Need extra ethernet port on Airport Extreme

[kingofsquid]

Hi. I have no more ethernet ports available on my Airport Extreme as I have one linked to a Vonage device. I am considering getting a Slingbox and need an extra ethernet port on the router to connect it. Would one of those five-port Ethernet switches work and allow me to use both Vonage and a Slingbox simultaneously? Or, if not, is there another solution?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jsw]

Yes, a switch should work just fine, and the AirPort Extreme should be able to route items appropriately. I'd go with a gigabit one if you can, because they don't cost much more but are a better investment.

 

[kingofsquid]

Thanks for the quick reply.

 

[Westside guy]

Here's what I've got at home: The Netgear GS605

It's gigabit, works well and reliably, and visually matches my Airport Extreme. Plus at the moment it's basically $30 after rebate.

 

[mfacey]

What's the point of having a gigabit switch if the router is only 100mbit? Your bottleneck will always be the router. I save myself the extra $$ and go for a cheapo 10/100 switch.

 

[Westside guy]

What's the point of having a gigabit switch if the router is only 100mbit? Your bottleneck will always be the router. I save myself the extra $$ and go for a cheapo 10/100 switch.

Nope. If two computers are both on the same subnet (say 192.168.1.xxx), after communication is established a switch has the ability to transfer traffic between them without touching the router.

 

[kingofsquid]

If I have a cable modem, an Airport Extreme, a Vonage adapter and a Slingbox, where do I place the switch?

Scenario 1: Cable modem to switch to Airport/Vonage/Slingbox

Scenario 2: Cable modem to Airport to switch to Vonage/Slingbox

Thanks.

 

[bousozoku]

Here's what I've got at home: The Netgear GS605

It's gigabit, works well and reliably, and visually matches my Airport Extreme. Plus at the moment it's basically $30 after rebate.

I've got that one, as well. It was quite a step up from the Linksys POS that it replaced.

What's the point of having a gigabit switch if the router is only 100mbit? Your bottleneck will always be the router. I save myself the extra $$ and go for a cheapo 10/100 switch.

Plugging most everything into the switch will allow better and possibly, faster communication between the devices (considering buffering), letting the extra, slower devices to be connected to the Airport Extreme itself.

 

[Markleshark]

Scenario 2: Cable modem to Airport to switch to Vonage/Slingbox

That one