Dorm room ethernet question

PaulinMyrBch

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My son moved in the dorm last week as a freshman. What is the easiest way to run a single ethernet wall outlet to the smart TV and the xbox at the same time. He'd only being using one at a time, so do they make a pure A/B switch where you manually switch it back and forth or can you split the signal and both would be live all the time?
 
When I went to Google and Amazon, lots of things pop up, all saying "switch" and "splitter" in the same device with various price ranges. Also we have an old router we don't use. Is that a splitter if you just wire it up even if you don't want to use it as wifi?
 
I need something simple so they don't have to go behind the TV every time they want to flip it back and forth. 
 
Thanks in advance.
 
 
 

McDrew

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The old router could be a solution, depending on how fast it can move the signals.  The router will be smart enough to route the information to/from the internet at large and your devices, and there's no need to maintain.  You might have to update ports/routing tables to tweak efficency, but your son/someone on his floor will probably know how to do that a lot better than I could. 
 

cgori

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You want a switch: here ($35 and will definitely work - if it's only Fast Ethernet you can get stuff as cheap as $10)
 
The dorm may have (actually, probably has) rules about not installing switches in the rooms ("internet connections are only for student computers" etc), so read the fine print on whatever residential internet access agreement you/he signed.
 
If you set up the old router correctly it might be OK (use as NAT-firewall to connect everything else, but again, they may have rules about running another WiFi network on top of campus WiFi, if present - so you'll probably have to turn off the WiFi part of the router).
 
Basically, do-it-yourself networking can often make on-campus IT folks pretty cranky, so make sure you do it correctly.
 

cgori

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PaulinMyrBch said:
Thanks, that switch will work and will accommodate other devices if he needs. I'll order that one.
 
Don't forget any extra ethernet cables you need.
 

cgori

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PaulinMyrBch said:
Thanks, that switch will work and will accommodate other devices if he needs. I'll order that one.
 
I just thought of something.  Depending on how campus networking is set up, you might only get one IP address per port.  You might need to figure out how to make the router work as NAT-firewall...
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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cgori said:
Don't forget any extra ethernet cables you need.
Also don't forget that he's a frosh in college and shouldn't be on his fucking xbox and smart TV.
 

Marceline

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cgori said:
 
I just thought of something.  Depending on how campus networking is set up, you might only get one IP address per port.  You might need to figure out how to make the router work as NAT-firewall...
 
One IP address per port shouldn't be an issue if they are only using one of the two devices at a time.
 

wibi

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Kenny F'ing Powers said:
Also don't forget that he's a frosh in college and shouldn't be on his fucking xbox and smart TV.
This. Or make him figure this out himself. He's 18 nor 85
 

Monbo Jumbo

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Kenny F'ing Powers said:
Also don't forget that he's a frosh in college and shouldn't be on his fucking xbox and smart TV.
 
Exactly - he should be playing beer pong with the women's golf team. 
 

SumnerH

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AMcGhie said:
The old router could be a solution, depending on how fast it can move the signals.  The router will be smart enough to route the information to/from the internet at large and your devices, and there's no need to maintain.  You might have to update ports/routing tables to tweak efficency, but your son/someone on his floor will probably know how to do that a lot better than I could. 
 
Back in 1993 we had one computer with 2 ethernet cards, one plugged into the ethernet port, the other side into a hub that everyone else's computers were plugged into, and had the main computer doing bridging/NAT.  By 1995 we could get multiple static IPs per dorm room, though, and just plugged the hub into the wall.
 
An old (wireless is nice for saving cell usage) router makes this easy--it'll probably have one uplink/WAN port that plugs into the wall, then you plug the other devices into the normal ports and it'll handle everything transparently.
 

PaulinMyrBch

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Thanks again, for the tech and parenting advice. It is all noted and since its my first one off to college, I am monitoring the situation.
 
My dad died a few weeks ago, so I've been slammed spending 5 days in ICU, arrangements, getting son off to college, and getting the probate admin going. I've seen the Beer Pong thread and I've got some stuff for that once I have a chance to get a break.
 
I'm not being naïve about mine. He's done good, works hard, and balances priorities. Plus his mother stays on his academics pretty good. He loves it up there and doesn't want to fuck up and come home.
 

epraz

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Nobody's worried about him playing xbox at the expense of his grades, we're worried about him playing xbox at the expense of getting laid.
 

cgori

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SumnerH said:
 
Back in 1993 we had one computer with 2 ethernet cards, one plugged into the ethernet port, the other side into a hub that everyone else's computers were plugged into, and had the main computer doing bridging/NAT.  By 1995 we could get multiple static IPs per dorm room, though, and just plugged the hub into the wall.
 
An old (wireless is nice for saving cell usage) router makes this easy--it'll probably have one uplink/WAN port that plugs into the wall, then you plug the other devices into the normal ports and it'll handle everything transparently.
 
Yep, this would be ideal, everything would work no matter what.  I've been on exactly one college campus in the last 4 years (UCSB for a conference) and they had very strict rules about creating your own Wifi.  I have no idea if that is par for the course.
 
Paul, sorry about your Dad :(
 

Reverend

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Kenny F'ing Powers said:
Also don't forget that he's a frosh in college and shouldn't be on his fucking xbox and smart TV.
 
Fuck yeah.
 
Unless it's Rock Band.  :kitty: