wireless router + network switch question

Hiya, I've already got an 8-port 10/100 D-Link switch, but I want to get an ADSL wireless router with network ports instead. Problem is all the wireless routers around £50 have only 4 10/100 ports and I need more than 4.

I'm pretty sure I can get a router and connect it to the switch but I wanted to check how.

So basically can I connect the router to the switch with a crossover cable so that every PC on the 8 port switch can use the broadband? If so, would the PC connected wirelessly still be on the same network (peer to peer(don't want a domain right now))? Also could I then use the extra 4 ports on the router to have a total of 12, or are there complications when using two different devices (having 12 isn't too important)?

Many thanks in advance for any help you can offer me :-)

What is the model number for the switch ?

Depending on if it has anything smart in the switch (does it have a config web panel, or is it just switch on / plug in), it may well 'just work'. If it has a specific port marked 'router' this may also suggest that you may have problems.

In my set up I have 1 adsl router with wireless and 4 ports.
off two of these ports, I have a print server (which also has 4 ports, and a second print server hanging off one of it's own ports), a 5 port switch, and 2 pc's.

pc's connected wireless, the adsl router, switch and print servers all seem fine seeing each other.

Only issue I have seen is that I have a VOIP gateway, which also has 4 ports. Plugging into this puts you onto a separate subnet, which while OK for access to the internet, it screws up access to my printers.

Hope this helps.

hmm, OK thanks GrahamK. I can't get the model number right now as it's not here. But it's a good Dlink 8 port switch with a web-style config that you access via IE or whatever. I'll check to see if it has a router port. I thought a router port was essential to plug a router in. What problems does this mean? Thanks.

You cna plug a router in any switch, regardless of what the ports are marked as.

As long as your computers specify your router's IP as their gateway, it should 'just work' no matter where you plug it in.

As xlsior states - you don't need a crossover cable for router to router connections. A cross over is only required for direct PC to Pc or PC to Printer etc when you don't have a hub or router.
The default gateway address for your PC's must be the internal address of the adsl modem/router - the one that's connected to the Internet. If you enable DHCP for the connecting machines you can include the default gateway address.
A standard set up would be - ADSL modem router external (WAN) IP obtained from ISP can be dynamic or static. For home use it is generally always dynamic due to the additional cost of having a static IP.
The internal static (LAN) address of the ADSL/Router (your default gateway) is normally set to a recognised private IP like 192.168.1.1.
The second additional router can have a static address of say 192.168.1.2
I would enable DHCP on the ADSL router (excluding any static IP's you are already using) for all the PC's that will be connecting - that way you don't need to worry abount setting IP's on the client machines - just set them to obtain an IP address automatically.
With both routers you will have a total of 10 ports that can be used for non-wireless machines ( one port on each router is used to connect them together).

OK very clear thanks guys. So smiff, my 2nd box is a switch not a router, that's fine though right? And thanks for the crossover cable info, I've used them on PC to PC before but thought they were needed from router to switch for some odd reason, as opposed to normal straight through used for PC to switch.

Grey alient: It used to be that the uplink port on a switch required a crossover cable (to talk to another switch/router), but especially for the smaller home user switches that's often not the case anymore... Most now either default to a straight port instead of the crossover, or they have a push button or automatic detection to work with either type of cable.

The whole point of an uplink port is that you *don't* need a crossover cable otherwise why have an uplink port at all?

xlsior: Ah thanks, well my network knowledge is a few years old now so that's why I remembered that. I'll have to check the ports on the back...

[edit] OK, only 8 "normal" ports - no specally marked ports, so I assume that means a normal straight network cable can be placed between the router and the switch via "normal" ports on them both and everything should be fine, yes?

Sounds like it should be fine (pretty much how mine is set up).

If not a simple switch from somewhere like Dabs is around £10. (I think I bought a cheap one from pc world for about £12).

If it's a reasonably new switch then yes as it'll have auto sensing, you can just look up the model number if you want to be 100% sure, look for 'auto MDI/MDI-X' (but as there's no uplink port, it's a pretty safe bet that it has).

Just to clarify the cross over thing...
(without auto sensing)
switch/router/hub -> host - straight
switch/router/hub -> switch/router/hub - crossover
switch/router/hub (uplink) -> switch/router/hub - straight
switch/router/hub (uplink) -> switch/router/hub (uplink) - crossover

Just remember that if you're connecting like to like then you need a crossover cable, unless at least one device has auto sensing, then it doesn't matter.

Thanks GrahamK. I'm gonna order a router today and a 1m straight through cable.

Am I using those invisible tags again?

sorry do you feel left out ;-) Yes I read that and for some reason it didn't register. So crossover cables have never been used to connect hub to hub then?

Oi... Stop hogging my glory! ;)

@GA - Yes!...But I've come out from under my desk and stopped sucking my thumb now! ;o)

Some old cheap'n'cheerful hubs didn't have an uplink socket (or had AUI/BNC connectors instead), so you needed to use a crossover cable to interconnect them.

@GK - Soz...Back under the desk for me... ;o)

Yan: OK, so modern hubs(switches) without an uplink socket will autodetect the router and be OK. cool.