We have two computers in our office. We have one internet connection. Can we share the connecting using a hub or we need to have a router? (Also if I need to have a router, why so?)
This probably sounds pretty stupid, but allow me to ask. What's the difference between switch and hub? Is there any difference or these two mean the same thing?
Yes, its different although the look is quite the same. Here are easy explanation: Hub - Lets say you have a 100MBps hub. 2 PC is connected to it. So the speed will be divided into 2 for each port. So you only get 50MBps per PC from each port. Switch - For a 100MBps switch, you will get full bandwidth, no matter how many PC you connect to it. So for 2 PC, both of it will get 100MBps of full bandwidth. So switch is much better compare to hub. Majority of the office today are using switch. Hub is an old device. Go to a computer store and ask for a switch.
A hub is typically the least expensive, least intelligent, and least complicated of the three. Its job is very simple: anything that comes in one port is sent out to the others. That's it. Every computer connected to the hub "sees" everything that every other computer on the hub sees. The hub itself is blissfully ignorant of the data being transmitted. For years, simple hubs have been quick and easy ways to connect computers in small networks. A switch does essentially what a hub does but more efficiently. By paying attention to the traffic that comes across it, it can "learn" where particular addresses are. For example, if it sees traffic from machine A coming in on port 2, it now knows that machine A is connected to that port and that traffic to machine A needs to only be sent to that port and not any of the others. The net result of using a switch over a hub is that most of the network traffic only goes where it needs to rather than to every port. On busy networks this can make the network significantly faster. A router is the smartest and most complicated of the bunch. Routers come in all shapes and sizes from the small four-port broadband routers that are very popular right now to the large industrial strength devices that drive the internet itself. A simple way to think of a router is as a computer that can be programmed to understand, possibly manipulate, and route the data its being asked to handle. For example, broadband routers include the ability to "hide" computers behind a type of firewall which involves slightly modifying the packets of network traffic as they traverse the device. All routers include some kind of user interface for configuring how the router will treat traffic. The really large routers include the equivalent of a full-blown programming language to describe how they should operate as well as the ability to communicate with other routers to describe or determine the best way to get network traffic from point A to point B. Taken from http://ask-leo.com/whats_the_difference_between_a_hub_a_switch_and_a_router.html
Simple answer... Go for hub (it's cheapest) if numbers for PC on which you'll be sharing internet connection is say...less than 8.
I forgot to ask another very important question. I need to log on every time I access the internet; this log-on screen comes up every time I start up my computer and try to access a web page on the internet. Is there going to be a problem if I set up a hub/switch/router? Also do I need to pick one of these three in order to not create any connection problem?
Get a router. Dont go for a hub. Router is useful than hub. If you buy a hub you will regret it. If you need to logon everytime you access the internet then router is for you. Trust me! hubs are for nubs