Currently I have the Linksys WRT54G wireless router it has 1 wan port and 4 lan ports. I need more ports. I was wanting to add a switch but not sure how. I have seen just simply plug a straight cat5 cable to say port 4 on router and wan on switch. Some say you have to have a crossover cable. Also I have a linksys wired router I could use with the wireless router if I had to. But I prefer to use wireless router>>>switch>>>extra computers. Any help would be great. Haven't done alot of networking in the past.

The answer is it depends on the switch you get. Many switches are auto-sensing - they can accept wither strait through or cross-over cables and will work accordinly. My switch has a "shared" port. There is a #1 port and an uplink port. I can connect the switch to my router with a strait through cable to the uplink port or I can use a cros-over cable to any of the regular ports. However I cannot use port #1 and the crossover port. In the worst case scenario you try using a strait through cable and it doesn't work. Then just go get a cross over cable if you don't have one. Michael J

Well I will try that. It is going to be a week or two before I buy the switch but I will look for one that is auto sensing. Thanks for the quick response.

One more thing. Are you connecting your modem to router then router to switch? Thats what I am trying to do. So would I take say port 4 on my router and plug it into the uplink port on this linksys 5 or 8 port switch? And that would eliminate my port 1 on switch since they are shared. Or would I take port 4 of the router use a crossover cable and go to port 1 on switch. All other ports on router and switch work the same right? Giving me 3 ports on router for computers and 4 (going with the 5 port switch) on the switch end? Thanks again.

Careful about terms. Autosensing refers to detection of full or half duplex and mbps setting [10/100]. It does NOT refer to mdi/mdix which is the feature that detects and compensates for cable wiring [works with xover or patch] Rules are simple. Xover if connecting like equipment and neither has a "uplink" [which does the crossover for you]. So router lan ports/switch to a switch is like to like. Give a person a fish you feed them for a day. Ask a person to internet search and they learn a skill for a lifetime.