CAn you share files / printers with a router or do you need ethernet hub/switch?

Question

DOes the router share the internet and share files/printers ,etc

and can the ethernet share and internet connection as well as files

or does just etherhent hub or switch share files and ONLY a router is capable of sharing an internet connection ?

yea I know but

I'm asking from a general perspective

if connecting an Ethernet hub is capable of just sharing printers/files or if it's also capable of sharing an internet connection without a router


and if a router is capable of doing the job of an ethernet hub ---sharing printers and files

SO ethernet is the same thing as a routeR???? They aren't different???

What does a hub do then ???? can it shar ethe internet connection ...or do I need a router for this

Answer 1

As most "routers" comes with a 4-port switch, I believe that renders your 1st and 3rd question moot.

But to answer them properly... Router shares an internet connection. To the outside, the router appears to be a SINGLE computer. Router shields the network from the outside.

A switch or a hub is for connecting different stations of a LAN together. As you call it, it's for file and printer sharing.

While the former, with a router, is also called "sharing" it's a completely different KIND of sharing. Files and Printers are network resources (i.e. they appear as entities on the network), a network connection is not an entity (in the same sense).

EDIT: Ethernet (capital E) is the wired "standard" (like wi-fi is wireless standard, except Ethernet came first).

Answer 2

You can share files and internet over a hub, bridge, switch or router. Whatever you happen to have the difference is the level of control it takes over what the network is doing. For printer sharing a router will probably be the easiest because it automatically asigns an IP address to the printer as well as all computers on the network. Whereas using another method you will need to set the IP yourself in most cases.

Answer 3

The router and hub have different purposes. Where the router/switch is used for segregation, the hub is used for aggregation. That means segregate or aggregate computers in a network. While routers/swtch and advanced pieces of equipment can also do the job of hubs, no one invests in routers to do the job of hubs.

The file sharing is a feature of the OS and have little to do with the hub or router/switch(even though there are settings which can make or break the sharing in the router). Also if you see the Internet connection and another computer than its just another component of your interconnected network, connected via a hub or router.

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Answer 4

okay....
First- a router connects two or more networks together. In this case, it connects your inside (home) network to the outside (Internet).
Most routers have multiport hubs or switches (They basically work the same) built in. ALL the computers plugged in to the hub are on the SAME NETWORK.
Your router will more than likely have DHCP configured so that the computers will get an IP address and the Default gateway information from the router.

so..... to recap- any computer connected to the router should be able to talk to each other AND all talk to the Internet.

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

If your router has more than one port to plug in a computer, it has a switch built in. The only thing you'd need a switch or hub for is to add more ports.

Answer 6

connect the computers with the router and enable file sharing and printing

Answer 7

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