Choke point?

[Henry]

I've got 10M down (and 1M up) from my cablemodem service and the
cablemodem box has a 10/100 auto-sensing ethernet port.

All of the computers on our home LAN are 100-base-T or gigabit.

The pivot point is a venerable BEFSR41v2. The LAN-side switch 10/100
ports are adequate but ... the WAN port is only 10-base-T. Is this
crimping my style, latency-wise or whatever? I understand that nothing
is ever going to actually come in through the pipe at the full 10M but
still, could the router be a bottleneck?

I've had the ol' Linky six years now and it's more than earned its keep.
It used to lock up / drop the link once every few months. Lately it's
started to do it every few days. I'm reconciled to the idea of getting a
new router sooner rather than later and even though I don't _need_
wireless at the moment I expect to get basic 'g' just because, looking
around, it doesn't seem to be any more expensive than wired-only.

I am going to look for 10/100 on the WAN side and gigabit on the LAN
side. Four LAN ports are enough.

What are you using? Any suggestions?

TIA.

cheers,

Henry

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Henry" <henry999@eircom.net>

| I've got 10M down (and 1M up) from my cablemodem service and the
| cablemodem box has a 10/100 auto-sensing ethernet port.
|
| All of the computers on our home LAN are 100-base-T or gigabit.
|
| The pivot point is a venerable BEFSR41v2. The LAN-side switch 10/100
| ports are adequate but ... the WAN port is only 10-base-T. Is this
| crimping my style, latency-wise or whatever? I understand that nothing
| is ever going to actually come in through the pipe at the full 10M but
| still, could the router be a bottleneck?
|
| I've had the ol' Linky six years now and it's more than earned its keep.
| It used to lock up / drop the link once every few months. Lately it's
| started to do it every few days. I'm reconciled to the idea of getting a
| new router sooner rather than later and even though I don't _need_
| wireless at the moment I expect to get basic 'g' just because, looking
| around, it doesn't seem to be any more expensive than wired-only.
|
| I am going to look for 10/100 on the WAN side and gigabit on the LAN
| side. Four LAN ports are enough.
|
| What are you using? Any suggestions?
|
| TIA.
|
| cheers,
|
| Henry

Since your broadband cable ISP is providing 10Mb/s, the WAN speed of the router is fine.
The router's WAN port speed will not "crimp" your Internet activity as a bottleneck.

If you go to broadband that provides greater that 10Mb/s then get a replacement router.

If you have two or more LAN side nodes capable of Gigabit Ethernet then get a replacement
router.

The fact is SOHO routers intrinsically have high latency Ethernet Switches and that's why
they are inexpensive.

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
Multi-AV - http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp

[Henry]

David H. Lipman <DLipman~nospam~@Verizon.Net> wrote:

> From: "Henry" <henry999@eircom.net>
>
> | I've got 10M down (and 1M up) from my cablemodem service and the
> | cablemodem box has a 10/100 auto-sensing ethernet port.
> |
> | All of the computers on our home LAN are 100-base-T or gigabit.
> |
> | The pivot point is a venerable BEFSR41v2. The LAN-side switch 10/100
> | ports are adequate but ... the WAN port is only 10-base-T.


>
> If you have two or more LAN side nodes capable of Gigabit Ethernet then
> get a replacement router.



Thanks for your reply. A followup question: what is the advantage (i.e.,
what is the point) of replacing the router just because the ethernet
capability of the computers on the LAN outstrip the WAN speed of the
router (which you said is not a boittleneck)? In fact, as our LAN is
configured now, all (both) of the gigabit ethernet machines are linked
for file transfers on a gigabit ethernet switch, which then uplinks into
the 100-base-T of the Linksys for internet access. The 100-b-T printer
is also on the gigabit switch, and everything works fine.

I'm just thinking ahead. When I retire the BEFSR41, if its replacement
has gigabit ethernet LAN ports, then I can mothball the switch. My main
question is how important a 10/100 WAN side on a new router would be,
given the bandwidth of my cablemodem channel.

cheers,

Henry

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Henry" <henry999@eircom.net>

|
| Thanks for your reply. A followup question: what is the advantage (i.e.,
| what is the point) of replacing the router just because the ethernet
| capability of the computers on the LAN outstrip the WAN speed of the
| router (which you said is not a boittleneck)? In fact, as our LAN is
| configured now, all (both) of the gigabit ethernet machines are linked
| for file transfers on a gigabit ethernet switch, which then uplinks into
| the 100-base-T of the Linksys for internet access. The 100-b-T printer
| is also on the gigabit switch, and everything works fine.
|
| I'm just thinking ahead. When I retire the BEFSR41, if its replacement
| has gigabit ethernet LAN ports, then I can mothball the switch. My main
| question is how important a 10/100 WAN side on a new router would be,
| given the bandwidth of my cablemodem channel.
|
| cheers,
|
| Henry

Basically none. There is NO advantage to a 10/100Mb/s WAN port if the broadband will not
exceed 10Mb/s.

You indicated a "100-b-T printer" which I presume to be a 10/100Mb/s print server. The fact
here is a printer won't even exceed 10Mb/s. Printers are just not that fast. So the only
factor here with a 10/100Mb/s Print Server is compatibility with the LAN hardware.

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
Multi-AV - http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp

[Henry]

David H. Lipman <DLipman~nospam~@Verizon.Net> wrote:

> You indicated a "100-b-T printer" which I presume to be a 10/100Mb/s print
> server.

It's an HP with the JetDirect internal Fast Ethernet card.

> The fact
> here is a printer won't even exceed 10Mb/s. Printers are just not that fast.

Well ... thanks for your input.

cheers,

Henry

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Henry" <henry999@eircom.net>

| David H. Lipman <DLipman~nospam~@Verizon.Net> wrote:
|
>> You indicated a "100-b-T printer" which I presume to be a 10/100Mb/s print
>> server.
|
| It's an HP with the JetDirect internal Fast Ethernet card.
|

HP JetDirect Print Servers are the *best*.

I manage numerous network printers using them (embedded, internal and external) and use two
on my home SOHO LAN.


--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
Multi-AV - http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp