Using router as switch

[Sickboy]

Recently signed up for Opal Telecom's business broadband which comes with a "free" Thomson TG585 v7 ADSL modem/router.
The router arrived but didn't have an RJ11 jack so I contacted Opal who said they'd send out a replacement. Marvellous!
Received a complete new Thomson TG585 in the post a day later

So I thought I'd use it as a switch and connect it to the first router.

My intention is to stream media from my media PC upstairs to an Istar Mini HD network media tank downstairs (I've had problems doing this over Powerline Adapters so I ran an external cat5e cable between the floors).

So the two TG585s are connected via this external cable and the network seems to work. However, streaming media is worse than it was with the Powerline Adapters

Having read a couple of similar threads here I suspect the connecting cable needs to be crossover - is that correct (the routers don't have an uplink port)?

My external cable is terminated at either end with a box/faceplate setup, so my question is; can I use a xover patch cable to connect the switch to the terminal or do I need to rewire the terminal?

[Sickboy]

I should have said that, if the Istar is connected directly to the upstairs router (ie.via the external cable and not through the second router), it workls great.
It's only when I connect the two routers together that I get the problem.

I tried making up a crossover patch cable and that didn't make any difference.

[Sickboy]

Problem solved - or at least worked around.

Swapped the Thomson for my old Sky Netgear and it works like a charm. Not sure what was going on with the TG585 mind - maybe just a faulty model.
Can't complain - got it for nowt!

[Train]

You needed to disable DHCP in the 2nd router.

[Sickboy]

I had done that. The network worked OK, everything talked to everything else. It was just that the video streaming performance was awful.
Swapping back to the old Netgear solved it, so I can only suspect that the Thomson is no good for media streaming or it's faulty.
Settings on the Thomson were exactly the same as the settings on the Netgear.

[Train]

Well, as you found out too, a switch can sure beat a router in situations like you list.

After all, that is what they where designed to do. Learned the hard way myself.

[Sickboy]

Thing is, the Netgear is a router as well.

[Train]

MTU size would effect the transfer rate. 1500 is not the default for a lot of routers.

[Midknyte]

For PPPoE ADSL, you should set the MTU to 1492. For Cable, it's 1500.