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FS116 running at 1/2 router (Cisco EA4500) speed
Good morning all..I'm walt in Baton Rouge...
and am hoping you can shed some light...I bought an FS116 to add ports to router about 4 months ago. just got a chance to take a close look at network performance
Using speakeasy.net speed test on Cox Cable Hi Speed Internet in Baton Rouge..process of elimination below..
- single cat 5 wired workstation plugged directly into Surfboard SB6121 modem shows 118Mbps download speed
- same workstation directly through SB6121 then Cisco EA4500 Router shows 118Mbps ds
- same workstation through SB6121 then EA4500 then FS116 (left side green light lit on port) shows 58Mbps ds
seems clearly to be the switch, but shouldn't a 10/100 switch run at 100Mbps...
your thoughts please?
thanks very much
walt
Hi waltinbatonroug,
Welcome to the community! :)
I believe the Surfboard SB6121, the Cisco EA4500 router and the NIC (network interface card) of your PC supports 1Gbps of ethernet connection that is why you get a download speed of 118Mbps when you connect your PC directly to either the Surfboard SB6121 or the Cisco EA4500 router using a Cat5e cable.
The FS116 unmanaged switch is only capable of 10/100 Mbps of ethernet connection. If you connect the PC to the FS116 switch, the download speed will decrease because the ethernet connection will downgrade from 1Gbps (from the router) to 10/100Mbps (FS116).
It would be best that you replace the FS116 switch with an unmanaged switch that is capable of 1Gbps like the GS105v5 or GS108v4 or GS116v2 unmanaged switches. In this way, you will have a Gigabit LAN connection. For more information about the GS105v5 / GS108v4 and GS116v2 unmanaged switches respectively, click on the links below:
Regards,
DaneA
NETGEAR Community Team
5 Replies
Hi waltinbatonroug,
Welcome to the community! :)
I believe the Surfboard SB6121, the Cisco EA4500 router and the NIC (network interface card) of your PC supports 1Gbps of ethernet connection that is why you get a download speed of 118Mbps when you connect your PC directly to either the Surfboard SB6121 or the Cisco EA4500 router using a Cat5e cable.
The FS116 unmanaged switch is only capable of 10/100 Mbps of ethernet connection. If you connect the PC to the FS116 switch, the download speed will decrease because the ethernet connection will downgrade from 1Gbps (from the router) to 10/100Mbps (FS116).
It would be best that you replace the FS116 switch with an unmanaged switch that is capable of 1Gbps like the GS105v5 or GS108v4 or GS116v2 unmanaged switches. In this way, you will have a Gigabit LAN connection. For more information about the GS105v5 / GS108v4 and GS116v2 unmanaged switches respectively, click on the links below:
Regards,
DaneA
NETGEAR Community Team
Good morning Dane, and thanks very much for your reply..I continued reading and researching and thought i got the idea, so i ordered and installed the GS116 and zap! I do get the full 118 MBps back to our workstation through the new switch..
but If I can ask, ...why, if the 118 Mbps was delivered to the FS116 10/100 auto sensing switch wouldn't each switch port be able to pass at least the 100Mbps? Am I confusing bits and bytes. And why'd the 118Mbps drop to 1/2 speed? ..thanks again
thanks again
waltinbatonrouge
Thanks for the update. I am glad that you are now able to get full 118Mbps to your workstation using the GS116 unmanaged switch. :)
About your concern, kindly read below:
Bandwidth refers to the maximum possible rate at which a device could transfer data. We could relate bandwidth as the capacity. Most of the time, internet connections are expressed in terms of the bandwidth. For instance, when an internet service provider advertises a 25 Mbps connection, they mean that the connection is capable of transferring 25 Megabytes per second. There are two speeds for transferring data: the download speeds are usually much larger than the upload speeds. It is the download speeds that are usually advertised. Thus, 118Mbps is the bandwidth you have subscribed from your ISP (Internet Service Provider).
Data rate refers to the amount of data that passes through a medium per unit of time. We could relate data rate as the speed. The FS116 switch only supports a data rate of 100Mbps while your other devices such as the Surfboard SB6121, the Cisco EA4500 router, the NIC (network interface card) of your PC and the CAT5e cable that interconnects the devices supports 1Gbps data rate.
By the time you have connected the FS116 directly to the Cisco EA4500 router then connect your PC directly to the FS116, you will notice that the LAN Speed on the Ethernet Status of your PC will be 100Mbps because it will have a backward compatibility to the FS116 that only supports 100Mbps data rate. Since you have the data rate (speed) decreased to 100Mbps, you will not be able to maximize the bandwidth (capacity) you have subscribed from your ISP.
Regards,
DaneA
NETGEAR Community Team
good morning Dane! thanks again for your valuable time explaining in detail the difference between bandwidth and speed.
I really appreciate your support. I think I've got it now.
If you ever need questions answered about Yamaha ATV's, Stihl Chainsaws, or generally anything electro-mechanical, lemme know.
i'd like to return the favor.
take care, walt
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