I have a cable modem that is connected to my router. The router has wireless and 4 rj45 ports. The router provides DHCP to the internal home network.

With three kids, printers, game consoles etc, I need more ports on my router. I just finished pulling the cables.

Assuming I am happy with my current router and cable modem: Do I add another router, a switch or a hub to be able to connect all the rj45's together?

8 more ports would be good.

Buy 16 or more port switch (24 port is common size). Connect one switch port to a single router port. Plug all remaining devices into switch.

Tks.

One more question... what is the difference between a managed switch and an un-managed switch?

... actually, let's make that question easier because I really don't want to know what the difference is. :-)

Do I want a managed switch or unmanaged switch? (firewall and various filtering options are available through my router.)

Easy. Your cheapest option is a Linksys 5 port workgroup switch for $25:


Linksys EtherFast 10100 5-port Auto-Sensing Switch EZXS55W at TigerDirect.com

Or the 8 port for $40. Or the 16 port for $67. I use a linksys router, an 8 port and a 5 port switch on my LAN and they all work great.

I am not affiliated with Tiger Direct, and receive no compensation from them. I just like them and have been using them for years to buy most all of my computer parts. They have good service and ship fast.

When you purchase a switch you loose a port when you uplink. If you do a lot of sharing between devices, it's best to put everything on the new switch and just use one port on the router.

Managed switches probably aren't necessary UNLESS you want to disable the XBOX or a particular computer on a whim and the switch is in an inacessable location.

Primarily they have their use in an office environment and they are much more expensive.

Thanks everyone. I can disable/ filter any device on my network by logging into my router, so it sounds like the unmanaged switch is what I should get.

Shame about the C$ again. Tiger direct sells the 8port in the US for $US 38 and in Canada for $C 51. It was only a few months ago when they were at par! (for the first time in decades)

I'm curious, KISS - why is it better to put all devices on the new switch? There is normally not a lot of sharing between devices . The network is mainly for internet with some shared data files and the occasional network printer job: although the kids have started watching videos on one computer that are resident on another.

By example (printing a 100 page document):

Everything on one switch:
Only the PC printing and the printer will see traffic from the printer. No one else will, including the router.

Suppose switch (PC x) and printer on a router port.

When PC x prints, the uplink port will see all the traffic from everything on the new switch including the 100 page document. This would include internet traffic, thus printing would impact the internet.

Hubs are different animals. Every port sees all traffic.

Difference between a switch and a hub:

Each device on your network has a MAC address associated with the network card. Consider this address like a street address for your house.

In the case of a hub (rarely sold any more), it is not an intelligent device. It does not keep track of the MAC addresses of the devices attached to it. So if there is mail to be delivered on your street, the mail man has to stop at each house, knock on the door and ask the occupant "Are you 1313 Mockingbird Lane?" No? OK, on to the next house and the rest on the block until the correct address is found.

A switch (managed or not) is an intelligent device that tracks each of the addresses connected to it. The mail person will turn onto your street and go directly to the house with the correct address and deliver the mail.

Now, if you have a computer on a switch and a printer on another switch, it is like having to go to another street to talk to your neighbor. It is much easier for you to just go down the street instead. This is why it is best to keep devices that communicate with each other on a regular basis on the same switch.

As far as managed and unmanaged goes: The management portion of a switch can add a substantial cost because it is not just the management that adds value. It is other features that are also added the would require management. They can be features like enabling/disabling of ports, VLANing, Spanning Tree, port trunking, CoS and QoS, flow control, speed and duplex adjustment, routing, etc.

Decide if the features Chuckhole mentioned above are desirable and worth the increased cost. If you want something better than a plastic Linksys, have a look at Adtran, Allied-Telesis, or Netgear's ProSafe line. The latter two vendors have "Smart" switches that provide some network manageability or a web based administration interface without all the full blown bells and whistles and cost of the Ciscos/HPs/Nortels. I use the Allied-Telesis AT-FS750 series with my small business customers - metal chassis and rack-mountable, around $150. That's about as cheap as quasi-managed switches get but probably still overkill for home use.