Understanding Home Network Devices: Hub, Switch, and Router Explained

After recently renovating my home, I needed to set up the network equipment. I created a home network diagram highlighting three key devices: the optical modem provided by the ISP, a switch, and a wireless router that I purchased. Many wonder why a home might have only a router and no switch, what a switch does, and how it differs from a router. This article explains those network devices.

Network Device Development

With technological progress, most devices now support wireless connectivity, which is convenient and fast. However, when computers first appeared, connecting multiple machines was not easy. With two computers, a single cable could link them, but adding a third device required a new solution.

Hub

To solve early computer interconnection problems, the hub was introduced. A hub aggregates multiple cables into a single physical medium and operates at the physical layer (OSI layer 1), meaning it works as soon as it’s plugged in. When devices A, B, and C connect to a hub, they form a LAN, allowing A to send messages to B and C. However, A’s messages are also received by C, and when B or C send messages, they interfere with each other. As more devices join, these issues worsen; with 20 devices, one transmission is heard by the other 19, causing delays and frustration.

Switch

To address hub limitations, the switch was created. Unlike a hub, a switch operates at the data link layer (OSI layer 2) and maintains a MAC address table that maps each port to the connected device. When A sends a frame to B, the switch looks up B’s MAC address, forwards the frame only to B’s port, and C does not see the traffic. This prevents interference among devices, allowing simultaneous communication.

When neighboring devices D, E, and F need to join, their subnets may have different IP addresses, and simply connecting two switches does not enable communication. This leads to the need for a router.

Router

A router connects two or more networks, acting as a gateway. It reads the IP address in each packet and decides where to forward it using a routing table. Routers also contain a small switch, with WAN and LAN ports. For a home with few wired devices, a single router may suffice. For many wired devices, adding a switch to the router’s LAN ports is more cost‑effective.

Beyond device selection, home network speed is influenced by factors such as the optical modem’s port speed, cable type, router port speeds, the number of wireless clients, and signal interference. If the internet feels slow, systematic troubleshooting of these elements is necessary.