Router that uses coaxial cable?

[frankcastle]

Does such a thing exist? I'd like to split my interntet connection between two floors and ideally I'd like to do it with out ripping up the floor boards or drilling holes. The old residents of my place have a coaxial cable running from the first to the second floor...... could I use that with a router.

So....

1) does such a thing exist?
2) is it as fast as it's regular counterpart?
3) is there a difference in price?

 

[Gentle Ben]

I think some older LANs used coaxial cable for hooking between computers.

 

[frankcastle]

The reason I'm looking for this is that wireless routers run the risk of being tapped into by neighbours and given that I live in a townhouse there are quite a few neighbours within range.

So ideally I'd like to split my pre-existing connection and connect it to the computer downstairs via a coaxial cable..... I guess that also means I'd need a modem downstairs to recieve the signal.

 

[hunter001]

I am sure you could get something for residental use but it is likely expensive. Is there anything wrong with a wireless network? I know there is a bandwidth but it might not be too bad for secondary interent access.

 

[hunter001]

The reason I'm looking for this is that wireless routers run the risk of being tapped into by neighbours and given that I live in a townhouse there are quite a few neighbours within range.

So ideally I'd like to split my pre-existing connection and connect it to the computer downstairs via a coaxial cable..... I guess that also means I'd need a modem downstairs to recieve the signal.

Most people don't use the encryption software that comes with the wireless router. It is fairly easy to set up if you have 20 minutes or so.

Save yourself a lot of headaches and get a wireless router and use the encryption software.

 

[Papi Chulo]

buy a wireless router and use the WPA encryprion... it is as secure as the password you choose... mine is 60+ characters

or maybe if you bought 2 of these

http://www.nextag.com/Transition-Networks-Just-Convert-81700399/prices-html

 

[XTORONTO]

switch to Bell, I did the same thing, but i did it because i didnt want to buy a wireless card. With bell you can plug into any phone jack and not have to run any coaxil. This way every thing is hardwired.

 

[loco2.0]

Does such a thing exist? I'd like to split my interntet connection between two floors and ideally I'd like to do it with out ripping up the floor boards or drilling holes. The old residents of my place have a coaxial cable running from the first to the second floor...... could I use that with a router.

So....

1) does such a thing exist?
2) is it as fast as it's regular counterpart?
3) is there a difference in price?

I second the notion of going wireless. It's not hard to setup, and if you have any problems you can always ask for help here I'm sure, or there are other forums you could check out. Another thing to consider is that if you know somebody with a half decent knowledge of networking, you could enable remote access to you router and that person could set it up remotely for you.
Trust me, switching to Bell is not worth it, and neither is drilling holes all over the place.

 

[joebear]

The old residents of my place have a coaxial cable running from the first to the second floor...... could I use that with a router.

as usual no one is answering your question and sidetrack with what they think is best.

you can get router with multiple outputs to share an internet connection.

SMC 4-PORT 10/100 Mbps CABLE/DSL Router SMC7004VBR
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=8903&vpn=SMC7004VBR-CA&manufacture=SMC

Linksys BEFSR81 Etherfast CABLE/DSL Router 8PT 10/100 Switch
Think of the EtherFast® Cable/DSL Router with 8-Port Switch as a kind of "splitter" for your Internet connection. Just connect your DSL or Cable Modem to the Router, and all the computers in your home or office can share the Internet,
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=12151&vpn=BEFSR81&manufacture=Linksys


However not all coaxial cables are made to the same specifications. You would have to find out if that old coaxial cable has the proper bandwidth specification. Cable is cheap. I have a 100 meter ethernet cable with no repeater and suffer no drops in speed.

 

[hunter001]

as usual no one is answering your question and sidetrack with what they think is best.

I read it. Did you? $#$@#@!

Does such a thing exist? I'd like to split my interntet connection between two floors and ideally I'd like to do it with out ripping up the floor boards or drilling holes. The old residents of my place have a coaxial cable running from the first to the second floor...... could I use that with a router.

So....

1) does such a thing exist?
2) is it as fast as it's regular counterpart?
3) is there a difference in price?

JB what you suggested wouldn't work at all. Both of the product use 10/100 baseT to connect to any device. The modem is the device the uses coaxial cable and not the routers you listed.

Frank was talking about having the connection available between the two floors and extending the lan by running the signal via an existing coaxial cable.

In what you suggest Frank would still need to run some sort of 10/100 baseT cable between the floors which Frank is trying to avoid.

To answer the questions in order:
1) does such a thing exist? - There are routers available that you can extend the lan using coaxial cable but you will need two of them. (One at both ends.)
2) is it as fast as it's regular counterpart? It would have the same speed.
3) is there a difference in price? At least twice the cost because you need two of them. If/when you find a router using coaxial cable it is going to be more expensive because it isn't a common product that people will buy.

 

[Papi Chulo]

as usual no one is answering your question and sidetrack with what they think is best.

Maybe you should read what the original poster wanted to do as neither of the items you suggested fit the bill.



What the original poster wants to do is simply not practical. 10-15 years ago, it was common place for routers to use coax (rg59), however they usually used BNC connectors. I think it will not be easy for him to find both a router and a network card (for coax) at an affordable price.

Again, it will be more expensive to use that piece of coax in the wall than it would be to go wireless, and wireless should also provide a faster network connection.

 

[l69norm]

.. 10-15 years ago, it was common place for routers to use coax (rg59), however they usually used BNC connectors. I think it will not be easy for him to find both a router and a network card (for coax) at an affordable price...

10base2 (thin net) used RG58 (50 ohm) coax with BNC. It won't work with Cable TV coax (RG59 or 75 ohm) and is only good for 10Mbps

There was also 10base5 (thick net) with RG8 coax (50 ohm) that's really old and used something called vampire taps. It's speed was also 10Mbps

Regular LAN cabling is called 10baseT.

There was never much of anything made that would work with 75 ohm coax and it was all for the corporate world, nothing for home networking. Anything that was made was very proprietary ($$$) and was obsolete years ago.

There used to be something call HPNA (home phone network) like Intel "AnyPoint" that would let you set up a LAN using the existing phone wiring in a house, but I haven't seen that around for while. Also in theory, most house phone wiring is CAT3 so you could run ethernet directly on it using a regular home router and regular LAN cards.

For any new home network, it's all wireless now. There's no point in retrofitting LAN wiring. There all kinds of new wireless LAN gadgets out like video adapters for your TV. I even saw a wireless LAN boombox the other day.

 

[my2cents]

another alternate

As others had suggested very good alternate routes to take and have commented on your original request to use coaxial cable I am adding to the alternate list of ideas.

If you have your internet via cable you may want to contact the cable company and ask about the possibility of using a splitter and buying a second cable modem. I don't know if having two modems on the cable line is an issue and I am sure the cable company can give you an idea of this would work.

 

[frankcastle]

Thanks for all the responses guys!

So to get this straight it sounds like the simplest and cheapest solution is to get a wireless router and use encryption software.

If I was to use the wireless router. I would set it up on the 2nd floor so that my primary computer will not experience a slow down as a result of the wireless router. And on the main floor I'd connect my laptop to the internet via the wireless router.

I assume this would be the best way?

My primary computer has a faster CPU, more ram, more memory and faster HD so this is the workhorse (downloading and burning etc).

The laptop is simply for surfing and playing MP3s through my stereo.

Question: Are wireless routers significantly slower than ones that use wires?

 

[hunter001]

Thanks for all the responses guys!

So to get this straight it sounds like the simplest and cheapest solution is to get a wireless router and use encryption software.

If I was to use the wireless router. I would set it up on the 2nd floor so that my primary computer will not experience a slow down as a result of the wireless router. And on the main floor I'd connect my laptop to the internet via the wireless router.

I assume this would be the best way?

My primary computer has a faster CPU, more ram, more memory and faster HD so this is the workhorse (downloading and burning etc).

The laptop is simply for surfing and playing MP3s through my stereo.

Question: Are wireless routers significantly slower than ones that use wires?

Yes slower.

 

[frankcastle]

Significantly slower?

Also do routers affect the speed of both computers (e.g. will the primary and secondary computer both experience slower connections to the internet or just the second one that is limited by the router?

 

[hunter001]

The hard wire computer should be able to transmit and receive and fast as your internet connection can take.

Wireless is limited to transmission speed of the wireless connection between router and PC (you can check speeds on the products you buy).

You shouldn't really notice much of a strain on your either system unless you are doing heavy download/uploads on one then you may notice a degradation of your internet connection.

 

[Papi Chulo]

I do not find my wireless connection slower

I have 10Mbps download speed for my isp

with a wired connection, I could have 100Mbps to the router

wireless, I have a 54Mbps

I don't see how the "slower" speed would affect my the speed of my internet connection, seeing it is still much quicker than my top download speed

 

[l69norm]

The hard wire computer should be able to transmit and receive and fast as your internet connection can take...

If it is mainly for Internet access and as long as there isn't very much PC to PC traffic (i.e. one PC is not acting like a file server for the other PC), then even a cheapie 802.11G router should be fine. Wireless-G (54 Mbps raw, 22 Mbps effective) is much faster than any currently available home highspeed internet service.

If you do have a lot of PC to PC traffic like dvd video streams, video rendering, etc, then consider a 802.11N/MIMO router (200-600 Mbps raw, 50-300 Mbps effective).

Be aware that while the speed is higher, the effective MIMO range is only a little better than Wireless-G. If max range is a concern, consider a high power wireless-G router like the Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 or a Linksys WRT54GL (with third party flash)

 

[wrock_solid]

Another alternative to going wireless are those new modems that use the power lines in your house to transmit data. You just need to plug your modem into a power outlet, no coax or anything needed.