Do I really need 1Gbs in my home network?

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We purchased our home new in 2016. It has an OnQ (Legrand) structured wiring system, which distributed Ethernet, Phone and coax connections to 8 rooms. The builder did not provide an Ethernet switch in the main panel and in fact did not terminate all the Cat5 wires in the panel. Shortly after moving in I terminated the necessary Cat5 wires and have added a Netgear FS105 8 port 10/100 switch. I see that the Netgear GS308 (8 port) Gigabit switch is only $19.99 on Amazon. But I don’t know if I really need Gigabit throughput in my house. I know it isn’t going to help my steaming because I have the Comcast Xfinity Performance SELECT plan which provides 100 Mbs download, 5 Mbs upload. But I just wonder if when doing file transfers on the local network, the 10/100 switches are going to be limiting. I don’t really do big file transfers now. I have attached a diagram showing the connections I have now. Thoughts? 

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Someday you’re going to have Internet service faster than 100Mbps, and it may be sooner than you think.

I happen to have 300Mbps already, because it isn’t costing me extra (there are slower options but oddly they are not less expensive). So I had to upgrade to gigabit switches if only to get all the speed I’m paying for. And really, when it comes to large downloads (mostly games, OS ISOs, and some software updates), I really appreciate it.

And then when I think about doing full system backups, I already find gigabit to be slow. Go figure.

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Snoopdon

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Snoopdon,

I recently moved to new digs and Spectrum Triple Play was included. This gives us 200Mb.

The apt. is wired with a central cabinet in the laundry area. So I put a 5 port 1Gb  switch in there to feed the TV in the living room and my wife’s computer in her office.

In my office I have and 8 port switch hooked up directly to the router which is hooked to the Spectrum cable modem. I have a Synology DS220+ NAS, Dell XPS8920,   and last but not least the 5 port switch hooked up directly to the Router. The 8 Port switch is currently supporting my TV, Dell XPS137000 Laptop, unattached cable for working on friends computers, a Phillips Hue Hub, Amazon Fire Stick. I have another desktop and ChromeCast that I haven’t hooked up yet. I also have 4 Alexa devices, 4 Fire Tablets, and 2 Samsung Note 9 phones using Wi-Fi.

That said the 400Mb connection seems to be sufficient for everything, and a lot of it is in use simultaneously! I love having the 1Gb in-house connections for doing file transfers, data backups, etc.

In my old digs I had AT&T fiber 1Gb internet but I don’t think I got my moneys worth out of it.

HTH

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Snoopdon

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For a home network, even one as big as RG’s, a cheap 1GB switch will be fine, but it is worth noting that the 1GB is generally “total throughput” on the switch, e.g. 3 systems at 333MB. To achieve 1GB on each port at all times you have to by a proper switch and they are not cheap.

cheers, Paul

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Snoopdon

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If your CAT5 is early vintage, it may be the limiting factor. I’ve read where it was only rated for 10/100. CAT5e provided higher throughput.
My previous house (circa 2005) had 5e but was unable to provide > 10/100 because the pairs had been split between phone jacks and RJ45. I wasn’t impressed with that cost-cutting.

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Snoopdon

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Straight up answer:  You want 1Gbps and it isn’t expensive. Inexpensive enough that I just handed a colleague an HP 16-port gigabit switch because he was using 10/100 and told him he should have it.

1. Your Internet connection is probably faster than 100Mbps by now.
2. You have multiple devices in your house, some of which probably stream video (e.g., surveillance cameras, a DVR, tablets, smartphones, laptops).  Today’s high-resolution video can have resolutions of 1080p to 2160p beyond what 100Mbps Ethernet can cope with. Also imagine these multiple devices at once, asking for bandwidth; your Internet connection could provide it to them, but your 10/100 switch can’t, and so you’re paying for Internet speeds you can’t benefit from, and you’re not able to efficiently share your Internet bandwidth with multiple devices.
3.  1Gbps switches are inexpensive. Better ones cost a bit more, but a Netgear GS116 isn’t super expensive, and you can often find a working used one on eBay for a bargain.
4. Wireless access points have been faster than 100Mbps for some time now. Mine can do the full speed test of my 450Mbps connection for one device. Again, if four people use your wireless, they’re splitting the 100Mbps max off from one switchport that your wireless access point uses and again, not getting your money’s worth.

So, the short answer is YES.

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

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Snoopdon

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LoneWolf wrote:

Your Internet connection is probably faster than 100Mbps by now

Don’t I wish. Short of going to fibre/cable, if it’s even available, and paying for the privilege.
Some of us are on limited income.

LoneWolf wrote:

Today’s high-resolution video can have resolutions of 1080p to 2160p beyond what 100Mbps Ethernet can cope with

Even Netflix states that its most-demanding streaming-video formats — a 4K TV picture with Dolby Vision or HDR10 audio — require you to have an Internet service tier of no more than 25Mbps

cheers, Paul

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Snoopdon

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With three of us working from home, earlier this week we had three video conferences going on at the same time, our Sonos playing music, and the Roku playing NASA TV for the Mars landing on XFINITY 100 Mbps service distributed by wifi.  No hiccups, no issues.

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Snoopdon

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I ordered a Netgear GS316 switch on Amazon yesterday and got it today. I just installed it in in my OnQ panel. See picture. Now I can “heat up” all 8 drops to the bedrooms and also connect the security camera recorder and Wi-Fi extender router that reside in that closet. BTW, I found the full data sheet for the GS3xx switches (see attached PDF) and it says they are “non-blocking”. This means that as long as the backplane bandwidth is not exceeded (which I believe is 10Gbs) all ports will work at 1Gbs. They don’t divide the bandwidth (assuming the nodes can run at 1Gbs). I ran this by one of the network engineers in the central IT department where I used to work. He was on the network operations team that supported the network for the whole company and he is very knowledgeable. He agrees with this assessment. Obviously this is just on the “LAN”. I know I’m not going to get 1Gbs download from the Internet. I just ran the Google speed test and got the same 115 Mbs down and 5.9 Mbs up that I saw the other day with my 10/100 switch.

Don

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