Can I use a spare router as a hub?

Question

I have a 10/100 wired Ethernet network running through my house that all hubs in my family room.

I have 1 jack in my son's playroom but have a need for two devices - a PC and a Media Streamer.

I have an old Linksys router that I used a few years ago for a Vonage phone line. Can I use this router to act as a hub in the playroom so both of those devices are on the existing network (192.168.1.X) ?

To put it another way, I want my router to be a hub on the existing network without IP addresses being assigned to its interfaces - how do I tell it to "dummy up" and just pass traffic back and forth?

Thanks for any input you can throw my way - I do have a hub on order from Ebay but it will take 5-10 days to get here and I would like to get the Media Streamer up and running ASAP.

Answer 1

yes you can use the spare router as a hub. Just make sure you disable DHCP server in that router before you use it as a 'switch'. That will be the correct term :)

Answer 2

A router can be used as hub. But better use a switch (not a hub). Routers are not intended to be used as hubs: you then need to configure it. An internal firewall in the router can give you big headaches. A switch doesn't need configuration.

Answer 3

Yes, you can, but without knowing the model, I can't tell you exactly how.

You can set that router and two machines to be a different subnet like 192.168.100.x. Then change the subnet mask on both routers to be 255.255.0.0, restart and they'll handle the rest.

Answer 4

Yes, you should be able to connect the two routers together. The documentation will give more information on the settings that will make this work.

Answer 5

Try downloading the user giude from www.linksys.com. Although because of the age of the product you may not be able to get the guide.