Since the access points all broadcast the same signal, you don’t have to switch Wi-Fi connections as you move from one access point to another. These satellites capture the router’s signal and rebroadcast it. Rather than broadcasting Wi-Fi signals from a single point, mesh Wi-Fi routers have multiple access points, sometimes called satellites. Here are three alternatives to the traditional network splitter. There are multiple methods to share the same signal between multiple devices, including some Wi-Fi options. If you want to connect multiple devices, then a network cable is only one option. You should be able to pick up an Ethernet switch for around $15. The great thing is that Ethernet switches aren’t expensive either. Switches allow for full-duplex communication between devices, which means that data can be sent and received at the same time, resulting in a faster network. Essentially, one Ethernet port becomes multiple ports. This means once a switch has its switching table figured out, there’s no broadcasting like with hubs, and it just knows where to send data based on that internal table that it keeps track of. However, a switch does actual thinking, meaning that data goes in one port, and the switch learns where that has to go and sends it out that other port. You can use one port to connect the switch to your router via Ethernet, then connect your Ethernet devices to the remaining ports, just like a hub. Returning to our original topic of transforming one Ethernet cable into two, the Ethernet switch is the real star of this guide. ![]() Note that Ethernet hubs look much like switches, so don’t make the mistake of buying a hub when you really want a switch. This results in data holdups and collisions, hogging precious bandwidth and causing network slowdown, particularly when you’re using multiple devices simultaneously. In more technical terms, hubs cannot allow devices to send and receive data at the same time, which is called half-duplex communication. Data goes in one port, and the hub just amplifies that out to all the other devices that are connected to it. Think of a hub as a huge echo chamber filled with network traffic, where packets go in and shout to find the devices they’re trying to connect to. You connect one cable to your router, and the rest of your devices can connect to other ports without needing to be “split.” This sounds great, but a hub is just as unintelligent as a splitter. Next is the Ethernet hub, which has been pretty much outmoded by the switch (covered next). However, it’s almost always better to opt for an Ethernet switch or hub. Ethernet splitters are also limited to a maximum of two devices per cable.įor some limited situations, Ethernet splitters are a good option. This is likely to affect the performance of your Ethernet-connected devices. While Ethernet splitters are cheap and appear to offer a good solution, they do result in a slower speed for network traffic. This enables you to utilize one cable for two Ethernet connections. That’s about all a splitter can handle.Ī major downside of an Ethernet splitter is that it reduces the number of utilized wires in a Cat 5e Ethernet cable and reduces the data throughput from 1000Mbps to 100Mbps, which is barely on par with most home Internet connections. You can run two cables from the router, plug them both into a splitter, plug the splitter into the wall, and reverse that on the other side with another splitter that plugs into both of the devices you want to connect. You want to connect both to Ethernet, but there’s only one Ethernet port in each room. ![]() You have a typical home router in one room and your desktop PC and gaming console in the other. Note: an Ethernet splitter doesn’t actually increase the number of devices you can connect via Ethernet, and you will need a splitter at the other end to “unsplit” the connection back into two cables, so two Ethernet splitters will be required each time. ![]() ![]() If you have a surplus of short Ethernet cables – but only one or two long cables – then this is where a splitter comes in handy. It’s a small gizmo with three Ethernet ports – two on one side and one on the other. An Ethernet splitter looks pretty unassuming.
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