Fastest Switch

[ericnix]

My Western Digital MyNet switch recently bit the dust. I changed it over to a Netgear ProSafe Plus GS108Ev2 switch at the same time that I changed my Apple Time Capsule to a Netgear R7000 router.

With the TC and WD switch, my computer (iMac with CAT6 cable connected to the switch) was getting 7-9 ms ping times with speedtest.net.

Since changing everything, I'm now averaging 28-40 ms ping times. My iPhone is getting 9 ms ping times, and my laptop is also getting the same range.

The router appears fine (judging by the ping time of the wireless devices).

Can anyone recommend a super fast, reliable switch? I would like to get the ping time down as low as possible.

Thanks!

[kya]

Your ping time to speedtest.net probably has more to do with your ISP than your network hardware. If you remove the switch and router and go directly to your ISP modem does your ping time drop?

Now since you asked about switches, mine are TP-Link unmanaged gigabit switches. They are fast and really reasonably priced.

[ericnix]

If it was the cable company, modem or router then the wifi devices would have similar results.

[kya]

Sorry I guess I missed that part of your OP. I typically see better ping times over my wired devices than wireless. Anyhow the 8 port version of the TP-Link switches I use are TL-SG1008 You can find reviews at newegg and places like that.

[Retired_Member]

Have you considered just exchanging the switch or RMA'ing it?

I have used many Netgear switches and currently use a GS605v4 and have never seen the issue you describe. Maybe it's just defective.

[ericnix]

What's the typical latency one should expect through a gigabit switch?

[Retired_Member]

1ms or less, I would guess. I'm not really sure, I've never just measured the switch. To give you a general reference, here is a ping from my PC to directly to my router:

5 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 1.214/1.361/1.647/0.152 ms

Here is a ping from my PC to my NAS, which is connected to the router via an intermediate GigE switch:

--- xxx.yyy.zzz.abc ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 1.508/1.810/2.588/0.395 ms

The switch is adding less than 1ms of latency it appears.

[ericnix]

This is a stupid question but how can I check this on a Mac to see what latencies I have?

[Retired_Member]

I just happen to be running a Mac. 😄

Go into Applications | Utilities and open Terminal.

From there, just type "ping" and the IP address of the device you want to bounce packets off of.

[ericnix]

So I just pinged my router from my desktop (and also pinged my Synology NAS). Most were around 0.4 ms to the router and 0.4 ms to the NAS (which goes computer to switch to router to another switch to NAS). Not bad at all. When I tested with Ookla's speedtest.net, I got 32 ms on my desktop that's hardwired with CAT6 cable and 17 ms latency on my MacBook Air. Any other suggestions what the problem could be? I didn't have this much of lag with the Time Capsule and WD MyNet switch.

[Retired_Member]

go direct to modem and run test,

When you ping beyond your modem you are then seeing how good or crappy your ISP is.

[Retired_Member]

Personally, I wouldn't get too hung up on Ookla ping times.

I have a PC directly connected to my router on 2.4Ghz and a Mac directly connected on 5Ghz.

If I ping a web server at my ISP, ping times are almost identical, 6-7ms.

If I run an Ookla test to the SAME SERVER upstream from my ISP, the PC reports 7ms which is impossible. The Mac reports 32ms but if I ping that server directly from terminal it's actually 9ms.