Matth

You must have one router to distribute broadband, then switches are what you would extend with.

Ideally, you would use a single central switch to feed all ports (a typical router would feed 4), as the main benefit of a switch is allowing port to port traffic without congesting other ports.

eg. Two PCs could be in file transfer with each other at top speed, not causing congestion with any other traffic.

If you use a single though cable and then chain another switch to feed extra ports, then that through cable is shared - won't matter for broadband sharing, as that will be the ultimate point of congestion, but may not be so good if you use networked storage (can get a very cheap NAS drive case these days) or other high speed internal network (intranet) traffic.

For broadband sharing, chaining 10/100 switches is quite acceptable, and a small home network is unlikely to require too much from the first switch (corporate/office size, then the size of the MAC table will matter).

__________________
Mary had a little lamb,
Her father shot it dead
Now Mary takes her lamb to school,
Between two crusts of bread