Apologies for the ambiguous heading - couldn’t think of a good title.
My current setup is as follows: FTTH, Ethernet throughout some of the house (rental, can’t change this). I have the router in the upstairs lounge room.
Two computers are in an adjacent room. 1 computer is on wifi (5Ghz) provided by the motherboard, this is my main gaming pc. The second computer is a DIY NAS connected to a TV. This is connected to a 4 port switch. The switch has a USB wifi dongle (2.4Ghz only). The main PC also has Ethernet running to the switch so I can transfer media from it to the NAS.
Windows doesn’t seem to like having two active connections (WIFI & Ethernet) active at once, and instead preferences the Ethernet. The WAN connectivity provided by the 2.4Ghz dongle via the switch is fine for the NAS (light YouTube, some media scraping) but not suitable for the gaming PC (40Mbit max, ping fluctuations etc).
Is there a way to have a more elegant setup of this? Running Ethernet from the router to the switch isn’t an option (wife will murder me) and rental, so can’t go running more CAT through the walls).
Thanks in advance.
Ethernet will surely improve your ping (Between your main router and switch).
I would try with cable first without drilling or doing any permanent damage to the structure.
If the result is too good to be neglected I would talk with wife about her concern. If you cannot solve her concern then the project is no longer valid.
You could take out the Ethernet run to the NAS, and do the file transfers over wifi. I assume the reason you’re not doing that is speed? Or you could disable the Ethernet connection on the PC, either in Windows or by unplugging it, except when you actually need it.
The other option is to improve the switch’s uplink, either enough to make it usable for gaming, or enough to make transferring files over wifi tolerable. How old is the house? Have you looked into powerline as an option?