Brief Lesson In Networking: Gigabit Ethernet*
Reader asks why upgrading to Gigabit Ethernet didn’t improve their Web surfing speed.
(Folks, I am networking a new office today and do not have time to write a new article. This article demonstrates some fundamental concepts of “networking” computers together, as well as “Internet speed”.)
Q: “I recently purchased a Linksys WRT 310 wireless router that has four Gigabit ports. My Dell desktop is a XPS which I was told was “Top of the Line” has a built-in gigabit port. I even purchased new cables to make sure my network was going to be “gigabit”. I hooked it all up and I don’t see any improvement in my internet. The salesman told me that “gigabit” was the fastest.. so how come I’m not surfing faster? Did I do something wrong or do I need to buy a different brand? Thanx.”
A: No, you (most likely) didn’t do anything “wrong”, and you don’t need to buy a different router.
Let me, first of all, cover a few “basics” (see also, Wired or Wireless?*)
Kilo = 1,000 = thousand
Mega = 1,000,000 = million
Giga = 1,000,000,000 = billion
And then let me ask you to look at a simple network diagram.
In this diagram, the Internet is represented by the “cloud” (thus.. “cloud computing”) and I made it appropriately dark and stormy. The Internet connection is represented as the yellow zigzag — this can be a phone line (dial-up, DSL, IDSN) or cable, or satellite, or WiFi.
The blue arrows are the Ethernet cabling of your network (aka “LAN”) which is now Gigabit.
For sake of argument, I made the Internet connection a cable High-speed connection, and I made the download speed a Premium-grade 12 Mbps .. 12 “megabits” per second. Note that I said “download speed”. Unless you order a special line into your home/office, your “Internet speed” is always your download speed. And, your “upload” speeds are always significantly slower.. as represented by the 486 kilobits per second.
The lines (cables) you changed are the blue arrow lines. And so, yes, you have billion-bit lines there (Gigabit). You have multiplied by a thousand the theoretical rate at which computers A, B, and C can “talk” to the router and to each other. You did not change how the modem and the cloud are talking. That is still 12 Megabits down/point 486 (.486) Megabytes up.
Your Internet speed is controlled by two things: one, your service “level” (3 Mbps is more expensive than 1.5, and 6 Mbps is even more expensive, etc.) and two, the technology that can come into your home — dial-up, DSL, ISDN, Satellite, cable, wireless, and fibre-optic.
Because your desktop can “talk” to the router at a higher rate of bits, you might notice a very slight improvement in surfing speed.. but, if you want faster Internet, you have to upgrade either your service level, or/and the method it comes in on (change the yellow zigzag) .. For example, upgrading from dial-up to cable.
The advantage to Gigabit Ethernet comes in when transferring data across the LAN.. say, from computer A to computer B. Such as if you are backing up the files on A over to B, or “streaming” videos from C to A and B.
The Linksys is a good router (though I read that it runs hot, so you want to keep it in an open, well-ventilated area) and all-Gigabit on your LAN is a “good thing”.
I think you were simply expecting the wrong results from your upgrade.
Today’s free link: Curious as to what speed your ISP is really providing? Click here, and pick the “server location” nearest to you. You’ll see both your upload and download speeds. Flash required.
Orig post: 3/8/09
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post to jaanix.
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• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
I regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here starting in 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers. But be aware, many are rather dated.) Sometimes I answered (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer was generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see was my own, typos and all. There always is/was an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.
Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.
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Tech - for Everyone 
In a nutshell, the old router (likely using 100Mb) was already faster than the internet connection, so speeding up the internal network will do nothing for the external (internet) connection.
The same thing applies to wireless, the old wireless G standard is already faster than your internet connection (54Mbps) so your not going to see a miraculous improvement switching to N.
Most “salesmen” don’t actually understand how this stuff works, they’re just out to sell you something, whether it’ll help you or not.
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Dave B,
Precisely. 12 megabits per second is only slightly faster than the very, very old 10Mbps networking (“Thinnet” and “Thicknet”, which used coax). However, if I was putting in a new wired network I would use Gigabit.. simply for “tomorrow-proofing” if nothing else.
However, I must say that I have met some very good salespeople lately, both online and in local stores, who actually asked me, “what are you trying to do?” and then they guided me to the best bang-for-my-buck item (not the latest/greatest/most pricey).
And yes, I noted them.
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Hello
Thank you for your very usefull post.
I was looking for such informations!
Greetings:)
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leofelix,
Greeting to you, too, and thank you for your support.
There are over 1,000 such articles posted here. I hope you’ll look around some.
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Hi Paul,
I’m not good at networking. However, i must say, your this article cleared my concept about the working of internet.
Very precisely explained, really. :)
Thanks.
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Ranjan,
I appreciate the support. I try to explain things in a way that will make the most sense to the most people. Sometimes i succeed, and other times.. not so much.
On this one, for instance, I thought about using “roads” and “speed limits” as an analogy.. “miles-per-hour” instead of “Mbps”..
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Paul,
I remember this post… Excellent information explained in a manner that we can understand.
Rick
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Thank you Rick.
Folks, have you seen Rick’s website yet? I only reco’ it about 3 x’s a week! Click here, and find out why.
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