Will a switch suffice?

help1

help1

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Hey guys,

I am currently in a dorm room and I have an ethernet jack that works (thank god). Anyway, I have a 360 hooked up to a monitor, and a laptop. The problem is, I use my laptop to stream sports, and I like to play my XBOX 360 online while watching sports. The schools wireless connection is so poor that the laptop loses signal every 5-10 minutes, so the sports stream stops. Furthermore, it's annoying constantly having to unplug the ethernet cable from my XBOX and moving it to the laptop.

I was thinking about buying a router, but I noticed switches are cheaper:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100010066 4024&IsNodeId=1&name=$0 - $10

will this $8-11 device rid me of my woes, or make me wish I ate real food for 2 days instead?
 
There were switches in my dorm last year, and I'm almost positive that your 360 and laptop would be able to communicate. I remember that I was able to stream from my Macbook to my PS3 through a switch just fine.
 
Yep, a switch will work just fine for you. Just make sure to check with your university. I work in IT at a University, and if we detect a switch or router, we disable the port. So make sure that's not going to happen before you plug stuff in.
 
[quote name='bcoakiot']Yep, a switch will work just fine for you. Just make sure to check with your university. I work in IT at a University, and if we detect a switch or router, we disable the port. So make sure that's not going to happen before you plug stuff in.[/QUOTE]

Routers are allowed and they sell routers and switches in the campus computer store, just for too high prices.

Just to clear up, I don't need the 360 to communicate to my laptop, or vice versa. I just need each one to be able to connect to the internet independently.

Sounds like you guys are saying it will work, thanks!
 
[quote name='help1']Routers are allowed and they sell routers and switches in the campus computer store, just for too high prices.

Just to clear up, I don't need the 360 to communicate to my laptop, or vice versa. I just need each one to be able to connect to the internet independently.

Sounds like you guys are saying it will work, thanks![/QUOTE]

Oh, OK, I misunderstood you. Then yes, a switch will definitely work. :)
 
[quote name='help1']Routers are allowed and they sell routers and switches in the campus computer store, just for too high prices.

Just to clear up, I don't need the 360 to communicate to my laptop, or vice versa. I just need each one to be able to connect to the internet independently.

Sounds like you guys are saying it will work, thanks![/QUOTE]now admittedly I don't work in IT and my studies were in life sciences but

Routers for home networks (often called broadband routers) also can join multiple networks. These routers are designed specifically to join the home (LAN) to the Internet (WAN) for the purpose of Internet connection sharing. In contrast, neither hubs nor switches are capable of joining multiple networks or sharing an Internet connection.
Click to expand...
http://compnetworking.about.com/od/homenetworkhardware/f/routervsswitch.htm
See Video at: http://www.cisco.com/cisco/web/solu...d_offices/what_is_a_network_switch/index.html

Switches are cheaper because they don't connect you to the internet. It sounds like what you want is a way for your xbox and laptop to get online at the same time. It also sounds like the switch is not what you want. From that sentence the switch is just to create a little network between devices. If you wanted to connect the 360 to the laptop switch would do it but if you wanted to connect the 360 and the laptop both online then router would do it.
 
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[quote name='Wolfkin']now admittedly I don't work in IT and my studies were in life sciences but

http://compnetworking.about.com/od/homenetworkhardware/f/routervsswitch.htm
See Video at: http://www.cisco.com/cisco/web/solu...d_offices/what_is_a_network_switch/index.html

Switches are cheaper because they don't connect you to the internet. It sounds like what you want is a way for your xbox and laptop to get online at the same time. It also sounds like the switch is not what you want. From that sentence the switch is just to create a little network between devices. If you wanted to connect the 360 to the laptop switch would do it but if you wanted to connect the 360 and the laptop both online then router would do it.[/QUOTE]

You are confusing a home network with a corporate (or dorm) network. Yes, it's true that in your house, you must have a router in order to create your internet connection. But in this case, the connection already exists, and a switch would let you distribute that connection to whatever device you want. I simplified it quite a bit here, but that's the most basic answer I can give. The switch WILL work for this purpose.
 
Assuming your laptop gets one IP address when you plug into your Ethernet port and the 360 gets a different IP address when you plug into the Ethernet port, then yes, a switch will work without any issue.
 
um... couldn't you just run the ethernet cable into the laptop and use a cat 6 to connect the xbox to the laptop? asuming that the ethernet card in the laptop has 2 connections?

I used to run my xbox and desktop this way and could use both online no prob...
 
I see. thanks for the correction then. So while a switch would work when you move out you wouldn't be able to use it at home.

never seen a laptop with two connections. I see plenty with one and one modem for whatever reason but even the newer ones I've seen haven't had two LAN connections.
 
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