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If you are going for your CCNA you can buy nice cheap Cisco routers on Ebay or buy a nice Router simulator from Bosn or Sibex. &nbsp;Your router does not have to have ethernet ports, but it will sure help or you will be trying to learn with a handicap. &nbsp;Ideally, you would have a cisco switch and a couple of Cisco Routers all with ethernet ports so that you can do the various configurations and practice sessions. &nbsp;If you can't afford that, then go the simulator route.
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I have the latest version of Boson simulator. (5.27) &nbsp;But i have heard that sims dont give you the full experience that you need for the CCNA.
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in case you want to buy an ethernet router - of course it will have at least 1 ethernet port, I believe the router you are talking about is for a home use, not something that connects ethernet to ISDN/T1/E1 lines.<br />
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So regular router with Ethernet interfaces will be ok. Hub is for different usage: Hub/switch are Layer 2 device, i.e. thery progress traffic across LAN (using only MAC/LLC protocols, also 802.1Q (VLAN) , etc.) , while IP router is a device that operates on a higher level , IP layer (Layer 3), and it progresses traffic across different LANs (different broadcast domains).<br />
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For networking studies you can buy a router with 4 ports and it will be useful for you also as a switch, such router will have 5 ports: 1 for WAN connection and 4 for LAN connection. These 4 ports are connected and operate as an Ethernet switch.<br />
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bostonstaus.... &nbsp;Didn't I say the accepted Answer in my first post?
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I am thinking of buying a router to study for my CCNA. Does the router have to have Ethernet ports to be able to hook up to my pc or should i use a hub or what. 
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I am thinking of buying a router to study for my CCNA. Does the router have to have Ethernet ports to be able to hook up to my pc or should i use a hub or what. 

Hooking up to a router

Networking software modules are interfaced with a framework implemented on the machine's operating system that implements the networking functionality of the operating system. The best known frameworks are the TCP/IP model and the OSI model. Systems typically do not use a single protocol to handle a transmission. Instead they use a set of cooperating protocols, sometimes called a protocol family or protocol suite.[9] Some of the best known protocol suites include: IPX/SPX, X.25, AX.25, AppleTalk and TCP/IP. Other protocols indirectly related to networking include the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) and its related technologies, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Domain Name Server (DNS) and other Internet protocols.

Networking Protocols

A switch is a device that filters and forwards packets of data between LAN segments. Switches operate at the data link layer or the network layer of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model and therefore support any packet protocol. LANs that use switches to join segments are called switched LANs or, in the case of Ethernet networks, switched Ethernet LANs. A hub is a connection point for devices in a network. Hubs are commonly used to connect segments of a LAN. A hub contains multiple ports; when a packet arrives at one port, it is copied to the other ports so that all segments of the LAN can see all packets.

Switches / Hubs

Networking is the process of connecting computing devices, peripherals and terminals together through a system that uses wiring, cabling or radio waves that enable their users to communicate, share information and interact over distances. Often associated are issues regarding operating systems, hardware and equipment, cloud and virtual networking, protocols, architecture, storage and management.