Network Switches

[Raid]

So I'm starting my new job in a couple of weeks, which is a work from home gig. I will have a work laptop that needs to be connected via ethernet. I currently have a long network cable that runs up the stairs from the BT Router on the ground floor. This is then split into two with a basic Netgear switch, out of which runs a cable that runs into my office. What I need to do is split that cable into two, one for my personal PC and one for the laptop. Can I just daisy-chain these switches (say, one of these)? I appreciate the total bandwidth is going to be limited by the single cable running up the stairs, but I doubt that's going to cause problems.

[Mantis]

I've only used one of those Netgear switches to split a cable coming directly from my router. But I don't really see any reason from a technical standpoint why you couldn't daisy-chain them together, as all they do is divide your signal chain.

[Drarok]

tl;dr: yep, chain them together.

Buuuuut… they don't just divide the signal, it's not one big spider-web of the same signal sent to every computer – switches are smart! I guess Mantis thinking more electronically like a headphone splitter or something, but it's much more complex than that.

You can absolutely chain them together and it'll work, they're designed for this, but there's protocols and standards at play so that each device on the network receives only what is addressed to it.