I just bought a house (closing in < 2 weeks!) and want to set up a better network than I have right now. Having never wired a house or anything substantial for internet, I'd like some validation on what I'm planning.
I've done some math and figured out that there would be 7 ports throughout the house that I'd want to set up:
* 1 in each of 3 bedrooms
* 1 in an outside "bonus" room
* 1 in a living area
* 2 in a common area - 1 for the Xbox and 1 for general use (like a desk)
I currently have a 4-port Linksys wireless N router, but I don't believe I want to use this as a primary router for a couple reasons:
* I want to install the networking hub in my utility room inside of cabinets. This would put the wireless signal coming from a non-central part of the house, AND it would be close to electronics that could disrupt it, specifically, the washer/dryer.
* It only has 4 ports; to get this setup I'd need at least 7.
I still want people plugging into wired networking to get a dynamic IP address unless otherwise configured, so here's the final setup I've come up with:
Cable company -> Cable modem -> Wired router ->
8-port switch The switch has cabling to each room connected to it and is the central point. However, with an 8-port switch I'm not able to connect any additional devices (7 rooms plus connection to the router). The connection to the Xbox will then go through my wireless-N router which will be configured as a gateway (so DHCP functions are disabled). All DHCP assignment should be handled through the main wired router.
Ultimately, connections might look like this:
* Cable company -> Modem -> Wired router -> Switch -> PC
* Cable company -> Modem -> Wired router -> Switch -> Wireless Router -> Wireless Network -> PC
* Cable company -> Modem -> Wired router -> Switch -> Wireless Router -> Wired port -> Xbox
Is this correct?