[Twiztnin223]

We have 3 apartments on the 2nd level of my office which share DSL internet via wireless.

The walls are concrete throughout the building so we currently have the DSL modem connected to a Linksys Router (BEFSR41) with each apartment having a Linksys Wireless Access Point (WAP54G) connected to the router.

The tenants are having problems with dropped signals which I believe to be a faulty router (it is about 3-4 years old), so I'm constantly up there manual power cycing the router. Like the signal gets weaker as the day goes on.

We would like to replace it.

My question is, should I replace with another router or should I use a switch? I'm not very network savvy.

Thanks a bunch!

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My suggestion is to definitely replace it with another router.

My thoughts are basically a switch just resends the signal out the ports which is what you need and would work. But a router with a firewall offers protection. This you can enable security and try to limit your exposure and risks on the internet. Placing a switch there would be the same as plugging your computer directly into the internet, which should take about 45 seconds for someone to find it and compromise the system. Paranoid, yes, but the internet is a dangerous place. Plus the cost difference should be minimal.

Hope this helps.

[jaxisland]

My suggestion is to definitely replace it with another router.

My thoughts are basically a switch just resends the signal out the ports which is what you need and would work. But a router with a firewall offers protection. This you can enable security and try to limit your exposure and risks on the internet. Placing a switch there would be the same as plugging your computer directly into the internet, which should take about 45 seconds for someone to find it and compromise the system. Paranoid, yes, but the internet is a dangerous place. Plus the cost difference should be minimal.

Hope this helps.