Ok i want to buy a hub that will link at least 4 computers together and put them all on the internet.How do i know if i hub will do this. I would appreciate the help.

If you are going to connect by broadband you should get a router. It will allow the computers to share a single broadband connection.

Make sure the hub you buy has 4 ports.

J.

why should i buy a router? a hub will work fine i just want to know if it will put all of my compters on the internet with one broadband connection to it. I f your saying a router would br safer i already have 1 and it will connect the internet to my hub. Thanks guys.

Hi,

If you have Broadband then buy a combined ADSL hub and modem. I have a wired Netgear router, although you can also get wireless routers. Wired is more hassle but a lot more reliable than a wireless network.

Distance of a wired system is around 100 metres easily expanded with a powered hub.

With the Netgear ADSL router I have, it is the router that is connected to the Internet with a built in Firewall, this is called NAT, natural address translation. I also run ZA pro. This gives a vast amount more protection aginst the beasties out there on the Internet.

Any computer connected to the router can access the www without the others being on. With a hub and modem set up the main p.c. will need to be on for the other computers to connect or access.

The router can also connect directly to a hub to give "expand" to more than four ports.

Network cards will cost around £10 or $10

hth

Ceri

"why should i buy a router?"

Because if you don't...

"a hub will work fine i just want to know if it will put all of my compters on the internet with one broadband connection to it."

Yes, with FOUR distinct IP addresses, one for each port on the hub.

"If your saying a router would br safer i already have 1 and it will connect the internet to my hub. Thanks guys."

Kinda backwards..but again I don't know your topology. Home Gateway's AKA Home Routers, have numerous features, but lets stick to routers and hubs.

A HUB distributes, it does not allocate.

A Router routes traffic by address, which is what you need if you want 4 computers on the net.

Otherwise your hub will attempt to fetch IP's from your provider, which means getting your ISP to issue FOUR IP's for you. I don't know about your ISP, but that would be another $30.00/month for me.

Now....are you sure your hub is a hub (when is a hub not a hub? When it's a switch. When is a switch not a switch? When it's a hub. Confused yet? Should be)

A router is a router is a router. In order to map IP to traffic it's required. If all you need is to move specific traffic to specific IP's, a hub or switch will do the job.

Clear as mud no? =)

J.

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John, if you already have a router why do you want a hub? Routers have 4-8 ports already. Please describe what you have and what you want to do.

I agree with Jeruvy. If you have a router use it. It will allow you to use 1 IP address from your ISP to serve all of your computers. Your network setup should look kind like this.

router-->(Hub or switch)-->computers.

Now the main reason you don't want to use a hub is the speed factor. For a couple of bucks more you get what is called a switch. It is really a hub but it is intellegent. It not only remember where everything is going but it doesn't share bandwidth. Lets say your connection is 100mbs pipe this speed into a hub and it will split that bandwidth evenly to all comps on that switch. Thus dividing 100mbs into 4 or more 20mbs connections. A switch will give each port the full connection speed. Hope this was a little clearer than other peoples explinations.

Well see my router is only a 2 port we use it for mine and my dads computer. I want basically something that will put my friends computer and the 2 i have already on my cable connection so we all have the internet. i also want it to connect all the computers i have and my friends when they come over. basically for Lan games. I want the internet on my computer and quickly want to be able to hook my friends comps up for Lan games.

Then connect your cable from the router to the hub and connect a cable from the hub to your computer. When your friends come over they can plug into the hub. This should be fine for local lan games.

wizard yes i was just wanting to know if that would work simple as that thank you all these other guys need to say nothing if they dont know about it.

I don't know if that last one was an insult or what. To answer your question yes it is as simple as that. But if you want to play online games (LAN or otherwise) you are concerned with speed, right? You want an internet connection that is fast for all the computers, right? Well in this case ou need to spend the extra 5 dollars and buy a switch. If you don't understand y then re-read my explaination earlier. You may not see the speed difference on a local LAN game but otherwise you'll prob need it.

yes that one in the link has an automatic switch. Thanks

To get a good answer it is critical to provide pertinent information with the question. If all the information from post#8 had been provided in the original post, everybody would have been happier.

Everyone gave good advice to answer the question as they understood it.

Depending upon what router you have now, you might be better off buying a 4 port router instead of a hub. A 2 port router sounds old. I've never seen one.

I have several single port routers. Linksys use to nake one.

I still dont get why a router is better. I want someone to send me a link to the cheapest router or hub that is at least 4 port. Remember I want one that will put all of my computers on the internet and that will network my computers together so we can also play lan games. Ill have 4 computers. I want it so one guy can be surfing the net while the other play a lan game. i have a cable modem I will not need to pay more a month for several computers. The reason im skeptical about buying a router is because my dad computer and mine wont network through my router hopefully i have provided enough info. if you have any more questions ask me and ill post back. Thanks

To play local LAN games all you need is a hub.

The question is whether your current router supports opening the ports required to play on-line LAN games. (NOTE: Many routers may limit the number of users with opened ports. So you may only have 1 on-line user.) The game server itself may limit the number of players per IP address. (I don't play games, but this is based on other services.)

Networking with your father's computer is probably a problem in setup.

So do you currently have a router of is just one computer connected to the modem at a time?
The reason a router is better is because you can't share the one ip address given to you from your ISP. Newer routers like the one you mentioned now have a built in 4 port switch, which would solve all your problems. The router takes the one address and allows all users plugged into the 4 port switch to share this one connection. Whether using it to play online games or surf the web. If you use just a switch without a router you would have to pay each month for additional IP addresses. I'm not aware of any cable company that does not charge for this service. Usually 6-10 dollars per month each IP address. So if you use a router you bypass all this crap with the cable company and just get everything you want in one package. Hope this clears up come stuff. Please remember to tell us if you have a router or not and what type it is, thanks!~

Yes I have a router i was gonna hook the switching hub to the internet connection coming from the router.So if i have that hub connected to the router then to the cable it shouldnt cost more should it?I have just a cheap 2 port router made by speedstream. Thanks

Yes, it will work at no extra cost. Just make sure both computers are set to auto configure IP from DHCP server, i'm hoping your router supports this as many of the newer ones do. This setting can be found under network neighborhood properties, then look into the properties of the tcp/ip configuration. Hope this helps you.

Bigjohn8888,

Yes I have a router i was gonna hook the switching hub to the internet connection coming from the router.So if i have that hub connected to the router then to the cable it shouldnt cost more should it?I have just a cheap 2 port router made by speedstream. Thanks

If you cannot 'figure' out why a router is better than a hub, then I'm not going to waste more time trying to explain this to you.

I think everyone in this thread who's responded to you has been professional and offered serious solutions, and tried to make you look at this from a technical perspective.

Your responses seem to be rude and immature with only one care, getting this hub working.

wizard yes i was just wanting to know if that would work simple as that thank you all these other guys need to say nothing if they dont know about it.

Ok, if you don't want to listen, or don't like the suggestions thats fine, but telling people who take time to post to YOUR PROBLEM to get lost isn't very kind.

So good luck,

J.

If you do want hunb, then get an 8 port one, i got a 8 port one when i wnted to network 3 pc`s together using one as the NAT router. we now have 5 pc`s on it . . . nd i`m looking to get a network laser printer next year. Its prolly better to get more thn you need cos you cannot lwys predict ccurately what you want, I got the 8 port cos there were no 4 port ones in stoock at my local shop, glad i did now.

HTH

Woof