EggXpert

We recently got dsl and are wanting to start a home netowrk, I have been advised by a friend to go buy a hub or switch instead of a router. I asked him what the difference was and he never would explain to me. Ive read about them but still very confused. We have 3 computers and 1 Ps3 to use and I want to know what we can get that is really inexpensive to use to be able to do this all at once. We have 3 people wanting to use the internet at once. There is tons of fighting over just one computer right now. So I need to know what i can go get to network the 3 computers and Ps3 for all three of us to share the internet at the same time. Our dsl is 1.5mbps (100mbps). We want to be able to use it at the same time and still maintain the same speed we have and are not able to spend much on something too expensive. So if someone could really really help me I would greatly apprecite the advice.

Ok Tabatha since you want to maintain the speed of your DSL the best way is with a router, now if you don't want wires running through the house then you would have to go with a wireless router and the price starts rising. The easy way is with the wired router and it is the cheapest way to go $35-$40 + S&H depending on the distance between the computers and whether or not you drill holes through the walls or floors. With a wireless router you would hookup to DSL and your computer then use wireless cards for the other 2 computers and there the price would start about $60-$100.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833156001 router

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812120460 cables 2 ea.

Some networking basics:

1.5mbps is your 'quoted' throughput/speed/bandwidth. It is not possible to give all users access to the full speed unless the bandwidth provider placed a 'soft cap' rather than a 'hard cap' (no leniency) on your line. That means, if your ISP (Internet Service Provider - AT&T/Qwest/etc...) allocates X amount of bandwidth to a certain region (neighborhood), then soft caps every line, chances are good at times you'll get more than quoted speeds and at others, you will get less than quoted speed. 

Routers are more complex units which dynamically 'route' and 'shape' traffic to improve efficiency and optimize the connections. Switches and hubs merely allocate what is available to them to any/all devices so if you are downloading a file at 1mbps then your friend gets on and tries to play games online using another 700kbps, the switch/hub will rudimentarily drop your speed to compensate for his usage. Whereas the router tries to prioritize and optimize so that both users get fair use of the line. For basic home networks, routers work magic especially when considering routers can allow WIRELESS connections as many times people are too far away for a wire to be realistic.

Slmclarengt

ok thanks.We have 2 ethernet cables already but they are very short. I would say the distance between mine and my brothers computers are about right for the 50ft cable. I asked my friend who builds computers and he would reply several times go to walmart and get a hub or switch. As I said  before all we want really is to use his ps3 and at least 2 computers at the same time. I said 3 because we have another one that isnt hooked up yet and we do have 1 more, an older laptop but it doesnt have an ethernet jack in it and my dad wants to get it fixed somehow for my sister so she can use hers. I said 3 computers, but for right now its 2 and Ps3 cuz thats all my brother cares about. My friend kept insisting on hub or switch and he has the same exact dsl as i do, so ive been extremely confused about all of this.

 So with the 2 computers and Ps3 how many ethernet cables will we need all together?? I know nothing bout all this computer tech stuff

and yes it is supposed to be 1.5 but im getting 100mbps. But we just want to be able to get on at least 1-2 computers at the same time as him using his ps3 and and if not maintain the same exact speed, at least still have pretty fast internet at the same time.

As I said before you hook the router to your DSL and then to the computer it sits by that leaves you needing 2 cables to run to the other computer and the PS3.

ok i got kinda confused..lol...i feel a little stupid now! thanks! See my friend builds computers and idk y he would keep insisting on getting a hub or switch instead of router.

Probable so you would have to keep calling him for help cause it would run so slow when all 3 of you were on the internet at once. With the router it will balance the load and won't slow the DSL down as much, then if you had the money and went wireless with 10/100/1,000 speed you would never know the difference.

ya this will do til we can get one. Just as long as all three of us or at least 2 of us can get on at the same time were fine. We are using it one at a time now and are having more fighs than you wouldnt believe.  I appreciate the help.  My brother has a wired router here but its broken  so we are stuck buying a new one but it will be amazing once we can use it with more than one person at a time!

slmclarengt:

Switches and hubs merely allocate what is available to them to any/all devices so if you are downloading a file at 1mbps then your friend gets on and tries to play games online using another 700kbps, the switch/hub will rudimentarily drop your speed to compensate for his usage.

poorly stated.  Your eggxample is for a user with a 1.5Mbs download speed.....REGARDLESS of whether or not the Router AND client support QoS, the speed would pretty-much have to drop as it would exceed the max download speed available to the customer by the ISP.

@Tabathaakers1985 :

I didn't see anyone addres your Hub vs Switch.  The most important Network impact difference between them is that when a Hub receives a 'packet' it "broadcasts" that packet to every other port in the hub.  If the hub has many ports and many in use, this can cause heavy [un-necessary] traffic, usually results in many "collisions" which further slows the network. 

A Switch on the other hand is a 'smarter' device.  It is able to keep a record of who's who on the network, then when a 'packet' enters, it will inspect the "header" [like an address on a letter] which tells it who is supposed to get it, then "forwards" the packt to the correct port for that "address"...and ONLY that port.

The consumer-grade Routers for sale are not just a Router.  Routers need only a single Network connection.  These Routers for sale are Combination or Hybrid devices.  They are a Router + a 4-port Switch built-in. [some have more ports.]  Wireless Routers are really three different devices...the two mentioned previously + a Radio.

Because of the "processing" of the packets, Hubs used-to be [maybe still are, idk ] 'faster' than Switches in general.  I havn't seen any tests for a few years on that....regardless if the clients are few it would be about the same.  I recommend Switches for "scaleability" in that your Network can grow with fewer issues when using switches.

An additional note: NEITHER a Hub nor a Switch can handle traffic outside your "local network" [i.e. the Internet.] To access the Internet, with more than one PC, [connected directly to a modem] you'll need a Router. [you COULD "share" the connection from your PC to others, but it requires TWO Network Adapters in that PC AND an OS that will handle it...XP is one.  Essentially that PC "becomes" a Router.  I do not however, recommend this.]

Tallon41

To expand on what Tallon has said about hubs vs switches.

Hubs can be viewed as a splitter.  As such and keeping in mind how ethernet works, there are some aspects which require consideration.  First, ethernet works by having an attached device first listen on the wire to determine if anyone is broadcasting.  If not, then the device will send a frame.  If multiple devices happen to send a frame at the same time, a collision is detected and each device will retransmit at some random time (CSMA/CD.)  As you can see as the collisions increase, the wait time for each device to retransmit and successfully send data increases also.  There are some details I've left out but this should give you the jist.  The chances of collisions increase as you add devices.  Along with this means progressively slower network performance due to the increased number of collisions.  Also, the bandwidth of the hub is shared among all attached devices which further decreases the network performance.  So if you have 2 devices on a 100 Mbit hub, you'll have 100 Mbit split between the two.  If you have 4 devices, you'll have 100 Mbit split across 4 devices and so on.  Of course the generalization is if all devices are using the network at the same time and all of them send the same amount of data.

A switch solves the issues of hubs in the following ways.  First, the aspect of collision domains is not spread across all devices attached to the hub.  The collision domain is now focused to each device and the switch port.  As such, the worries of collisions is virtually eliminated because the frames being transmitted is only between the device and the switch.  Because of this, CSMA/CD is no longer needed to account for any frame collisions.  This allows the device and switch to communicate in full duplex and not half duplex which is required if you are running CSMA/CD.  Running full duplex allows a device to be able to transmit and receive at the same time.  As Tallon, mentioned, a switch actually processes network traffic by examining the header of the frame to determine the destination of the frame by looking for the destination MAC address.  The switch learns the attached device's MAC address in a number of ways.  First is via the device just transmitting data.  The switch can log the source MAC address from the device on the port the data first hits.  The other way is via an ARP broadcast when the port for the destination device isn't known.  The information of MAC address and port is kept in the switches MAC address table.  The other aspect of a switch is that bandwidth is not shared between attached devices.  So each port of the switch provides the full bandwidth.