Member Avatar for legacy_07

Hi geeks,
I want to connect 3 systems which r in different home.In one home we have internet connection with 8port dlink router. I have five numbers of cat5e crimped cable with 30m. Can anyone help me in sharing t broadband connection and to transfer t files within our 3 systems without using any switch,hub or router inbetween. But i want to use device which are cheaper than switches,router and hub. Please suggest me t device which can be used to establish basic lan. Some of them told me to use ethernet splitter but most of them told it cant establish connection simultaneously. Plz some one suggest me t device to create lan.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by RLHennig

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Short answer: a passive "Y" splitter will not create a proper LAN for three machines. Ethernet is a point‑to‑point packet protocol and needs a device that forwards frames (a switch, hub, or router) to connect more than two endpoints. As suggested, the existing 8‑port D‑Link is the simplest, most reliable solution because it already provides switching and DHCP.

Why a simple splitter is not the fix: Cat5e has four twisted pairs (8 wires). 100BASE‑TX uses two pairs; some passive "splitters" reassign pairs so two separate 10/100 links can share one physical cable — but they only work in matched pairs (one at each end), support at most two distinct links, and will break gigabit (1000BASE‑T uses all four pairs). They do not act like a switch and cannot let three PCs share one router port simultaneously.

Practical alternatives that actually work: use the 8‑port router and run cables to it; if the router is far from the group of machines, put a small unmanaged switch near those machines and run one cable back to the router; use powerline adapters over mains wiring or a Wi‑Fi bridge where cabling is impractical. For two PCs only, a direct cable (historically a crossover) will do — most modern NICs auto‑MDI‑X so a straight cable usually works. If the systems really live in different houses, a physical ethernet run is not feasible and internet/VPN or cloud/file‑sync is required.

Quick troubleshooting notes: keep runs under 100 m, verify crimp/wiring (T568B/T568A consistency), check link LEDs and negotiated speed, and remember that without a DHCP server devices need unique static IPs on the same subnet (e.g., 192.168.1.2/24, 192.168.1.3/24).

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Member Avatar for zeroth

how can you find something cheaper than a $12 hub? And you already have a router...why not use that?

You can connect the computers via ethernet CROSSOVER cable...that makes a network...but I don't believe it will work with 3...

Member Avatar for RLHennig

Your post is a bit difficult to understand - if I can make sense of what you said, you have 3 computers in different parts of a single house and you want to connect them, right? If that is the case, I don't see why you wouldn't want to use some kind of router to manage your connection for you, even if networking those without one could be done. I'm thinking that you HAVE to have some kind of router, hub, etc. You need some way to manage IP addresses (assign them, renew them, etc) between your 3 machines. You can't just "split" a cat5 cable and share an Ethernet connection like you would coax cable for TV...

Member Avatar for legacy_07

Your post is a bit difficult to understand - if I can make sense of what you said, you have 3 computers in different parts of a single house and you want to connect them, right? If that is the case, I don't see why you wouldn't want to use some kind of router to manage your connection for you, even if networking those without one could be done. I'm thinking that you HAVE to have some kind of router, hub, etc. You need some way to manage IP addresses (assign them, renew them, etc) between your 3 machines. You can't just "split" a cat5 cable and share an Ethernet connection like you would coax cable for TV...

I thougt that i can split t cat5 cable in to y type connection ie is one input and two output by using splitter. Thanks for clearing my doubt.

Member Avatar for RLHennig

I don't think you can really do that. You say you already have an 8 port router? Use that sir. Anything else, even if it could be done (which I highly doubt), is just asking for a headache like you've never had. It's like saying "I have a house in California, New York, and Florida. I want to send mail from each house to each other house by walking it there. I don't want to use the mail service."

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