Passive Hubs

Passive Hubs

Passive hubs do not contain any electronic components and do not process the data signal in any way. The only purpose of a passive hub is to combine the signals from several network cable segments. All devices attached to a passive hub receive all the packets that pass through the hub.

Because the hub doesn’t clean up or amplify the signals (in fact, the hub absorbs a small part of the signal), the distance between a computer and the hub can be no more than half the maximum permissible distance between two computers on the network. For example, if the network design limits the distance between two computers to 200 meters, the maximum distance between a computer and the hub is 100 meters.

As you might guess, the limited functionality of passive hubs makes them inexpensive and easy to configure. That limited functionality, however, is also the biggest disadvantage of passive hubs. ARCnet networks commonly use passive hubs. Token Ring networks also can use passive hubs, although the industry trend is to utilize active hubs to obtain the advantages cited in the following section.