Need to connect 5 pcs to a 4 port router.

[milad_sm]

hey guys, i have connected 4 PCs to a 4 port router...but i need one more!! i got another PC...i've heard i can use a hub..??
is that possible?
can anyone go through the steps with me?
thanks...

[Shep]

Get a hub or switch and run the router into it and connect your pc's to the ports.

[Fightingpiper]

yep, use a hub or a switch into your router ti will work.

[rocknindy]

Get a switch, much better then a hub I got a 5 port Linksys for 45 bucks at Best Buy

[milad_sm]

alright!
a switch then!
but...why exactly? any technical explanation?
and...wait...do i connect the router to the switch, or the switch to the router?
thank you....

[Shep]

The simple answer to switch over hub is a switch is faster. The way I understad it a hub shares bandwidth between the pc's, a switch switches the full bandwidth between pc's. Connect a router port to the uplink port on the switch, this should get you up and running

[Maddman]

The diference between a switch and a hub is the hub pushes the data to all of the ports on the hub and lets the computer that needs it sort it out and the switch only pushes the data to the computer that is suppost to get it.

[milad_sm]

i get it now!
thanks a lot...
but one more thing, i suppose that the switch will make the connection slower, somehow, right? or is it not noticable?
:eh?:

[Annoyingrob]

No, the switch will not slow down your connection. Now, a big question is what are you using the network for? Switches are nice (I run a 4 port one myself), but do you necessarily need to spend the extra money on a switch rather than a hub? If all your doing is internet sharing, then a hub is fine, but if you are going to be doing anything bandwidth intensive, like transferring files between two computers on a regular bases, then a switch is probably what you will want. Example, I have 4 computers networked, 1 has a burner, another is mainly used for downloading and stuff. I regularly transfer the files to be burned across the network, but I still need to prevent this from bogging down the network if someone else is surfing the web, or downloading something, so a switch works for me.


Basically a hub is a way of interconnecting all the computers together. All data across the entire network is transmitted to every computer, then the computers filter out any data not to them. A switch is similar, but has the ability to create little mini connections between 2 computers so they can sommunicate between each other without inturrupting the rest of the network

[Annoyingrob]

If you want another switch to work well with your existing switch, then then you will want to go with a stackable switch. This is basically a type of switch, that when plugged into another stackable switch, has the ability to use the connection to almost interconnect the circuitry inside, making them act like one big switch, other than 2 smaller ones. Of course, this is just a good thing to have if you are doing bandwidth intensife stull like described im my previous post.

All you do is take a standard ethernet cable, plug one end into the uplink port on one switch, then into one of the ports on the other switch (Not the uplink)

[milad_sm]

thanks Annoyingrob!
nice explanation.
i get it now. i'll get the switch. thanks again! :)

[Annoyingrob]

Well im glad someone appreciates my eplanation. lol, jk. No problem