# hooking up dish online to router?



## eddieras (Aug 31, 2007)

hey guys - i need some advice - i got my dish online working thru my router perfectly - very cool to maintain my 722 DVR via my Pre! trouble is i'm out of ports on my router. i need to expand or get a new one - i've googled routers etc but this stuff is really foreign to me.

i found the following device, which got great reviews:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833156183

i'm not sure on the speed - it's 10/100Mbps - is there a particular speed i should look for?
any advice or direction to a website on basic info would be so appreciated!

thanks!


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

What you need is a switch. IMO, I wouldn't buy anything but a Gigabit switch these days. D-Link makes a good 8 port (DGS-2208) for about $50, and supports Jumbo Frames, something many don't. Move all of your Gig devices to the switch, and all of your 100MB devices to the router, with a jumper to connect the two.


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## eddieras (Aug 31, 2007)

thanks- can i trouble you to elaborate more on that? what type of devices would be gigabit? right now i have two computers, wireless router and airave device from Sprint on my router. as above, i want to add the dish online too-- being a non-techie (obviously) and cheap - i'm looking for the easiest and most economical for my needs.

thanks so much for the advice!


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## ChuckA (Feb 7, 2006)

Gigabit is the speed. There are many different makers but as the original reply said, D-Link makes a very good switch. But what you need is an Ethernet Switch. You connect it to your router with an Ethernet cable and it provides additional Ethernet wired ports. You can get them with anywhere from 5 ports on up. But, that's all you need to do, plug a connection to the router, then plug the other devices into the switch instead of the router. The switch does not have to be near the router. If you have a single cable running from the router to the receiver location, you can even put the switch near the receiver so you can run multiple devices from the single cable run to the router. In addition you can have multiple switches at different locations connected to the router.


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## jkane (Oct 12, 2007)

10 is 10 megabit = category 4 wire aka CAT4
100 is 100 megabit = CAT 5
1000 is 1 gigabit = CAT 6

Look for something with 1000 or gigabit in the name. Make sure you get Catagory 6 wire to go with it.

10 was the original specification. 100 was the upgrade many years ago. 1000 is the latest.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

Most PCs from the last 3-4 years will have Gigabit (1000Mb) network connections, so if you move files around between them (streaming video, etc.), they'll benefit from the higher speeds. Gigabit isn't *necessary*; you can save a bit of money by getting a 100MB switch instead, but as folks start moving more and more HD video and other large files around their networks, Gig speeds will help a lot.

As far as easiest, the speed of the switch doesn't matter. You're going to be hooking an Ethernet cable between your router and the switch, and connecting other devices to the switch instead of the router. Think of the switch as a "port expander" for the router.


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## eddieras (Aug 31, 2007)

guys -that really helps a lot - i do appreciate it! 
while my computers are older and lack the gig speed - i probably should get a switch that is capable of it for the future- i'm sure i'll be upgrading my desktop soon. 
how's this switch?
D-Link DGS-2208 10/100/1000Mbps 8-Port Desktop Green Ethernet Switch 8 x RJ45 8K MAC Address Table 144KB per Device Packet Buffer Memory Buffer Memory. 
actually - i just realized that this is the same one battlezone recommended ! i think my search is over!

so i just get another ethernet cable, use the uplink on the router to attach the new switcher and then plug all my devices into the switch? none are left in the router? (except the lan of course).
do have that all correct? and no configuring needed??
thanks again!


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## jkane (Oct 12, 2007)

Most modern switches are autoconfiguring. The only thing to watch for is what's called cross ever cabling. There may be one "plug" on the switch with an "X" on it. That is the one the goes to the router. Any port on the router will work.


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## eddieras (Aug 31, 2007)

thanks again for all the help - i just ordered the linkys - so is that a special cable - the crossover - or will any ethernet cable work?


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## Grandude (Oct 21, 2004)

eddieras said:


> thanks again for all the help - i just ordered the linkys - so is that a special cable - the crossover - or will any ethernet cable work?


If your current router has an uplink port, then any ethernet cable will work. If not, then a crossover cable is required to plug into a 'normal' port on the router.
From your earlier description, I suspect that you do have an uplink port. If so it is most likely sharing a normal port so make sure that that one is not used.


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## jkane (Oct 12, 2007)

Most switches have a port with an X on it indicating that you can use any cable, but use that port. If there is no X port, then you might need a cross over cable.

I can't imagine in today's world that some company is making a home use switch that requires a special cable! You should be OK with a normal cable. Read the manual, and it should tell you which port to use to connect back to the router. It could be that all ports will sense what kind of connection it needs to be and accommodate it. But that is pure speculation on my part.


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## manzelmo (Apr 16, 2008)

eddieras

Keep as much as you can on the router, don't move everything to the switch

You said "i have two computers, wireless router and airave device from Sprint on my router."

I would connect the new switch, and 2 computers to the router put the wireless router and the airave device and the 722 on the switch. Anything going through the switch to the router has to share the bandwidth of the uplink port you use. So you want your gaming device to be as close to the Internet with the least amount of sharing if you play across the Net.

One other comment you said wireless router, doesn't it have ethernet ports on it? Most home routers do. You could have saved money and not bought a new switch if it did.

FYI: I have a router on one end of my house (office) with a couple computers attached and a switch on the other end (great room) with my 722, 2 computers, wireless/wire router and a network connected printer. I have wireless cameras all over the place plus my laptop is wireless if I want to take it out to the garage or to my neighbors house. Running the one cable across the house in the attic was a great thing to do as it makes attaching equipment to the net simple. 

I did this stuff for a living.


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## eddieras (Aug 31, 2007)

thanks guys - i got the linksys 2208= it was so easy i'm embarrassed. i plugged it in to a/c - got a ethernet i had lying around pluged it in the router and then into the switch. added my 722 and airave to the switch, leaving the two computers and access point on the router. manzelmo - my mistake - i have an access point not wireless router!

thanks to all for the good advice -


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## jkane (Oct 12, 2007)

Do what you want to, but keep in mind even at just 10 MB your internet connection will be not be able to keep up with it! Getting a gigabit port hooked up to all the stuff you want to access the internet is not going to matter. Once it hits the router, it goes down to what ever your down and up link speeds are. Typically less than 8 MB for most homes.

As for sharing files or playing games inside your home, that's a whole different story! Kick it up to switched gigabit for fastest response since it's cheap now.

Of course, before I get corrected, at 10 MB, there is a lot of wasted overhead in Ethernet so you might only get 6 MB of effective traffic use if you have a lot of devices sharing the link. Along that same vane, at 1 GB, that "effective" bandwidth remains up so high that it becomes moot to worry about unless you are trying to run a backup to a networked disk drive or some high data intensive kind of traffic.

I have not seen actual numbers to quote for effective band width at gigabit Ethernet. I don't care any more enough to worry about it either. It is plenty for my needs. Especially since it is switched where the efficiency is approaching 100% since it is not really shared in the original Ethernet specifications. Carrier Sense Multiple Detection Collision Avoidance (That brings back memory cells!) That means every machine talks and then listens if it spoke at the same time as another machine, and then randomly retries if it did. That is why only 60% is usable due to all of the collisions built into Ethernet. Switched means another mechanism decides sorts traffic so you only see your own traffic on your port. That means you don't have collisions unless and the switch talk at the same time. With only 2 devices that doesn't happen much. Then there is full duplex mode, which is the default these days making it all but impossible to have a collision!

Sorry for the technical brain dump. :grin:


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