Mixing netwok speeds

I have a standard 10/100 network router with four wired PC's

Two of the PC's have 1000 ports, and I would like to replace the
router with a 10/100/1000 one so that they can talk to each other
faster. I will of course have to replace their cables with a suitable
spec.

What are the implications for network speeds if two of the PC's want
to connect to the router at 1000 and two at 100? One of the fast PC's
is used partly as a file server. What happens if one PC wants to
connect to it at 100 and another at 1000, assuming they are looking at
different files?

On 11/03/11 17:34, arthurh wrote:
> I have a standard 10/100 network router with four wired PC's
>
> Two of the PC's have 1000 ports, and I would like to replace the
> router with a 10/100/1000 one so that they can talk to each other
> faster. I will of course have to replace their cables with a suitable
> spec.

You may not need to replace the cables. If the new router has Gigabit
ports then any Gigabit devices connected to it will work at full speed
when communicating with each other, and slower devices on other ports
won't affect that. Any 100Mbit device will only work at the lower speed
but that won't affect other devices connected. You can mix and match
100Mb and Gigabit devices in almost any permutation. All you need to
ensure is that any Gigabit devices are connected to Gigabit ports -
either on a router or a separate switch.

You might consider an alternative configuration. Keep the existing
router and add a Gigabit switch costing around £20. You can then leave
any 100Mbit and wireless devices connected to the router and connect the
Gigabit devices to the new switch. Connect a patch cable between the
router and the switch. This configuration will give you a more flexible
configuration at a lower price.




--
Bernard Peek
(E-Mail Removed)

On Fri, 11 Mar 2011 18:29:44 +0000
Bernard Peek <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> You might consider an alternative configuration. Keep the existing
> router and add a Gigabit switch costing around £20. You can then leave
> any 100Mbit and wireless devices connected to the router and connect
> the Gigabit devices to the new switch. Connect a patch cable between
> the router and the switch. This configuration will give you a more
> flexible configuration at a lower price.

What he said.

On Fri, 11 Mar 2011 19:48:35 +0000
arthurh <arthurh@.invalid.me> wrote:

> One of the PC's has a 5metre cable to the router and the other 8metres
> (5+3). The existing cables are cheap CAT5e. Will they be satisfactory
> at the higher speed?
>
Any old Cat5e usually seems to work just fine for gigabit, it costs you
nothing to try the existing installation. :-)

On Fri, 11 Mar 2011 20:18:35 +0000, Rob Morley <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>On Fri, 11 Mar 2011 19:48:35 +0000
>arthurh <arthurh@.invalid.me> wrote:
>
>> One of the PC's has a 5metre cable to the router and the other 8metres
>> (5+3). The existing cables are cheap CAT5e. Will they be satisfactory
>> at the higher speed?
>>
>Any old Cat5e usually seems to work just fine for gigabit, it costs you
>nothing to try the existing installation. :-)

Thank you. I'll try that first.

In article <20110311201835.2265c6d0@bluemoon>, "Rob Morley" wrote:

> >
> Any old Cat5e usually seems to work just fine for gigabit, it costs you
> nothing to try the existing installation. :-)

Just make sure they have all connectors wired and are preferably
straight-through (1-1, 2-2, etc.). Some cheaper cables have only 2-pairs
connected and these won't work at >100Mbps.

As an aside, I find it simpler to fit a Gb switch - get one larger than
your current router. :-) Run all LAN cabling through this, with a local
connection to the current 10/100Mb modem/router. Hence all LAN sockets
have Gb potential but will auto-set to a lower speed as necessary. You
can locate any LAN devices anywhere you have a wired socket without
bothering whether it connects to the Gb switch or the 10/100Mb router.

--
John W

On 12/03/11 14:31, John Weston wrote:
> In article <20110311201835.2265c6d0@bluemoon>, "Rob Morley" wrote:
>
>>>
>> Any old Cat5e usually seems to work just fine for gigabit, it costs you
>> nothing to try the existing installation. :-)
>
> Just make sure they have all connectors wired and are preferably
> straight-through (1-1, 2-2, etc.). Some cheaper cables have only 2-pairs
> connected and these won't work at >100Mbps.
>
> As an aside, I find it simpler to fit a Gb switch - get one larger than
> your current router. :-) Run all LAN cabling through this, with a local
> connection to the current 10/100Mb modem/router. Hence all LAN sockets
> have Gb potential but will auto-set to a lower speed as necessary. You
> can locate any LAN devices anywhere you have a wired socket without
> bothering whether it connects to the Gb switch or the 10/100Mb router.
>
You can gain some flexibility by adding the switch. You can have two
different places where you can plug in devices, with just one cable
between those points. Of course at the router end you will only beable
to get a 100Mb connection. At the switch end you will be able to use
100Mb or Gigabit as you choose.

--
Bernard Peek
(E-Mail Removed)

On Sat, 12 Mar 2011 14:31:57 -0000
John Weston <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> In article <20110311201835.2265c6d0@bluemoon>, "Rob Morley" wrote:
>
> > >
> > Any old Cat5e usually seems to work just fine for gigabit, it costs
> > you nothing to try the existing installation. :-)
>
> Just make sure they have all connectors wired and are preferably
> straight-through (1-1, 2-2, etc.). Some cheaper cables have only
> 2-pairs connected and these won't work at >100Mbps.
>
Good point that I forgot about.

On Sat, 12 Mar 2011 16:08:44 +0000, Rob Morley <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>On Sat, 12 Mar 2011 14:31:57 -0000
>John Weston <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> In article <20110311201835.2265c6d0@bluemoon>, "Rob Morley" wrote:
>>
>> > >
>> > Any old Cat5e usually seems to work just fine for gigabit, it costs
>> > you nothing to try the existing installation. :-)
>>
>> Just make sure they have all connectors wired and are preferably
>> straight-through (1-1, 2-2, etc.). Some cheaper cables have only
>> 2-pairs connected and these won't work at >100Mbps.
>>
>Good point that I forgot about.

All points noted, thank you.

"arthurh" <arthurh@.invalid.me> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Sat, 12 Mar 2011 16:08:44 +0000, Rob Morley <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
>>On Sat, 12 Mar 2011 14:31:57 -0000
>>John Weston <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>
>>> In article <20110311201835.2265c6d0@bluemoon>, "Rob Morley" wrote:
>>>
>>> > >
>>> > Any old Cat5e usually seems to work just fine for gigabit, it costs
>>> > you nothing to try the existing installation. :-)
>>>
>>> Just make sure they have all connectors wired and are preferably
>>> straight-through (1-1, 2-2, etc.). Some cheaper cables have only
>>> 2-pairs connected and these won't work at >100Mbps.
>>>
>>Good point that I forgot about.
>
> All points noted, thank you.

You might also need to force gigabit speed in the Properties of
the network adapters on some motherboards - autodetect can be
unreliable. Once it is working, LAN access to drives on other gigabit
PCs is a revelation - almost like having an internal drive.
HTH,
--
Rob