

I made two cables like this:

Pin Color

1 white and orange 

2 orange 

3 white and green 

4 UNUSED

5 UNUSED

6 green 

7 UNUSED

8 UNUSED

 

Wires to connect for your "second" cable (at each end):

 

1 white and blue 

2 blue 

3 white and brown 

4 UNUSED

5 UNUSED

6 brown 

7 UNUSED

8 UNUSED

 

I essentially turned one ethernet cable into 2 ethernet cables - an orange and a blue one.

 

on 3rd floor, I had the orange connector go into the modem and the blue one go into the switch. 

on 2nd floor, I had the orange connector go to WAN port on the router and the blue connector go to the switch on the router

 

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions. I would have MUCH preferred to put a 2nd router wired in down on the 1st floor and left the other one on the 3rd floor.

[Guest]

Here's what I did, and it worked. Ethernet cables only use 4 out of 8 wires, pins 1,2,3,6. The additional wires (4,5,7,8) provide absolutely no additional value at all.

I had to spilt BOTH ends of the cable running from 3rd to 2nd floor into 2 cable ends. 1 jack used 1,2,3,6 and the other one used wires 4,5,7,8.

I made two cables like this:

Pin Color

1 white and orange

2 orange

3 white and green

4 UNUSED

5 UNUSED

6 green

7 UNUSED

8 UNUSED

Wires to connect for your "second" cable (at each end):

1 white and blue

2 blue

3 white and brown

4 UNUSED

5 UNUSED

6 brown

7 UNUSED

8 UNUSED

I essentially turned one ethernet cable into 2 ethernet cables - an orange and a blue one.

on 3rd floor, I had the orange connector go into the modem and the blue one go into the switch.

on 2nd floor, I had the orange connector go to WAN port on the router and the blue connector go to the switch on the router

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions. I would have MUCH preferred to put a 2nd router wired in down on the 1st floor and left the other one on the 3rd floor.

Note: this method doesn't for lazy people

[skywake]

The only thing I'd add is that if you're doing that you'll only get 100Mbps and not 1Gbps speeds. Whether this is worth it not depends on what you're actually doing. For WAN with your speeds? Probably fine. For anything else you might do internally on your network between WiFi and your other gear or maybe a HTPC/NAS? Maybe not so much. If I was you I'd still see if I could conjure up a basic non-wireless router somehow.

[OuchIAteMyself]

You could always get another router, it doesn't have to be an expensive router to do the job. If I was you I'd scrounge through the pile of long forgotten routers and use one of them just for internets. Alternatively I'd find a now very unloved old laptop/netbook/pc and install pfsense on it and use THAT as a router.

 

Alternatively you could pick up something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-R460-Advanced-4-Port-Router/dp/B002OMX0XQ/

 

Thanks for the advice. I believe I will end up doing this eventually when my rt-n66u is no longer current.

[Guest]

How about just get an Access Point (Repeater) to the second floor ? Plug it into your network jack and you should get a better WIFI for your first floor as well.