>> connecting to the internet via Home Highway and ICS to give access to the internet for the others

heh... I also remember the days of ICS and a dial up modem... 3 PCs and a laptop... and emails from BT re exceeding their "Anytime" times. Deep joy

Unfortunately I think there is a lot of confusion in the ADSL modem/router marketplace caused by trying to simplify it for those without a networking background. For example, most 4 port routers are far from being what they say they are.

A four port router is strictly a box with 4 interfaces (typically ethernet ports) which routes packets at the IP level and therefore allows you to configure the interfaces as separate subnets. It would have no other interfaces other power and maybe a means of configuring it (say via RS232). The router may also include functions such as Network Address Translation and / or a DHCP server (though it may not).

What we buy as a '4-port router' is typically a combination of an ADSL modem, a 2-port router, and a 5-port ethernet switch (and a wireless one adds a wireless access point as well). One port of the 2-port router is connected to the ADSL modem and the other port to the 5th port of the switch. The router routes packets at the IP level and usually does network address translation, the switch switches packets at the ethernet level and does not allow you to configure the ethernet ports as separate interfaces.

The 1-port router we are talking about here is just this without the switch - i.e. it really contains a 2-port router!!! To support multiple PCs you need to provide a switch (or hub or maybe a wireless access point), the box provides the routing capabilities which is one part of what you need to support multiple PCs (which you can't do [easily] with a modem alone). In fact of course it does allow you to use 2 PCs by making use of the USB interface as well as the LAN port - so it really contains a 3-port switch (or hub), one port goes to the router, 1 to the LAN and one to the USB interface.

How the above logical functions are actually achieved is of course up the the manufacturer and maybe all done in one IC and the interfaces between the modem and router and the router and switch could be purely internal, but logically it is several devices.

To make think simpler we have started calling these things a 4 or 1-port routers - but that is a simplification and a 'real' 1-port router is probably a pretty useless device!

You also have to be careful when you look at routers designed to attach to cable modems, these are similar but don't contain the ADSL modem functionality - however I've also see these described as 4-port routers!

So when you see something described as a router be careful - it is commonly a term used to describe a box which Joe Public will use to connect up to 4 PCs to an ADSL phone line. He doesn't care what it really is as long as it works - but if you want to understand what is really going on you have to look a bit deeper!

Nicely put, and thinking it through, is there any function that a genuine single port router could perform?

Of course there is

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Connect computers for a complete wired network

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Although why anyone would want to connect a PC to a router via USB is a mystery to me.
http://www.voyager.bt.com/wired_routers/voyager_210/product_info.htm

Strictly, that isn't a single port router - it contains a three port router. One of the ports is a ethernet port, one a USB port and the last is an internal (probably ethernet) that connects to the inbuilt modem.

I thought Graham explained it pretty well.

Edited by jelv (Sun 16-Dec-07 14:43:03)

There is only a single ethernet port available to the user, I think that's the general understanding of the customer base. Plus, it's generally accepted that ethernet is better/faster than usb.

Although that is the general understanding - it is wrong! That is the point which Graham was making.

You are quite right to say that ethernet is better than usb (or inbuilt modems). You only have to look at what's happened with Vista to see another reason why ethernet is better.

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Although that is the general understanding - it is wrong!

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Technically perhaps. But as a purchaser I want to know how many PC's I can connect to a router. A description applied by the manufacture/retailer, of a one port router tells me that one port is suitable for connection of a PC at optimum speeds.

I have no interest how many ports are utilised by the router, just what is available to me.

My initial opinion, that saying, "Connect computers for a complete wired network", bearing in mind computers, plural, is misleading, still stands.

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er...

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If you connect one via USB and one via ethernet, technically yes

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Given that you can connect two computers and thereby gain a perfectly functioning network between them I really don't see how it's misleading at all.

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Given that you can connect two computers and thereby gain a perfectly functioning network between them I really don't see how it's misleading at all.

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Yeah it functions, but one is faster than the other hardly ideal is it. Obviously when designed the ethernet was intended for a PC, any idea what the USB port was actually intended for?.