Router or Switch or Hub?

I do some PC support work for a locally-based national charity, and have
recently moved them to a new office which was cabled with cat5e. I've
scrounged an 8 port hub, and now have their 6 PCs working happily together,
one of which has a dial-up internet connection. The PCs are currently all
Windows 98SE, and the network protocol is Microsoft NetBEUI.

My next project is to switch to Broadband (ADSL) and I need to know what
hardware I need to buy; being a charity money is in short supply! I guess
that I'll need an ADSL modem and router, possible combined, but will I still
be able to use the hub with this or do I need to buy an 8 port router? I
appreciate that I'll have to move from NetBEUI to TCP/IP. Any advice will be
very much appreciated.

In article <yqjYc.41922$(E-Mail Removed)> , "Puffin'
Peter" (E-Mail Removed) says...
> I do some PC support work for a locally-based national charity, and have
> recently moved them to a new office which was cabled with cat5e. I've
> scrounged an 8 port hub, and now have their 6 PCs working happily together,
> one of which has a dial-up internet connection. The PCs are currently all
> Windows 98SE, and the network protocol is Microsoft NetBEUI.
>
> My next project is to switch to Broadband (ADSL) and I need to know what
> hardware I need to buy; being a charity money is in short supply! I guess
> that I'll need an ADSL modem and router, possible combined, but will I still
> be able to use the hub with this or do I need to buy an 8 port router? I
> appreciate that I'll have to move from NetBEUI to TCP/IP. Any advice will be
> very much appreciated.
>
>
You can just plug the hub into the router using the uplink port if it
has one, or a crossover cable if it doesn't.

"Rob Morley" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) t...
> In article <yqjYc.41922$(E-Mail Removed)> , "Puffin'
> Peter" (E-Mail Removed) says...
> > I do some PC support work for a locally-based national charity, and have
> > recently moved them to a new office which was cabled with cat5e. I've
> > scrounged an 8 port hub, and now have their 6 PCs working happily
together,
> > one of which has a dial-up internet connection. The PCs are currently
all
> > Windows 98SE, and the network protocol is Microsoft NetBEUI.
> >
> > My next project is to switch to Broadband (ADSL) and I need to know what
> > hardware I need to buy; being a charity money is in short supply! I
guess
> > that I'll need an ADSL modem and router, possible combined, but will I
still
> > be able to use the hub with this or do I need to buy an 8 port router? I
> > appreciate that I'll have to move from NetBEUI to TCP/IP. Any advice
will be
> > very much appreciated.
> >
> >
> You can just plug the hub into the router using the uplink port if it
> has one, or a crossover cable if it doesn't.

Thanks, Rob
Just to clarify, will all of the PCs connected to the hub be able to get
their dynamic IP addresses from the router (assuming that the router
supports DHCP), and be able to access the internet? Also, will the hub work
just as well as a switch in this instance?

In article <4zkYc.64267$(E-Mail Removed) >, "Puffin'
Pete" (E-Mail Removed) says...
> "Rob Morley" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed) t...
> > In article <yqjYc.41922$(E-Mail Removed)> , "Puffin'
> > Peter" (E-Mail Removed) says...
> > > I do some PC support work for a locally-based national charity, and have
> > > recently moved them to a new office which was cabled with cat5e. I've
> > > scrounged an 8 port hub, and now have their 6 PCs working happily
> together,
> > > one of which has a dial-up internet connection. The PCs are currently
> all
> > > Windows 98SE, and the network protocol is Microsoft NetBEUI.
> > >
> > > My next project is to switch to Broadband (ADSL) and I need to know what
> > > hardware I need to buy; being a charity money is in short supply! I
> guess
> > > that I'll need an ADSL modem and router, possible combined, but will I
> still
> > > be able to use the hub with this or do I need to buy an 8 port router? I
> > > appreciate that I'll have to move from NetBEUI to TCP/IP. Any advice
> will be
> > > very much appreciated.
> > >
> > >
> > You can just plug the hub into the router using the uplink port if it
> > has one, or a crossover cable if it doesn't.
>
> Thanks, Rob
> Just to clarify, will all of the PCs connected to the hub be able to get
> their dynamic IP addresses from the router (assuming that the router
> supports DHCP), and be able to access the internet?

Yes

> Also, will the hub work just as well as a switch in this instance?
>
Depends on what they're doing with the network - for normal office type
traffic I doubt you'll see much difference in performance with only six
clients. If you're doing something that involves lots of local traffic
like runing remote desktops or backups, or lots of remote printing,
then a switch should out-perform a hub.