using an old router as a wired hub (switch?)

[pstock]

Our house is relatively small and our DSL router is ony about 3 feet from my two office desktops.
But I get very poor wireless speeds on those desktops. (I suspect my wifi adapters are out of date.)
My simple solution was to run a physical ethetnet cable down into the floor, through the unfinished basement and back up into the corner of my office.

That wired connection gets me the best speed.
But I would now like to also physically wire connect a 2nd desktop computer without running an entire 2nd ethernet cable.

I am trying to repurpose an old Amped R10000G router (Router B in the attached) as a ... Hub? (or is it a Switch? I am not clear.). But I cannot figure out the basic or general settings I need to set to make this work.

could someone just sketch it out for me?

If I don't want to use the wifi on Router B, I presume under Wifi settings I just turn Wifi OFF.
But I cannot figure out how to configure the Networking settings.

(Hmmm, I don't seem to see how to post an image here. let me try this:

[pstock]

ERROR. that's 30 feet away.....

Our house is relatively small and our DSL router is ony about 30 feet from my two office desktops.
But I get very poor wireless speeds on those desktops. (I suspect my wifi adapters are out of date.)
My simple solution was to run a physical ethetnet cable down into the floor, through the unfinished basement and back up into the corner of my office.

That wired connection gets me the best speed.
But I would now like to also physically wire connect a 2nd desktop computer without running an entire 2nd ethernet cable.

I am trying to repurpose an old Amped R10000G router (Router B in the attached) as a ... Hub? (or is it a Switch? I am not clear.). But I cannot figure out the basic or general settings I need to set to make this work.

could someone just sketch it out for me?

If I don't want to use the wifi on Router B, I presume under Wifi settings I just turn Wifi OFF.
But I cannot figure out how to configure the Networking settings.

(Hmmm, I don't seem to see how to post an image here. let me try this:

[Philip]

Regardless of the mode the router is set to, the switch should work. Just don't use the WAN/Internet port on it. Plug in the input and outputs to any of the LAN ports, then it would work like a switch. You should probably disable NAT routing (may have to set it to access point mode), you can turn off any other features you don't need like wifi, DHCP, etc. The exact settings depend on your model and firmware. Even if you leave it in NAT router mode, the routing is only between the WAN and the LAN ports, so if you don't use the WAN port the rest of it should work as a switch.

[pstock]

thtanks Philip.
But I'm not having any luck. are you saying that I really shouldn't have to adjust any settings?

I've plugged IN and OUT to LAN ports
I have rebooted the router.
but I am not getting any Internet.

I wish i could figure out how to post an image here. I would show you the settings on the Setup screen.

[Philip]

If you don't have internet connectivity you may have to change some of the settings.

1. When connected to the dsl modem, figure out what the internal IP address of your local computer and "gateway" (dsl modem) is. In windows, open command prompt and type: "ipconfig /all". Look for the IP Address, usually 192.168.x.x and the gateway, usually 192.168.x.1

2. Configure your old router so that DHCP is disabled (so it doesn't serve other IP addresses to connected devices), and maybe turn off NAT routing, you may want to set it as an access point as described here: https://www.speedguide.net/articles/how ... point-2556
There are other ways to do this, but the main idea is that both routers are in the same IP address range/subnet, and there is only one device serving IP addresses, in the range that you determined in step 1 above.

Note you may have to reboot your DSL modem after you connect a new device to it, even though it shouldn't be required if it is a gateway that can serve multiple clients.

I hope this helps

[pstock]

Brilliant!.
I wasn't sure about what to do about IP Addresses. (I use Linux and when I did "Curl ifconfig.me" on my desktop I got 157.52.11.166 which doesn't sound like it was in the range of of 192.168.x.y)
but when I "Disabled" the DHCP on the Old Router To Be Used As Switch, rebooted it and plug the various Cat 5 cables (IN from the main DSL router, OUTs to the various desktops in my office room) into the LAN Ports, Presto! I had solid fast (enough) Internet all round.

So, while I don't understand the IP address thing perfectly, I will leave well enough alone.

Many thanks.

[Philip]

You are right that the 157.52.x.x address is external, Teksavy company in Toronto. In Linux you get your IP address using "ifconfig". Anyway, the idea with disabling DHCP on the old router is that it doesn't try to give IPs to each device connected to it, so that you get your IPs from your DSL gateway.

Glad it's working.