Ethernet card uograde needed?

[PandaBear]

Typically, 10/100 is adequent for internet going through anything non fiber optics. gigabit would be good for local file transfer in office or between home computers, but not the internet, even cable.

Cable is slow if your neighborhood has to share one connection among a lot of users (apartments). My dad downgrade from Comcast to ATT DSL and has been happier despite the "slower" speed. His 30mbps is now all his rather than a shared 50mbps with a lot of neighborhood kids.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: AandPDan
Hemi,

There is no DSL service that even comes close to the download speeds that you have now. Most max out at about 12mbps and many are far slower 1.5-3mbps.


ADSL2+ is capable of 24Mbit and offered by most US ISP's. VDSL2 is capable of far greater speeds (I have a VDSL2 link @ 58/58 symmetrical at one site) but of course it is distance dependant, which is the biggest problem with the service and remote customers will never benefit from the speeds possible in the newer technology unless there is an updated remote installed closer to their residence.

Originally Posted By: AandPDan
A 10/100 network card is MORE than adequate for those download speeds.

While it is a 10/100 card, ethernet does not run at 100% speed. It will max out around 70-80% - hence the 70 mbps you are seeing now.


With quality NIC's and switches, you can come pretty close. I've pulled >12MB/sec sustained with old 3COM 905C's for example and Cisco switch gear (2960's).

But I agree, the ceiling offered by the NVidia chipset NIC is MORE than adequate for any service she is going to see.

Originally Posted By: AandPDan
Does the switch/router that you are using to test the connection now have gigabit (1000mbps) ports? Not all do. If you have it connected via a 100mbps port that will cap your download as well.


He said he was getting 180-200Mbit with his rig, so it would have to be gigabit.

Originally Posted By: AandPDan
Assuming she remains on DSL then the only time a gigabit ethernet card would help is if she was transferring files over her LOCAL network to another device and all the router/switch ports were also gigabit.


Correct.

 

[NHHEMI]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: AandPDan
Does the switch/router that you are using to test the connection now have gigabit (1000mbps) ports? Not all do. If you have it connected via a 100mbps port that will cap your download as well.


He said he was getting 180-200Mbit with his rig, so it would have to be gigabit.


My router is an ARRIS TG862. The specs I have found show it to have 4 Gigabyte Ethernet ports with a max download speed of 343 Mbps and a max Wifi speed of 300 Mbps.

My system's Network Adapter/card is listed as a Realtek PCIE GBE Family Controller under device manager. Can't find much info on it spec wise but the little I did find indicates it is a 10/100/1000 which makes sense based on the download speeds I see.

 

[NHHEMI]

So I will forget about upgrading her Network Adapter and just try and upgrade her service speed.

Thanks.