I live in a house that is a fire rebuild in 2014. The contractor ran Cat5e to where I wanted them but left everything else to me. We started out with cable, internet, and phone. As time went on I pieced together a small 1Gig network. I am in a position to redesign the network for 10Gig. However, I am totally confused about all the switches available and their functions. I would like to have 10Gig for the whole system. Please help. Mark.
Without knowing how many devices you want connected at 10G or their distance from the switch location, I canāt really suggest a switch.
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CAT5e cables can support up to 1GBASE-T or 1-Gigabit Ethernet.
10G switches, NICs and SFP+ are still expensive, fine if you got the cash to burn, however, if not, Iād wait a few more years. You might get better āperformanceā by ātuningā your network first.
Netgear switches are ok I have these and they seem to do the job for a couple of years now.
Ok, to start with we started out with Cox Cable (cable, internet, and phone). Later, we dropped the cable tv and phone; leaving the internet at the top speed and unlimited dataā¦ About 1 to 2 years ago we were able to go 1 Gig. We are supposed to be getting 10 Gig speeds in a couple of years. I not only want to upgrade for what we have now but am forard-thinking for the future.
The network equipment: Cox 1 Gig Panoramic modem/router; a Netgate GS108 - 8 port, 1 Gig switch; a cheap patch panel; and an AirTv device to allow us to watch OTA local channels over the streaming service.
Devices: 2 Desktops, 3 Laptops, 5 TVs, and 4 Amazon Firesticks.
I would like to get as many devices connected to 10G as possible. All devices are under 30 feet from the equipment closet which is in our middle bedroom.
You are probably going to struggle to get most of those devices to like at 1gb let alone 10gb either way you wonāt be upgrading the NIC on the TVās or Fire Sticks so if they are on the switch then they can probably stay there.
Then maybe a US-XG-6POE giving you 4 10g RJ45 for the PCs and Laptops and a couple of SFP+ ports for the incoming WAN.
It will be touch and go if it works over cat5e though, itās one of those, āthe specification says no to cat5e, 55 meters (165ā for you āmericans) on cat6 or 100m on cat6a +ā but people report it working.
The cable problem is a no brainer. Iām going to be running new cable - Cat8. Iām more interested in what kind of switch I need.
Excellent, so the question is, will 4 10gb ports + two SFP+ modules be enough.
I tend to stick to the unifi gear so the next step up would be the XG-16 which gives you 12 SFP+ and 4 RJ45 so more options for expansion, if you fit it out with modules you could totally replace your current netgear switch although that would probably not get you any benefit.
(https://www.ui.com/unifi-switching/unifi-switch-16-xg/)
Now, here is where I need help. Iām not understanding the SFP+ and āif you fit it out with modulesā¦ā. Can you explain the meaning of these terms? Iāve watched video after video in trying to understand some of this before I got on the forums. BTW: Iām an old Comercial Audio/Video installer from back in the '90s.
Unfortunately, that piece of hardware is $2000. And that is way out of my budget for just one piece of hardware for a home network.
Yep 10G is still expensive, Iād run the new cables then wait.
Cat8 is also overkill. Cat7 are fine for 10G
SFP and SFP+ ports require transceiver modules be installed. They go into the SFP (1 Gig) or SFP+ (10 Gig) ports, and come in different varietiesā¦you can get ones that āconvertā to RJ-45, or fiber (and different types of fiber, at that). Not all SFP / SFP+ modules are compatible with all switches. The safest bet is to go with ones from the same manufacturer, though others may work, your mileage may vary.
I see a lot of home networks with a 10 Gig switch with a few ports that dumps into a 1 Gig switch with many more ports. This is because 10 Gig is still expensive, and not all devices can use 10 Gig anyway. TODAY. And, if you want to future-proof, well hardware is never future-proof. Once a set-top (or HDMI-hanging) box is out there with 10 Gig, there will be a cheap 10 Gig switch.
Sorry, had my head down for a month, big job broke out!
what @chrisfonte said. SFP and SFP+ are sockets/slots on the switch that allow you to connect one of many different modules. You have to make sure the modules are compatible with the switch. FS.com do good quality ācompatibleā(YMMV) modules and have always worked for meā¦
I really does sound like you are currently trying to fix a problem that isnāt a problem. None of the kit you have is running 10g, your WAN isnāt 10g so you are going to get 0 benefit from a 10g switch or cat8 cable.
If you really are set on futureproofing then the switch I suggested first is a good option. I wouldnāt bother changing the cable yet unless itās really easy to do, see if the existing will run 10g first. Plug the 10g switch into the existing 1g switch, plug the 3 PCs into the 10g switch, replace the NICās in the 3 PCs. Then when the faster than 1gb internet arrives head to FS.com and buy the correct SFP+ module to receive a feed from the modem / router / TA.
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