LAN speed questions. I'

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eldapeeze

eldapeeze

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Dec 23, 2012
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I've always wondered. How fast can you go on a basic LAN? I know my internet connection pretty much depends how what the ISP gives me, but what about the LAN? I know the new wireless AC routers can go over a gigabit speeds theoretically, so to go those speeds, does it matter on the computers and hardware I have or is there something I would need to do to get speeds that fast? With the rise of online gaming and media streaming it seems like a good thing to get my network faster. Thanks.
 
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abailey
On a basic LAN, Gigabit speed is the fastest (1Gb/s). Just make sure your router and network cards can do 1 Gbit. When you talk about wired and wireless they are quoted 2 different ways. Wired is quoted as full duplex speed where wireless is quoted as total speed. If you convert wireless to the same standard as wired you need to half the value. So if a wireless router says it can do 1400 Mbit, then that is really 700Mbit when compared to wired speed. So there really is no wireless currently that can deliver Gigabit speeds (except commercial links that send and receive on different frequencies and are thus full duplex). On commercial LAN you can run 10GB or more.
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abailey

abailey

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On a basic LAN, Gigabit speed is the fastest (1Gb/s). Just make sure your router and network cards can do 1 Gbit. When you talk about wired and wireless they are quoted 2 different ways. Wired is quoted as full duplex speed where wireless is quoted as total speed. If you convert wireless to the same standard as wired you need to half the value. So if a wireless router says it can do 1400 Mbit, then that is really 700Mbit when compared to wired speed. So there really is no wireless currently that can deliver Gigabit speeds (except commercial links that send and receive on different frequencies and are thus full duplex). On commercial LAN you can run 10GB or more.
 
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COLGeek

COLGeek

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Wired networks operate at 10/100/1000 Mbit/s and there are various wireless 802.11 standards. The answer to your question will vary when considering internal (like streaming video from one machine to another) or external (like streaming from Youtube or Netflix) network traffic.

When measuring external traffic, the limiting factor is often your ISP connection itself. It is usually slower that your internal network components.

Having the latest and greatest internal network components (routers, switches, cabling, etc), will not make up for the least common denominator that your ISP speed can provide for external traffic, but will only provide marginal increases (barely noticeable in many cases).

For internal communications, faster tech can increase capabilities dramatically.

Hope this helps.
 
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eldapeeze

eldapeeze

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OK that's what I figured. Thanks.
 
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