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    Usability of 10/100 vs 1000 ethernet speeds

    Discussion in 'Networking and Wireless' started by RWUK, Jun 1, 2011.

  1. RWUK

    RWUK Notebook Evangelist

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    My mom currently has a 10 year old WRT54G she and my brother connect directly to. I occasionally use the wifi when I'm there but I've got an unused Netgear WNDR3400 I'm considering setting up for them. It's got great wifi capabilities, but only 10/100 ethernet connections while both client cards are gigabit capable.

    They're on a 1.5 MBps DSL line so my question is, would they experience any speed increases by going to a gigabit router?
     
    RWUK, Jun 1, 2011
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  2. ALLurGroceries

    ALLurGroceries  Vegan Vermin Super Moderator

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    The WRT54G is a great router, I still have one kicking as an AP, but it is slow in the CPU department. If you are gaming or doing a lot of bittorrent or other stuff that uses a lot of connections, the netgear could be faster. In terms of raw throughput on normal stuff like email and web browsing, it will make absolutely no difference which router you use on DSL.

    The only consideration with gigabit is if you are doing large file transfers or streaming video on your LAN, etc, otherwise it's not a factor.
     
    ALLurGroceries, Jun 2, 2011
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  3. RWUK

    RWUK Notebook Evangelist

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    My brother does game but otherwise, it's web and email. No video streaming beyond youtube and netflix. I'll likely set up the netgear this weekend. Thanks for your response.
     
    RWUK, Jun 2, 2011
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  4. SHoTTa35

    SHoTTa35 Notebook Consultant

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    Your internet speeds are only 1.5Mbps - The router at 100Mbps is already tons faster so it wont make gaming or anything internet related faster.

    Putting a faster router there will only help as others have said with copying files between your computers. So things like copying tons of videos or pictures between computers will go faster.

    Putting in a new router even with the 10/100 limitation still might not be a bad idea anyways. Even if it's just for N connectivity that the new router offers but i'd say just add it to the network rather than replace the current WRT54G.
     
    SHoTTa35, Jun 2, 2011
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  5. jalaj

    jalaj Notebook Geek

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    Why not consider an alternative router with gigabit ports in the same class or price range? The Linksys e2000 is similar to the Wndr3400, but with gigabit ports. You may add devices in the near future that would utilize the faster ports (a factor of 10). Imagine transferring a large file that would take 2 hours (120 minutes) on 100Mbps compared to 12 minutes on gigabit.
     
    jalaj, Jun 2, 2011
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  6. SHoTTa35

    SHoTTa35 Notebook Consultant

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    He already has the WNDR3400. :D
     
    SHoTTa35, Jun 2, 2011
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