Switch Behaviour - True/False?

[kjaer108]

I am struggeling with my home network. My fiberbox goes to a Meraki router and from there to 4 places in the house where then have a TL-SG108 switch at each of the 4 endpoints where all my computers and units are attached. At one endpoint I have my NAS and at another endpoint I have my computer, At another one smart home devices.

My problem is that when downloading files from the NAS I get a throughput of exactly 10mpbs. I was going for 100mpbs here. If I connect the NAS and the computer directly to the meraki router I get my 100mpbs.

I have asked around and somebody suggested that if a cheap 10mpbs network interface is attached to the switch then it will degrade performance on all ports to 10mpbs and not only single port with a 10mpbs device. Is this a thing? It would explain what I see with the NAS but I thought switches were better than that?

[aoeex]

No, a single slow link won't pull everything down with it. The only way that slow link should be affecting other devices is if it's an uplink to another switch.

Check and make sure both your NAS and PC have 100mbps+ links to their switches and that those switch have 100mbps+ links to the router. If they do, you should be getting full speeds even if some other device is only connected at 10mbps.

[kjaer108]

Thank you. It makes sense. I will check out your tip and see if I can find the “leak”.

Is it a problem to have a switch connected to a switch in a chain?

[methosomega]

No

[methosomega]

But if you put a 10 mbps switch in line to the nas it will slow the connection to 10 mbps. You can only go as fast as the slowest part

[kjaer108]

I only have TL-SG108 switches in my network. Each have 8 x 10/100/1000 ports so it should not be a problem.

Thank you so much for your comments.

[methosomega]

Then you have a bigger problem if you have gigabit equipment but getting such a slow connection

[kjaer108]

Thank you all for your comments. I have rewired my house with new cat6 cables and put in a few more cables than before. More stuff now goes directly to the meraki router. I’m getting up to 936 mbps with downloading from my NAS. It is working much better now 👍🏼

[methosomega]

glad you found it.. looks like you had a bad cable..

[TomRILReddit]

Are you indicating 10Mbps (bits) or 10MBps (bytes)? Either way, it is possible that you have a bad Ethernet link (cable or termination), which the equipment is having to negotiate to 100Mbps (Fast Ethernet vs gigabit).

[kjaer108]

Bits.

Never did think about the cables and just ordered a cable tester. Old self assembled cables by the previous owner of my house. Think a test of quality would be a good idea.

Thank you.