Question on 3com ethernet gateway

OTKA

Junior Member
Sep 6, 2000
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I currently have 3 computers attached to my hub, with all 3 having their own IP from roadrunner cable. My problem is that any d-loading on the other two computers kill my connection for counter-strike.

I found a good deal on a 3com ethernet gateway from tigerdirect but having received the product I am not sure if this will meet my needs. Not being "in the business", I need someone to confirm what I "think" I know about networking.

Tigerdirect calls the product a "Home Ethernet Router". My understanding is that a router delivers to the specific port only the packets that are addressed to the ip associated with that port.

The product that is delivered is called a "Home Ethernet Gateway". The user guide and 3com website make no referance to the product being a "router".

How do I verify that the product works as a router? I am hesitant to rely on what either Tigerdirect or 3com support 1800's will say. I've done both support and sales and I know that lying is second nature to get people off the call.

3com's website does say the 4 ports are "autosensing" and that the device is a "ethernet switch". My understanding is that a switch limits the speed available to each port, portioning it out to make sure one device doesn't hot the bandwidth. Am I correct in this?

I want to make sure that I didn't purchase a souped up hub.

Assistance is appreciated.



otka


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Jonathan93

Member
Sep 10, 2001
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I dug around on 3coms website.... I found the model number 3c510. This model has been discontinued. Is this the right model? It does happen to have a 4 port switch on it. I have heard about some Cable/DSL routers that will allow you to turn priority on on your computer. Unfortunately this doesn't look to be one of those. I doubt you can limit how much your friends download with this. You can do Internet connection sharing with this as well (Everyone shares 1 IP address for you). And the 4 port auto-sensing switch doesn't limit the speed of ports. The autosensing part just means it can tell and adjust speed if something that runs at 10Mbps, 100Mbps, Full-Duplex, or Half Duplex. The switch is like a hub but better... I explain the difference between a hub and switch below.....

I might know why it slows you down so much..... Do you know anyone that has a switch? The basic difference between a hub and switch are when a hub gets a packet it sends it out every port it is connected to except the one it happen to come from. A switch is smart enough to figure out which port it needs to go to and send it down that port ONLY. Do you have anything that can measure packet loss? What I think is happening, is when you have a hub like that, only 1 PC can transmit at 1 given time. If 2 PCs happen to transfer, they detect that they have both transfered data at the same time, and wait at a random time to retransmit the data (I think this is called CD/CMSA if I remember right). So, if your buddies start a d/l while you are running CounterStrike, chances are your packet loss will go up...... The switch will eliminate the problem though.... I'd suggest borrowing a switch and see if this helps with the problems at all... I'm pretty sure the above is correct, but If I am wrong... Someone PLEASE correct me!