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Bit of a random request, but I'm needing some urgent help so I hope some of you might be able to answer my question! Basically, I'm moving in a week and the only internet I'm getting will be via a single port in a wall. No wireless. Now that means I can only run a single network cable at a time - meaning that either my consoles or my laptop will have to be offline for the other to be online. So there's the problem - given that I run my TV through an internet-based version of Sky.

Is there anyway of multiplying the port? Asin, can you buy any kind of extension or adapter that adds more ports (even just 2 or so)? Would really appreciate some feedback on this, as I'm not technically savvy enough to figure out whether this is possible and every time I search for this kind of thing I'm given pages of results regarding extensions for cables to increase their length!

Thanks in advance!

I'd imagine that all you'd need would be a router; since you run an internet-based version of Sky, I assume it uses an ethernet cable?

Well it's channeled through the Xbox 360 system which would be connected via an ethernet cable, yes. Due to the nature of where I'm staying, I wouldn't be able to setup any kind of router device though (if I'm correct in thinking you mean wireless?).

Thanks for the reply.

You can get wired routers if wireless isn't possible, or you could try an ethernet switch:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Netgear-GS105-5-port-Gigabit-Ethernet/dp/B0000E5SEQ/ref=sr_1_4?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1315008566&sr=1-4

EDIT: I haven't much experience installing these things though, so might be best to wait for more comments before listening to me

Ah brilliant, although it's a bit overkill on the amount of ports I'd need, that does seem like an ideal kind of thing! Thanks for that!

If anyone could confirm that that would be a suitable option, I'd appreciate it. Thanks for the help Avatar!

Would this happen to be a dormitory or some other type of building with shared internet access? If so you would need a switch, not a router.

Yeah, it's that kind of setup. Each room has a single network port for access to a single large shared network. It's uncapped in terms of usage but has a download speed limit on it. That's the info on it. I can't give you any in-depth information it though.

Hope that helps you in terms of pinning down what kind of network I'm accessing here. Does any of that alter what you posted above or... ?

Thanks again for the replies

Switches run about 50 bucks and will do the job you need without all the complicated gobbldegook I posted before

So just to confirm before I shell out - if I get something like Avatar posted above, that'll do the job fine with no annoying network issues? It won't limit download speeds or anything else?

well if you have 2 internet capable devices running simultaneously with heavy loads then yes you will lose some speed but for daily use you should be fine. If your only using one device at a time then any loss would be negligible. Your only other option is swapping the cable between 2 devices as your using them and that would just be silly.