Hello community,
I have a fairly simple question puzzling me. I am a Cisco Trainee and I was stumped when asked a very basic question about routers and switches.
A buddy of mine was curious about these devices and starting throwing questions at me. I explained to him how switches can be used for LAN gaming and they should be preferred because they can have higher data transfer speeds. I also explain to him how a router, with ports (Please correct me if I'm wrong), acts just like a switch. Then he asked me, "Well, why do companies need switches if multiple PCs can connect to one router interface and still be on a LAN?"
This is where I got stumped. I started thinking about the 4 ports on my router, but multiple PCs can connect wirelessly to my router. Is there a limit to how many PCs can connect to one side of a router?(Wirelessly) I had many basic answers: switches have multiple physical ports for faster data transfer, switches can connect to other switches without affecting the entire network speed, switches can be subnetted (Can PCs that connect to one interface of a router be subnetted?.
I was lost and boggled with my own reply to his question. So, in general, why do small/medium size companies need switches to connect to a router before leaving their network?
Thank you much.
-Jason
I have a fairly simple question puzzling me. I am a Cisco Trainee and I was stumped when asked a very basic question about routers and switches.
A buddy of mine was curious about these devices and starting throwing questions at me. I explained to him how switches can be used for LAN gaming and they should be preferred because they can have higher data transfer speeds. I also explain to him how a router, with ports (Please correct me if I'm wrong), acts just like a switch. Then he asked me, "Well, why do companies need switches if multiple PCs can connect to one router interface and still be on a LAN?"
This is where I got stumped. I started thinking about the 4 ports on my router, but multiple PCs can connect wirelessly to my router. Is there a limit to how many PCs can connect to one side of a router?(Wirelessly) I had many basic answers: switches have multiple physical ports for faster data transfer, switches can connect to other switches without affecting the entire network speed, switches can be subnetted (Can PCs that connect to one interface of a router be subnetted?.
I was lost and boggled with my own reply to his question. So, in general, why do small/medium size companies need switches to connect to a router before leaving their network?
Thank you much.
-Jason