Home Networking

11 readers

1 users here now

A community to help people learn, install, set up or troubleshoot their home network equipment and solutions.

Rules

Please stay on topic.
Please use the search function to look for keywords related to what you want to ask before posting since most common issues have been answered.
No Ads. This community is for support and discussion. Ads and self promotion are not welcome here.
No product reviews or announcements. If you have a question about a product, be specific about what you want to know.
Be civil. Don't be a jerk. Not being a jerk is surprisingly easy.
No URL shorteners. URL shorteners tend to hide the real use of a link. For this reason, please use normal links, even if they're long.
No affiliate links.
No gatekeeping. With profession shall come professionalism. Extend help without judging others for their ignorance. The same goes for downvoting of comments or posts for "stupid questions" or not being as knowledgeable as others.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

communick@selfhosted.forum

rglullis@communick.news

Will a splitter work at the end of this cable? (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by advicemerchant@alien.top to c/homenetworking@selfhosted.forum

7 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I have run a 15m (50ft) Cat6 cable from my modem on the main floor to the basement entertainment unit. At that unit I have a PS4, TV and Fire Stick. I want to connect both the TV and the PS4 to ethernet for now (Fire stick later if I buy the adapter). Do I just need a splitter at the entertainment unit end of this cable and will be good to go?

Later, if I get an unmanaged multiple-port switch for my main floor devices, can/should I connect this cable to the switch on the main floor, or should I leave it connected straight to the modem?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] TheHillPerson@alien.top 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

As others noted, get a switch to put behind your TV. Plug your 15m cable, the TV, and the PS4 into that.

Later on, it doesn't matter where you put the modem end of that 15m cable. Theoretically, you could have faster internet access for the TV and PS4 by leaving it plugged into the modem. Fewer devices in the communication chain typically equals faster connections. Practically, it won't matter much. We're talking fractions of a millisecond latency difference. There are other situations where leaving it in the modem is beneficial including if you have a faster connection to your ISP than you have for your internal network connections or if you have a lot of contention for bandwidth plugged into a single port on the modem. Again, practically, none of these will matter for you. Just plug it in wherever is convenient or wherever makes you happiest.

P.S. That modem is most likely a modem/router/wifi access point combination device. Technically a modem is what converts from whatever medium your ISP uses (cable, DSL) to ethernet and a router is what allows you to use multiple devices with a single public IP. I assume you know what an access point is. If you have a fiber connection, it isn't even a modem, it is something else. Again, none of this really matters practically for your setup.

[–] advicemerchant@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

You're correct, it's a modem /router. Thanks for the advice!

To confirm my understating: it would be fine to have two switches in my home setup, yes? (Not worried about fractions of milliseconds at all). One switch in the basement, for 3 devices, and connected directly to the router via the cat 6.

And a second switch on the main floor, for 6 devices, also connected directly to the router.