About my Broadband: May be a dumb question...

Okay, so I have Adelphia Cable and I like it.
Speed tests give me 2.5 Gbps download on a good day.

However, once the signal reaches my modem, it goes via Cat 5 to my router/firewall and then to my computer(s)...

At what point does the slowdown occur? My understanding was that Cat 5 gave 100 Mbps? It's true, lately, my network has gotten sub 100 Mbps speed reports... In fact, I test at 100 Download and 400 Upload, which is really cockeyed.

So, I guess my question is... does my network slow down immediately after leaving my Cable Modem, or do I just need a 1000BaseT Router? I suppose I'd need a Gbit Nic card, too? Would connecting my computer to the Modem via USB, and depending on my software firewall, give me more total speed?

Granted, we all know that no website or commercial server will give you that much of their own pipe, so you'll never download the whole Encyclopedia in 30 seconds, but we can Try to be ready. Just in case they ever do.

Thanks for the feedback!
Be Well!
Fireheart

Alright, I admit that I'm somewhat of a neophyte. However, the 'speed tests' at Speakeasy.com, GigaNews.com, and BroadbandReports.com have all consistently displayed 2500+ megabytes per second...

Wait, I'm sorry, I just rechecked, and I see that the display is in Kbps, not Mbps!

So I'm only getting 2.5 to 4 Mbps, which is about 10BaseT bandwidth... Which would explain why I wasn't getting a response to my question - since it was basically meaningless.

Sorry for 'wasting' your time, friends.

Be Well!
Fireheart