Quick question: how does a network switch work?

[pennylane]

Here's my situation:
I have a 4-port router that I have no problems with, but I need more ports. I only have a couple minimum-latency required devices (for gaming), so I was thinking of adding this D-Link 5-Port Desktop Switch. It's cheap and I don't need anything fancy.

The word "switch" made me think that I had to switch between what devices I wanted to be connected to the internet, but that's NOT the case, right? If I hook the switch up to my router, every device that's connected will have constant access to the internet?

Would devices connected through the switch have any slower upload/download speeds? I'm aware that adding a switch would potentially increase latency for devices connected through it, but what about upload/download speeds?

Should I consider any other options besides a switch?

Thanks.

 

[seepy83]

A switch is exactly what you need, and it should have absolutely no impact on your latency/speeds.

 

[spidey07]

Short answer is yes, a switch is what you need. It will allow you to plug more devices into "the network". There will be no noticeable speed difference or latency.

As to how a switch works it is a multiport bridge that works at layer2, MAC addresses. It learns what port a mac address is on and "switches" frames destined to that MAC address to that port. There's also a lot more to it than that, but that's what it does.

 

[Crusty]

Your consumer router already contains a switch inside of it, that's how you get your 4+ ports on the back. There is no issue connecting a 2nd switch to the 1st one(router) to expand your physical port count.

Any latency added by the 2nd switch is going to be dwarfed by the latency needed to get to your fist hop from your router, so in other words your Internet connection already has 'high' latency compared to a local network. An extra .01ms of latency from the local side isn't going to change a thing when it already takes you 10ms to get outside your network.

 

[theevilsharpie]

The word "switch" made me think that I had to switch between what devices I wanted to be connected to the internet, but that's NOT the case, right?

Right.

If I hook the switch up to my router, every device that's connected will have constant access to the internet?

Yes.

Would devices connected through the switch have any slower upload/download speeds?

Assuming that the bandwidth of the switch is the same or greater than the bandwidth of the router, any speed decrease would be negligible.

However, bear in mind that a consumer switch can only be connected to an upstream switch with a single cable. If your switch and router are 100Mb/s and you have multiple computers on the downstream switch, this can cause a bottleneck.

I'm aware that adding a switch would potentially increase latency for devices connected through it, but what about upload/download speeds?

Other than the bottleneck scenario that I described above, it won't have a detectable speed hit. The processing overhead of a switch is not going to make a difference unless you have a dozen or so switches daisy chained together.

Should I consider any other options besides a switch?

No.

 

[pennylane]

Thanks for the fast replies. Looks like I'm good to go. Also nice to know that any extra latency will likely be negligible.