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Recently I went looking for a non-wireless router at brick-and-mortar stores, during my unsuccessful search an employee at a large "reputable" store responded this way.
Me: "Excuse me, do you have any non-wireless routers?"
Him: "Um... yeah, but they are called switches."
Me: "Uh... NO!"
Has something changed in this area, or are routers still routers and switches still switches?
Tester101
Posted 2010-10-28T12:11:57.207
Reputation: 648
13
They are still different things.
They work at different levels of the network. Simplifying things a bit:
Non-wireless routers are increasingly hard to come by these days for consumer level equipment since most people want wireless in their homes, but a wired router is different from a switch.
Dave Webb
Posted 2010-10-28T12:11:57.207
Reputation: 10 126
We still buy Linksys BEFSR41 Router with 4 port switch for our users going home. Try Newegg if you are having problems getting one. – steve.lippert – 2010-10-28T14:14:39.020
Very good answer! +1 – James Mertz – 2010-10-28T15:18:16.250
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Switches are still primarily Layer 2 and Routers Layer 3. Unfortunately, wireless routers have become synonymous with routers as most consumers don't know that wired routers still exist as popular devices are advertised to be WiFi compatible(No mention of wired ethernet). Routers are still routers and switches are still switches.
Madison S
Posted 2010-10-28T12:11:57.207
Reputation: 1 440
1And ignorance is still ignorance. +1 – Xavierjazz – 2010-10-28T12:23:09.490
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I have noticed that employees at "large reputable stores" act like they know more than they really do, giving false information. Switches are still different than routers. I would try buying equipment from the internet (i.e. newegg.com) unless it is urgent, then know exactly what you want (i.e. model number).
David
Posted 2010-10-28T12:11:57.207
Reputation: 6 975
2
I think the rule is more general. People everywhere act like they know more than they really do. It's probably the Dunning-Kruger Effect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect).
– CarlF – 2010-10-28T14:26:57.547I ended up buying a router from newegg, since brick-and-mortar stores don't seem to carry non-wireless routers anymore. – Tester101 – 2010-10-28T15:03:23.097
I always had this issue with Frys Electronics. I overheard them trying to sell an i7 processor to someone because they needed to be able to run multiple office programs and the internet at once... – David – 2010-10-28T15:24:39.683
To be fair MS Office applications are resource hogs. – Tester101 – 2010-10-28T18:15:24.320
@CarlF +1 for reminding me of McArther Wheeler in the New York times article The Anosognosic’s Dilemma, a must-read! – Andy Lee Robinson – 2011-08-10T16:34:09.227
Having worked for a "reputable" electronics store, I can tell you that most, if not all, employees could not tell you the difference between layer 2 and layer 3. If they could, they would probably be working elsewhere. – MaQleod – 2010-10-28T17:51:44.717
@MaQleod: If they don't know they should ask somebody else or refer you to somebody who does, Not just give incorrect information. Especially when they're only feet away from the 'Nerd Team' desk. – Tester101 – 2010-10-28T18:13:39.153
Very true, I agree with you there, but I doubt most of the people on the "Nerd Team" really understand the difference either. I was on a similar team, no one I worked with could have told you anything about the OSI model and how it relates to networking hardware. – MaQleod – 2010-10-28T18:18:37.783
@MaQleod: Do you really have to know anything about the OSI model to know that a router and a switch are different? It's not like I asked for a detailed analysis of each device and how they function. – Tester101 – 2010-10-28T18:32:21.720
I guess it depends on what you need to do with the knowledge that they are different. Technically, to simply tell a customer that they are not the same, one does not need to know why, just that they are, but someone should be able to explain at least the difference on how they work on a network to a customer so that the customer chooses the right product. The store rep should at least know general concepts of networking to be able to do this, which includes at least the first few layers of the OSI model. – MaQleod – 2010-10-28T18:56:36.640