Need a good, large hub/router

[BigRed]

well first off i have a question, what is the difference between a hub and a router? lol

and second im setting up a large lan party at my friends house for the 3rd week of feb (like 24+ people) and i need a good hub/router to use, since im almost a greenie at the networking subject i would like some sugguestions :)
ohh and would it be worth it to get one of those many hub/switches on ebay that are from bankrupt .com's? cuz they seem really cheap but i just need a sugguestion on which brand/model to buy :)

[chaim79]

There is a GREAT difference between a hub and a router!

A hub mearly forwards a signal between all it's ports, and therefore between all the pc's connected to it's ports.

A router on the other hand is basicly a small computer. In fact you can setup a linux box to be a router. The job of a router is to connect multiple LAN's into a WAN, it can be done in one building, or spread out all over the world.

A comparison between a hub and a router is somewhat like comparing a sharp stick to an atom bomb.... in the same buseness but totaly different.

Any who, as to what hub to get? For a big LAN party (you mentioned 24+) I would suggest getting a switch, with as many ports as you need with a few extra. A hub will do the job but a switch will help speed things up a bit, expecaly if there are several groups playing different games. As for the brand name, if you are doing this just for a LAN party brand shouldn't make much of a difference. personaly I would go with either cisco, 3-com, linksys, or maybe an HP, but really, just about any switch will do.

[Jon]

A hub merely shares a line. Each PC will need it's own IP address and will not be able to have internet access unless each PC that has an IP has an actual IP from the ISP itself. Hubs also share bandwidth.

A router is a smart hub. It does not share bandwidth as most today are full duplexing, so each port receives the same 10/100Mbps of bandwidth. A router can give out IP addresses and supply each PC on the network an internet connection with only one ISP IP address through Network Address Translation. It basically masks the private LAN IP addresses with the true IP and then sends/receives the internet request for that specific PC. The ISP actually only "sees" one PC when you could literally have hundreds.

If this is stricly for a LAN party and you don't need an internet connection, a switch would be the best. It provides full duplexing bandwidth but doesn't supply IP addresses. IP addresses, etc. would need to be manually assigned to each PC. Switches cost a bit less than routers do when you get into multiple ports.

I just don't think a hub would supply the bandwidth you'd like to have for a LAN party. Maybe just for a few players...