homez99 said:
Why not a switch? It should do the same thing thing in regards to giving the connection to all the devices I want, such as my PC and 360. Can you please tell me why I need a router and why not a switch in more detail please instead of insulting me?
You can see it here:
http://compnetworking.about.com/od/homenetworkhardware/f/routervsswitch.htm
I haven't read it, but, in short, from what I think I know is:
If you want to use the Xbox 360 and the PC at the same time, they both need to have 1 IP-adress each. The switch doesn't give out IP-adresses ("DCHP"), the router does.
If you want to join the intranet, you can't have two devices sharing the same IP adress. I'm not sure at all, but I don't think the switch even has its own MAC adress. This mean sthat even though you connect via a switch, it will still record your computers or Xbox 360's MAC adress, which will make it worthless - I'm not 100% sure about this though.
A router though, has it's own MAC adress and takes up one IP adress. Most ISPs only gives out one IP adress á home. Then the router creates new internal network ip adresses to your Xbox 360 and PC, and gives internet access to them all via its own IP adress.
Bah, in short, from what I know: with a switch, you won't be able to connect both Xbox 360 and PC, as they each has their own MAC adress - and you can only have one for your home. But if you buy a router, you can connect 1000 different devices without any hustle.
The one thing I don't understand though, is how you can access the internet now. If you can do that without MAC adress access, you shouldn't have any trouble doing that with your Xbox 360.
err.... Halo 3 rocks! Looking forward to it etc.