Should You Put a Switch Between Modem and Router?

hi everyone and welcome back to the ultimate tech hub on today's episode we are answering an important question from many of the ultimate tech hub subscribers and viewers and the question is can i connect my modem to my 5 port or 8 port switch and then connect my router to that switch it's basically putting a switch in between your modem and your router and the simple answer is yes but the better question is should i put a switch between my modem and my router and the answer is no let's dig further to find out why coming up next on the ultimate tech hub [Music] let's start with your isp internet service provider most residential isps only offer a single ip address for its customers so when you connect a switch to the cable modem each device attempts to get an ip address directly from your isp so for example if you have a 5 port or 8 port switch plugged into your modem then only one device will get that isp address the other devices on the other ports will not have internet so if you want all your devices connected to your switch to get internet connectivity then this configuration will not work the only way to get all your ports on your switch to connect to the internet is to place your router in between your modem and your switch so what does a router do that a switch can't do when you connect your router to your modem the router gets a single ip address from your isp and then creates a new network with its own private pool of ip addresses this private pool of ip addresses is what your devices connect to and the reality is a switch cannot do this a router also has a firewall and this firewall protects your network from the bad guys and hackers and once again a switch does not have a firewall so that means the bad guys can get in and a router also performs nat network address translation in simple terms it enables private ip networks that use unregistered ip addresses to connect to the internet and a router also has security protocols like encrypted passwords and once again a switch does not and like most routers you can connect wirelessly as well wi-fi and security protocols for the like wpa2 are very good and once again a switch does not have that and lastly a router performs dhcp server operations what is a dhcp server dhcp stands for dynamic host configuration protocol dhcp is a network management protocol used on internet protocol networks a dhcp server dynamically assigns an ip address and other configuration parameters to each device on the network so they can communicate with other ip networks this is how all of your home devices can connect to the internet with one ip address given by your isp and yes once again your switch cannot do this so why would you use a switch between your modem and your router the answer is you should never do this routers are not expensive and the security benefits outweigh the 70 or 100 dollars you'll spend on a modest router so guys this video should clear up any questions you have about switches and or routers just remember switches have no security if you plug in a switch to your modem you're taking a big risk of having your network being hacked just don't do it well guys i want to thank you for watching and as usual if you like these videos give a thumbs up and share it if you love them hit subscribe to keep this channel alive thanks again for watching [Music] you