Q. "I have a Netgear hub linking four computers. We do not share an Internet connection but we use the network to play games. IPX games like Starcraft work well but TCP/IP games have serious trouble. IP pings indicate dropped packets about 25% of the time. What could the problem be?"

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... . With all of that multimedia traffic, a 25% TCP/IP packet loss with an Ethernet hub is normal, and you simply have a network performance problem.

"To improve performance you should replace your hub with a switch: hubs broadcast and repeat what they hear, whereas switches provide dedicated bandwidth with less of an opportunity for collisions to take place due to their point-to-point nature." -HNDPAUL

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