too many computers on one network?

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mest6039

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Mar 15, 2006
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hi im in the market for buying a computer pretty soon. (Maybe tonight). My mom has a friend who she thinks is god because she set up a wireless network in our home and thinks she knows everything about computers. Often i find her trying to fix stuff that isnt broken. she recently said that we had almost reached our limit on the number of computers on our network. (we have three that are on the our network). is there any truth in this or can i add my comp to the network when i get it? BTW- this is the router in my house.

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProd...=&Section_Id=202570&pcount=&Product_Id=184316
 
you are only limited by the amount of IP addresses in your house, if you are only using 3 computers, you are no where near the limit. (.2 - 254) Your router is is probally handing out the addresses (DHCP) so it will determine the range of IP's, unless she set the systems to use static ip's, which would still not make any sense
 
The router has 4 ports on it, so if you have 3 computers plugged into it now, you can add one more fine.

You could also buy a switch (a device that has additional ports), connect it to your router and then plug EVEN MORE computers into it.

lone wolf said:
you are only limited by the amount of IP addresses in your house, if you are only using 3 computers, you are no where near the limit. (.2 - 254) Your router is is probally handing out the addresses (DHCP) so it will determine the range of IP's, unless she set the systems to use static ip's, which would still not make any sense
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lol, id like to see you get a couple hundred computers going through that router smoothly.
 
what exactly is a static ip?


and none of the computers are connected directly to the ports on the router.
 
There is a limit... but it certainly is not three... or four... or five... or six for that matter. :)

Each subnet of a network can handle up to 253 devices (255 max but 0 and 255 are reserved), home or otherwise. If you're going wired then that router can support four devices plugged directly into it but you can also plug a switch into one of those ports and expand that.

As for wireless; Most SOHO wireless devices can handle quite a few wireless clients comfortably enough for web browsing - but if you're going to be torrenting or downloading often I'd suggest you go wired if at all possible.

Edit:
mest6039 said:
what exactly is a static ip?
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Most ISP's deal out dynamic IP addresses - this is an IP which is dynamically assigned. When the modem is shut off (for example) it 'forgets' what IP your ISP has given it... when you power it back on it will ask your ISP for another. Depending on how your ISP is set up you may or may not get a new IP. Static IP's are always the same regardless of change. Note that these options are also valid for how you set up your home network; Most are setup using DHCP and are thus dynamic.

And dang... when I initially posted no one had responded yet. :)
 
Static means it doesnt change, so a static ip is one manually typed in at your tcp/ip properties box. I setup my home network statically cause I like knowing what my comps ip's are, but I also have dhcp set up on my router so that if its set on automatic everything works.
 
i dont think ill be able to, since the computer is gonna be located 2 stories up. Ive been online on my dad's laptop, so range isnt an issue.
 
mest6039 said:
i dont think ill be able to, since the computer is gonna be located 2 stories up. Ive been online on my dad's laptop, so range isnt an issue.
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If you're going wireless then there are virtually no, within reason, limits you will have to worry about.
 
aight thanks guys, while on a similiar subject, does anyone reccomend a network card or adapter for my comp?
 
VulcaN said:
lol, id like to see you get a couple hundred computers going through that router smoothly.
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going wireless you can have as many as the DHCP range. I have used the ports and then added up to 6 wireless devices with the exact same router. But the more you add, the slower your internet speed will be.
 
im talking about if you put 200 computers on the router and had 200 users on all of them. the routers going to have a heart attack. Ive tried it before at a LAN party, those home office routers just cant handel the load
 
In most cases you will run out of bandwidth before you overload a router. ;o) (Not to mention that most comps arent all in use at the same time in a home setting.) If he was running a lan party I might tell em a little different.
 
Lord of Shadows said:
In most cases you will run out of bandwidth before you overload a router. ;o) (Not to mention that most comps arent all in use at the same time in a home setting.) If he was running a lan party I might tell em a little different.
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Depends on what your doing, and what router ;). If he has some god-awfull rotuer like my Belkin, then he can have about 1-2 comptuers on it before the things CPU melts and needs a reboot. My friends older linksys, we get 10-15 people at LAN parties downloading crap, watching online videos... No problem.

And on the IP issue... well, lets just say its a hell of a lot more than I would be able to count on my fingers. If my calculations are correct (which they never are), you can have up to 4,228,250,625 computers before you run out of IPs. IPv6... 3.4x10^38 computers.

Though realistically, hes probably limited to around 100 comptuers if hes using my crappy belkin router, or 30ish if they are all wireless.

Im not sure where your moms friend got such a low number. Does she happen to be a door-to-door router salesman? :p
 
if i recal from my cisco classes, they say you should only have a max of 62 on each subnet, but you are no where near that
 
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