What's the point of a Gigabyte router?

Kaiju

Kaiju

Kaiju

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Theoretically my 1GB connection roughly translates up to 125 MB/s (1.000 Mbps / 8 = 125 MB/s). I get around 95 MB when testing both a direct connection and when using a 100 MB router.

Therefore, what's the point of a Gigabyte router and do I need one?
 
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Well if you connect 2 PCs to it with Gigabit Ethernet ports then they would operate at 1Gb/s over LAN. However for the Internet you won't notice a difference unless your Internet is above 100Mb/s. Depending on hard drives etc. being able to transfer over 100M/bs too.

After re-reading... if you used a router with Gigabit ports then you should be able to get 125MB/s instead of 95MB/s (although I don't see how you can get 95MB/s on a 100Mb/s router) you get on your current router. I think :). Assuming your Internet runs at 100% of your 1Gb connection. I guess you meant 1Gb connection. 1GB connection would be 8Gb. Gigabit (Gb/Gbit) vs GigaByte (GB).

In conclusion: if you have a 1Gb/s Internet connection then you need a router with 1Gb/s ports to get the most of it.
 
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The router serves two purposes WAN & LAN.

For WAN even if you had fibre, say a 80/20 connection of 80 Mbps down, then a Fast Ethernet or Gigabit router would be fine. Even if you were connecting to the router via wireless connection as long as the wireless protocol was 802.11n or higher your network wouldn't be encumbered by the internet speed.

LAN is where you might require a faster router if you have multiple devices on your LAN which you want to be able to transfer data between faster. Since they would be communicating over the LAN eg your internal network then they are not encumbered by the speed of the WAN. To get the Gigabit speed advantage from the router you would need Gigabit network card in each device that you wanted to benefit from the higher speed. If your devices connect via a Switch to the Router then the Switch would also need to be Gigabit.
 
Go through your post again and correct all the instances where you have used Mb and MB incorrectly and it will make more sense.

You aren't pushing 95 megabytes per second through a 100 megabit per second interface.
 
Fanatic said:
In conclusion: if you have a 1Gb/s Internet connection then you need a router with 1Gb/s ports to get the most of it.
Click to expand...

That's what is weird. I have a 1Gb Internet connection and when I plug the modem directly into my PC's ethernet port, I get 95 MB.

When I put the modem through my 100 MB router, I still get 95 MB! I guess as it's a 100 MB router, it's not crazy!

I don't question the speed I'm getting, but do I really need a Gigabit router if the speed I get from a direct modem to PC connection is the same with a 100 MB router?

I was thinking perhaps if I had multiple connections but then I'm only connecting my PC and a two phones to it.

I'm using an Linksys E1200, so a very basic router at that and have noticed a drop in connection a few times and what seems to be latency with pages loading and an overall sluggish feel to browsing.

Once the router decides to work though (99% of the time), it hits the same download speeds as with 100 MB router.

I don't want to get a Gigabit router like the TP-Link Archer C7 and see little to no benefit using it over the E1200.

Note, I'm quite happy with the wireless signal of the E1200.
 
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From the sounds of things you may have a PC with a network card that's only supported up to 100mb. Seems a bit of a waste for a 1Gb internet connection.

As for a gigabit router it's very handy for things such as a NAS drive or media server, really anything that's to do with transferring files from one device to another on the same network.
 
Orcvader said:
From the sounds of things you may have a PC with a network card that's only supported up to 100mb. Seems a bit of a waste for a 1Gb internet connection.

As for a gigabit router it's very handy for things such as a NAS drive or media server, really anything that's to do with transferring files from one device to another on the same network.
Click to expand...

Nope, I have the Biostar TP67XE which has a 1 GB port.

Spec

95 MB is normal for a 1 GB connection as the actual speed is divided by 8. (125 MB)

Take away latency and interference and hitting around 100 MB is pretty normal.

I get the use of a Gigabit router but I only have a Note 2, Galaxy S2 and PS4 being used at the moment, all of which don't have Gigabit availability.

Waiting for a 4K OLED with 1 GB capability to run my home media. :D
 
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My bad.

Okay, so given the following:

1) A Gigabit router would only be needed if I have other devices with AC capability.

2) My max transfer rate of 95 MB from modem to PC will work without being bottlenecked by my 100 MB router.

I don't need a gigabit router yet. We all agree? :D
 
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You need to learn the difference between Megabit and MegaByte.

100 Megabit connection will give 12.5 MegaByte per sec transfer speed (theoretical).
1000 Megabit (1 Gigabit) will give 125 MegaByte per sec transfer speed (theoretical).

If your wireless devices support speeds higher than 100 megabit or 12.5 megabyte, then you will notice a difference if you upgrade to a gigabit router.

8 bits in a byte.
Mbit = Megabit/Mb
MByte = MegaByte/MB
 
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Who is your isp? You seem to be mixing up bit and byte.

If you have hyperoptic as your isp. Then you do want a gigabit router.

Wan Port means the 'wide area network' (internet) Port.
Lan Port means local, so the connection to other machines on your network. If you're sharing files between them, then the faster the better
 
I live in Hong Kong. :D

Yeah, if I had other devices with Wireless AC capability or wanted to do lots of file sharing on my LAN, I would get a gigabit router but as I found out in this thread I don't really need one just yet.

Thanks for the reply.
 
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If you don't use a gigabit router, then you'll be limited to 12MB/s. Which compared to the UK is still very quick.

But you could be getting a max of 125MB/s.

Where are you seeing this 98 figure? I'd assume that it should be more like 988!
 
Modem>PC
4066892771.png


Modem>E1200 router>PC
4067688491.png


Isn't that about right?

How would I be getting 988? :O
 
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That's Mb not MB

So yes, your router is limiting your speed, only running at 10 percent of its potential speed.

Well worth replacing it! They are fairly cheap
 
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