Expanding the network!

[Tony Williams]

Right guys, I've got an ADSL router with 3 ethernet ports on the rear (4th is reserved for some service that doesn't yet exsist )

All three ethernet ports are constantly used up (2x computers, 1x Xbox360). More near Christmas the addition of another Xbox360 and swapping a downstairs wireless for wired (hooray!)

Now I have a cable/xdsl router (I got it ages ago) which has 4x ethernet ports and a WAN port ... is it possible to have a crossover cable go from the PORT1 of the ADSL router (main router) to the WAN on the second router (cable/xdsl one) and then hooking up the computer and Xbox360 to the second one? I tried this quick, didn't work ... will I need to setup ISP DNS servers on the second router?

... or would I need a proper hub/switch ... I am trying to avoid shelling out more cash.

[Force Flow]

If you want to use the second router as a switch, use any of the ports--not the WAN port. The using the WAN port will effectively create another sub-lan, which gets a little confusing, especially if you're using the same IP scheme. Also turn off DHCP on that router.