What's the difference between a Hub, a Switch and a Router?

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What is the key play role of router and a switch ?

Hi, i have a d-link router and when i try to play my games on line it says that i have a fw (firewall) i have turned off all fw's on my computer and i tried portforwarding. I don't know what to do, do you think it would be easier if i bought a switch? Please advise thanks Brandon

@Steve
Connect the 2 wire 2071 to a switch. Connect all else to the switch using ethernet cables . All should seamlessly work!

hub is a passive device .
switch is actvive device and it is a intellectual device.

Thanks a lot!!This article is a great help n it provides appropiate information....great wrk!!

switch and routers are intellignet device unlike hub. they deal with the data in intelligent way by knowing the IP addresses but the hub is ignorant of that.

Q :hub and routers can be connected?
Ans: that right we can connect the hub and the router but purpose of their connectivity is different. if you wanna to connect different computers and wanna to treat them all in this way that no one is prefered or identified so use hub, if you want to transfer data to a single computer that is identified by IP address then i will suggest you router.before router u can use hub.

Q: hub and swith can be connected?
Ans: the case of connectivity of the router and the switch with hub is same which is described above.

Finally .... simple answers.

I browsed many of the question (but not all) and it still looks my question is slightly different then many of the other question.

My network is very mix; I have machines running wireless, machines connected directly to Fios router and some machines (Xbox) that are connected via powerline extension.
All works just fine (as far as I can tell).

Now, my powerline extensions are connected to my media center where my Xbox is located. I would like to "split" the connection in share it with other devices there. For example:
Blue Ray DVD player have a network port to get information from the web. A TV can also have a network port so it can connect say to Netflix.

Those are more devices then computers. In those cases, what should I be installing next to the media center area? A hub or a switch?
Sounds like I can go with a hub as those machines typically don’t even work at the same time (when you watch a movie in the DVD player, you don’t play Xbox and when you play Xbox, you don’t need to stream data directly to your TV.

Will hub do the trick? or should I go with a switch (any big price difference these days?)

Well, as stated in the article, it depends on what devices are going to be connected to the device. If you are looking for speed, I suggest you get a switch. If you are looking for price, I suggest you go with a hub.

Hubs can run you anywhere from five dollars (USD) to twenty dollars (USD). The price depends on how many ports the device has along with what brand it is.

Switches can run between fifteen to several hundred dollars. Once again it all depends on the brand and how many ports it has. A simple four-port switch can run you between fifteen and twenty-five dollars.

In your case, since you aren't using network-extensive devices or have 10+ computers/devices on the switch/hub, I would strongly recommend the hub. Sure it's not as smart or as fast as the switch, but it's cheap and gets the job done. I personally believe you won't notice a difference in network performance between a hub or switch with those devices connected to it.

By the way, be sure to check all the ports on the hub or switch you get. Sometimes they will come with a dead port. In most cases, you can return the device to the manufacturer who will, or should, replace it for free. You will have to pay for shipping, however.

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