I’m running an ethernet line from our router up to my son’s room, & it occurred to me that it would be good to split that feed and run a second line into the other kid’s room. I already realize that a “splitter“ is not exactly what I need, because that will only feed one device at a time, but this switch below maybe does it?
More confusing, even if this is the right device, it advertises as plug and play, but in the comments below people talk about running software. It might be that this device can function is either a switch or a splitter, and managing the switch needs the software to be run?
Yes, it’s exactly what you need. The key word is “unmanaged.” Since this is an unmanaged switch, there is no software for you to worry about. It really is plug and play.
Notice that there are two different groups of ports on the back. Ports 1-4 should be used for computers and #5 should be for the connection to the router.
Typically, a kid’s computer would be a laptop and would connect to wifi. Is there something different about this setup where you need an actual ethernet cable to his computer?
A more flexible option might be to instead install a wireless router instead of that switch. A wireless router will work like the switch, but it can also do wifi. This would allow you to run an ethernet to some devices and have other devices connect over wifi.
This is not true. For a router also acting as a DHCP server, such as device in between a cable modem and the rest of the house, yes, you’d plug the cable modem into the WAN port and everything else into the LAN port. But a switch downstream of the router? There’s no difference in port behavior.
True, but for simplicity, might as well keep the standard port config. If someone is always in the habit of plugging in the router to the link port, then there’s no issue of it not working when it matters.
For some reason, although that Amazon seller has labeled the item both “TL-SG105” and “Unmanaged”, somebody, claiming to be TP-link, has added a comment about the " TL-SG105E"
‘E’
For you, it doesn’t matter, except that the ‘E’ model would be more expensive. Managed switches work just as well as unmanaged switches: you can ignore the management stuff, and it still works.
Agreed. The manufacturer of this particular switch made it a bit confusing to the uninitiated in that they used a 4-port ganged part with an additional single port to get 5, then added the “Link/Act” label above that different-looking port. That’s just the label for the green light that all 5 ports have.
This is not a NAT firewall device; there is no network address translation. It’s a switch, plain and simple.
And there is little risk of the OP buying the inferior “hub” these days; with cheap computing power in abundance, simplistic hubs are fairly rare.
Seriously think about running 2 separate cables up to the 2 bedrooms. That’s usually hardly any extra work when you’re running cable, and it gives you more options for the future. Also lets you keep your switch & router equipment all in one place.