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Is there a way to hook our network switch to our wireless router?

I have a network switch that is hard wired to 16 computers. I have a DSL modem that is hooked up to a wireless router. Is there a way to hook the network switch to the wireless router so all computers get on the network to share Internet and files?

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Most wireless routers include a four-port switch. You can probably uplink your existing Ethernet switch to one of the router's switch ports.

Both wireless stations and Ethernet stations will participate in the same (private) subnet. They will be able to communicate with each other to share files, and will be able to communicate through the router to share Internet access. The wireless router will probably NAT all Internet-bound traffic and act as a DHCP server for all stations.

Details and capabilities depend on which wireless router you are using, but this configuration is fairly common and probably supported by your DSL/wireless router.

This was first published in August 2004

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