Do I need an Ethernet Switch?

Posted by: CDI on 27 April 2012

I have a Virgin Media Superhub Router wiich is fine and connects a SB Touch (toy before taking the plunge)to my Asset NAS 4TB server and will soon be connecting to either NDX or NDS.

 

My question is - why do I need an Ethernet Switch (Gigabit?) there are 4 ports in the back of the Virgin Superhub which can be used to connect everything I need

 

Sound quality is most important to me so will get a "switch" if I need too but would apreciate some help in understanding why I need one.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Posted on: 27 April 2012 by Steven Shaw

If there are enough sockets on the back, and your your devices can connect to it, you don't need a switch.

 

Switches are useful for increasing thenumber of sockets or you need a lot of sockets in a different room to the router so you would only need 1 cable between the rooms.

Posted on: 27 April 2012 by Guido Fawkes

I'm far from convinced you'd get better sound from using a switch - if you wanted to use your system and disconnect your router then you could with a switch - I use a Juniper switch which is an industrial strength device and built like a tank, but I use it 'cos I have it and it is useful in my set-up for connectivity, not because it makes any difference in SQ. 

 

When/if I get the NDS I'll use an Apple Extreme to do switching duties downstairs - I have no wired Ethernet down stairs so I'll create a little wired network behind the Fraim. 

Posted on: 27 April 2012 by Simon-in-Suffolk

As said, if the switch ports are free on your Internet router, use those. However to cut down on lengths of patch lead, you might want to have a switch near several devices, and then one patch lead back to your router.

One little point, is that some 'bundled' Internet routers are actually quite poor at switches, and don't correctly support TCP/IP features like multicast (not used for simple web acess applications) but required for streaming. However assuming you have no problems your bundled router switch ports would therefore be working fine.

Simon

 

Posted on: 27 April 2012 by McGhie
I had a practical reason for getting a Gigabit switch. My router is only 100Mbps. My PC and my server (used to stream music) are both Gigabit. So, I use a Gigabit switch and hang the PC, server and SuperUniti off it. That way I get a fast connection between PC and server (useful for copying music files among other things) and reduce traffic on part of network used by SuperUniti. The router has wifi duties (two iPhones, iPad, laptop) and a few other network devices. I was also running out of ports on the router but I mainly wanted Gigabit connection between PC and server. Cheers Ian
Posted on: 28 April 2012 by Andrew Porter

I seriously don't know what the Streaming Audio forum would do without the extreme knowledge and advice that comes from both Guido Fawkes and S.inS. I would really like to thank you both for your invaluable help to me and all forum members.

 

"invaluable [ɪnˈvæljʊəbəl]

adj
having great value that is impossible to calculate; priceless"
 
Thank you both!
Posted on: 28 April 2012 by Simon-in-Suffolk

Andrew - that was unexpexted - you are welcome - you make me feel all embarassed

Posted on: 28 April 2012 by Geoff P
Originally Posted by McGhie:
I had a practical reason for getting a Gigabit switch. My router is only 100Mbps. My PC and my server (used to stream music) are both Gigabit. So, I use a Gigabit switch and hang the PC, server and SuperUniti off it. That way I get a fast connection between PC and server (useful for copying music files among other things) and reduce traffic on part of network used by SuperUniti. The router has wifi duties (two iPhones, iPad, laptop) and a few other network devices. I was also running out of ports on the router but I mainly wanted Gigabit connection between PC and server. Cheers Ian

I was under the impression that the speed of the router will determine the actual speed of any ensuing switch so regardless of using a switch that has Gigabit capability if you hang it on a Megabit router you will only get megabit connections out of the switch.

 

I wait to be corrected cause I may be wrong. 

 

The big benefits of the switch is in creating more connections and the probably superior switching between ports since that's all it does compared with a router which has to handle WiFi, internet etc so typically has less quality in its switching circuits.

 

Regards

Geoff

Posted on: 28 April 2012 by Simon-in-Suffolk

Geoff, the switch is independent of the router.  Therefore  any traffic flowing in and out of theswitch is governed by the slowest link in going from A to B. if that path doesn't gp via your router then the router has no impact of the speed between A and B. That's the benefit of a switch over a hub. That is why switches are preferable to have near or connected to components transferring data between them selves. You can see therefore where a device is on your network can affect its performance.

Simon

Posted on: 28 April 2012 by McGhie
Hi Gary So, if you're limited to, say, 100Mbps by your router then you can allow two gigabit devices to transfer data at a faster rate by using a gigabit switch and hanging the gigabit devices off it. This has the added benefit of isolating traffic between devices on the switch from traffic between devices that aren't on it (e.g. keeping streaming separate from other network traffic).. And, as Simon points out, this can also prove useful for connecting nearby devices with a single cable to the router. Cheers Ian
Posted on: 29 April 2012 by Tog
I use a Virgin cable hub and Airport Extremes for general Internet but my Uniti is connected to my TogServe via a gigabit switch - slightly faster and very reliable. Tog
Posted on: 29 April 2012 by Guido Fawkes
Originally Posted by Andrew Porter:

I seriously don't know what the Streaming Audio forum would do without the extreme knowledge and advice that comes from both Guido Fawkes and S.inS. I would really like to thank you both for your invaluable help to me and all forum members.

 

"invaluable [ɪnˈvæljʊəbəl]

adj
having great value that is impossible to calculate; priceless"
 
Thank you both!

 

A very kind comment - thank you.