# can you buy powerless ethernet switchs



## jonny3010 (Jul 17, 2010)

like this one
Link


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## kanfaar (Aug 18, 2011)

Hey Jonny,

Well, technically that's not really a switch. Not really even sure what that item there would hope to accomplish.

But, as there's no power leads in the RJ45 (correction "ethernet") connections, the answer to your question would have to be "No." 'cause there would be no way to generate the electricity to do the actual switching.


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## jonny3010 (Jul 17, 2010)

but if u pluged this in to my routor then pluged two computers in to it would it work?


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## kanfaar (Aug 18, 2011)

I'm not really 100%, but it just may; if you plug that particular item into a router, could very well work.

I was thinking you were planning on using that to plug two computers into one... even still, it's possible that would work.


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## prunejuice (Apr 3, 2002)

It absolutely would NOT work.

Buy a real switch.


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## zx10guy (Mar 30, 2008)

For a more complete answer, that splitter is used in situations where you need an additional port at one end of the network drop. The splitter takes advantage of the fact that 100 Mbit does not use all 8 pairs of wiring in Category 5-6 cabling. As such you can run a physically separate connection over the same wire bundle. You would need splitters on both ends where you would have two connections plugged into the switch from a splitter into the single cable going through the wall. On the other end you would have the splitter break out the single cable connection into two available ports. Note I said this only works with 100 Mbit. GigE uses all 8 wire pairs and therefore a splitter cannot be used.

The discussion about what is a switch and hub is probably outside the scope of this thread but suffice it to say a switch or even a hub is more than just that they are electrically powered.


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

So are you looking for a POE switch?


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