Need help with LAN speeds

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
J

jdcranke07

Honorable
Feb 10, 2014
1,346
2
11,965
I'm needing to speed up my home LAN between devices for large data files, game servers, online gaming and streaming Plex on multiple devices.

I'm currently using a cable modem>wifi router(for WLAN)>2nd router(setup as an AP). I'm wanting to setup SMB between two different PCs (workstation and storage server, both hooked into the AP) as well.

I've been told that my 2nd router, setup as the AP, is possibly the reason why my LAN is slower than ideal and I should buy a switch to handle the loads instead. That being said, I feel the switch would be better since I don't need the additional features the router AP gives, however, I'm open for suggestions.

I had a buddy recommend the Netgear GS116 switch since I will need at least 10 ports minimum and I don't have a rack system. I would prefer wall or under desk mountable, but desk top is also viable.
 
Solution
kanewolf
Before doing anything extreme, I would run it with a single ethernet and see how it goes. If you run into an actual problem then reevaluate. Since you are just in the hypothetical situation now, I would go for simple first.
Sort by date Sort by votes
kanewolf

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
May 29, 2013
37,323
3,277
156,790
It would depend on the models of the router(s) used in your network. If they all are gigabit LAN ports, and they are all running at gigabit speed (no bad cables) then your LAN speed can't be improved for most situations. A gigabit switch, would only help if you are using a router that has 100mbit LAN ports.

What speeds are you getting with single large file transfers? 90MB/s is pretty good with Windows file transfer overhead.

It is also possible that something other than your LAN infrastructure is the limiting factor.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
J

jdcranke07

Honorable
Feb 10, 2014
1,346
2
11,965


Okay. I'm sorry, I don't have data speeds written down at the moment since I just moved into my apartment. When I get fully setup I will update with them.

At the moment, I have a Netgear R8000 for my Wi-Fi router and an Asus RT-AC88U as my AP. Both workstation and server have 4 x 1000MB Intel NICs (one NIC each). I'm using CAT7 RJ45 cables for all LAN connections.

I also had another friend that works in TeleComm recommend a switch, but he didn't really give me a product to look at. But, he was under the impression that my router is buffering everything and bogging my transfers down and that a switch would speed up packet transfers and eliminate the unneeded buffering the router is doing. Again, I'm not sure about this because I'm just an amateur when it comes to networking.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
kanewolf

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
May 29, 2013
37,323
3,277
156,790
With a managed switch you could aggregate the NICs on the server. BUT, any single client will still be limited to 1Gbit. Link aggregation is not usually worth the hassle in a home environment. How many simultaneous devices are accessing the server? Unless they are doing backups or other bandwidth intensive use patterns, you will get full bandwidth with no additional hardware.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
J

jdcranke07

Honorable
Feb 10, 2014
1,346
2
11,965


I will only have two or three devices accessing the server on my LAN, but I will have up to 8 additional devices accessing for streaming from my Plex media storage and I will have up to 10 devices, I think, that will access the multiple game servers that will be hosted as well. Plus, I would be backing up and accessing data with my workstation on a regular basis at the same time. I was wanting to see if utilizing SMB multi channeling between the server and my workstation would assist with data transfer speeds, but at the same time I want to make sure that, if updates or back-ups are happening, that I don't have that bogging down my only line of communication in between devices. Hope I'm making sense. It would be a bit more advanced that I would really need, but I like to push the envelope as well, if possible.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
kanewolf

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
May 29, 2013
37,323
3,277
156,790
Before doing anything extreme, I would run it with a single ethernet and see how it goes. If you run into an actual problem then reevaluate. Since you are just in the hypothetical situation now, I would go for simple first.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom