Is There Such A Thing As A Wifi Usb Multiport

I know there are external hard drives now that are wifi capable but I get confused about terms like "battery life" are they capable of being plugged into a wall? Also they are too expensive though I assume they will eventually come down on price. I've been advised to plug a hub into the USB port on my router but it's from AT&T (Arris BGW210-700) and appears not to be suitable for such file sharing. I've been told a couple things about these particular router USB ports A) they're useless except for powering devices and B) they're proprietary ports for connecting direct tv stuff.

I found the item below on amazon and asked if plugging the usb hub into the wall would power all the devices. The only answer I received was someone tried it with just one external hd (I am wanting up to 5) and found it slower than expected

(I don't like providing direct amazon links).

SSK Wireless Hard Drive Adapter WiFi External Drive Router, Add WiFi for Your Hard Drive, Change Normal Storage to Personal Cloud, Wireless Backup, Remote Access, Support Card Reader/HDD/USB

If my printer can be connected by WIFI has someone come up with something that easy for a multi-port USB hub?

also I'm seeing these antenna like things that I don't understand at all. Could I buy five of them and do they attach directly to the external hard drive(s) and turn each device into a wifi transmitter?

thanks!

 

According to this, there are two USB ports on that Arris gateway device. It does not make sense to me they would be only for Direct TV. I fail to see why you cannot plug an external USB drive into one of those.

If your USB devices come with their own external power supplies, then you will need to power them with those supplies. If they don't require a separate supply, then they will get their power from the hub. The hub should have its own power supply.

But if you want to connect 5 drives, you will need a hub with 5 ports.

 

I should have mentioned I did try to access and enable the USB ports on the ARRIS router by attempting to follow instructions on the internet and youtube.

I did run command ipconfig and got the IP address then I put the IP address in the browser which produced the relevant AT&T page.

The instructions are that you have to make some changes under a "storage" tab to enable file-sharing with the added device but I couldn't find any such thing on the AT&T page.

Am pasting here a screen grab of all the choices that were available on the AT&T page. I tried all the pull-downs and could not find anything related to storage. Yes it would be
great if I could get a hub and then connect the hub to the router. The reason for all this is that I've unknowingly moved into a neighborhood with a high incidence of breakins/thefts.
Though obviously the simplest solution for that would be merely to disconnect all the devices and hide them when we're away from the house. A pain in the ass I'm trying to
find a way to avoid.

 

p.s. I did one more search and found this on another forum posted in 2017:

While the BGW210-700 has 2 USB 2.0 ports, the current AT&T Firmware does not support their use for media sharing or external USB drives.

https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r3...ay-BGW210-700-3x3-2-4-GHz-4x4-5-GHz~start=300

 

I don't really have any solutions here. I am just guessing as we go along - hoping someone with experience with this Arris device will come along and can be of more help.

And have you checked to see if there is a firmware update?

 

it's a brand-new out of the box router I watched the tech install after we moved because he said the previous one
wasn't hooking up for some reason. I found yet another forum about updating the firmware they say AT&T pushes
firmware updates through automatically. The posts there are only a month old and I have the latest version according
to them and the diagnostic pull down menu. Maybe "media sharing or external USB drives" is something that will happen
in the future and thanks to you I found this forum I can keep checking. Good luck to us all!

 

If true, that really makes no sense at all. If AT&T was to modify those ports, it would make more sense [to me] to omit them completely to save money. Not sure about you, but is it my experience most home gateway devices are not conveniently located to use as charging stations. Mine is high up on a shelf. And then those two ports are located on the back of the device - making them even less convenient to use as charging ports. They are much more suited to connect devices that would remain attached semi-permanently like a NAS or networked printing device.

I agree with plodr - if possible, visit an AT&T store and ask someone to show you specific documentation that says those ports are for charging only. Or have them show you how to use them - or perhaps trade it in on a different device completely to one that does serve your needs.

I note according to this AT&T Forum thread, the reply by the forum admin includes a link to that router's manual - the manual filed with the FCC. And in that manual, it clearly says "Two-port USB 2.0". The words "charge" or "charging" do not appear in the document.