Setting up a lan gaming thing at my house and would just like to know what i should buy.

I need something which will be able to run off one ethernet cable (the one that goes into my room) and will be able to provide a wireless access point and will be able to allow me to have multiple other ethernet cables from just the one that i plugged in. The wireless and cabled connections must be able to connect to each other so that people playing on wireless can connect to people playing with wires. Thanks in advance.

Well, how many wired?

How many wireless? What wireless cards are your friends using? 54g? 802.11b?

I'm venturing a guess a wireless router would be the ticket.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833124010

That would allow several wireless clients, and four wired clients. Keep in mind the WAP's bandwidth would be split among all wireless clients. Don't expect to be able to put on a whole bunch and them not lag.

You technically don't need a router, but a switch and a WAP would do, but that actually would end up costing more.

Do you already have a router? If so, just a WAP would probably work.

That router looks good, would that work with the internet coming from just the cable in my room.

The cable in my room comes from a router else where in the house. But I would like a router in my room.

Is it possible to get some kind of router that will help the lag because it is just lan. If everyone was wireless ( 802.11b) would it matter if the internet worked or not, because its just for games. and wireless players and cabled players be abel to play each other?

There are "gaming routers", but I have my doubts they'd do any good. Basic problem still is a single access point has x amount of bandwidth, and each client takes a portion of that bandwidth, so too many clients on one WAP is going to be slow.

You don't want to install two routers on the same network. Firstly, both a DHCP servers, so they would conflict. Also, if you disable the DHCP server in one of the routers, you would still be facing the difficulty of a double NAT config, which is just nasty and incompatible with many apps.

Your best bet is get a switch and a separate WAP. Plug the switch into the wall in your room, and the WAP, your computer, and your other wired clients into the switch.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817201202

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833124012

Take the WAP offline when not using it, since it's a security risk...

"President Bush is doing everything he can to lower gas prices, including...making the oil companies so rich that maybe they'll get sick of money."

Hmm ok. so I should buy the WAP switch thing (which allows me to plug one ethernet cable in and get 5 out, right?) and also the access point and have one of the wires coming out of the switch going into the access point? The only problem is will this allow wireless to play people with wires? Could I ask, why it is it a security risk? and if it's something I should really worry about?

Thanks for your help.

I repeat again, since you already have a router in place, get the switch and the wireless access point (two different devices) that I linked you to.

This would allow interconnectivity between wired and wireless clients to each other and to/from the internet.

Wireless is a security risk because anyone with a wireless card supporting the wireless protocol your WAP is using can gain access to your network. Risk is anywhere from stealing bandwidth to planting malware on your PC's. There are ways of securing your wireless network such as encryption like WEP, which the WAP I linked you to supports, but if you're only going to have people coming in for a LAN from time to time, just take the WAP down because nothing secures a wireless network better than not running a wireless network. WEP can already be broken by someone with the know-how within minutes.

"President Bush is doing everything he can to help lower gas prices...including making oil companies so rich that maybe they'll get sick of money and pass the savings on to you."

The router I have in place is the one that came with my internet cxonnection, should i upgrade it to a better one, or does it not matter for gaming.

I am ordering the wap and the acces point.

No reason to upgrade routers.

WAP and access point are the same thing...do you mean WAP and switch?

"President Bush is doing everything he can to lower gas prices, including...making the oil companies so rich that maybe they'll get sick of money."