EE bright box switcher

Hi. I have an EE Bright Box Router with a fibre optic connection. The wireless speed is very slow for 3 computers which are all next to each other in a different room so I have decided to get a Switch so there is a wired connection rather than wireless. I plan on running an Ethernet cable to the switch and connecting the 3 computers to the switch. Should I get a Gigabyte switch and use the gigabyte port on the router? Or would a cheap switch work just as well? There is no sharing of files between the computers. We just want a faster internet connection. Any advice appreciated. Thanks

Cheap? This is £13 http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-TL-SG1005D-Gigabit-U...

Don't forget to get gigabit ethernet cable to go between the switch and router. Normal will do from it to the computers.

Thanks for the tip. Do I need a gigabyte switch or would a 100 MB one do? I only ask because the long cable I have isn't a gigabyte cable and I read somewhere that a gigabyte switch is only useful if I want to transfer data between computers (I don't) - it doesn't make any difference to internet speed

And this 'special gigabit Ethernet cable' is what?

EE Fibre has a maximum speed of up to 76 Mbps, so 100 Mbps will suffice, but given Gigabit kit is hardly any more expensive just as easy to do that.

In terms of cables, decent copper CAT5E Ethernet should manage Gigabit with very little problem

Cat 6/6a I believe, rather than Cat 5.

Cat5e is gigabit capable, Cat5 is not.

Hmmm. Yes, 5E should be fine, but 6 or 6a safer for future-proofing. I was basically pointing out that connecting gigabit switches with bog standard Cat 5 isn't the best thing to do. Easy to forget when you do decide to put gigabit data through at some time in the future.

Then my brain-fade came in. No need at this stage for gigabit anything, seeing as the OP doesn't want inter-computer traffic.

You don't need a gigabit switch. It would be complete overkill.

P.S. There is no such thing as gigabyte ethernet (or switches).