Have 10/100 hub, will get a cable router. Using these together hard?

[Pharmdeity]

I've got an 8 port hub I bought for "fun" (hah!). I have a very little experience in networking computers. I want to share internet access with my kids between two computers.

1) So how difficult is it to use a hub with a cable/dsl router?

2) Should I drop the extra $ and get one with 4 ports?

Thanks

 

[Russ]

1. Very easy.

2. No.

Russ, NCNE

 

[BCYL]

Using a router to share the connection is very easy, very little setting up required.... It's just plug it in and there you go!

 

[barryng]

I have to agree. I just replaced a 450 MHz PII with a Linksys router. It seemed to set itself up. All I did was plug the cables in and it was working. There was literally nothing else needed to make it work.
The only glitch I ran into was operator error (me). I did not reboot one of the clients after I connected the router so the router did not know it was on the network. When I finally realized my mistake and rebooted it, it too worked great.

I did drop the extra dollars and purchased the Linksys Router with the built in switch. This was not necessary as I already had an 8 port 10/100 hub. However, the clients connected to the switch each get the 100 MBs full duplex service. Our two main desktops, that frequently simultaneously share the same two way cable modem, are served from the built in switch. The switch also uplinks to the 8 port hub. The other RJ45 outlets in the house, that we use for our laptops, are served from the hub.

 

[Pharmdeity]

Barryng: Thanks for the info (everybody else also). Just wondering though - if you hooked up your desktops through your 10/100 hub wouldn't they also get the "100" speed like they do through your linksys or am I not understanding it correctly?

Thanks again.

 

[barryng]

I will try to answer your question but we are starting to get into an area that I do not have a good in depth knowledge.

It is my understanding that a 10/100 hub has a maximum total bandwidth of 100 MBs. The hub must share this bandwidth with all clients. A switch, on the other hand, has the full bandwidth available for every client. In other words, a hub only provides a single pipeline that must be shared by all clients. The switch provides a separate and dedicated pipeline to each client. This implies to me that the switch has greater thru-put ability if multiple users are requesting data be transfered simultaneously. This is only my understanding of the theory so please do not take this to the bank.

The above being said, I also believe there is a much more practicle side to this that is not necessarily consistent with my purchase decision. Most of the work our network does is to transfer data to/from the cable modem. The maximum thru-put of the cable modem, even at maximum speed, is an order of magnitude less than 100 MBs. Therfore, I am sure that a hub will never even be stressed handling these loads. I believe that the real advantage of a switch becomes apparent when files are transfered between machines. It also seems logical that this advantage is only an advantage if the network is busy transfering data to/from multiple clients simultaneously. In my home network this is rarely the case. Even if this does occur, the time to transfer files is so short that there does not seem anything practicle to be gained in a small home network by using a switch.

So now you would probably ask; why did I spend almost $70.00 more for the router with the built in switch when I already had an 8 port 10/100 hub? I cannot give you a single good reason. My only explanation is that I am an engineer that has been involved with nuclear power for 31 years. I always overbuild all my personal projects. Why? Probably for the same reason a dog licks its balls, it can. I also know that everything I overbuild usually lasts forever, meets all my expectations for what it should do, and never fails. Cost justifiable? No way! Am I satisified with how well my system works? I certainly am.

Hope this helps and hope even more that noyhing I just explained in incorrect.

 

[Pharmdeity]

Hey, thanks a bunch for the explanation. Makes sense to me. I especially like the fact that nuclear engineers overbuild.