# Can you use hubs with home/dsl routers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 4, 2008, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-hubs-with-home-dsl-routers/466392 "2008-10-04T00:01:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-hubs-with-home-dsl-routers/466392/1 "2008-10-04T00:01:04Z")
My cable modem will be 40+ feet away from several devices that need wired access to my LAN. There’s my PC right next to the modem, and then at least 2 devices on the other side of the house. I would prefer to have one cable running across the house, so can I plug one cable into a port in the router [probably [this one here](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124190)], run the cable across the house, plug it into a hub, and then split it between the devices over there? I can’t simply connect the router to the cable modem with a 50 foot cable and place it near the devices because my PC (next to the modem) also needs to be connected, which would give me 2 wires running across the house anyway. I’ve yet to ever use one of those home router/nat box/etc. devices. I know they’re not real routers in terms of their capabilities. So I’m thinking they may be hardwired to think one port = one connection/device, and therefore I couldn’t use a hub because the router wouldn’t send data for both devices down the same port. I realize it’s a wireless router, but I probably won’t be using the wireless aspect for anything that can be hard wired. So is it possible with those devices to run cable modem-\>router-\>50 foot cable-\>hub-\>2 devices? ---
**Author:** ![Apex\_Rogers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@Apex\_Rogers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apex_Rogers)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-hubs-with-home-dsl-routers/466392/2 "2008-10-04T00:06:35Z")
That should work fine. Your router will happily assign each device a unique address on the subnet, and both should be able to connect to the internet through the cable modem no problem. ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-hubs-with-home-dsl-routers/466392/3 "2008-10-04T00:07:50Z")
Use a switch not a hub. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-hubs-with-home-dsl-routers/466392/4 "2008-10-04T00:09:11Z")
> [@Szlater](#): > > Use a switch not a hub. Yeah, I was gonna say hubs make baby Jesus cry. ☹ Hell, do they even make hubs anymore? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-hubs-with-home-dsl-routers/466392/5 "2008-10-04T00:11:42Z")
Use the router, and then use a [switch](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124005) for the rest of your connections. I have a similar setup at my house. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-hubs-with-home-dsl-routers/466392/6 "2008-10-04T00:13:11Z")
Hubs are pracitcally identical to switches for my purposes. Edit: But since they’re so cheap anyway I might as well get one. I didn’t bother to make a switch/hub distinction because it wasn’t relevant to my question. ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-hubs-with-home-dsl-routers/466392/7 "2008-10-04T00:31:28Z")
> [@Szlater](#): > > Use a switch not a hub. Most home users won’t notice a difference. When you have an internet connection with less than 10 mbps and a LAN of 100 mbps without a lot of local traffic, it doesn’t really matter that the box tying them all together is dumb. I have a switch and if it craps out, I’ll get another one, but I wouldn’t recommend anyone already having a hub to go buy a switch for a small home network. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-use-hubs-with-home-dsl-routers/466392/8 "2008-10-04T00:55:22Z")
I’ve also used spare wired/wireless routers for this purpose, mainly because a lot of people have spare wired ones after they switch to wireless. You just need to turn off DHCP.