Ethernet 'Switch'/'Splitter'

[Narked Diver]

Hi,

My current set up is pretty straight forward - a modem provided by the IP which then connects to my AirPort Extreme for wifi, etc and I use an Ethernet cable to connect my Apple TV to the AirPort Extreme

My employers have provided me with a Sophos 'Red' box to plug into my modem so that my work laptop can connect directly to a network in another country without having to sign in via their vpn - I'll use an Ethernet cable to do this

Netflix in my home country and in my employer's country have different shows available so it would be nice to switch between the two

The manual way to do this would be to unplug my Apple TV from the AirPort Extreme and plug it into the sophos box but I'm concerned about the wear and tear on cables and ports by doing this repeatedly

Does such a thing as an Ethernet 'Switch' exist where I could have two inputs and one output and switch between inputs - similar to a hdmi switch?

Thanks in advance

 

[BrianBaughn]

Search for an "Ethernet A/B Switch".

Never used one so I don't know anything about performance.

 

[belvdr]

Get an access point and plug it into the Sophos box. Then you can join the ATV or your laptop to that AP whenever you want.

 

[Mikael H]

Hi,

My current set up is pretty straight forward - a modem provided by the IP which then connects to my AirPort Extreme for wifi, etc and I use an Ethernet cable to connect my Apple TV to the AirPort Extreme

My employers have provided me with a Sophos 'Red' box to plug into my modem so that my work laptop can connect directly to a network in another country without having to sign in via their vpn - I'll use an Ethernet cable to do this

Netflix in my home country and in my employer's country have different shows available so it would be nice to switch between the two

The manual way to do this would be to unplug my Apple TV from the AirPort Extreme and plug it into the sophos box but I'm concerned about the wear and tear on cables and ports by doing this repeatedly

Does such a thing as an Ethernet 'Switch' exist where I could have two inputs and one output and switch between inputs - similar to a hdmi switch?

Thanks in advance

Speaking from another perspective:
Is your employer okay with employees using company bandwidth for private movie watching?
That they have different Netflix shows available means that your traffic terminates in their location, and watching streaming material therefore takes up bandwidth twice for them; from Netflix to them, and then from them to you. Depending on the size of the company and the number of employees that freeload off their bandwidth, keeping the necessary capacity could be costing the company quite a bit...

 

[Narked Diver]

Speaking from another perspective:
Is your employer okay with employees using company bandwidth for private movie watching?
That they have different Netflix shows available means that your traffic terminates in their location, and watching streaming material therefore takes up bandwidth twice for them; from Netflix to them, and then from them to you. Depending on the size of the company and the number of employees that freeload off their bandwidth, keeping the necessary capacity could be costing the company quite a bit...

I (and the other couple of offshore employees) have a gentleman's agreement in place with our employer to only stream out of hours when only the three of us would be online so we're not impacting anyone - if the streaming gets abused we know it'll be turned off at source