Need to have 5 computers on a 4 port router

[aplecker]

We currently have a 4 port router in our apartment and need to add a fifth computer to it. Can I get away with just adding a switch/hub to one port of the router and then connecting two computers to the switch/hub? I am tryin to avoid buying a 8 port router and I am looking for the cheapest solution.

Thanks

Forgive me if this has been covered already... I tried to search but didnt come up with an answer. Just a point in the right direction would be helpful

 

[Nebben]

Yeah, most routers/switches will either auto-uplink from any port or they have a specific uplink port. Should work just fine.

 

[keeleysam]

Yes, it'll work. If you have a Fry's nearby they have a nice 5-port 10/100 switch for 8 bucks. It's an Airlink brand.

 

[Concillian]

If it doesn't have an uplink port, a crossover cable between the two switches should work.

Keep in mind that cascaded switches are limited by the link speed of ONE port, so that all the ports combined of the second switch are limited to the speed of ONE port. So you should put the lowest usage PCs on the second switch.

 

[Changlinn]

I didn't think it worked like that, I thought that the link between the two switches becomes a bottleneck, unelss you have GBIC connections between the two and only ten 100mb computers of the switch.
Basically my understanding is that a switch can handle one port running at 100 while another runs at 10, while another runs at 1000, of course if the 1000 tried to download something from the 10 it would only go at 10, but it could also download from the 100 at 100 at the same time, so uplinking switches to routers in a home network is not going to cause enough of a bottleneck for you to notice, btw most switches now-a-days have auto uplink ports.

 

[Concillian]

We're saying the same thing I think.

Within switch is fine, but anydata that needs to go from switch to switch wiill be limited by the link between the switches (only a problem when multiple users are creating cross-switch traffic at the same time).

Definitely not much of an issue in the typical home user scenario, but it doesn't hurt to plan around which cables go in which ports.

 

[Changlinn]

ah then we are saying the same thing... a mesh design or having big fat uplinks is always good.
Mesh= switch 1 is connected to switch 2 and 3, and 3 is connected to 1 and 2, if each port is only 100mb this provides 200mb for inter-switch communication, not really the best but every little bit helps, better off getting switches with gigabit or 10gigabit(drool) uplinks and putting them back to a central switch. Or getting something like a cisco catalyst with 3 48 port 10/100 switches connected to a very heavy backplane.
But your right it doesn't really matter for a home network, heck I am still using a hub it is 24 port though.