How do i hook up for instant watching? Technical question.

[Gene Doebley]

I have a 4 year old Dell 4600 connected to a Verizon DSL. The computer and the DSL box each have only 1 ethernet plug that is used to connect them together. How can I plug in the box for instant watching? Can I buy a splitter or some similar piece of external hardware or do I have to install a new ethernet card inside my computer?

[Spindaddydad]

How can I plug in the box for instant watching?

What "box" do you mean? The Roku box?

[Alan-Not So Nice Not So Helpful]

How can I plug in the box for instant watching?

I'm going to assume that you are referring to the Roku player or perhaps an Xbox? Either way, you will need a router. A router goes between your DSL modem and your computer. Wired ethernet will give you the best speed but a wireless connection with a little tweaking should be just as good.

[I'm Not a Turnip]

You're talking about the Roku box, right? You don't wire from the modem to the computer to the Roku. Instead of a splitter, you need a router. It will have one input from the modem and (usually) 4 outputs to go to your computer or other devices.

Wire from the wall jack to the modem to the router.
Wire from the router to the computer.
Wire from the router to the Roku.

You may only have the choice of getting a wireless router. That's ok. The wireless router will still have wired outputs for you computer and you can go all wireless, all wired or any combination. The Roku, by the way, can also be used wireless. If you go wireless, put the router on top of something tall to get a better signal throughout the house.

[Gene Doebley]

Let's see if this thing will work. I received notices that Spindaddydad and Alantheavenget and Im not a turnip rplied to this thread but I can't see any rplies. So I'm going to try starting this thread over. If any of you nice folks who replied see this and want to send your rply directly to me my e-mail is [e-mail].
thanks,
Gene

[Gene Doebley]

Thanks friends. Somehow the replies are finally showing up. so I will try the wireless routher. I appreciate your help.
gene