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Wired and Wireless on 1 phone line?

B

Beaker491

Member
Hi folks

As above really, is it possible to have 1 computer and router connected together via a LAN cable downstairs, so to speak, and another router plugged into the same phone line in the socket upstairs, but connected to the upstairs computer, mobile, laptop, etc via wifi? So basically downstairs is wired and a separate network to upstairs, which is wireless, but both sharing the same phone line? Admittedly both networks wont be on at the same time. I need my downstairs computer hard wired to the router and the internet for work and security purposes, but would like to use the upstairs computer and wifi network for my SGS2, mainly. Android phones are fantastic bits of kit, but they depend on wifi :-(

Thanks in advance, and apologies for the rather poor attempt at explaining my networking problem :o

Ian
 
I'm not completely sure if I followed correctly. Are we just talking about having an Internet connection, or are we also talking about landline/ cell phone calls?

If you're asking if you can have one computer hooked up directly to the router (which is hooked up directly to the cable/ DSL modem) and then have a computer upstairs connected to the same Internet connection via wi-fi. Then, yes, that is easily accomplished and is how many people use their networks. Basically, just use a router that has a switch that you can directly connect your computer to using an ethernet cable. And then set up the wifi on the router so that the computer upstairs (or Android device/ laptop/ iPhone/ etc.) can connect to it. Most routers have this capability ever since they came out with wi-fi routers.

If that's not what you were asking, let me know. :)
 
Thanks theycallmebt,

What I'm after is basically 2 completely separate networks in one house, one wired with one computer, the other wireless using another router, and computer, phone, etc etc, but using the same phone line.

OR

Can you get routers which have switches on them to turn off the wifi when not in use? So id only have the one router, downstairs, with one computer wired into it.....? The wired computer has to be completely separate from the wireless network, so when this computer is in use the wifi would be turned off, and when computer is turned off then wifi can be turned on? But not both on at the same time.

Landline calls would hopefully not be affected by this?

Thanks again

Ian
 
Ok. No, I don't think you can set up two separate cable modems from the same ISP in one house. Maybe one cable and one DSL from different companies, but that's too expensive any way.

With any wifi router, you use the web browser while connected to it (via ethernet or wifi) and type in the IP of the router to change the settings. If it's already on, you should be able to use a wifi connection to turn it off through the web browser. But to turn it back on, you'd need the hardline connected computer to do so. I'm really not sure if they make routers that have a hard switch for wifi on/ off. That would probably be the best solution if they make that.

If it's a cable internet, the landline connection should come out of the modem and into a telephone jack in the wall, so that shouldn't be affected.

Is this an issue of confidential work kind of thing? I'm just curious. :)

You could probably get what's called a switcher. It's basically what's on the back of a wifi router, without the wifi components. It takes in one ethernet connection from the modem, and then gives you (usually at least four) ethernet connections to plug computers into it and that's all that it does. So plug the computer into one of the ports and the wifi router into another port. When you need to turn the wifi off, either unplug its ethernet cable or unplug the power cord. That should theoretically work.

Edit: I think it's called an "ethernet switch" not a "switcher".
 
TheyCallMeBT said:
Edit: I think it's called an "ethernet switch" not a "switcher".
Click to expand...
It's a switch. All of the routers I've used have switches (normally 4 ports). There are some routers that can separate the wireless and wired connections so they don't see each other.

Frankly, I'm still confused as to what the OP is trying to do.
 
Not as hard as you might think.

All depends on if you want one Internet account split into two networks, or two Internet networks.

You can have a router > modem or both in one box (combined modem router, usually with wifi) for your downstairs hardwired connection.

Then you can tell your downstairs router to repeat a wifi signal to a second router upstairs, but this is only really needed to extend the range if the wifi.

A dual band router will have the ability to broadcast on 2.4 and 5ghz bands giving you two totally separate wifi networks, additionally some also let you set up a guest wifi broadcast with basic access (no network discovery to be able to browse other computers public folders/drives)

If you use a wifi router, it will most likely have a 4 port ethernet switch built in.

This can be used to give you the hardwired connection, and wifi, just turn off network discovery on the hardwired pc and it will be secure enough while still providing wifi for other devices over the one internet connection.

Just to sum up, one router can give you, 4 hardwired ports, 2.4ghz full access wifi, 2.4ghz guest Internet access wifi (without internal network browsing) and 5ghz a/b(g possibly) wifi.

If you can be more specific, it would be easier to give you a more fitting solution.
 
After more thought I can think of a few ways you can achieve what I think your trying to do.

Solution one.

Get two netgear wnr3700 routers or similar.

Wire the modem to router 1
Hardwire the business pc to router 1
Use 2.4ghz wifi on router 1 to repeat the wifi to router 2
Setup the business pc to use the homegroup name business, disable file sharing and network discovery.
Keep all other devices set to use the homegroup name workgroup

This should give you the two separate networks and still let you use all other devices at the same time while keeping the business pc secure from your other network.
Solution two.

Hardware modem to a 4 port switch
Hardwire switch to router
Hardwire business pc to switch

Then you can turn off/on power to the router as needed, but you would still need to setup the homegroup network names and disable service's as before.

Solution three.

Hardwire modem to switch or router
Hardwire business pc to switch or router
Hardwire a cable from switch or router upstairs to router.

Then you can turn off/on power to the upstairs switch or router as needed, but you would still need to setup the homegroup network names and disable service's as before.
 
Trivial solution. Have both routers connected to the phone line, but have only 1 router turned on at a time. In the morning, turn on the downstairs router and work. At the end of the day, turn that router off, go upstairs, turn on the upstairs router and use it. When you're done for the night, turn off the upstairs router.

You could do it with a couple of switches, so you can connect the phone line to either router from either switch (something like a pair of 3-way light switches), but a) that would require a cable running from upstairs to downstairs and 2) you'd have to be able to follow a diagram so you could wire the thing up. Turning the routers on and off is a lot simpler.

Two powered-on routers connected to the same phone line at the same time with only 1 internet account? No. Depending on the provider, one, the other or neither routers would be connected to the internet. (And they'd probably suspect you of trying to steal service and cancel your account.)
 
Have your dsl router plugged into the phone line. It will act as a dhcp server to anything directly connected to it.

Daisy chain another router off it, this time make it wireless. You will computer on two seperate networks, physically. You can use the firewall on your router to block communications from the second network (wireless, will have to be manually configured to use a separate subnet) to the first. Wireless cannot talk to wired. Both can talk to the net.
 
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