Linking two computers to a router versus a switch
Linking two computers to a router versus a switch
Router connects to two 25ft ethernet links → two machines. Router connects to one 25ft ethernet → one gigabit switch → two machines. Effect almost identical. Imagine it changes if the router includes built-in wireless and you have devices on it. Internet speed is 1gbps. Router transmits 1gbps to the switch, which then sends to a wireless access point. One port handles 1gbps, another handles wireless. Scenario: one machine downloads from internet, another from wireless. If both are linked directly to the internal switch, the switch forwards packets from the first machine to the outside and the wireless part for the second. Both get up to 1gbps. Now if the second machine sends data at 500mbps to the router’s wireless, the first machine only receives about 500mbps for its own downloads because both share the single cable going to the router.