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Thread: Using a Sky/Netgear router as a network switch?

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    Now with added sobriety Rave's Avatar
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    Using a Sky/Netgear router as a network switch?

    Hi all, popping in here with my noob queries again.

    My mate's just bought a netbook, so he can surf the net in bed, and so he can take it with him to the States when he goes in April- basically as a glorified MP3 player I expect. He asked me to lend him a large-ish memory card so that he can copy over his massive collection of Frank Sinatra( ) MP3s, so I gave him my 8GB micro-SDHC card and my Poundland reader (I've managed 5.55MB sustained write speed on a class 4 card with this combo).

    I need the card back now so I can bung it in my T-Mobile Pulse and reinstall all my apps that got wiped when I had to reinstall the ROM. He texted me back all disgruntled saying that he'd not copied all his files yet. It occurred to me that I have an old 10/100 network switch lying around here, and that it would be quickest and easiest to just copy the files from one computer to the other over a network. Then it occurred to me that his ADSL connection is through the free wireless router that Sky provided him when he signed up for their broadband. It's a Netgear despite the Sky branding, I'm pretty sure it's some variety of DG834G. It's new enough to support WPA-PSK, as that's what I set it up with when I went round to turn the wireless on so he could surf wirelessly on the netbook (used a free app on the Pulse to find him a completely clear channel too). And it's connected to his PC (which I built) via an excessively long RJ45 cable that I found in a skip about 6 years ago.

    So anyway, I'm thinking that if I go round there with another RJ45 cable (of which I have loads), I can plug his netbook into the second port on the switch, enable sharing of the hard disks on both PCs, and then look for network drives on both. Both computers are running XP. This is pretty much how I set the network up with my old (now defunct) switch when I built a dually for crunching Find-A-Drug and parked it next to my main computer all those years ago.

    Is there some flaw in this plan? Anyone used the network switch capabilities of a Netgear router? Am I on the right path?

    TIA.

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    Senior Member Blastuk's Avatar
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    Re: Using a Sky/Netgear router as a network switch?

    Here's the possibilities that will work.. since I can't decipher what you said exactly(too much irrelevant info perhaps)..

    Code:
    your house         |         | his house
    pc<--cable-->switch<--cable-->Router<--cable-->netbook
    pc<--cable-->switch<--cable-->Router<--wi-fi-->netbook
    pc<--cable-->switch<--cable-->netbook

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    Senior Member burble's Avatar
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    Re: Using a Sky/Netgear router as a network switch?

    Quote Originally Posted by Rave View Post
    Is there some flaw in this plan? Anyone used the network switch capabilities of a Netgear router? Am I on the right path?
    No flaw. Everyone who uses said router is also using the switching capabilities of it

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    Re: Using a Sky/Netgear router as a network switch?

    Disable one DHCP server. Good to go.

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    Senior Member burble's Avatar
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    Re: Using a Sky/Netgear router as a network switch?

    Quote Originally Posted by smargh View Post
    Disable one DHCP server. Good to go.
    There is only one DHCP server.

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    Re: Using a Sky/Netgear router as a network switch?

    I'm using both the Sky brand Netgear and the regular Netgear routers linked together, sharing across everything performs flawlessly so have no fear, the time to copy and paste mp3's is here!

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    Rave (12-03-2010)

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    Senior Member watercooled's Avatar
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    Re: Using a Sky/Netgear router as a network switch?

    The LAN side of the router is a switch so yeah you should be able to copy files no problem.

    You would only need to disable DHCP if you wanted to use two routers, from the OP I gather you basically want to go round to his house, plug your PC into his router and copy files in which case it should just work - things may go more smoothly if both computers are in the same workgroup. You could also do it without any switch at all, just manually assign IP addresses eg 192.168.0.1 to one computer and 192.168.0.2 to the other, make sure both subnets are 255.255.255.0 then connect both computers together using a cable (most net cards are auto-uplink so you shouldn't need a crossover cable).
    Last edited by watercooled; 12-03-2010 at 10:37 PM.

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    Re: Using a Sky/Netgear router as a network switch?

    If I understand your original post correctly, his PC - which currently hosts his MP3 collection - is attached to the router by a wired connection. His netbook - which he wants to copy the music collection to - is attached to the router by a wireless connection.

    If this is correct, then both computers are already on the same network, and as long as they have the same Workgroup name in the "Computer Name" tab of "System", all you should need to do is enable file sharing on the PC & share the folder his music collection is in. You should then be able to browse to the shared folder from his netbook and copy the music across. No extra wires required

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    Rave (22-03-2010)

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    Now with added sobriety Rave's Avatar
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    Re: Using a Sky/Netgear router as a network switch?

    Hmm, interesting- that might be handy for me to get some of the files off my old PC. I'm sure I've tried looking over my wireless network and not found any shared drives though.

    Anyway, we did get it working with a wired connection, but for some reason the file transfers were painfully slow- about 1MB/S I reckon, whereas I used to get 10MB/S out of my crappy old 10/100 switch which cost me a tenner from Ebuyer about 7 years ago. If anyone has any suggestions as to why that might be, I'd be glad to hear them. Pretty sure I checked that the connection was at 100mbps rather than 10mbps.

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