Why does a router give you more speed than a hub?

[Enkrates]

I have cable connection and I want to set up a 2 computer network with each computer accessing the internet independently of each other(this mean no proxy server). I ask a friend of mine about this and he told me the easier way is to get another ip address for $5/month and get a hub and connect both computers to it. But I hear that using hub, you would lose speed. But on the other hand using a router you would NOT lose speed. This kinda confusing for a newbie like me. I mean there is ONLY one cable line coming in of my house, so how a router can give both computers the same speed when both computers are online.

Thank You

 

[striker99]

routers allow switching to take place, thereby allowing multiple switching paths inside the switch to be active at the same time.

 

[barebottoms]

Trick question. A router is used for routing networks. Unless you have a router with many ports to route between machines on different networks, this is a trick question.

Even then, a router will not improve speed in most instances. Routers work on layer 3, thus the cpu of the router has to analyze the data before knowing where to send the data out. Switch (not talking about Layer 3 switching here) reduces collision domains and works by looking at the MAC addresses (Layer 2).

 

[davisdog]

Enkrates...bottomline, for what you are doing you will see no difference in speed...you have 3 options

1) pay the extra $5/mth, so each computer has its own IP and use a hub to network them so they can both get out the cable modem

2) buy a little "Router" (like the Linksys) with a built in Hub...The hub will tie the two computer togethers with the modem, and the Router will take care of Network Address Translation (NAT) so both computers can get out the modem using only one IP address

3) set up one computer as a proxy (or use Windows Internet Connection Sharing) and tie the other one into it (either via Hub, or two Ethernet cards in the first one) so the 2nd computer goes through the first to get out (maybe be a hair slower since its software proxy then #1 or 2.)

personnally I like #2

 

[Windogg]

Many people confuse routers and hubs now a days because of the popularity of Linksys, Hawkings, and Netgear Cable/DSL routers with a built in switch. They assume the whole unit is a router when in fact its a all in one solution. There are also plain routers available with just a WAN port.

A switch is better than a hub because it allows each port to run at the rull rated speed. On a 100Base-T hub, the 100mbps is shared between users. Packet collision will drag the speed down even further. A 100Base-T switch can transfer up to 200mbps per port when running full duplex. An internal switching matrix moves the data onlt to the intended port as opposed to broadcasting to everyone.

So a router will not speed things up.

Windogg