Quake3World

I just moved and got my cable internet back yesterday. I, obviously, have my computer all set up. I am curious now on my best approach to get an xbox 360 also connected. I am confused on the whole router/switch thing. Which one do I need?
A buddy of mine told me that a switch is better, but are they interchangable? I ran up to best buy and was looking around and on the back of a box for a switch that I picked up, it showed the cable connection running through a router AND THEN to the enclosed switch. So i picked up a different box and it showed the same thing.
I went down to a local computer shop when I had purchased a Cat 5 connector earlier and the guy said I shouldn't have to do that and it shouldn't matter which one I used. But for the first time ever the tiny little store had 4 people in it and he was having multiple conversations so I left.

....help?

You need a router.

It works like this....

A modem is what connects you to a telephone line. Regular dialup, cable and ADSL all need a modem. No exceptions.

A router is a device with a single port to connect to a WAN (read: The Internet) and a single port to connect to a LAN (read: your home network). Any time you have 1 internet connection shared between multiple computers, you are using a router.

A switch is a device that allows multiple network devices (read: a computer, or a router, or a modem, or an xbox) to physically connect to many other network devices using network cable.

And here's where it should all start to make sense: When you buy a 'router' from a shop, what you're really buying is a device with ALL 3 COMPONENTS above inside it. This is invisible to you, but that one 'router' performs all 3 functions above. It has a modem which handles the internet connection. A router which handles directing data between your network and the internet, and a switch which you use to connect your computers to the system.


So now you know that you should be able to work out:
- You can't just buy a switch, unless you have some other devices that will do the modem and router bits described above. Chances are, you don't have those components.
- What you should be looking for in a 'router' is a device that has 1 socket for your telephone line (which goes to the devices modem) and some network sockets for your home computers and xbox (which goes to the devices switch).

If you spend a bit more you get a 'router' with a 4th component - a wireless access point. Again, this is just a seperate device that has been integrated into this one single 'router' device... but what you're buying isn't really a router... or a switch... or a wireless access point... those things are is just one small part of what a full 'router' will do for you.

Erm, hope that made sense

All true excect that a router does not replace your modem.

You will need:

Cablemodem->router->PCs

Only if you wanna be real technical it isn't a modem at all, it's a transceiver, but hey, "modem" is easier to say. :P

Most ISPs authorize devices by MAC, therefore buying your own is often not an option.

Actually creep, most ISP's will let you buy your own modem as long as you phone them up and tell them your MAC ID. All the major ones around here, anyway. Your ISP might just be trying to be a complete knob.

@vileliquid: Assuming your ISP already sent you a cable modem, all you need is a router and maybe some cables. Check the box contents of the router, most will come with one short (~3') ethernet cable. You may need one or two more depending on what you have now (from your description, you need 3 in total).

You certainly don't need a switch. Switches themselves are just for networking, they will not allow you to connect to the internet (it doesn't have a WAN port). If you ever get like, 12 computers and your router only has 4 ports, then you can worry about buying a switch to connect to the router and the other computers. A router is essentially the same thing as a switch except it has a WAN port which allows you to connect it to the modem. Most routers will have a 4 port switch built in (read: supports 4 networkable devices) and optionally a bunch of wireless devices as well.

Sounds like time for another one of my handy tech diagrams...



BTW, I don't know what you look like, so I drew you with pigtails and a triangle dress.

damn... if you didn't put VL on the picture, I would have thought it was me!!!!

anyways, obsidian is right. for what you need, you should just look at the top half of his picture (and the cute pigtailed person!!). although it did take me a couple seconds to realize it said coax cable and not cdax!

so yeah...

wall ---> cable modem ---> router (one port will be labelled WAN)

and then

router (any available port) ---> PC
router (any other available port) ---> 360

they should both work at the same time, without any issue. if you buy a popular brand, you probably don't have to monkey around with Port Forwarding. if you buy some weird brand, you might have to fiddle with shit which can be a little daunting.

depending your set up and your ISP, you may need to assign IPs to your connected devices, but hopefully DHCP will take care of everything (and it's automatic).

And here's where I step back in and recommend Netgear brand routers. With nearly any cable isp you'll be able to unbox it, plug everything in, and never touch any setup. (unless you get wireless, then you'll need to enable some security)

wattro wrote:damn... if you didn't put VL on the picture, I would have thought it was me!!!!

Whatever floats your boat, but do we really need to know about your "alternative lifestyle"?

Ill keep the pig tails but the triangle dress has to go

thank you for the vat of information... we (well... me and the boyfriend listens) are not going wireless because he went nuts a few years back and ran cat 5 cable all over the god damn house and drilled holes in everything. So we will stick with wires it seems for now...

But thank you for the clear explanations... my research never seems to give me a clear enough answer.

well, allmost all routers have Wireless on them..

So getting one that dosnt will end up running you more money..

i would also like to add, you can disable wireless at any point..