router and switch

[gildan2020]

anyone know the difference between a router and a switch?


thx,
gildan2020

[lynx]

Switches work at hardware level, routers work at internet protocol level. Multiport routers effectively have a built-in switch.

Generally, routers provide address translation and aggregating services, and often some sort of firewall. If you have several computers but only one internet address you would need to use a router to provide aggregation. If you have several internet addresses but wish to use a private network you would need a router to provide network address translation (NAT).

If you used a switch to connect your pc's to the internet you would need an internet address for each pc. Also, since a switch can't do address translation or firewalling your own network traffic could be exposed to the internet, which is not a good idea.

[gildan2020]

okay, after reading through ur post, correct me if i'm wrong:
LAN connected by router = 1 WAN IP
LAN connected by switch = many WAN IP

since i have only one internet connection at home, can i still use a switch and expect different WAN IPs for each of my comps? all mutually exclusive on the internet?


thx,
gildan2020

[lynx]

okay, after reading through ur post, correct me if i'm wrong:
LAN connected by router = 1 WAN IP
LAN connected by switch = many WAN IP

since i have only one internet connection at home, can i still use a switch and expect different WAN IPs for each of my comps? all mutually exclusive on the internet?


thx,
gildan2020

Only if your ISP provides more than 1 WAN IP per connection. Some do, but usually you have to say how many you need and most charge for each additional IP. There's really not much advantage to having a direct IP for each PC, except that a switch is marginally cheaper in the short term. They are still sharing the same line so there's no speed advantage.

I assume you know you need a direct ethernet connection from your ISP or a cable modem which converts directly to ethernet.