ISP provided only a Cat 5e/RJ45 wire and nothing else, what router should i buy to connect multiple devices?

[EvilSapphire]

I subscribed to a ISP a few months back and all they provided was a Cat 5E wire with an RJ45 port that they directly connected to the RJ45 input port of my laptop's NIC card and manually configured it to a IP address and a Default Gateway. I had a DSL connection before, therefore I still have a ADSL Modem/Router that has a RJ11 input where I connected the DSL internet wire coming from my Internet/Landline splitter, and a RJ45 output port to which I connected my laptop's NIC card using an Ethernet patch cable. The router also has a USB output port that I left unused. I want to connect my desktop to the internet as well using the CAT 5E cable that the second ISP provided, can this ADSL router be used somehow? If not, what do I need to buy? Any help would be appreciated!

 

[bill001g]

That is strange there must be another device someplace converting your internet connection into ethernet. Ethernet is limited to just over 300ft so you would have to live in your ISPs building for them to use ethernet to deliver service. Generally there is another technology that is used to carry the signals long distance like DSL or cable modems or some form of fiber optic cable. These use "modems" to convert the signal to ethernet your dsl is a modem it is just built into your router.

So.
The thing that will work for sure is a router that has ethernet for the WAN port. These devices assume you have a modem someplace else...which we can assume the ISP has in some way provided to you. Pretty much any of the popular devices on the market will work.

Now there is a very slim chance there is already a router. If for example you lived in a apartment and the apartment has a router and used ethernet to connect since they could easily be within the 300ft limit. What you can try is to use your current router as a dumb switch. So go into the configuration and turn off the dhcp and change the ip to something not commonly used so you do not conflict. Something like 10.123.123.1 for example. You can now use the lan ports on the device as a switch. It might if you are very lucky let you connect multiple devices to the ISP connection.

 

[EvilSapphire]

Thanks for the answer Bill! Yes, I was bewildered as well when the ISP staff came to my house with only a CAT 5 cable and nothing else, I'm used to ISPs providing a modem with their internet connection. However, I'm running Windows 7 which has a utility that lets me see a rough map of the local area network that I'm connected to, and when I generate the map, I can see there are several other users living in my neighborhood connected over a network of switches, and the entire network terminates to our common default gateway router. So yes, I in fact DO have a router that I'm sharing with a number of people living in my vicinity who are subscribed to the same ISP that I'm subscribed to. I have another question if it's not asking too much, I'm aware that in order to configure a router, it is common to enter the IP address of the router in the browser, log in with the administrator credentials and configure it accordingly. However, when I enter the (private)IP address of my default gateway router into my browser, nothing comes on, not even the login page. I understand that it is impossible for me to edit the configuration of my default gateway without the credentials, nor do I desire it, but the fact that the log in page doesn't even come on is really confusing me. I tried the method to access the default gateway router of a friend of mine who is subscribed to a different ISP and the router there lets him access as a client( not the administrator, obviously ). Am I failing to understand something here? Aren't routers supposed to open their log in page at least upon entering their IP address into the browser?