Network Switch Bottleneck

[stopdislike]

My internet runs at around 90 to 100 Mbps, my router is downstairs so I ran 2 Cat6 cables with an extension in the middle, connected to a 10/100 network switch that has 2 PCs hooked up to the switch.

Is the switch bottlenecking my connection? Or is it the extension bottlenecking? My internet have been terrible...

[Skiiwee29]

Yes, you will only be able to maximum get 100Mbps with that switch since its not a Gig switch. 

[stopdislike]

What if my 2 PCs both need to download something? Will both get maximum speeds (~100Mbps) with a Gigabit switch?

 

[Chronified]

Yes, your switch is only handshaking at 100Mbps because you only have a 10/100 switch, get a 10/100/1000 switch or one that says Gigabit LAN, pretty much any Wireless N or AC router has it, snag a cheapo $10-15 Linksys or Dlink router with N or AC from FB Marketplace and just disable the access point, makes a great cheap switch.

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

You're bottlenecked by that switch. Gig ones are pretty cheap, get one of those or an old router.

[Blue4130]

8 hours ago, stopdislike said:

What if my 2 PCs both need to download something? Will both get maximum speeds (~100Mbps) with a Gigabit switch?

 

What service do you pay for? You mention that it runs at 90 to 100, so if you only pay for 100, that will be shared to the two computers. You need to clarify a bit before an answer can be given. 

[Falcon1986]

On 9/10/2021 at 9:26 PM, stopdislike said:

Is the switch bottlenecking my connection? Or is it the extension bottlenecking?

Your WAN to LAN speed is 100Mbps for all of your devices to share. You can't get more speed unless you pay your ISP for an upgraded tier.

 

LAN to LAN speed is limited by your switch at 100Mbps. This might not be a problem for some if you don't do a lot of peer-to-peer transfers, especially since your WAN to LAN speed is already at 100Mbps. But if you transfer a lot of files between devices on the LAN, it would help to at least upgrade the network hardware to support gigabit speed.

[Alex Atkin UK]

On 9/11/2021 at 3:26 AM, stopdislike said:

My internet runs at around 90 to 100 Mbps, my router is downstairs so I ran 2 Cat6 cables with an extension in the middle, connected to a 10/100 network switch that has 2 PCs hooked up to the switch.

Is the switch bottlenecking my connection? Or is it the extension bottlenecking? My internet have been terrible...

When you run an Internet speed test you are measuring the speed usually without overheads, we'll often refer to this as your real-world speed for simplicity.  To get 100Mbit you would actually be pushing more than 100Mbit over the network.  Although I wouldn't expect you to lose more than 10-20Mbps.

 

On the other hand you might accidentally be using a hub not a switch, those can only do 100Mbit combined across both directions at the same time, which would slow you down even more and could be less reliable particularly with you joining two cables.

 

A Gigabit switch is cheap and should solve all these problems.