New router or add a switch?

[PBzeer]

I currently have a Belkin N600 wifi router (I only use the wired ports), which is 10/100 (fast) ethernet. 2 of my three, plus NAS, units are gigabit, plus my cable modem is 3.0 DOCSIS. I'm planning on adding another NAS, so that's five ports needed. So I'm wondering whether I should go with a 8 port gigabit router (wired), or add a gigabit switch (if that would give me faster transfer speeds between the gigabit capable machines)?

Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[AddRAM]

I would get a nice 16 port switch, always room for expansion

 

[z3r010]

Switch is the option I would go for.

 

[ish4d0w]

I currently have a Belkin N600 wifi router (I only use the wired ports), which is 10/100 (fast) ethernet. 2 of my three, plus NAS, units are gigabit, plus my cable modem is 3.0 DOCSIS. I'm planning on adding another NAS, so that's five ports needed. So I'm wondering whether I should go with a 8 port gigabit router (wired), or add a gigabit switch (if that would give me faster transfer speeds between the gigabit capable machines)?

Any insight would be appreciated.

Hi


I would say buy the switch. That is plan A.

BUT! I'm not sure you can achieve gigabit speeds. You must connect all your "gigabit-wanted" devices to the switch, and not to the router.
Having one connected to your router which is 10/100 would limit the maximum speed to 100Mbps for that device.
You'll need CAT5E or CAT6 ethernet cables. (Probably you have it, the old CAT5 without E cables are rare).

Connect all your other devices to the router, or to any remaining free port. I'd buy a 8 or 16 port switch for room for future upgrades. Gigabit technology is kinda futureproof I think. But who knows... Here in my country we already can already have a 1000Mbps (gigabit) internet fiber-optics connection for less than $25... yup that was introduced last year. I don't know what we'll have in few years but if a larger switch isn't much more expensive I would go for it.

Plan B:
I would buy a new 1000Mbps router and replace the 10/100 one. This is even more future-proof.
If you have 10/100 devices, add the Belkin 10/100 router to the network (connect to the gigabit router as a LAN device) and configure it as a switch (you can even use it as an AccessPoint AND switch at the same time... but take time to do it properly or it will ruin your network when it is plugged in.. most importantly make sure you have only one DHCP server... this is why switches are easier, there are no such things like compatibility problems like these)


Plan B is what I have. I have a 120mbps connection only, but the ISP gave us a gigabit-certified modem. Plugged into a gigabit router and I have a 10/100 router upstairs. Works great. 120 Mbps on the gigabit lane (yes, receiving maximum speeds :O ) and 75 on the upstairs AP wired.
But I'm not buying a switch. It's fine for me

 

[Mellon Head]

I would go for the switch as well. Remember, you'll need CAT6 cables to get gigabit speeds.

 

[PBzeer]

Okay, the switch connects to the router, so I'm assuming that only the Internet speed (and the one non-gigabit unit) would be effected on the units attached to the switch, right? Also, I thought 5E was supposed to work for gigabit.

As to future expansion, I live on a sailboat, and one more NAS is about my limit on expansion, which is why I was thinking switch.

 

[Mellon Head]

CAT5e tops out at 300 Mbps. CAT6 is supposed to certified to 1000 Mbps, although the quality of the cable build will determine maximum bandwidth.

 

[PBzeer]

So basically, since I'm usually transferring from an external HDD (3.0 through 3.0 port), I'm not going to get gigabit anyway. Seems though it should be faster than the current 10-11 Mbs I'm getting.

 

[AddRAM]

You could just go with an 8 port then.

I have 2 8 port switches I`m not using, here you can have one

 

[wasnotwas]

Sounds a bit like my setup. I have a rather old 100 Mbit router and half a dozen machines I use for 3D rendering. The render nodes need to transfer data between themselves at 1Gbit, and also go online for updates etc, so I have

www (65Mbit) - 100Mbit router - 1Gbit switch < all pc's go here

the local traffic all goes thru the 1Gbit switch, and internet traffic is as per normal. You can also daisy chain Gbit switches, and the computers still find each other on the network.

BTW re Cat6 - I only have Cat5e and get 900Mbits/sec between the render pc's, but YMMV

 

[GokAy]

I know cat5e as gigabit too. 300Mbps is around 37.5 MB/s and I definitely get better speeds. However, cat6 is shielded and has better signaling values and considering how cheap it is, I would get cat6 cables.