> > What's the difference between a switch and a hub? > switch routes traffic from port to port (at the Ethernet level, as > opposed to a router which routes at the IP level). hub just broadcasts > everything to everybody. What you are refering to as a switch could more accurately [historically] be described as a muliport-bridge. One easy distinction is based on the layer in which a device operates. Bridges operate at the link level [ethernet], switches are network level devices [ip] and routers are internet level devices (they convert between network protocols). The confusion [or lack of distinction] came when LAN or Ethernet switches became commonplace. These switches or multi-port bridges operate at the link layer and generally do not run routing protocols which are common characteristic of a switch -- they instead rely on the spanning tree algorithm. So thanks to Netgear's, linksys', ... marketing, the distinction is gone and it all realy depends on context. If your talking WAN, a switch works at Network Layer (Frame Relay, X.25). If your talking LAN, a switch works at Data Link Layer. I used to get in this argument with my brother all the time when he was taking his ccna exams. I insisted that what I had just bought from best buy for $50 was a switch because it said so on the box. He tried to convince me there was a lot more to it. I didn't understand until I read Larry Peterson's Computer Networks 2nd. -- Marc A. Ohmann Digital Solutions, Inc http://ds6.net marc at ds6.net