[tcraig72]

I was wondering if there is such a thing as a network cable splitter. I have AT&T U-verse and my STB is wired with an ethernet cable. Is there a splitter I can use with that wire to split off to my BDP and TV (Samsung 850)? If so, how expensive would that be?


Any help would be appreciated.

 

[thegreendude]

You'll need to get a network switch. There are cheap ones such as the D-Link DES-1105 that would probably work fine for you.

 

[adrman]

 Here's a good inexpensive one.

 

[thegreendude]

Just make sure you're buying a switch and not a hub. I'm not sure why they even sell hubs, I guess there must be some specific use for them.

 

[heckheck]



Quote:
Originally Posted by thegreendude /forum/post/18160150


Just make sure you're buying a switch and not a hub. I'm not sure why they even sell hubs, I guess there must be some specific use for them.

Although switches are what most people would want, hubs work just fine too. Hubs were invented first and can be thought of as a "party" line telephone, where everyone talks on the same line taking turns, as opposed to switches, where two parties can talk privately without affecting the conversation of two other parties.


Hubs are still useful as they have the ability for someone technically inclined to easily connect to and inspect all of the traffic on a network, for education or to diagnose problems, etc. This is also possible on switches with mirror ports, but those are much more expensive than simple unmanaged switches you buy from Newegg.


-Jim

 

[tcraig72]

So if I have an old hub lying around I can use that?

 

[WonHung]



Quote:
Originally Posted by tcraig72 /forum/post/18176955


So if I have an old hub lying around I can use that?

You could by why would you want to? As a temporary solution, I can see just throwing it in to get you going. But with switches being so cheap these days, you're short changing yourself network performance wise.


To expand on what Jim said, the reason why switches are superior to hubs is due to the ability of the switch to maintain traffic separation between the switch and what is pluged into it on a given port. Switches work by forwarding frames to specific devices based on the destination MAC embedded in the frame header. The switch keeps a MAC table which lists what MAC address is on what port. This creates network efficiency as not all frames are sent to all ports as is the case with a hub. The other performance gain is via the host connected devices. With hubs, all ports see all traffic and as a result each host device must process each frame it sees regardless of whether the frame was intended for that host or not.


The other advantages of switches is the ability to have devices run at full duplex and the ability to limit the collision domains between just the switch and the device connected to it.

 

[tcraig72]

Thanks for the info. I think I'll just pick up a switch for $10. I'm in no hurry anyway. Love the detailed explanations one gets in this forum. Priceless!