eHow launches Android app: Get the best of eHow on the go.
Summary: In home networking, switches and hubs may look the same, but hubs communicate in cycles through network connections, and switches only send information to the destination computer. Learn about limitations to hubs that switches don't have with help from a specialist in computer and network administration in this free video on home networking.
"Hello, today we're going to talk about switches versus hubs. While switches and hubs look the same in appearance, there's a couple of significant differences. The way that a hub communicates, it cycles through the network connections until it finds the computer it looks for, and then it sends the packets back and forth at ten one hundred speed. A switch will analyze the packet and send that information only to the destination computer, and it will remember that connection, and transfers, the transfer rates are a hundred megabits per second, sixteen computers. While they both connect the same way, through hubs, or excuse me, through Ethernet ports, and they have uplinks, there's limitations to a hub that a switch doesn't have. So, of course the best solution to connecting computers on a network would be through a network switch because of the transfer rates at a hundred megabits per second, and also the, the other computers on the network do not have to hear the exchange of information from one computer to the next. And that's about switches versus hubs."
eHow Article: About Switches vs. Hubs for Home Networking
Copyright © 1999-2009 eHow, Inc. Use of this web site constitutes acceptance of the eHow Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. en-US Portions of this page are modifications based on work created and shared by Google and used according to terms described in the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution License.
