Router vs Hub

Will using a router rather than a hub my my connection faster? I have 4 computers on my home network.

yes. a router will have little to no packet collisions, like you can get in a hub.

will it be noticeably faster? by about how much? Thanks for your help.

im assuming the router you will be referring to has a built in switch. the increase in spead can depend on how busy your netowrk is. if all 4 computers were using the internet at the same time, you would notice a significant spead increase, which is limited to your actual connection speed, of course.

You should get a switch rather than a hub. A switch independently manages each connection as opposed to a hub which manages whatever is plugged into it all in one shebang. Which is why you have fewer collisions on a switch (or a router with a switch built in) than you would with a hub. Besides, a router is pretty user stupid as well so setting it up is easy. (Configuring it to do other shit is where you get problems - NAT = Hardware firewall = stupid restrictions out the ass)
-Me

so ur saying to get a switch rather than a router?

That all depends. A router has a DHCP manager built into it so your connections can be shared by letting the router assign the IP's. (This also makes getting online with your PS2 easier as well) With a switch, you have to use a proxy server (or some other sort of proxy software) to share your connection. I know Windows has this option but this may cause you some issues in trying to get online with your PS2. (I havent tried with a switch - I have a router) So, there are pros and cons with both options. If you are looking to just use your computer to share your internet connection Id reccomend a router. If you plan to use it for things like an FTP server (this can be done with the router and a little tweaking of the configuration) Or if you plan to get into "other things" that require your outside address to be displayed (like a TFTP server) - get a switch.
-Me
Hope I didnt confuse you further...

"With a switch, you have to use a proxy server (or some other sort of proxy software) to share your connection."

This is not necessarily true. It depends on whether your ISP allows for multiple IPs/MAC addys. I have both a router w/ built in switch and a separate switch. Since my ISP doesnt give a hoot, I can plug in the WAN connection into my switch and my pc and ps2 and it works fine, no gateway/proxy server needed.

if you have the same situation, a switch is really all you need. if you have a picky ISP and/or prefer security, then a router would be better. hubs are the "good enough" option if there isnt that much network traffic.

il make it ez for all of u

LINKSYS ROUTER OR NOTHING AT ALL!!!

Sheesh, what a wealth of mis-information... ;)

A router provides IP packet routing (or forwarding) from one IP subnet to another. In the case of a small home router, it's typically from a non-routeable 10-dot (10.x.x.x or 192.168.x.x) network to your ISP assigned IP subnet address. In the case of routing between legit and non-routeable addresses, this is known as NAT or Network Address Translation.

You can then connect a hub or a switch to a standalone router and properly configure multiple devices to utilize that single real world IP address.

Some small routers supplied by the telcos have a 4-port 10 Mb/sec shared hub built in, like my SpeedStream 5861 from SBC, which also includes a built-in DSL modem. Another alternative is a Linksys BEFSR41, a router with a built-in 4-port 10/100 ethernet switch which can be used for either DSL or cable connections (no built-in modem.)

Where multiple devices are communicating either to the same internet IP address or amongst themselves for say, peer-to-peer file and printer sharing, a switch will always out perform a shared media hub, as described by Joe Mama.

As a bonus, the majority of these combo devices also function as a DHCP server (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) which will automatically assign an IP address to a connected device rather than you having to pre-configure a static IP address within each one. They typically use a non-routable subnet such as 192.168.x.x which also makes them an efficient firewall, as any attack on your router's published IP address stops there. Only the router is seen and not the devices connected on the 10-dot network behind it.

I have to deal with this kinda stuff for a living and could go on, but I think you get a clearer picture so I'll stop here for now... ;)