HUB or Router

[AEsnowboarding]

What is the difference between a hub and router?

[SavageBasher]

http://www.dslreports.com/faq/5456 ;)

[AEsnowboarding]

So if I get a router I can share a single IP adress with multiple computers???

[su root]

Originally posted by AEsnowboarding
So if I get a router I can share a single IP adress with multiple computers???
Yes.

Each computer will have their own internal IP address, but will share a single external IP address, when talking to other computers on the internet.

[AEsnowboarding]

So that means I only need one IP adress from my ISP???

[Cjwinnit]

Originally posted by AEsnowboarding
So that means I only need one IP adress from my ISP???

Yep. Great isn't it? :D

[su root]

Originally posted by AEsnowboarding
So that means I only need one IP adress from my ISP???
Yes. That IP address will be given to your router. Your router will make up and give IP addresses to the computers on your LAN.

When computers on your LAN request webpages, or download stuff, they send it to the router. The router will then change the "from" field to itself, and send it out on the internet. When the requested page returns, the router will send it to the computer that asked for it.

That process is called Network Address Translation (NAT)

[AEsnowboarding]

Wow awsome another question (sorry) What is the differend between lan and wan port. Is wan a bigger cord or what?? Or is it just a normal sized cord??

[SavageBasher]

WAN - Wide Area Network - Goes to the cable/dsl modem
LAN - Local Area Network - Goes to the computers

[AEsnowboarding]

Awsome this will save me alot of money!!! My ISP wanted me to get another ip adress for my second computer. Pay 19.95 for activation and $5 a month after that:mad:

[su root]

They're now charging for ACTIVATION?!? Wow.

[MisterEd]

Originally posted by AEsnowboarding
What is the difference between a hub and router?

A router is a device simply to route network data from an external network (internet) to an internal network (local network). It commonly uses something like NAT or Network Address Translation to translate data from an address such as 67.120.3.44 to 192.168.1.100. The second address is a private address only. That is if you tried to use it directly with the internet it would be blocked. It like several others ranges are reserved for local or private networks. That is where a router comes in. It provides a bridge between the local network and the internet. In this way the router with NAT provides some security in that outside hackers can't directly get to your local network. There are too many easier targets to attack.

A hub is simply a device that allows you connect several computers together using CAT5 ethernet cable. A switch is similar to a hub except it in theory is faster than a hub because each two computers talking to each other have a direct conection which is independent of the other computers hooked up to the switch.


You can get a router with or without a built-in switch.

A simple router (without a switch) can be hooked directly to one computer. If you have more than one computer you need to buy a switch or hub and put it between the router and the computers.

A router with a switch has multiple ports (4 or 8 are common) to hook up your computers. The WAN port is for your Cable or DSL modem. The Uplink port allows You to chain additional hubs or switches to add more than the built-in (4 or 8) computers to your router. You can also add another router to the Uplink port,

[AEsnowboarding]

Well I got a wireless router today with a bilt in 4 port switch and it works awsome!!:D I am so happy right now!! Thanks for the help:cool: One question though. When I have both computers running windows will say I have a IP conflic. What does that mean? The internet still works on both and I looked at the setting and the IP's are different in the last colum. Something like .102 and .100

[gusgizmo]

i would think that one of your computers has the same ip address as the router, if the two computers ip addresses arent the same. i dont see why that should be happening though, since your router probably has dhcp. any ideas?

[LiGhTBoY]

You are not using static IPs on your lan are you? if you are not and it still says that there is a conflict, change the range that the router assings IPs from (eg: from .100 to .150) to make sure that it does not assing a pc the same ip as the router.

[AEsnowboarding]

Well guys I got it fixed!! Thanks for all of the help :clap: