Gigabit ethernet connection?

[dcGT]

Hi All,
Just something I've noticed on my OS Mega, I've connected the ethernet connection to 600Mb/s powerline adaptors. From there, it goes to another powerline adapator of the same type, then directly into a Gbit ethernet port on my router. When I check the link speed on the reciever, it says '100mb/s'.
Is GBit ethernet only possible when directly connected to the GBit ethernet port? (i.e. without the powerline adaptors?)

Thanks

dcGT

[birdman]

When I check the link speed on the reciever, it says '100mb/s'.That means it's negotiated a 1Gb/s hardware protocol to whatever is at the other end of the Ethernet cable. So it is capable of transmitting data at up to 1Gb/s.
So it will transmit at 1Gb/s, but only in short bursts if the rest of the network path is slower (as it will have to wait for the rest of it to catch up).

A bit like a broadband speed advert - capability and actuality will differ.

EDIT. Sorry - I misread that. It's negotiated 100Mb/s, not 1GB.s. As noted - that means the PowerLine adaptor has a 100MB/s interface.

[aido]

What powerline adaptors are you using?

TPLink and others used to sell 500Mbps adaptors with only a fast ethernet port (ie 100Mbps) on the back of them.

Powerline adaptors are a bit of a marketing bodge - 500Mbps as quoted is total speed for all the homeplugs which you'll never usually actually see in anything other than test bench circumstances.

If the powerline adaptor only has the fast ethernet port (not gigabit) then that's why the box reports 100Mbps as that's all the port it's into can negotiate, and like Birdman says the majority of the time unless streaming media files or IPTV it'll be sat idle.

[dcGT]

Thanks for the response Guys. I'm using TP Link 600Mb/s adaptors. Thinking of it now based on the response, what circumstances will I ever get more than 100Mb/s out of them? If both ends are 1Gb ports, the only bottleneck can be the powerline adaptors.

What's the point in buying powerline adaptops greater than 100Mb/s if there are no situations where you will get more than 100Mb/s.

I understand that it's unlikely I'll get near the advertised rates, but as said, it's negotiating a 100mb/s connection from the start (not 1Gb/s). In addition, i'm getting the full and consistent 100Mb/s transfer rate on the LAN, but no more.

Thanks,

dcGT

[birdman]

What's the point in buying powerline adaptops greater than 100Mb/s if there are no situations where you will get more than 100Mb/s.The 600Mb/s rating will be how fast they can talk to each other (theoretical maximum).
So if you had four of them you could have two pairs running a connexion at 100Mb/s, etc....

[chris16v]

your bottle neck can also be the Ethernet cables, I think you need cat6

[aido]

your bottle neck can also be the Ethernet cables, I think you need cat6
Cat5e is plenty for gigabit traffic! People selling Cat6 cables are selling snake oil for home users - it's for 10Gbps!

[showstopper]

CAT5e does gigabit

[dcGT]

Yes I think Cat 5e does support Gigabit.
I've been doing a bit of looking into this and it seems the marketing on these things is great. I would consider myself reasonably technical but I was fooled :)
The 600Mb/s does indeed seem to be a measure of how fast the plugs communicate with each other, which, if I read this correctly, is completely pointless if both ends of the line operate on a 100Mb/s interface (which is what my 600mb/s home plugs have.) It seems you have to go to the Gigabit version of the product to get the Gigabit interface on the plugs.

Just FYI, the reason I was looking for more than 100Mb/s is not for streaming, but just for general local network transfers to and from the receiver.

Live and learn I guess :)

Thanks,

dcGT

[adm]

Yes I think Cat 5e does support Gigabit.
The 600Mb/s does indeed seem to be a measure of how fast the plugs communicate with each other, which, if I read this correctly, is completely pointless if both ends of the line operate on a 100Mb/s interface (which is what my 600mb/s home plugs have.) It seems you have to go to the Gigabit version of the product to get the Gigabit interface on the plugs.




The interconnect between plugs is likely to be a different transport format. Speculation: it may need to send more data for error correction as the transmission environment will be very noisy; being a single wire transmission (rather than a couple of pairs of twisted wires in a Cat5/6 cable) it can only send data one way at a time and therefore for bi-directional communication it has to send data faster.