Add a router or switch routers needed?

i have a laptop that downloads files to either a usb drive connected to the smp or a mybooklive. usually things are fine, but if im on the computer looking at stuff on the mybook, the smp randomly loses its connection with it . happens for other little things like that also. im only on dsl and i have a new router from att that is hardwired to the mybook and the internet. i have a netgear router laying around, can i hook that up to have the smp use to talk to the mybook so the att router doesnt have to do it allk? problem is, both need to be hooked to the att router also for new file downloads.

You state that the mybook is wired to the ATT router/modem, but you do not say how the laptop and SMP are connected to your network?  Wifi from the router??

From some postings on here, the SMP sometimes seems to be rather sensitive to timeout issues. Wifi connections are generally much more subject to delays/latency than wired Ethernet connections, so having as much of your network be wired as possible is generally going to give better performance.  What you want to add is a switch–not another router.  A switch simply connects together different network segments (in highly simplified terms).  While some routers can be configured to act as switches only, not all can, and it can be confusing to figure out how to do it since most router’s instructions tell you only how to set it up as a router.  Switches are cheap these days.  You should also look at what the connection speed of the Ethernet ports are on your ATT router.  They may be only 10/100Mbps.  Then buying a Gigabit Ethernet switch and connecting all your devices to it, and ultimately it to the router, may give you better performance.

Also, if by “looking at stuff” you mean you are streaming from the mybook to your laptop when the SMP loses its connection, that sounds more like the mybook is probably causing the timeouts by not responding fast enough  to query packets from the SMP.  If that is the case, then speeding up your network won’t help.

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SORRY FOR CAPS, PHONE ACTING WEIRD

LAPTOP AND SMP ARE WIFI. DECIDED TO SWITCH TO CABLE INTERNET, THAT WILL LET ME HARDWIRE THE SMP AND MYBOOK TO THE ROUTER AND ONLY HAVE THE LAPTOP ON THE WIFI, AND MY OLD WD LIVE.

THANKS.