What is the difference between a Hub, Switch and Router?
A. Hub – Also known as a Repeater. A LAN device which allows the computers connected to it to talk to each other. All the computers share the same bandwidth. Switched technology replaced the repeater concept. Switch – Also known as a Bridge. A LAN device which allows those computers connected to it through a network to talk to each other. Each computer connected to the switch has its own dedicated bandwidth. Thus for a 100BaseT (100 Mbps) Switch and 4 computers, each computer gets its own personal 100 Mbps to the switch. Router – Also known as a Gateway. A networking device that is used to connect different networks (LAN & WAN) together (example: home network to the Internet). Most SOHO (Small office / home office) routers use NAT (Network Address Translation) to hide internal private addresses from the public Internet, but routers are used more commonly to simply route traffic.
