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I currently have a long wire ethernet chord travel from my office to my bedroom (the rooms are side by side), as I wish (It's a long ethernet cable wire).

I went from a 1.9 MBPS to a 15.+ MBPS after switching from wireless to ethernet. Yay.

Now, we're thinking to add a splitter to the ethernet line, so that I have a way to connect directly in my office and my bedroom, depending on where I'm at, or say if I have a guest who wants to share ethernet line in one of the two rooms.

My question though, since I am the main person using, will adding a splitter, by default reduce speed, if it's just one person using the connection?

Thanks in advance.

bwDraco
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SnazzyE.
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5 Answers5

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You need a switch in your bedroom.

Switches at Amazon

A switch will allow you to use full network bandwidth when you are the only one using the bedroom Ethernet run. But you will still be sharing Internet bandwidth with all users connected to the network.

If another person adds a device to that switch then the bandwidth will be shared. You will hardly notice any slowdown of network speed if you add a person that is only surfing.

russwd
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I can confirm that this will work. I've seen this implemented in enterprise environments with cubicles that weren't originally built out with dual data drops in each pod, but had the requirement introduced due to VOIP upgrades. Given how sensitive VOIP can be, and that no issues were present with this solution, I have no reservation in recommending it for you.

You'll require two splitters, one at each end. The splitter at the switch side will utilize two ports, and the splitter at the drop will provide access for up to two computers.

I highly doubt that any performance degradation will be noticeable by a human. Given the resilience of data transmission, and the speed of the networking equipment these days, it shouldn't be an issue.

Note: Splitting CAT5 cables works because the protocol only utilizes four of the eight wires in a cable. That said, you cannot chain splitters to get more drops.

Enjoy.

EvilKittenLord
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You should not use a splitter. I don't even think that would work. You should buy a 5 port switch or at the very least a 5 port hub.

Honk
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The presence of the splitter and the stub of cable for the "middle" jack will screw up the electrical/noise characteristics of the line, causing signal integrity problems that may result in anywhere from degraded performance, occasional dropped frames, or just not working at all.

10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet is not designed to be a bus with mid-span taps (jacks). It's only designed to have a single jack on each end.

For further discussion, see: Why does just splitting an Ethernet cable not work?

Your best bet is to use a small inexpensive switch (almost everything you can buy now is a switch, not a hub, but some people still erroneously call them hubs) instead of a splitter. Either that or only plug in one cable at a time.

If your layout is office -> bedroom -> guest/alternate room, then you might be able to get away with having one cable from office to bedroom, and a separate one from bedroom to guest room, and when you want to use the network in the guest room, you disconnect the computer in the bedroom and connect an RJ-45 female-to-female connector in the bedroom so that you end up with one long line from the office to the guest room. But I'd personally still prefer to buy a cheap switch and keep it installed in the bedroom.

Community
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Spiff
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I understand the interest of splitting an existing ethernet run to 2 user. But I believe you will have severe interference caused by the splitting. I bet it won't even work if both splits are connected to device, even if powered off.

There are already suggestions about using a switch and also running an extension from room B to room C. But I would bring up a 3rd option.

You can turn an 8-wires Ethernet cable into two 4-wires Ethernet cable. Your 1Gbps link will become two 100Mbps link and it is not exactly allowed by the standard but it will work. And you have to pick the wires to split carefully.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-your-own-Ethernet-%22splitter%22/

You will get lower speed (100Mbps + some additional noise). The benefit is that both computer can be used at the same time and you don't need a switch and its power.

some user
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