I have a home network going here. Cable modem in basement with a 4-port hub there, wire running up 2 floors to 2nd floor with 8-port switch there. The 4-port hub feeds downstairs and first floor and the switch feeds all the bedrooms upstairs.
The switch is failing, after several years. Only 4 of the 8 ports work, so we replaced it. 3 rooms have laptops with built-in wireless cards, and we have a spare that also uses wireless. We had a 50' cable in the living room in case laptop users wanted to wander.
So, in replacing the burnt out switch, got a wireless hub. This reduces the overall number of cables we have snaking around by at least half. Works great, and yes I've got it set up with a security key!
However, slight issue. The wireless hub is its own hub. It is somehow preventing computers using IT from seeing computers using the wired 4-port hub in the basement. Even on the same workgroup.
So it's probably the protocols and features on the wireless hub that are doing it.
I want to be sure if I disable anything that I'm not leaving my network open to intrusion. We have the firewall on the wired hub that's hooked into the modem, but I don't know if the stuff on the wireless hub is protecting us from folks trying to connect in our neighborhood (showing about half a dozen other wireless networks around us).
So what do I need to do/setup on the wireless to 1) allow file sharing across the network, 2) keep me protected wireless and wired, and 3) (I assume) disables whatever on the wireless hub is already being handled by the wired hub (reduce redundancy).
The switch was just bare bones, limited protocols, etc, so it never had issues. The hubs are both trying to do their own thing. So, what do I do to solve this problem?