Help needed building home network

[drevl182]

Currently I have 3 desktops, 1 laptop & a file server (Spare PC with 6 HDDs) all networked throug a 2Wire 4-port wireless router/modem. The router can't handel watchig videos & downloading at the same time, too much traffic. Since all the desktops have dual ethernet, I would like to remove the server from the modem/router, connect it to a switch then connect the switch to all the secondary ethernet ports on the desktops. This way all the video, music, and stored files would travel through the switch thereby allowing the router to just do internet. Is this a possible setup? Can I force the switch to only transfer files and the modem/router do only do internet? All PCs run Win 7 Home Premuim. Anyone have a better solution? Thanks!

 

[derrickwmartin]

That is a cheap and easy way to fix things no doubt. The router is there simply to issue out IP address and "route" packets to the other devices on the network and/or to the Internet. I've personally never heard of "2wire" brand of networking devices, maybe it's a local brand you got from your ISP to use while you have them, I don't know. The best way, in my opinion, to fix things would to be to get a solid name brand switch like linkysys, or netgear, or even d-link, along with a name brand router. The newer routers out now have better capablities than they did a few years ago, especially with the development of the newr technology of gigabit ethernet. It's most likely that your router is taking in way too many packets at one time because it's not rated to handle gigabit, per say. You can always try and buy a switch and add the devices to the switch and connect the switch to the router and see how that works with your current router. But if it still fails and drops packets and is slow, then you very may well have to spend the extra money to go out and get a new router to handle all the traffice on the network.