Mixing gigabit and 100Mbs switches

Networking Networking Hardware
1

Hi Guys,

I've got a bit of a complex question so bear with me while I try to explain.

My router (downstairs in the house) is connected to a 100Mbs switch in my home office (upstiars) via a powerline adapter. The powerline adapter and the router have gigabit ports.

The router manages all address on the network via DHCP/manual address assigning to some MAC addresses.

If I upgrade the swtich from 100Mbs to Gigabit, will all traffic going via the swtich operate at gigabit speed, or, will it be limited to whatever speed can be achieved via the powerline adapters?

The switch I'm hoping to upgrade to will be a basic 8 port unmanaged switch, so I'm not sure if it'll be smart enough to know where to route packets without checking with the router.

Does that make any sense? Hope so!

Thanks in advance,
Alec

2

So is your set up like this?
Sorry for MS Paint

network.png971x166 3.9 KB

The wall adapters will probably be your bottleneck, but curious what you're actual internet speed is.

http://www.speedtest.net/

1 Like
3

Just deleted a load of text cause i re-read: 

                  "The powerline adapter and the router have gigabit ports"

Then the answer is YES, it will be limited to whatever speed can be achieved via the powerline adapters. Just because it says Gbit on the box doesnt mean the power cables are able to support that bandwidth, depend on the cable quality.

Edit: Traffic going between your PC and for example a NAS with both connected to the Gbit-Switch should be using the full bandwidth as it doesnt have to pass all data through the router.

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4

The only lines that support gigabit are CAT5e and up. (besides fiber)

5

Yeah, that is about right, in addition to the PC there are about 5 other machines connected to the switch.

I want to know if the communication via the switch will be at gigabit speed or, reduced as the data needs to go via the powerline adapters to the router first.

My internet is only 40MB up and down so my current set up is fine.

Sorry if I've not been clear.

6

Awesome, thats exactly what I wanted to know.

Cheers dude!

7

Yeah, anything on the switch will communicate at gigabit as long as the devices support it, the traffic doesn't go to the router unless it's going to the internet.