Can I expand the number of ethernet ports on my router?

[M_Lyons10]

Hi everyone.

I fully realize this is probably a VERY stupid question, but I'm not a networking guy and didn't know. I have a router with 4 ethernet ports and I need more. Is there a device that I can connect to the router to extend the number of ethernet ports I can have? And if so, what's this device called? I've looked online, but didn't find anything that looked like what I needed, and I think that's because I didn't know what it was called (I find it hard to believe that I can't do this honestly).

And also, are there any downsides to expanding the number of ethernet ports in this way? Speed or anything? Does the expander just plug into one of the ethernet ports that is already on the router?

Thanks Everyone.

[Fish]

You need a network switch.

http://www.google.com/search?q=network+switch&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=V1V&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Pa2oTYzALYiq8APzz6CnBg&ved=0CFIQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=657

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

What you need is called a Hub or Switch. It basically splits one port into more than one.

You typically get them in 4 or 8 port varieties, but you can get more or less if you want.

Hubs are always powered in some way, so they will be boosted.

[LiquidSolstice]

Switch=Perfect for you. They're pretty cheap.

[helpifIcan]

Switch=Perfect for you. They're pretty cheap.

DO NOT get a hub for the little difference in price you want a SWITCH!

[Seizure1990]

And also, are there any downsides to expanding the number of ethernet ports in this way? Speed or anything? Does the expander just plug into one of the ethernet ports that is already on the router?

A switch is very similar to your router. Put an Ethernet cord between your router and switch, and then all the extra open ports on the switch can be used.

There is nothing inherent to splitting your line that will reduce quality or speed. However, keep in mind that the more devices that are using the connection at once, the slower each individual device will be.

For example, if you have a 3.0 megabit connection (which, in practice,should come out to a download speed of about 300 - 350 kilobytes per second), and you have 8 devices all using the connection at once, each device will only be running at roughly 40 kilobytes per second, which is pretty darn slow if you're used to your standard DSL speed.

[M_Lyons10]

A switch is very similar to your router. Put an Ethernet cord between your router and switch, and then all the extra open ports on the switch can be used.

There is nothing inherent to splitting your line that will reduce quality or speed. However, keep in mind that the more devices that are using the connection at once, the slower each individual device will be.

For example, if you have a 3.0 megabit connection (which, in practice,should come out to a download speed of about 300 - 350 kilobytes per second), and you have 8 devices all using the connection at once, each device will only be running at roughly 40 kilobytes per second, which is pretty darn slow if you're used to your standard DSL speed.

Thanks everybody, I really appreciate the help. I am switching the phone system at our office over to VoIP and do not have enough ethernet ports on the router to do this. So I am not sure if an effect on the speed would be detrimental to the phone system then... Does anyone happen to know if this would be O.K. in this situation? Phones being as important as they are I want to make sure that I do it right.

And also, does anyone have a switch that they would recommend? I would prefer to stay away from Cisco as I have had a lot of problems with them. The router is Draytek and I love it, but I'll have to check if they have switches and how good those are (As well as how costly)...

Thanks again for all of the help everyone. :)

[Japlabot]

However, keep in mind that the more devices that are using the connection at once, the slower each individual device will be.

For example, if you have a 3.0 megabit connection (which, in practice,should come out to a download speed of about 300 - 350 kilobytes per second), and you have 8 devices all using the connection at once, each device will only be running at roughly 40 kilobytes per second, which is pretty darn slow if you're used to your standard DSL speed.

Wow this information is so wrong, I don't even know where to start picking at it. THIS IS NOT TRUE, IT DOES NOT WORK THIS WAY AT ALL.

And for the person who is suggested a HUB.... What the heck???? Was this a joke? We are past the 90s!

[abecedarian paradoxious]

The switch would plug into any one of the 4 ports on the router. Any issues resulting would depend on the configuration of the router and switch.

If the router acts as a DCHP server, and should the switch have such an option, the switch's DHCP server should be disabled. Otherwise you could end up with devices on the router not being able to see devices on the switch and vice-versa due to sub-netting and "double-NAT" issues.

If you have multiple computers connected to the router and connect the switch to a port, it's possible that the router could limit the switch's bandwidth to 1/4 of your total bandwidth due to the router QOS (Quality Of Service) setting dividing the bandwidth between the 3 computers and the switch. In such a case I would recommend having ONLY the switch connected to the router and ALL other devices connected to the switch. One benefit of this is allowing the switch to manage bandwidth and another is that all devices will be on the same network segment (subnet) so any computers should have no issues seeing each other.

Then again, you may want the computers on one segment and VOIP on another, which opens up another can of worms.

[abecedarian paradoxious]

However, keep in mind that the more devices that are using the connection at once, the slower each individual device will be.

For example, if you have a 3.0 megabit connection (which, in practice,should come out to a download speed of about 300 - 350 kilobytes per second), and you have 8 devices all using the connection at once, each device will only be running at roughly 40 kilobytes per second, which is pretty darn slow if you're used to your standard DSL speed.

Wow this information is so wrong, I don't even know where to start picking at it. THIS IS NOT TRUE, IT DOES NOT WORK THIS WAY AT ALL.

Tell that to the people on cable broadband that see drops from their 25Mbps "advertised" download to less than 1Mbps when 5 of their neighbors are online downloading torrents.

And for the person who is suggested a HUB.... What the heck???? Was this a joke? We are past the 90s!

Though I agree we are past the '90s, a hub can be usable for VOIP.

I have an older D-Link 10/100Base-T hub I use to split my 802.11G extender across a PS/2 and XBox 360 and it works fine, few packet collisions, and can't beat the $5 price. DHCP from the router works flawlessly across the extender and hub too.

Sometimes you have to know how networking "works" to know what works and what doesn't.

Go figure.

[d4diesel]

Thanks everybody, I really appreciate the help. I am switching the phone system at our office over to VoIP and do not have enough ethernet ports on the router to do this. So I am not sure if an effect on the speed would be detrimental to the phone system then... Does anyone happen to know if this would be O.K. in this situation? Phones being as important as they are I want to make sure that I do it right.

And also, does anyone have a switch that they would recommend? I would prefer to stay away from Cisco as I have had a lot of problems with them. The router is Draytek and I love it, but I'll have to check if they have switches and how good those are (As well as how costly)...

Thanks again for all of the help everyone. :)

for extra port, definitely go with a switch and would recommend an unmanaged one. basically, you will have run a ethernet wire from a router port to any of the port on the switch and plug in all your devices to the switch. this way, you can all your QoS management on the router.

As for voip, considering you are trying to stay away from cisco but they seem to be leader in voip adapter. so, you may not be able to run away that easily from them. I personally, have had a few linksys/cisco product and only one died after running for 5 years. you might just have had a lemon or two.

One ting i would suggest for voip is definitely have a QoS management to allocate enough bandwidth to the voip adapter otherwise you are going to see you calls drop if someone on the network starts downloading a large file.

Since you are in the US. look at dell.com, they regularly have gigabit 8 port switch on sale for 50% off. i got mine about 2 years back from them for about 25 bucks+taxes. I have a trendnet one and been very happy with it.

[Aergan]

Netgear offer a product registration lifetime warrenty on their ProSafe Gigabit model unmanaged switches. I use many in both my home and build environemnts and haven't had any grief with them.

[+BudMan MVC]

So you don't know even know what a switch is called, or how to extend the ports on your router with, but then you state "I would prefer to stay away from Cisco as I have had a lot of problems with them"

These statements don't go with each other.. How could you have have used cisco at all in the past and not even know the name for a switch?? What device did you use from cisco that you had issues with? And not even know what a switch is?? Dumb founded by these statements.

BTW if your going to be doing VOIP, your going to more than likely want atleast a "smart" switch or even fully managed vs a dumb/unmanaged since dumb switches do not in any way allow for QoS or vlans, etc. etc. Which are both features you normally want when using voip.

[Hell-In-A-Handbasket]

Do not get a hub, because you will have "collisions" and ot will slow down network speed.

A hub doesnt know what port sent what, so it broadcasts to all " is this you"

Hubs are always powered in some way, so they will be boosted.

[Seizure1990]

Wow this information is so wrong, I don't even know where to start picking at it. THIS IS NOT TRUE, IT DOES NOT WORK THIS WAY AT ALL.

What are you implying then? That each individual connection somehow magically runs at the full download speed simultaneously, or what? Explain how I'm wrong please.

[Teebor]

What are you implying then? That each individual connection somehow magically runs at the full download speed simultaneously, or what? Explain how I'm wrong please.

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/lan-switch4.htm

A vital difference between a hub and a switch is that all the nodes connected to a hub share the bandwidth among themselves, while a device connected to a switch port has the full bandwidth all to itself. For example, if 10 nodes are communicating using a hub on a 10-Mbps network, then each node may only get a portion of the 10 Mbps if other nodes on the hub want to communicate as well. But with a switch, each node could possibly communicate at the full 10 Mbps

[Seizure1990]

I'd like a bit more detail on that, and what specific contexts it's possible, because all I know is that if I pay Verizon for 3.0MB/s, and my computer wants to make a download at 2.0MB/s, and my bro's Xbox Live wants another 2.0, one of us, if not both, is gonna get frustrated.

This is like saying you can get 8 gallons per second out of a faucet rated for 6 by adding a splitter.

edit: Are you misunderstanding me and thinking I am talking about local network activity?

[nub]

Hubs are always powered in some way, so they will be boosted.

Pretty sure you got that backwards.

Also if you've got an extra router you can turn off DHCP and not connect WAN and it'll act as a switch. I wouldn't recommend it for a business setting though.

[offroadaaron]

What you need is called a Hub or Switch. It basically splits one port into more than one.

You typically get them in 4 or 8 port varieties, but you can get more or less if you want.

Hubs are always powered in some way, so they will be boosted.

Not always.

Also switches are powered to so they boost signal as well.

[Teebor]

I'd like a bit more detail on that, and what specific contexts it's possible, because all I know is that if I pay Verizon for 3.0MB/s, and my computer wants to make a download at 2.0MB/s, and my bro's Xbox Live wants another 2.0, one of us, if not both, is gonna get frustrated.

This is like saying you can get 8 gallons per second out of a faucet rated for 6 by adding a splitter.

edit: Are you misunderstanding me and thinking I am talking about local network activity?

I think the confusion might be the terms bandwidth and throughput and their use

Although bandwidth can tell us about how much information a network can move at a period of time, you?ll find that actual network speeds are much lower. We use the term throughput to refer to the actual bandwidth that is available to a network, as opposed to theoretical bandwidth.

Several different things may affect the actual bandwidth a device gets. The number of users accessing the network, the physical media, the network topology, hardware capability, and many other aspects can affect bandwidth.

To calculate data transfer speeds, we use the equation Time = Size / Theoretical Bandwidth

[M_Lyons10]

Thanks everyone for all of your help and suggestions.

The reason I mentioned that I didn't much care for Cisco is because I have had numerous problems with their routers over the years and though I've never used one of their switches I figured I would be running into similar problems... I'm sorry if that created any confusion.

I was looking at some switches and I found this one:

http://www.draytek.com/user/PdInfoDetail.php?Id=58

How does this look? It's made by the same people that made my router, which has very good build quality.

Also, I was just thinking about this today, and our router has VPN support, which is in use. Would this affect the VoIP quality? My thoughts are yes? Or would I have to take steps to avoid problems when the VPN was in use?

I apologize for all of the questions, but I'm kind of learning as I go here having never used VoIP or switches...

Thanks again for all of your help everyone. :)

[JaredFrost]

I'd like a bit more detail on that, and what specific contexts it's possible, because all I know is that if I pay Verizon for 3.0MB/s, and my computer wants to make a download at 2.0MB/s, and my bro's Xbox Live wants another 2.0, one of us, if not both, is gonna get frustrated.

This is like saying you can get 8 gallons per second out of a faucet rated for 6 by adding a splitter.

edit: Are you misunderstanding me and thinking I am talking about local network activity?

The confusion is happening because you originally stated it in a manner that made it seem like this was forced and happened no matter the current network load.

But in this -example- above you clearly mean it in a network load sense.

EDIT: Never heard of DrayTek, personally I would recommend D-Link, Cisco, maybe a Netgear, but in that order.

I suspect the problems you had with Cisco were when they bought out Linksys and put their name on a bunch of crappy Linksys hardware.

PS: Can you tell I don't like Linksys?

[garychencool]

You can get a hub/switch with 100 ports!

[Seizure1990]

The confusion is happening because you originally stated it in a manner that made it seem like this was forced and happened no matter the current network load.

But in this -example- above you clearly mean it in a network load sense.

I dunno, I recall very clearly using the words "simultaneous" and whatever else to make it obvious what I meant, but it doesn't really matter. Just a misunderstanding.

Anyways, I highly recommend NetGear switches. They work amazing.

[Sir Nick]

So you don't know even know what a switch is called, or how to extend the ports on your router with, but then you state "I would prefer to stay away from Cisco as I have had a lot of problems with them"

These statements don't go with each other.. How could you have have used cisco at all in the past and not even know the name for a switch?? What device did you use from cisco that you had issues with? And not even know what a switch is?? Dumb founded by these statements.

BTW if your going to be doing VOIP, your going to more than likely want atleast a "smart" switch or even fully managed vs a dumb/unmanaged since dumb switches do not in any way allow for QoS or vlans, etc. etc. Which are both features you normally want when using voip.

Cisco is just a brand man , for routers, don't be so rude.