Router Gigabit question


Mailman74

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I had 1gig fiber installed today. I have a gig wireless netgear router but it is a few years old and only has N band. All my switches and hubs are gigabit also and everything runs over cat 5e. I have been pondering purchasing a new ac router. My main question is whether it will be of any benefit. I have wired connections to all rooms and the only thing we use wireless for is laptop, tablets and cell phones. Will upgrading to a new router help my wired connections or will I only see an improvement in wireless? Thank you

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In general you will only see an improvement in wireless performance, which may not even be necessary unless you routinely transfer large files across wireless.  If your router LAN ports and your switches are all gigabit, there's no point in upgrading unless you need the additional wireless speed.

 

There is one caveat to that.  If you have a 1Gbit fiber WAN connection, not all "gigabit" routers are actually capable of full gigabit throughput on the WAN side.  When you do a speedtest are you seeing a full 1Gbit?  If so, there's no need to upgrade the router.

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In general you will only see an improvement in wireless performance, which may not even be necessary unless you routinely transfer large files across wireless.  If your router LAN ports and your switches are all gigabit, there's no point in upgrading unless you need the additional wireless speed.

 

There is one caveat to that.  If you have a 1Gbit fiber WAN connection, not all "gigabit" routers are actually capable of full gigabit throughput on the WAN side.  When you do a speedtest are you seeing a full 1Gbit?  If so, there's no need to upgrade the router.

 

I am not getting a full gigabit on speedtest. The tech that installed it tried the router they supply and it was getting the same as my router was 450mbps/250mpbs. He said they are upgrading their main  servers in a few months to be able to supply a true 1gig, but I do not know if he was just bs'ing. He said most installs are not getting much more than the speeds that I am getting. I live in Cincinnati and the supplier is Cincinnati Bell, so not a huge nationwide supplier

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In general you will only see an improvement in wireless performance, which may not even be necessary unless you routinely transfer large files across wireless.  If your router LAN ports and your switches are all gigabit, there's no point in upgrading unless you need the additional wireless speed.

 

There is one caveat to that.  If you have a 1Gbit fiber WAN connection, not all "gigabit" routers are actually capable of full gigabit throughput on the WAN side.  When you do a speedtest are you seeing a full 1Gbit?  If so, there's no need to upgrade the router.

 

I am not getting a full gigabit on speedtest. The tech that installed it tried the router they supply and it was getting the same as my router was 450mbps/250mpbs. He said they are upgrading their main  servers in a few months to be able to supply a true 1gig, but I do not know if he was just bs'ing. He said most installs are not getting much more than the speeds that I am getting. I live in Cincinnati and the supplier is Cincinnati Bell, so not a huge nationwide supplier

 

Was 450/250 on wireless or wired?

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In general you will only see an improvement in wireless performance, which may not even be necessary unless you routinely transfer large files across wireless.  If your router LAN ports and your switches are all gigabit, there's no point in upgrading unless you need the additional wireless speed.

 

There is one caveat to that.  If you have a 1Gbit fiber WAN connection, not all "gigabit" routers are actually capable of full gigabit throughput on the WAN side.  When you do a speedtest are you seeing a full 1Gbit?  If so, there's no need to upgrade the router.

 

I am not getting a full gigabit on speedtest. The tech that installed it tried the router they supply and it was getting the same as my router was 450mbps/250mpbs. He said they are upgrading their main  servers in a few months to be able to supply a true 1gig, but I do not know if he was just bs'ing. He said most installs are not getting much more than the speeds that I am getting. I live in Cincinnati and the supplier is Cincinnati Bell, so not a huge nationwide supplier

 

Was 450/250 on wireless or wired?

 

Wired, wireless was only getting about 75-50 on mine and the techs laptop

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Sounds like you don't yet have 1gbps, especially since the tech didn't expect to see more.

 

If you can by-pass everything, avoiding any limitations of the router/WAP, that will help determine if upgrading the router would be of benefit.

 

I am unsure that speednet is very accurate for 1gbps speeds, but reporting 450/250mbps would have me asking for a reduced pricing plan.

 

802.11n (wide) or 802.11ac are going to be your best bets for delivering that 450mbps to your laptop. Your laptop needs to match.  ;)

 

N is not actually a band, but an encoding method. In order to reach high aggregate speeds, multiple antennas are needed. If you can see three or more neighboring WAP, chances for wide signalling go down dramatically. So, if you do shop for a new wireless router/AP, more antennas is better (internal or external).

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If I was paying for service but only getting 16% (75 of 450) because of my equipment, yeah upgrade. Broadcom’s BCM4331, a four year old laptop solution used by Apple, connects at 450Mbps and usually delivers over three times the 75Mbps seen so far. Switching to Broadcom’s BCM94360csax connects at up to 1.3Gbps and over 400Mbps is common measured rates within the room of the 5Ghz AP.

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I'd agree if they were using the wireless for any of the main systems; but since all rooms are wired and the wireless has very little use, it seems an unnecessary expense.    The question was whether this would improve his wired connections ... and the answer to that is No.

 

Actually, until a test is run with the current router by-passed, it is unknown. The router is mentioned as a Netgear. The Netgear routers doing over 500Mbps WAN-to-LAN are mostly 802.11ac. For example the extremely popular Netgear WNDR3700 is rated 429Mbps, but the newer Netgear R7000 can pump 931Mbps.

 

 

 

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I'd agree if they were using the wireless for any of the main systems; but since all rooms are wired and the wireless has very little use, it seems an unnecessary expense.    The question was whether this would improve his wired connections ... and the answer to that is No.

 

Actually, until a test is run with the current router by-passed, it is unknown. The router is mentioned as a Netgear. The Netgear routers doing over 500Mbps WAN-to-LAN are mostly 802.11ac. For example the extremely popular Netgear WNDR3700 is rated 429Mbps, but the newer Netgear R7000 can pump 931Mbps.

 

Ok the tech did bypass the router and wired his laptop up directly to the ont box where the fiber connects and was getting the same 430mbps.

 

And my router is the Netgear WNDR3700 and the tech had his own router that they use in installs and both were getting about 430mbps

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Ok the tech did bypass the router and wired his laptop up directly to the ont box where the fiber connects and was getting the same 430mbps.

 

And my router is the Netgear WNDR3700 and the tech had his own router that they use in installs and both were getting about 430mbps

 

So, if/when they deliver 1Gbps, you'll need a router upgrade to go beyond the 430Mbps limit of your current WNDR3700

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I've had no issues at all getting well over 950Mb/s on my Gb LAN with a NetGear router with Gb ports ... and it's an older N model.

 

Same is true for every Linksys model I've tried.

 

Remember that the OP is talking about the WIRED ports here -- not the wireless speeds.

 

 

Congratulations on your 1Gpbs plus internet connection!

 

Define "well over". The difference between 950Mbps and 1gbps is 5%.  How "well over" 950Mbps do you have data for?

 

Congratulations on exceeding EVERY router tested by smallnetbuilder

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Are you not reading what I wrote?  I'm talking about LOCAL, WIRED connections that are simply using the Gb switch ports on the router -- the ones the OP asked about.

 

Absolutely nothing to do with the internet connection.

 

The wireless performance or the capabilities of the WAN - LAN bridge don't have any impact on his local network.

 

... and since a direct connection from the optical terminal box doesn't provide over 430Mb, and he gets the same speed with his current router in the path, there's NO advantage to a faster router.

 

 

 

 

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