Network Switch

[NexDeformedpoto]

Does a network switch split a connection? I have gigabit internet and would a switch split it between number of ports on a switch, so if i plug in 2 cords will they both be 500Mb or would it share and put more bandwidth on a more demanding system? 

 

Thanks

[Electronics Wizardy]

It will be shared, so both devices can use a total of 1gbe. The router will manage how the devices share the connection in this case.

[Needfuldoer]

Let's say you have two computers connected to a switch, which then connects to a full gigabit Internet connection. Both computers can use the full gigabit Internet connection speed, as long as the other one isn't also trying to get out to the Internet at the same time. If they do, they'll see their Internet connection speeds slow down until they're more or less balanced, then when one finishes the other will have the full gigabit connection to itself again.

[LIGISTX]

Exactly what others said, but to add a little more detail…

 

Gigabit switches can move data at gigabit on every single port simultaneously. If you had a 2 gigabit internet service, two PC’s would be able to do full gigabit at the same time out to the Internet. But since you “only” (this is still very fast…) have 1 gigabit internet, that will become the bottleneck if multiple PC’s are trying to hit the internet at the same time, but the switch will not be the bottleneck. The router is the device that picks and chooses which devices get priority and does the balancing of speed distribution. Switches are just “y splitters” for the Ethernet cables. 
 

It’s more complicated then this in reality, but for a low level understanding, this is how it works in practice.