[jamesbond_007]

What would be the best to use for a home network and Network Hub or a Router?

And does a Network Hub make a phone line crackle.

[DJ-CHRIS]

Never ever ever get a hub anymore, their pointless now with the invention of switches.

For every network, you should* be using a router. This is what makes the network tick, and allows you to have one. A switch or a hub does not allow you to have a network by itselfs*



* refers to you may choose to do something weird if you know what you are doing, and that with terminal servers and DHCP servers and crap you may not use a router.

[BASSMASTER]

Switches are basically smarter and more powerful hubs. A router is what connects 2 networks, like your private home newtork and the internet. Hubs/Switches are what allow you to network your home computers.

almost all routers come with built in switches, just look for the 10/100 ethernet connection spec on the router, that is what tells you it is a switch also.

The DSL is what makes the phone line crackle, that's why your ISP usually provides filters to hook up to the phone jacks in your home.

[jamesbond_007]

Thank you, it you have anymore information please let me know.

[ph0rn]

A hub is okay if you only have a few computers, but with more it's bad. If you use hubs in a network, all the nodes are in 1 big collision domain which creates a lot more frame collisions and therefore slows network performance. With a switch/router, it splits up the collision domains, increasing performance. Hubs also split the bandwidth between each port, with switches you get full bandwidth usage. If you want to share internet, there's no questioning in what you should get -- router.

Anyone please correct me if I'm wrong.