Home Networking

198 readers

1 users here now

A community to help people learn, install, set up or troubleshoot their home network equipment and solutions.

Rules

Please stay on topic.
Please use the search function to look for keywords related to what you want to ask before posting since most common issues have been answered.
No Ads. This community is for support and discussion. Ads and self promotion are not welcome here.
No product reviews or announcements. If you have a question about a product, be specific about what you want to know.
Be civil. Don't be a jerk. Not being a jerk is surprisingly easy.
No URL shorteners. URL shorteners tend to hide the real use of a link. For this reason, please use normal links, even if they're long.
No affiliate links.
No gatekeeping. With profession shall come professionalism. Extend help without judging others for their ignorance. The same goes for downvoting of comments or posts for "stupid questions" or not being as knowledgeable as others.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

do i actually need a router? (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

11 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'm unclear on the purpose of a router. Could I just have a cable modem directly connected to a (smart managed) switch that feeds all the clients?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

As others have said, your cable modem may have a router already built into it. Usually, these also include WiFi. So, if your cable modem has WiFi, it already has a router built-in. If it doesn't, you need a router. Most people use a WiFi router or a mesh setup with multiple access points is common these days.

However, you definitely do NOT need a smart managed switch - especially if you don't understand what a router does. If you need a switch, just buy a cheap unmanaged giga switch.