Need to upgrade to gigabit

Mayfair · 28 Jun 2011 at 19:09

Hello all,

Currently I’m running Netgear WNR2000 v2 on its own and as such it is not gigabit and it only has 4-ports.

I'm thinking the cheapest option to upgrade to gigabit is to just get a gigabit switch and run everything from the switch like:

Modem>router>switch (Everything connected to switch)

Would everything talk to each other at gigabit speed on the switch? Or would the router slow it all down to 300mbps?

Also since everything on the switch will be connected to the router via 1 cable, would it slow the internet speed at all? If all computers was on at the same time? Or would they all get 50mb just like being connected to a router via individual cables?

Also if I did the above, how would I go about setting up static ip's for certain computers and port forwarding for certain computers if they are all connected up to the switch. Under the router would it just show the switch and not the computers connected to the switch? And as such, I could only open a port for EVERYTHING on the switch and not just for a single computer?

These maybe stupid questions, But I’ve only ever used a router on its own

Also what decent gigabit switch should I get? Would like 8-port (Nothing too expensive!)

I've been looking at the TP-Link 8-port Gigabit Switch Desktop (TL-SG1008D) which is around £25.

Many thanks in advanced for your help!

Skidilliplop · 28 Jun 2011 at 21:34

That setup is fine for anything you want to do.
Switches dont' know about IP or anything to do with it. They deal solely in ethernet. So anything you do with port forwarding and IP addresses works as normal.
if devices are conencted via the switch they'll talk at gig. If they're connected wireless they'll talk at wifi speed (whatever that is).
Most wifi N routers ARE gigabit on their LAN ports. You sure your's isn't?

Mayfair · 28 Jun 2011 at 23:10

Skidilliplop said:
That setup is fine for anything you want to do.
Switches dont' know about IP or anything to do with it. They deal solely in ethernet. So anything you do with port forwarding and IP addresses works as normal.
if devices are conencted via the switch they'll talk at gig. If they're connected wireless they'll talk at wifi speed (whatever that is).
Most wifi N routers ARE gigabit on their LAN ports. You sure your's isn't?

That's excellent, so I could still get the router to give static ip's to certain mac addresses connected via the switch.

Going by the Netgear website it's only 100

Five (5) 10/100 (1 WAN and 4 LAN) Ethernet ports with auto-sensing technology

Although that TP-Link 8-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch (TL-SG1008D) is Out of Stock, Do you have any recommendations?

Skidilliplop · 29 Jun 2011 at 10:51

That switch would be fine. It depends what you're doing with it. If you're streaming HD media and stuff you might want to splash out on a smarter switch that supports QoS.
But for just lumping the odd backup or large file back and fourth the TP-Link should be fine.

Mayfair · 1 Jul 2011 at 00:05

Skidilliplop said:
That switch would be fine. It depends what you're doing with it. If you're streaming HD media and stuff you might want to splash out on a smarter switch that supports QoS.
But for just lumping the odd backup or large file back and fourth the TP-Link should be fine.

I’ve just got myself a server which now steams hd media and it’s also a file server for the entire house, Main reason I want to upgrade to gigabit since transferring large files over a 100mbps is a pain to say the least.

If you think it would be a good idea getting a different switch, which one would you recommended? Needs to be at least 8-ports although don’t want to be spending ridiculous amounts

EDIT:

Just been looking at the Linksys SE2800 8-port Gigabit Switch can be had for around £40, Would this be better? Although you might know of somthing else that is cheaper.

Skidilliplop · 1 Jul 2011 at 10:32

Depends if you want QoS or not. £40 is fine for a bog standard switch. But you're lo0oking at more like £100 -£120 for a decent smart switch with proper management and QoS.

You don't NEED the QoS but if you're lumping large files and streaming HD off the same machine it would certainly guarantee smooth playback and would definitely be a good idea if your budget will stretch to it.

rs1800 · 1 Jul 2011 at 13:39

Have a look at http://www.linksysbycisco.com/APAC/en/products/SE2800

I'm about to buy the 5 port version for £25

edit
oops: just seen your already looking at it!

Scream · 1 Jul 2011 at 17:11

What was the the HP Gigabit switch mentioned on here a while ago which got fantastic reviews? They could be had for under £100.

Mayfair · 1 Jul 2011 at 17:44

Skidilliplop said:
Depends if you want QoS or not. £40 is fine for a bog standard switch. But you're lo0oking at more like £100 -£120 for a decent smart switch with proper management and QoS.

You don't NEED the QoS but if you're lumping large files and streaming HD off the same machine it would certainly guarantee smooth playback and would definitely be a good idea if your budget will stretch to it.

I thought the Linksys SE2800 has QoS?

While spending £100+ on a very good smart switch sounds tempting, I don’t really want to go above the £40 mark.

Do you think considering my budget, The Linksys SE2800 would be best?

ecksmen · 1 Jul 2011 at 18:13

Skidilliplop said:
Depends if you want QoS or not. £40 is fine for a bog standard switch. But you're lo0oking at more like £100 -£120 for a decent smart switch with proper management and QoS.

You don't NEED the QoS but if you're lumping large files and streaming HD off the same machine it would certainly guarantee smooth playback and would definitely be a good idea if your budget will stretch to it.

QoS on a home network - I've never seen anyone needing that! Completely overkill IMO. Streaming blue ray is only 50Mbps and even then will be buffered.

Firegod · 1 Jul 2011 at 18:28

Mayfair said:
...
I've been looking at the TP-Link 8-port Gigabit Switch Desktop (TL-SG1008D) which is around £25.
...

I've just received x3 TP-Link 5-port Gigabit Switches and they seem to be well received from reviews I've seen online. ~£13ea! Can't complain at that price. I haven't connected them up yet as I'm waiting on other bits and bobs arriving.

But seem decent enough... looks wise.

pepp77 · 1 Jul 2011 at 18:33

Firegod said:
I've just received x3 TP-Link 5-port Gigabit Switches and they seem to be well received from reviews I've seen online. ~£13ea! Can't complain at that price. I haven't connected them up yet as I'm waiting on other bits and bobs arriving.

But seem decent enough... looks wise.

Been running my home network on one of those switches for coming upto a year now. All media and files are stored on a central PC and all other PCs and laptops stream from this one PC, never had a single issue streaming 2 x HD feeds and transferring files from the server at the same time.

Spending much more on a switch for a simple home network is pointless IMO

And agree with the looks part - as long as you have the black one.

Firegod · 1 Jul 2011 at 18:44

pepp77 said:
Been running my home network on one of those switches for coming upto a year now. All media and files are stored on a central PC and all other PCs and laptops stream from this one PC, never had a single issue streaming 2 x HD feeds and transferring files from the server at the same time.

Spending much more on a switch for a simple home network is pointless IMO

And agree with the looks part - as long as you have the black one.

Yeah x3 of the black cased one's.

Glad to see they work well, thanks for your feedback, like I say, they seem to get positive reviews from the site I ordered them through as well. Can't wait to get them hooked up.

Mayfair · 1 Jul 2011 at 19:16

pepp77 said:
Been running my home network on one of those switches for coming upto a year now. All media and files are stored on a central PC and all other PCs and laptops stream from this one PC, never had a single issue streaming 2 x HD feeds and transferring files from the server at the same time.

Spending much more on a switch for a simple home network is pointless IMO

And agree with the looks part - as long as you have the black one.

Interesting... So you think for my needs it isn’t necessary spending the extra on the Linksys SE2800 and just get the TP-Link TL-SG1008D? Which would be £25 instead of £40.

If it copes with you streaming 2x HD and transferring files at the same time, Then I think that would be fine since I don’t think I’ll be streaming more than that at once.

Awahwah · 1 Jul 2011 at 20:05

If you have two nics on your sever and if it's possible to do with the NIC software, I'd look at Teaming your NICs - MS\HP term grrrr! (Etherchannel if your a Cisco man). 100 full duplex should be enough to stream HD content to the end node but you may want to give the server a bit more bandwidth.

If you can't then a gig is the way to go.

Skidilliplop · 4 Jul 2011 at 10:19

ecksmen said:
QoS on a home network - I've never seen anyone needing that! Completely overkill IMO. Streaming blue ray is only 50Mbps and even then will be buffered.

Not overkill, just doing it properly.

QoS and bandwidth are completely different things. QoS deals with priority of transmission. You may only use 10meg of a gigabit link on average but if it's first come first served UDP streams can still be held back to let things like web traffic, ftp and netbios garbage that floats out your NIC as and when it wishes. Which can interrupt your playback.

I've got a 10GbE link here with boring data flowing over it. Most of the time when backups don't run etc it's rarely above 80mbit usage, but the 128kbit SD streams flowing over it break up and look like arse without QoS, regardless of the fact there is a tonne of excess bandwidth. Often you can get away with it at home purely because when you stream to your PC nothing else is going on on the network. But if you want to watch a movie while a backup runs or have downloads and things running in background, you will notice it. QoS will allow you to do that seamlessly. I managed to get my 8port netgear smart switch at home for ~£50. Completely worth it.

Mayfair · 4 Jul 2011 at 15:25

Ordered the TP-Link 8-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch (TL-SG1008D) in the end going by comments made here and online it seemed a good choice considering the price (£24.98 delivered)

Many thanks everyone for all your help.

Firegod · 5 Jul 2011 at 19:26

Just to say, hooked my 5 port TP-Link Gig switches up with my new Devolo 500Mbps AV2 homeplugs which arrived today. Effortless. No hassle with the switches and they're now busily working away at 1.0Gbps. Very pleased.

Mayfair · 5 Jul 2011 at 22:42

TP-Link 8-Port Gigabit arrived this morning, everything now up and running at 1.0Gbps.

So much better for transferring large files to and from the server!

Thanks once again everyone who helped in this thread!