Is it possible to get 300mbps on old router by using 3x 100mbps ports?

star.trek8546

Prominent
Sep 16, 2017
1
0
510
Hello, everyone!

So, I've bought myself a shiny new 802.11ac Wi-Fi router with Gigabit ports to enjoy my Google Fiber Internet. And I want to use my old TP-Link TL-WR841N as an additional Wi-Fi AP.

It got me thinking: it has 4x 100mbps LAN ports, one of which I'm gonna use to extend my 2.4G network, but what if I plug 3 Ethernet cables into 3 of those 4 ports? 3x100mbps=300mbps, right?

Will this work? Am I gonna get 300mbps over the air? Or am I stuck with 100mbps with this router forever?
 
Solution
No. Plugging three cables from the same computer, will only cause the network to not work completely. Without special support, ethernet is setup to have a single path from one device to another. Your router does not support the protocol (link aggregation) that would be required. Additionally, even if you could use link aggregation, any individual data flow would be limited to 100Mbit.
The maximum speed you will get from your TP-Link is closer to 150Mbit maximum anyway. That router can not provide 300Mbit throubput wirelessly.

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
No. Plugging three cables from the same computer, will only cause the network to not work completely. Without special support, ethernet is setup to have a single path from one device to another. Your router does not support the protocol (link aggregation) that would be required. Additionally, even if you could use link aggregation, any individual data flow would be limited to 100Mbit.
The maximum speed you will get from your TP-Link is closer to 150Mbit maximum anyway. That router can not provide 300Mbit throubput wirelessly.
 
Solution

Math Geek

Titan
Ambassador
that's a 300 mb/s router so you're unlikely to be able to actually get 300 mb/s with it anyway.

but i don't think bridging 3 outputs will net what you're thinking. would be an interesting experiment if you had a pc with 3 ethernet ports. but you'd only be proving what folks are saying here :)