Anyone care to tell me the difference between:
switching box
router
and access point
I want to set up a home network here and need to understand the difference. Layman’s terms!
BTW, any recommendations for the appropriate boxes and products? How much can I expect to spend?
KenTaiwan98
[quote=“KenTaiwan98”]Anyone care to tell me the difference between:
switching box
router
and access point[/quote]
Switch: it simply takes an uplink connection (an uplink is the source of your connection to the outside) and splits it to computers connected to it on the other side. It has the ability to assign internal IP addresses (anything that begins with 192.168.x.x) thus making Internet sharing possible w/ multiple computers.
Router: it’s basically like switch except that a router usually has more gadgets built-in, such as firewall, user manageable IP assignment, and other security features (most routers come with an web-like interface built in to allow you to login to the router to manage those features).
Access point: sometimes this is also a router, depending on the model. An access point refers to wireless broadcast point. It’s a device used to allow wireless networking.
Thanks for the explanation, very clear.
I gave you some $G.
Kenneth
If you want to use more than one computer online at the same time, you’ll need a router – make sure it has NAT/IP sharing capability and you’ll be okay. Expect to pay around NT$2000 for four ports (plus or minus depending on the brand and features). You might also want to have some firewall features; I’m not sure if they all have that, but just having a router between yourself & the internet makes you much less likely to get hacked due to your computer’s IP being hidden from the world (i.e. they only see that of your router). I used to use a D-Link704 (think it was close to NT$4000), and would recommend it although I couldn’t get voice chat to work with it due to its port filtering. The only way was to open all the ports, which is less safe (& I think I STILL couldn’t use voice chat). I heard somewhere that was due to Chunghua Telecom, but I also had the problem when we had a cable modem last year (all connected to the Chunghua network at some point, Isuppose, sigh).
I got a Buffalo wireless router (Airstation G54) a couple of months ago and think that it was around NT$6000. You can get cheaper ones that are 11Mbps for around NT$5,000. If you have ADSL your max data rates are 512Kbps/64Kbps upload/download (or 64KBps/8KBps); which means with an 11Mbps (~1400MBps) wireless router you have 20 times the capacity you need! But the 54Mbps can theoretically speed up backups to multiple wirelessly connected notebooks at home. I think that the wireless routers support many users online at the same time (maybe up to 254?). SOMEBODY PLS. VERIFY THAT.
Which brings up another point: the router has 4 ports where you can plug direct network cables, which is how I have my PC connected. Those wired connections are 100Mbps. But if your phone jack is in your living room & you don’t want to run wires to your PC in the bedroom, you can also get a wireless card (or external USB box) for your PC.
A wireless LAN card for your notebook (PCMCIA or external USB) will be about NT$1500 (closer to NT$2000 for USB).
Option #1 ~NT$5500
If you have a notebook, I’d recommend you get a wireless router for around NT$4000 and wireless PCMCIA card for around NT$1500 (so you can get online when you’re out and about: forumosa.com/3/viewtopic.php?t=7739 (Thanks Feiren!)
I like Buffulo bec. they have instructions in English (thanks again Feiren!).
Of course you can go the cheaper route with option #2.
Option #2 ~NT$3000
If you just have 1 PC at home and you don’t mind wires, I’d recommend a regular 4-port router with NAT/IP sharing for around NT$3000, plus a NT$100 - NT$300 depending on the length of the cable.
good luck!
hAroLd
Note: Again, prices will be slightly cheaper at Bade Lu or Nova, & also cheaper for lesser known brands. I just saw some prices in DM’s
(flyers/Ads):
o EDIMAX BR-6104 NT$1800 www.3cnet.com.tw
Wireless 4 port 10/100 switching hub w/NAT (IP Sharing)
o Lemel LM-RTW030/LM-WLC030 NT$3990 www.tkec.com.tw
Includes a PCMCIA card!
This ad’s all in Chinese so I don’t know details
o Just checked at 3C (tkec) & the 54 Mbps Buffalo Router is $4500, Buffalo PCMCIA $2000 -> $6500
(don’t buy them together or it’s $6800! 
Disclaimer: I’m just guessing, but probably one of the early signs that your radarscope is wearing out is something I call “image fuzz-out.”
But I’ve never even seen a radarscope, so I wouldn’t totally go by what I’ve just said here. <>
I was thinking of connecting one pc to another via a USB connection, and then using the other computer to connect via my DSL to the Internet. That should be possible right?
Kenneth
I know that Apple’s OS X includes firewall and IP-sharing functionality. I’m pretty sure XP does as well.
So, if you’ve got a desktop running XP or X you can reduce the amount of clutter by installing a multiport Ethernet card. Taking this route should also improve your ability to manage the whole setup and reduce overall clutter (ie less one external widget, less one wall wort).
As an aside, I’d avoid the box-to-box USB connection. Over the years I’ve found such “kludges” to be problematic; whether they be SCSI, parallel or whatever. Also, USB tends to be rather “life sucking” – ie it eats lots of clock cycles. This is especially important if you intend on playing networked games or doing anything CPU-intensive while using the network.
Thanks for the advice
I’ll stick with a regular network, i think.
Kenneth
[quote=“scchu”]
Switch: it simply takes an uplink connection (an uplink is the source of your connection to the outside) and splits it to computers connected to it on the other side. It has the ability to assign internal IP addresses (anything that begins with 192.168.x.x) thus making Internet sharing possible w/ multiple computers.[/quote]
I beg to differ…a switch is an intelligent “hub”. A hub is a data repeater, it takes in data from any of its Ethernet ports and sends it out to all of the ports. A switch is smart enough to know where the data should go and sends it to that specific port. This alone is useless in sharing your connection, but if you have Chunghwa non-static IP DSL, you can have both computers dial in using PPPoE. If you’re using a static IP(or only have 1 IP), it needs to be paired with a “home router”(aka Internet connection sharing device)
A real router is something much more complex. However, the term has been bastardized to refer to “internet connection sharing device” so I won’t get into what a router really does. As mentioned before, unnecessary unless you want to use more than 2 computers on DSL at a time or if you only have 1 IP.
Theoretically, yes. In actuality, you’ll probably be able to support about 10 wireless users before the speeds become unusable. For people who have wireless routers/access points, PLEASE make sure that you have some sort of security on it…
Possible, but messy. I’m pretty sure you’d need a special “Internet sharing” usb network cable and then you’d need to set up Internet Connection Sharing on the main computer. Get a hub/switch and have both computers dial in…it’ll save you much trouble if you’re only looking to share the Internet. If you want to create a home network, that’s another can of worms.