Upgrading a switch to a gigabit one, for use with Synology NAS

[azibux1]

Hi,

Following on from this and this thread a while ago...

I was looking at upgrading our home network to a gigabit one as my cousin recently got a Netgear NAS and although it has two gigabit ports going to his switch (it is a business use one lol) he said it is really fast so I thought I would look into speeding ours up if it doesn't cost too much

Our house is wired up with a switch downstairs and RJ45 wall sockets around the house (pics at the end of this thread). We did not install this, it was done when the house was built so I didn't know if the cables were Cat5 or Cat5e, my cousin said gigabit will only work if it is Cat5e so today I tested it

This is how it normally looks on my PC when I have a switch connected to the wall plate and my PC into this gigabit switch:


So I assume that just says 1Gbps as the connection between my PC and the switch upstairs is

If I connect to the wall plate directly this is what I see:


And then I took my gigabit switch downstairs temporarily, connected my PC directly to the wall plate, and connected that wall plate connection downstairs to my gigabit switch and got this:


From that last image, it is 1Gbps so am I right in saying the cabling is Cat5e?? That was with just my PC upstairs connected to the gigabit switch I took downstairs, so going through the cable in the wall rather than direct

So I then thought I'd get the NAS, and also connect that into the gigabit switch to test the speed to see if the money would be worth upgrading to a gigabit one. I tried to transfer some files, about 2GB, and non gigabit (current setup) it took 4m52s, whereas with the gigabit connection, my PC going through the cable in the wall and into the same gigabit switch as the NAS, it only took 1m30s

So I was just about to buy a gigabit switch for downstairs, 8 port TP link one, same as my 5 port, just bigger but then I thought I'd try it just once more

Tried the same transfer, same files, only difference is that I had maybe (can't remember when I done it) added a cable from the old switch to the gigabit one so I could get internet on my PC. This time it was taking ages again so I checked the settings on the PC and it had gone back to 100Mbps ... Hmmmm

I removed the cable from the old switch linking that and the gigabit switch, restarted the NAS and my PC but it still showed up at 100Mbps. Why is this? I had it going at 1Gbps as shown in the pic above then it changed.

Anyone able to help? Would be appreciated

PS: Currently with this setup the NAS is connected straight to the router (BT Homehub 2, non gigabit capapble) so we will move the NAS and connect it to the gigabit switch when we get it. Am I right in saying that within the house then, transferring things to and from the NAS I will not need to go through the homehub 2 so that won't affect things? It should run at 1Gbps within the house then 100Mbps if I use remote access from outside the house somewhere?

Thanks in advance

Pics...








EDIT: Also, will it be okay to just run a cable from the gigabit switch to the old non gigabit one, so we can continue to use that switch for things we don't mind being 'non-gigabit'? It won't run the gigabit things like PC's and NAS on the gigabit switch at a slower speed just because we have the old switch connected? Thanks

 

[tezabeza]

If I am reading the post right then the you need to just replace the 10/100 unit at the bottom of the rack with a new GIGABIT unit simple as that because the 2 units above just look like patchpanels.

Is this in your home or is it a work place?

Cheers

 

[azibux1]

If I am reading the post right then the you need to just replace the 10/100 unit at the bottom of the rack with a new GIGABIT unit simple as that because the 2 units above just look like patchpanels.

Is this in your home or is it a work place?

Cheers

That is what I was thinking. But what confused me was how it was working at 1Gbps after moving the gigabit switch to test it, but then it stopped and went to 100Mbps. Not sure what made it change

Yeah the two above are patch panels and the numbers on the stickers relate to the ports in the rooms.

It is at home, so glad the previous owner/builder installed this! So helpful

 

[tezabeza]

Well the reason it went back to 100Mbps was you removed the GIG switch, the router controls the speed of the network, the other other 2 units are just a patch panels. So have no speed control over the network.

All I can say is that it will make it so much easier to configure a network with that, ALSO just as a tip insted of just a simple GIG switch if funds allow why not look a a Managed switch. This way you can keep an eye on the network from your PC, set up access if say one PC is a KIDS PC to stop unwanted browsing and to manage what they can use and can not onthe web and the network.

This will also mean you have full control over bandwidth allocations for say streaming, Torrents, or anything.

Cheers

 

[azibux1]

Well the reason it went back to 100Mbps was you removed the GIG switch, the router controls the speed of the network, the other other 2 units are just a patch panels. So have no speed control over the network.

All I can say is that it will make it so much easier to configure a network with that, ALSO just as a tip insted of just a simple GIG switch if funds allow why not look a a Managed switch. This way you can keep an eye on the network from your PC, set up access if say one PC is a KIDS PC to stop unwanted browsing and to manage what they can use and can not onthe web and the network.

This will also mean you have full control over bandwidth allocations for say streaming, Torrents, or anything.

Cheers

Hi,

Sorry if my original post was a bit confusing, I didn't remove the gigabit switch.

I have the gigabit one upstairs so I can connect my TV, Laptop, PS3 and PC but only use up one wall jack. So temporarily I took that downstairs and connected my PC directly to the wall jack. Went downstairs and took the cable from the corresponding patch panel port and put it in the gigabit switch. I then checked the speed on my PC and I was getting 1Gbps (meaning that the cables running through the house are Cat5e/gigabit capable?). I connected the NAS to the gigabit switch too, tested a transfer and saw the improved speeds. Then I connnected one wire from the old switch to the gigabit one, just so I could get internet to that switch. That is when I think it went to 100Mbps. I removed the cable linking the old switch and gigabit switch but still showed as 100Mbps. I will try again today and see what happens before buying a gigabit switch.

Would it be possible to have the old switch and gigabit switch in use at the same time so we can have things we want running at gigabit on one, and if we want more rooms connected but don't mind if they are slower we can use the old switch for them? Or would that make the whole network run at 100Mbps?

The only feature of that managed switch I would probably use is the bandwidth allocations, so I could maybe have a torrent downloading and it not affect my brother playing on the PS3 by stealing all the bandwidth. Is it quite complex to set up? Can you recommend a good 8 port one for a sensible price? I might consider it.

The non gigabit switch I was looking at is the TP-LINK 8-port Gigabit Unmanaged Desktop Switch (TL-SG1008D). Only £30 so I think I might just get that if it will all work properly

Thanks!

EDIT: Just looked and a TP Link 8 port managed switch is £80!! Don't think we will make use of all the features really, just set torrents to download at night instead etc. What do you think of the unmanaged switch above?

Didn't get round to testing it today. Just wondering though, my brother has a Dell XPS laptop and I have an Asus Transformer Infinity tablet and as these things connect wirelessly would they still benefit from the gigabit upgrade or not as they still need to go through the BT home hub 2?

 

[welshdragon]

I may be over simplifying this as my brain is truggling to compute this morning.

I would do two things.

First, as Tezabeza said change the switch hub for a gigabit one. This will make your network a gigabit one.

Second, change the BT home hub to one with gigabit ports. If you nas is currently connected to the network via a non-gigabit router (home hub) then no matter how fast the rest is it is only going to pull data at the slower speed.

To me it as simples as internet then being passed to home network via gigabit and home network distributing connection between each other and internet as gigabit.

I must say though I am nowehere near any sort of expert on home networking but those two things would strike me as the first things to do.

 

[azibux1]

I may be over simplifying this as my brain is truggling to compute this morning.

I would do two things.

First, as Tezabeza said change the switch hub for a gigabit one. This will make your network a gigabit one.

Second, change the BT home hub to one with gigabit ports. If you nas is currently connected to the network via a non-gigabit router (home hub) then no matter how fast the rest is it is only going to pull data at the slower speed.

To me it as simples as internet then being passed to home network via gigabit and home network distributing connection between each other and internet as gigabit.

I must say though I am nowehere near any sort of expert on home networking but those two things would strike me as the first things to do.

Thanks for your reply, not sure if you're over simplifying or I'm over complicating haha

That is what I thought was necessary too, changing the switch and router but then my cousin suggested just changing the switch only, then connecting the NAS to that instead of the router, that way we would only need to change one device, I'm assuming that wouldn't work though because wireless devices would still need to go through the non gigabit router? It would only benefit wired devices

Maybe we will have to change both. I think the switch i suggested above will be fine but does anyone know of a good and reasonably priced gigabit router? Or we could try and get a Home hub 3 from BT but I think that only has 1 gigabit port and they will probably charge us for it so we might as well buy a better one for that price

 

[tezabeza]

Welshdragon, spot on with that one.

Are you on ADSL or Fiber?

Either way look at replacing the HH2 from BT and get A Billion 7800N, this is not a cheap option BUT this has a built-in 4 port GIGABIT switch and is a Wireless N device so you have upto 300Mbps available for that.

This will work with all ADSL services and is SKY compatable as well with the latest 1.06G Firmware. AND is compatable with Fiber Cable OR BT Infinity, I know as this is what I use with my 40/10 Infinity package and its great.

The Router part of the 7800N is then connected to my NETGEAR 8 Port GIGABIT switch which then connects to all my gear which is Gaming PC, SKY+HD, PS3, XBOX360, and a Sony BlueRay player. This switch also is connected to a second GIG switch in my workshop which has 3 PC's and a Printer connected.

Via Wireless I have 2 laptops, and various Blackberry, and Android OS phones connected.

This allows me to share the printer on the network so the PC's and Laptops can use it and any file sharing or streaming is done at GIG level.

Running a GIG network is not hard and any NIC's that are 10/100 cards will run at that spead they will all work without a problem together as the switch auto senses the speeds and sets the PORT for that device to the correct link speed. As is the 7800N ports these also detect 10/100/1000 speed.

Simples LoL Do it this way and you should be set for quite a few years with this network, even if you get a full Fibre To The Home service the ONT (Optical Network Termination) unit will have a GIGABIT WAN connection, Just plug it in to the same port as the Infinity or Cable Modem which is the EWAN Port and your away.

 

[azibux1]

Welshdragon, spot on with that one.

Are you on ADSL or Fiber?

Either way look at replacing the HH2 from BT and get A Billion 7800N, this is not a cheap option BUT this has a built-in 4 port GIGABIT switch and is a Wireless N device so you have upto 300Mbps available for that.

This will work with all ADSL services and is SKY compatable as well with the latest 1.06G Firmware. AND is compatable with Fiber Cable OR BT Infinity, I know as this is what I use with my 40/10 Infinity package and its great.

The Router part of the 7800N is then connected to my NETGEAR 8 Port GIGABIT switch which then connects to all my gear which is Gaming PC, SKY+HD, PS3, XBOX360, and a Sony BlueRay player. This switch also is connected to a second GIG switch in my workshop which has 3 PC's and a Printer connected.

Via Wireless I have 2 laptops, and various Blackberry, and Android OS phones connected.

This allows me to share the printer on the network so the PC's and Laptops can use it and any file sharing or streaming is done at GIG level.

Running a GIG network is not hard and any NIC's that are 10/100 cards will run at that spead they will all work without a problem together as the switch auto senses the speeds and sets the PORT for that device to the correct link speed. As is the 7800N ports these also detect 10/100/1000 speed.

Simples LoL Do it this way and you should be set for quite a few years with this network, even if you get a full Fibre To The Home service the ONT (Optical Network Termination) unit will have a GIGABIT WAN connection, Just plug it in to the same port as the Infinity or Cable Modem which is the EWAN Port and your away.

Hi,

Sorry for the late reply

And sorry if I keep going over the same thing But are you saying I cannot just upgrade the switch? That is really what I wanted to do Even if I move the NAS connection from the router and put it into the switch ... the router still needs upgrading for the wireless devices to access it at gigabit speeds?

That router looks veryyyyyyy expensive!!! Haha wasn't looking at spending anywhere near that amount. Before that option is there not anything cheaper?! If there isn't I might as well try and get a BT Homehub 3 from BT, that has one gigabit port, run a cable from that port, through the patch panel and into the new gigabit switch we will buy and then connect the NAS and computers etc to that? Will that work?

How would it work with wireless devices like I said, would they still benefit from the upgrade using the above method?

Thanks for your help!

 

[tezabeza]

If you are not looking to future proof the system then just replace the switch, the wireless devices wont get GIG speeds just yet and it will work.

BUT if you read the post the advice helps to remove the need to replace the router in the near future hence the question are you on ADSL or Fiber.

If you count all the devices you want to put into the switch then get a switch with more ports than you need now so you know if you ever need more ports they are there no more expence of buying again.

 

[azibux1]

If you are not looking to future proof the system then just replace the switch, the wireless devices wont get GIG speeds just yet and it will work.

BUT if you read the post the advice helps to remove the need to replace the router in the near future hence the question are you on ADSL or Fiber.

If you count all the devices you want to put into the switch then get a switch with more ports than you need now so you know if you ever need more ports they are there no more expence of buying again.

Hmmm okay

Will see what my brother says as I'm splitting the cost half with him

Forgot to answer that question, ADSL, we don't have fibre in our area yet unfortunately

 

[azibux1]

I have discussed with my brother and he does not want to spend that much money on the Billion and neither do I really.

We could future proof by getting a switch with more ports but could you please recommend a cheaper router that will do the job.

We would like wired and wireless devices to benefit from the upgrade and be able to take advantage of the gigabit speeds but at a sensible cost.

Also could we do what I mentioned earlier and have the old switch also running and connect devices we don't mind running at the slower speed to that one and devices we want to run at gigabit to the new switch? Meaning we would only need an 8 port gigabit switch the rather than a larger one

Hope you can help

 

[bledd]

If you're getting a new router, don't cheap out on it.

The only two I would consider (around the £100 mark) are..

Billion 7800N
Asus DSL-N55U (they've just added a ton of features to the firmware, including SNR tweak which the 7800N has too)

Or just get a new switch, something like a TP link 8 port or 16 port gigabit switch

 

[azibux1]

If you're getting a new router, don't cheap out on it.

The only two I would consider (around the £100 mark) are..

Billion 7800N
Asus DSL-N55U (they've just added a ton of features to the firmware, including SNR tweak which the 7800N has too)

Or just get a new switch, something like a TP link 8 port or 16 port gigabit switch

Okay. Maybe we will have to reconsider and spend more than we were intending on.

With just a switch the wireless devices wouldn't benefit though right? We have to upgrade the router so wireless devices benefit?

What do you think of a BT Homehub 3 (one gigabit port) if we can get one out of BT for free?

 

[azibux1]

What do you guys think if we buy a gigabit switch and replace the router with a BT Homehub 3 that has a gigabit port and connect the NAS to that?

Good setup for a sensible price? Or if you don't think so please spec a cheaper router for us that will do a suitable job, maybe nearer to the £50 mark?

Thanks!

 

[Deleted User 298457]

Why do you need to replace the homehub?

Just get a gigabit switch and plug everything into this, the HH is fine for just internet use

Edit:

I have discussed with my brother and he does not want to spend that much money on the Billion and neither do I really.

We could future proof by getting a switch with more ports but could you please recommend a cheaper router that will do the job.

We would like wired and wireless devices to benefit from the upgrade and be able to take advantage of the gigabit speeds but at a sensible cost.

Also could we do what I mentioned earlier and have the old switch also running and connect devices we don't mind running at the slower speed to that one and devices we want to run at gigabit to the new switch? Meaning we would only need an 8 port gigabit switch the rather than a larger one

Hope you can help

Exactly this...get an 8 port gigabit for your NAS/your self/brother/any other gigabit required devices and either use the 3 spare ports on your HH or use the 100mbps switch.

 

[azibux1]

Why do you need to replace the homehub?

Just get a gigabit switch and plug everything into this, the HH is fine for just internet use

Edit:



Exactly this...get an 8 port gigabit for your NAS/your self/brother/any other gigabit required devices and either use the 3 spare ports on your HH or use the 100mbps switch.

I'd prefer not to replace the HH to save on costs but I was under the impression we need to upgrade that so that wireless devices would benefit from the upgrade? We don't just want wired devices to benefit, we use a couple of laptops and a tablet so would like them to gain a speed boost too

Please let me know what you think

 

[Deleted User 298457]

I'd prefer not to replace the HH to save on costs but I was under the impression we need to upgrade that so that wireless devices would benefit from the upgrade? We don't just want wired devices to benefit, we use a couple of laptops and a tablet so would like them to gain a speed boost too

Please let me know what you think

Are your laptops wireless-N? Decent machines?

Cheap - get a wireless N AP and plug it into your new gigabit switch
Expensive - get a new wireless router like the Billion previously mentioned

 

[azibux1]

Are your laptops wireless-N? Decent machines?

Cheap - get a wireless N AP and plug it into your new gigabit switch
Expensive - get a new wireless router like the Billion previously mentioned

Yeah just checked in device manager and mine has a Dell 1510 802.11n card in it and my brothers is a bit older, but his is a Dell XPS gaming one so I assume it will be wireless N. Will check tomorrow

Wireless N access point into the gig switch sounds like a good (best I think) idea nobody has mentioned yet until now!!

Something like a TP-LINK TL-WA901ND? That is 300mbps ... Is that the quickest? Seems like a sensible price but Ive never bought an AP before

Then connect that (along with the wired PC, TV, PS3 and obviously the NAS) to the new gigabit switch ... I was thinking of a TP Link TL-SG1008D as mentioned earlier in this thread ... What is your opinion?

This sounds like a good plan! Thanks for your help!

How does an AP work? How is it connected to our internet connection if that makes sense and is it hard to set up? I have do some networking knowledge but am still in the process of learning at uni. Sure it can't be that hard to setup