How can I get gigabit speeds on capable devices?

Have a gigabit router with 1 cat6 cable(12m long) going into living room leading to another gigabit router set to bridge mode and then cat6 cables into pc, ps3, xbox and sky box, the other 3 ports on the main router go into bedroom pc, xbox and skybox

When I transfer between any of the devices they seem capped at exactly 10 megabytes but when I take both pcs to a lan event they get just under 100 megabytes and I know they are gigabit devices.

Could it be a setting somewhere on the main or 2nd router.

I am getting a gigabit switch delivered should be tommorow so will cut down ideas but just want to query it

Your limit is probably due to one router having to do WAN to LAN routing, i.e. manage NAT tables etc.

Any reason for a second router, rather than simpler and higher throughput switch?

Bear in mind 1 Giga bit per second = 125 Mega Bytes per second.

If indeed you do mean 10 Mega Bytes (and not Mega bits) than you are connected at 100mbps as the theoretical best you get from 100mbps is 12.5 Mega Bytes. But you never get that due to overheads.

So if you get 100 Mega Bytes as well then that's fine as the theoretical best you can get is 125 Mega Bytes.

And as Mr Saffron states - even in bridge mode the 2nd router won't be helping. Splash out £15 on a Gigabit switch.

Edited by deleted (Tue 20-Aug-13 19:03:24)

Just as it was a little cheaper than buying a switch, and wanted to maybe replace my current router with it but changed mind not totally sure if my main router is gigabit as seen conflicting reports on it, its the brightbox from EE.

Though saying that even when I ftp into my ps3 it seems limited to 15 megabytes itself and the ps3 is set to gigabit and is on the same router as the pc so not through the main router

EDIT : Also yes I mean megabytes and know the difference since as I say at the LAN events I get around 90-95 constant which is good for transferring games with someone when I am missing one.

This is also main reason for wanting gigabit here, I want to download games on my main then have them on my bedroom pc for when I am in there and not wait like 15-30 minutes per game

Edited by deleted (Tue 20-Aug-13 19:09:29)

It would be a lot clearer if you referred to data speeds/rates in Megabits per second and Gigabits per second and not confuse it by referring to Megabytes which is NOT a unit used in measuring speeds but just volumes.

In reply to a post by MHC:

It would be a lot clearer if you referred to data speeds/rates in Megabits per second and Gigabits per second and not confuse it by referring to Megabytes which is NOT a unit used in measuring speeds but just volumes.

That would actually be harder as it would mean converting

The ps3 may have a gigabit ethernet port but can it handle data at the higher bit rates?

Getting past 100 Mega bits per second can mean spending money and systematic testing to find your weak links.

If all you want is to use the router as a switch then bridge mode is completely unnecessary.

You just need to make sure the second router is on its own static IP address, or DHCP client if capable, or stick it on a completely different IP address range entirely. Basically, we are ignoring all the router part of it so we don't actually need it visible on the network at all so make sure DHCP server is disabled on it too.

Leave the WAN port empty and plug everything into the LAN ports, including the cable linking to your main router. This way the second router WILL just act as a switch.

Most good routers have a hardware switch in the router, so it will behave exactly the same as a dedicated switch. Two of the three gigabit switches on my network are actually routers and achieve gigabit speeds without issues.

Edited by alexatkin (Tue 20-Aug-13 22:36:41)

This is also my experience when using a second router to act as a switch - they usually play fine. Of course, I do strongly recommend the purchase of a proper switch instead!

One thing that sometimes has happened if one of them gets reset and then DHCP gets turned back on - clients sometimes getting DHCP from the secondary router without a WAN connection.

Edited by Pipexer (Tue 20-Aug-13 22:34:55)

There is also the fact a dedicated switch can be bought with 8 ports (routers usually only have 4 on the switch, one on the WAN) relatively cheaply and will likely use half the electricity of a router. However I have been using routers as switches for many years without any issues. I easily get in excess of 100MB/s when testing using iperf.

Edited by alexatkin (Tue 20-Aug-13 23:33:50)