Wifi via USB hub?

Thanks Bob.

Yes, hubs are cheap, but that's not the issue. I already have a hub and it works fine. I can use it to run, say, a memory stick and a mouse through the same USB port, no problem. What I don't have, and what isn't particularly cheap, is the WiFi dongle itself. I don't want to fork out for one if it's going to monopolise a USB port because that's not a viable option for me. I'd rather run an Ethernet cable under the floorboards, even though that would be considerably more effort.

Signal strength should not be a problem. I have a couple of cheap WiFi range extenders and I could plug one of those into the wall right behind the TV.

WiFi to Ethernet sounds like a good option. I shall certainly look into that.

I still have one other experiment, which I can try with kit I already own. I still don't understand why the TV cannot consistently connect via the Homeplug but if it's some daft incompatibility between the TV and the Homeplug box, I wonder if I could plug in a second router right behind the TV and use the Homeplug to connect it to my main router (which is by the phone socket in another room). I could then connect the TV to the second router. It seems a **** handed way of doing it but surely a wired connection has to be more reliable than WiFi. I have an old router in the attic. I presume I should be able to daisy chain routers in this way.

Keith

Remember the USB part is hit and miss. There is no PC in these things so you're never sure and the support I asked answer no since it is hit and miss due to many factors. One USB hub may work and the next won't so the answer from support lines would be maybe or no.

As to the HomePlug I usually find the owner didn't know about which phase of the line they were on or knew it mattered. For me it's a trip to the power panel to correct such but an electrician is what most call and figure a few hundred to move the breaker and wire to the other leg so the HomePlug will work.
Bob

I guess the question, if any, is if my USB hub has been shown to be working and I use that very same (trusted) hub to connect a wifi dongle, is there any reason that combination would not work? However, it looks like the answer is maybe not, so I am going to try plan B, which is to dig out my old router from the attic and use it as a switch to separate the TV from the Homeplug (which works well with other devices). I figure, if the router/switch is forwarding the packets that will be less confusing for the TV. I'll let you knowhow I get on, but it may be a while before I get round to it.

Please research "How to use a router as a WAP" on google. If you use the WAN port of the router you would create a second LAN and a lot of weird things can happen.

Advice noted.

I had an old (not Wifi) router in my box of bits - a Thomson SpeedTouch ST546. After floundering in the set-up screens for a while, I was eventually able to disable DHCP and give it a different, fixed, IP address thus converting it, effectively, into a switch.

I connected my HomePlug to one port and the TV to another. Connection achieved. I then started up BBC iPlayer and set a programme running. Great. My theory was that if the TV was having problems connecting to the HomePlug, having a switch sitting between the TV and the HomePlug would effectively clean up the signal. The switch would receive packets from the HomeHub and then forward them to the other port so the TV was communicating with the switch, not with the HomePlug.

I was just writing to say the whole thing was a resounding success when, bang, the TV lost its network connection again. About ten minutes into the iPlayer programme, playback stopped (picture froze). I went back to Samsung SmartHub and tried the Web Brower. TV said I wasn't connected to a network. Went into Menu, Network settings, configure wired network and after a few moments it says, OK, you are connected to a network after all.

Back to the drawing board. I think the only viable solution is going to be to run an Ethernet cable, under the floor, from my study (where BT Home Hub is located) and the TV in the lounge. It looks like direct connection to the hub is the only reliable method.

Most of them get upset over that discussion. I've been around networking for too long and would have the usual router, switch or such in hand and take the speedtouch to the curb with a big free sign for it long ago.
Bob

It was some cheap switched hub and we were logging packets over UDP and without fail it would drop one packet per day. Now that doesn't sound too bad but another switched hub went for a month without a dropped packet. The maker, given the country and all that was not responding but we cleansed the stock room of that model and have to keep an eye out for that issue. Why makers are producing such carp is not a mystery but it can be costly.
Bob

Just found my ideal solution and it was staring me in the face all along.

We were discussing various WiFi dongle solutions and I said that signal strength wasn't a problem because I had a WiFi repeater I could install right next to the TV. I got out said repeater yesterday and spotted/remembered it's got an Ethernet port on the bottom.

Repeater in wall behind TV. Connect Ethernet port to TV Ethernet. All works perfectly. No need to buy a dongle.

It was clearly those Homeplugs that were causing it problems. No idea why but no longer care because it's working anyway.

Thanks for you assistance.

Thank you for this as folk learn from your findings!