do i need to add a switch to my network for better ping and such

[WINTERLORD]

is 2 computers 4smart phones and a laptop. am using a router and a modem.

i am not familiar with what a switch is best use foir and in what cenario one might be needed. i was to isolate a computer if i can would a switch do that maybne some info about switches

 

[SgtScream]

A switch is only needed if you run out of ports on your router.

 

[audie-tron25]

SgtScream is correct. However, if you are looking for a better ping, there are other ways. First off, how is your PC connected to your router/modem? Ethernet will help a lot but you may need QOS to help further.

Why did you want to isolate a device on your network? Security or performance?

 

[WINTERLORD]

actually both would be good secuirty was reason form idea but performance would be good to as alot of stuff sent out for my mining op. also im connected by a cat5 cable so hardline not wireless. but theres like a ton of smartphones on the network a computer and a laptop

 

[bill001g]

Switches , unless you buy fancy managed ones, are very simplistic devices. They are so simple that they do not have any impact on the performance. Every $20 switches can run every port at maximum up and maximum down speed all at the same time.

From a security standpoint traffic only goes between the machines that are talking. The traffic is not sent to other devices on the network so they can not see it. This is the main difference between modern switches and devices from years ago called hubs. So if you were to copy a file from your machine to a server on the network no other machine on your network would even know that traffic exists.

This of course assumes you do not have some hacker putting capture devices in your network or loading hacking software.

Now you can to a point even stop hackers, but not someone who can physically touch your cable/equipment.

Pretty much your bottleneck will always be your internet connection. A switch can not improve that it just allows you to connect more devices. Now if you internet is not being effectively used you might be able to do something about that with your router if it has QoS features. It is actually fairly hard to get the QoS rules setup without fairly strong network knowledge.

You would have to very clearly define what your goals are so you could come up with rules. It may not make any difference depending on what the actual problem is. You can not for example decrease the ping to a server on the internet, that is mostly a function of distance that the data must travel.

 

[WINTERLORD]

how about local security? if i have a switch will it block local computers from sniffing?

 

[bill001g]

Again that is the key difference between a switch and a hub. A switch only sends traffic to the end device that matches it mac address. So traffic from other machine would not be available to them.

You do not need to add a switch to your router though. The 4 lan ports are a small switch built into the router and it has the same isolation. It also is not possible to see any of the wifi traffic since that too is only sent to the machine with the proper mac address

 

[SgtScream]

What happens when you run out of electrical sockets for all of your devices? You get a power strip. Think of a workgroup switch as the electrical power strip for networked devices. Your making this out to be way more complicated than it has to. If you have enough ports for all of your devices, purchasing a switch will be waste of your hard earned time and money.
If you want to learn more about networking devices, google the following:
1. Modem
2. Router
3. Firewall
4. Switch

Once you've researched these devices you'll obtain a basic understanding on how networking devices.
Again, the only reason you'll need a work group switch, is if you physically run out of network ports on your existing router.

 

[WINTERLORD]

well my router has meduim cpu usage at all times and the mnemory is maxed out at 81% at all times i just wondered iof a switch would take some load off the router

 

[USAFRet]

well my router has meduim cpu usage at all times and the mnemory is maxed out at 81% at all times i just wondered iof a switch would take some load off the router

Only in the context of moving data between two devices on that same switch.

 

[bill001g]

In almost all fairly new router the traffic between devices on the lan ports never passes though the router cpu. There is a separate switch chip in most routers that runs the lan port. The traffic between lan ports never leaves that chip so it will not affect the cpu load on the router chip.