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oddjob · Tue Dec 17, 2002 9:53 pm

Yo. I am got an Xbox and Xbox live and am soon going to have to buy a switch. I don't want a router because it's too expensive and heard it slows down a bit. I want a switch because each line will get it's own line to the modem(DSL). What would be the better brand name to buy?

the_silver_bullet24 · Tue Dec 17, 2002 10:07 pm

Xbox live eh?

I'd got for a netgear or Linksys. around 60-70 bling bling canadian makes it pretty good. Switches are better for LAN parties if your gonna do that with Xboxes. It's pretty fun

getbornagain · Wed Dec 18, 2002 12:07 am

well i'd check with my isp...as cox er...cocks.... makes ya pay 7 or 8 $$$ per month for additional ips...so it doesn't take long to pay for a router...got a d-link for like $50 myself

the_silver_bullet24 · Wed Dec 18, 2002 5:31 pm

Yeah, that is true. I'm dishin' out another 5 bucks for another IP. in 20 months I"ll have paid for a router.

absurdity · Wed Dec 18, 2002 5:45 pm

If you don't have a router already, I'd definitely pick one up. That way the router acts as the computer connected to the 'net, and your computer and the Xbox are hidden behind it. Much better than paying for extra IPs.

I highly doubt a router would slow you down. Think of it this way; when you connect to the Internet, you're going through a whole crapload of routers anyways.

Fri Dec 27, 2002 10:23 pm

A router would *not* slow you down. The case goes like this: many routers nowadays have a built-in ethernet hub. Basic differences between hub/switch:

- Hub: available bandwidth gets divided between all connected devices (if it's a 100Mbps hub, and you have 10 devices accessing at the same time, each gets 10Mbps).
- Switch: the rated speed is available point-to-point to all devices. If it says 100Mbps, each device says 100Mbps.

As for connecting a router to your X-Box, you'd have no speed problems because your available bandwidth is easily <=1Mbps, and even in the case of a router-hub, it would be faaaaar away until all its' bandwidth was used up :). You Internet connections is always the bottleneck.

ANApex · Sat Dec 28, 2002 4:18 pm

morphine wrote:
A router would *not* slow you down. The case goes like this: many routers nowadays have a built-in ethernet hub.

Every new router I see comes with a switch and not a hub so I think you have those reversed.

Sat Dec 28, 2002 10:08 pm

Well, I may be wrong as for routers bringing a built-in switch instead of a hub (even better that way :). Haven't used many though, prefer using an old PC as a gateway/server. Much more practical.

the_silver_bullet24 · Sat Dec 28, 2002 10:46 pm

switches are for LAN parties and will not work for Live unfortunatly but it may work I dunno. You have to have a Hub or router.

Sat Dec 28, 2002 10:53 pm

switches are for LAN parties and will not work for Live unfortunatly but it may work I dunno. You have to have a Hub or router.

Bzzzt!!!!

Look in one of my above posts for a basic explanation of the difference between a switch and a hub.

the_silver_bullet24 · Sat Dec 28, 2002 11:14 pm

just buy the Linksys SR81. It has 8 ports, built-in switch, firewall everything you need.

Sat Dec 28, 2002 11:20 pm

Or you can get the netgear FVS318 that comes with the same 8 ports and firewall for $116 from http://www.newegg.com

oddjob · Sun Dec 29, 2002 12:39 am

thanks everyone. I'll probably get the Linksys. I like there looks better

Sun Dec 29, 2002 2:37 am

Sorry, morphine, but you got it wrong.
Switches are intelligent hubs:

Hubs receive a signal from one device on the network and broadcast the signal to every other connected device, it goes back and forth like that, with a bunch of collisions, since only one packet pases through at a time.

Switches, however, get the MAC and IP addresses of each connected device, so that when one device sends a packet, it is sent specifically to the destination device.

If you look on the specs of an 8-port 100Mbps switch, it will say that the max throughput is 400Mbps, because if it so happens that four of the computers send packets to the other four connected devices, each connection will be a dedicated 100 Mbps.

Hope this alleviates the confusion

Sun Dec 29, 2002 3:38 am

Your explanation is very correct :), but my point for the net result still stands: a hub ends up dividing its' maximum throughput between all devices, and the switch makes a "dedicated connection" to each one.

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