[DM-MUG] OT- Switch vs. hub vs. router

[Dave Weis]

Chris Tyrrell wrote:
> Good morning all. DirecTV is now offering On Demand programming, but
> it requires a broadband connection. I have Qwest DSL, which feeds my
> Airport, which in turns serves my iBook and Dual G4. It seems that my
> best option would be to connect a hub to my DSL modem, then run a line
> to my Airport and a line to my satellite box.
> But, is a hub what I want? Or do I need a switch? Or a router?

A hub and a switch are similar but a bit different. A hub hooks together 
multiple things but when one box talks all of them hear it. They don't 
really make them any more because they aren't very efficient. A switch 
keeps track of what is on each port and only sends the data to each one 
that it needs.

A router is used to connect two different networks together and possibly 
provide some firewalling or address translation to put multiple devices 
behind one address.

Your DSL modem is probably doing routing so you would just want to get a 
plain switch between your airport and your DSL modem.

dave