Ethernet splitter, switch, or hub?

Which would be the best option for hooking up 2 or more Internet devices up to the splitter/switch/hub, getting no significant speed loss, and both working at the same time with individual local IPs? I have 60Mbps Internet.

I am having friends over with at least two more computers, and our router is all the way across the living room; a hallway and room away. I somehow managed to install a single Cat 6 Ethernet cable through the attic and out the walls, but that only connects one device currently. Any tips on what would be the best option for my situation?

If I understand correctly, you have a router in one room and a single Cat6 cable coming to where you want it.

I would recommend a switch, as it doesn't route traffic to every end-user, like a hub does.

Depending on what you're using it for (I'm getting a hint of a LAN party), you would want to go with Gigabit. 10GbE is a bit excessive (and useless) unless you have 10GbE NICs on each computer.

Which would be the best option for hooking up 2 or more Internet devices up to the splitter/switch/hub, getting no significant speed loss, and both working at the same time with two individual local IPs?

A switch would be your best choice.

The problems with splitters are they take advantage of the fact that 10BT and 100BT only need 4 wires connected to the Ethernet port to operate. But 1000BT (aka: Gigabit speed) requires 8 wires for connectivity.

So it depends on what your end-goal is but if you have people on a LAN sharing connections and maybe gaming, a real Ethernet switch would work best. If you just need some basic connectivity and speed is not an option, a splitter would work.

And an Ethernet hub is useless unless you have one lying around. A hub is just a dumb switch.