6 People on one Internet connection??

Soldato
Joined
17 Dec 2004
Posts
2,502
Location
Crawley, WEST SUSSEX
Hi,

I will soon be living with some of my friends and they have a computer each and i have around 2-3 that need internet access. So I was either thinking that NTL or Telewest or whoever we go with could put a connection in each room for the Internet. I then thought this might not be possible as i don't think you could split the connection 4 ways?? So that leaves us with having a hub and that is connected into the internet socket.

I would therefore like someone to recommend me a good network hub for around 6 computers.

I did look at wireless but it seems very expensive and I have a few friends that have big problems with wireless.

Also am i still right in thinking that the fastest internet u can get at the mo is a 8mb line?? Thanks
 
AFK_Matrix said:
I then thought this might not be possible as i don't think you could split the connection 4 ways??

Er, you can't?
Router and a switch would do you fine. Hub/switch on it's own would be useless.
 
Sorry could you like actually name the things we will need? Cos at the mo i just have my linksys router connecting to the socket and then my 2 computers linked to the Linksys.

So how would it work with 6 people. I need names of the switches and routers so i can get a price. Would each indiviual person need a router or what? Sorry noob to networking large numbers of people here :(
 
Linksys WRT54GS (wireless) router will do a perfect job, then connect any 5 port switch to one of the ports on the WRT, you then have 3+4 = 7 ports to connect things to. And wireless if you want it in the future.

Problem solved.

Oh, and 6 computers is hardly a large network :p
 
So you don't mind cables over the floor/stairs etc and holes in all the door frames for the cables to go through. Unless you've got badly fitting doors of course and can squeeze them through.

I believe the highest advertised speed for cable is 10mb, with ADSL it's 8Mb and ADSL2 being 24Mb.
 
Worry not about the current kit you have. If you already have a router (from your post you do) that takes an ethernet connection (easy visual check) then all you need is a cheap £20 hub/switch. Spending a little more will get you funkier features but to be honest if your just after getting everyone in the house connected through your connection a cheap hub is all you'll need.

Get whatever length of crossover cable you need (or a hub that mentions in the blurb that it has an UPLINK port or auto-senses) and you in business.

The physical side of networking is actually pretty simple. Router with hub built in can be used for some of the connections if it makes cabling easier or everything can go in the seperate hub cabled back to the router.

What i've always tended to do is have a hub per floor then uplink back to the router. All uplink it doing is crossing 2 of the pins in the cable (hence crossover cables are already crossed and dont need an uplink port). When connecting bits of network kit via ethernet you need crossover/uplink port when connecting PC's to the network you need normal or "straight through" cables.

Wireless makes things much tidier if this is an option. You can also mix and match wireless and cabled networking as needed. Id have a swat up on a few windows wireless guides to make it a painless setup if thats the route you choose :)

I currently have main machines on wired and laptops in the house on wireless or keep a plug spare in rooms that have the floors ethernet switch :)

Routers generally link networks together (in the case of ADSL modems via the public telephone network) so only 1 is USUALLY needed per network (in large networks the physical network would be split into smaller groups and linked via several routers)

Hubs are devices that the client kit on the network (computers, printers etc) link to the network. Hubs are "dumb" in that they will duplicate any data they recieve to all ports - the machine at the end will ignore it as its not for its IP address but it still uses some of the internal network bandwidth in sending.

Switches are same as hubs but are a little bit smarter about it - to avoid congestion they recognise which port a particular bit of kit is on and transmit only to that port. This is why in your case I suggested that even a hub would do as they are generally cheaper (tho only by a few quid these days) as for smaller networks there wont be much data flying around for the hubs to waste bandwidth sending to all.

As a final bit if you can get cable that WOULD be the route id take. Im considering a house move back into a cabled area as I found the service was extremely good. Adsl is a BIT more messing about and not quite as consistant service wise.
If you get cable you will be given a modem which will plug into an "incoming" port on a DSL/Cable router. If you go ADSL you need to get a router with ADSL modem built in - OcUK have these in different categories for the most to make it easy to understand. Not sure which you have currently :)
 
Last edited:
then all you need is a cheap £20 hub/switch. Spending a little more will get you funkier features but to be honest if your just after getting everyone in the house connected through your connection a cheap hub is all you'll need.
Hub = bad for file sharing/gaming. The total B/w is shared whereas a switch gives you full 100mbit/1gbit no matter how many people are sending at once. Hubs can't do full duplex either :. won't do gigabit as it's a natively full duplex technology.
 
Ok thanks guys, and yeah i had considered the wiring issue but also don't think that my flat mates will have the money to get an all wireless network. Will have to see what the house is like first as were just looking for somewhere at the mo. The router i have at the mo is a linksys one for cable so it looks like i just need a switch, as there will be 2 of us that are heavily into games so bandwidth could be a prob.

Thanks guys for all ** help.
 
Skilldibop said:
Hub = bad for file sharing/gaming. The total B/w is shared whereas a switch gives you full 100mbit/1gbit no matter how many people are sending at once.

Depends, mainly on the size of the backplane - some very very cheap switches can't handle being maxxed out like that.
 
Yep, obviously, but you said that a switch gives full speed all the time, which isn't really true :p

I've got a couple of Netgear GS605's, and like most Netgear kit, they're rubbish - numerous problems with them including poor throughput, especially when 10mbit devices are connected too (god knows why).
 
that'd be the autonegotiation stuff. It's checking the destination port speed and adjusting it back to 10meg for transmission then back to 100meg if that particular destination NIC supports it. Thus it'll cry "wait for me i can't cope". which is why you buy better switches OR ceaper ones but only fill them to 75% capacity and don't mix speeds.
(bear in mind that auto negotiation happens EVERY broadcast too. i.e. 10meg PC broadcasts/multicasts and all ports have to be limited back to 10meg output then bumped back up.)
 
It's not that - although they also love to negotiate 10mbit half duplex links with my Powerbook's Gigabit port, and when two of them are connected together.

What I mean is, transfers from one connected computer to another are slowed down immensely when something like a Linksys PAP2 (10mb h/d) is connected even when it's idle.

In the end I binned them and replaced them with D-Link switches, at least they work properly.
 
sounds like read me backplane bandwidth or slow CPUs, tho i take it these wer like 16 port plus? in which case they're normally resonably high backplane.

tbh i wouldn't know, i only use HP Procurve modulars and Cisco 2900s
 
No, these are cheapy GS605's.

I wouldn't buy Netgear rackmount switches :p

HP procurves all the way :)
 
Back
Top Bottom