router vs hub?

Question

i have seen a adsl router in a local computer shop for £25,and at the moment i am using a bt home hub
is there a difference between a hub and a router,is it because i use a hub that i notice poor connection performance
and will a adsl router (with 4 network ports any ideas?

Answer 1

The BT Home Hub is in fact a router with a misleading name and some extra features. If you are having poor performance, it's probably not the fault of your router.

Definitions:
A Hub is used to connect several computers together on a local network, without an internet connection.
A Router is used to connect several computers to each other and to the internet via an ADSL modem. Many routers have the modem built-in. The BT Home Hub is an example of this.

Answer 2

I have this BT Home Hub and a router would do just the same job as the Hub, only BT have renamed their router. If you don't use the Hub phone supplied then I recommend you getting another router, say from Netgear. This will be a lot more reliable as the home hub is terrible for keeping a long lasting connection. Unfortunately I use the hub phone, and pay for a package on that phone too so I can't really replace the hub despite the poor connection.
I recommend getting a router with wireless to be equal to the home hub.

Answer 3

Yes a hub is a repeater and just recreates the signal input to it to an output

A router has an IP address for each port and translates the input to the appropriate output IP address- That is called NAT and acts as a hardware firewall to prevent anyone seeing the network behind the router.

Unless you want to rewire your home, stick with a wireless router, it will still have 4 extra ports to plug into and no holes in the wall

There is a lot of stuff about ethernet collision domains that the hub makes worse and the router abates, but home networks are not that busy to cause too much worry in that regard.

As rule a router may cost more than a hub as the electronics are more complex

adsl router- you don't buy those as they are not garunteed to work on your providers DSL Network- Encapsulation protocols may not be compatable! Be very wary of that!

You want Ethernet Router- lots of options from $20 to 120(US)

Answer 4

None of the first 3 persons have answered your question. So here goes.

What is a Hub?

A hub is used in a wired network to connect Ethernet cables from a number of devices together. The hub allows each device to talk to the others. (Hubs aren't used in networks with only wireless connections, since network devices such as routers and adapters communicate directly with one another, with nothing in between.)

Hubs are such simple devices — they require no configuration, and have no manuals — that their function is now included in other devices such as routers and modems.

A router is a computer networking device that buffers and forwards data packets across an internetwork toward their destinations, through a process known as routing. A router is life a traffic police, it looks for the best way to keep the traffic flowing as fast as possible in the most efficient way.

So the difference between a hub and a router is that a router "routes" traffic (information) a hub only shares a connection among several PCs. So even when you use just a hub then your ISP (Internet Service Provider) still has to use a router to get your transmission through to its destination. So it's just a matter of whether you have the router at your house/business or at the ISP. The good thing about routers is that they way they are made now is that they have hub capabilities built in.

Answer 5

I don't think there will be any significant difference in performance between the router and hub, i use a router, but i did use a 16port hub instead of the router, they both do the job, but you could just try it out, and if it doesn't work any better take it back.

Answer 6

the BT home hub is a router.

A hub has no intelligent routing whereas a router does.
Agreed, it is odd that BT have chosen to call their router.

you wouldn't normally notice performance issues unless you have several machines firing off the same hub/router.

Answer 7

The Home Hub is a router but i would choose not to buy a home hub. My mate got one and it broke, Well just stopped working, So it depends what make you get. I find me Linksys one brillaint. All the others broke (Netgear,D-Link) but linksys one has had no problems. I would recommend anyone to buy a Linksys Router

Hope this helps

Jack