What Considerations are there
before going to Gigabit Internet?

4 things to do before upgrading to Gigabit Internet!

Summary

• Review what type of infrastructure wiring you have
• Review what type of hardware you have
• Review you wireless speeds
• Review any “pass-through” devices that may limit speeds

      You have just received a notification that Gigabit internet is available from your Internet Service Provider (ISP), what should you do? First, it is important to know what hardware you have in your office and what limitations may exist.

1.      The first component following the provider’s internet router is usually a firewall. If you have a firewall you should look up the throughput it is rated for. There are several characteristics to consider when using the proper firewall including the user count as well. However, if your firewall is not rated for a throughput of 1GB/s then the Gigabit circuit from your provider will be negatively affected by the firewall. In effect, the firewall will act as a bottleneck in your network.
2.      The next component in your network are the switches connected to the computesr and devices. Most switches have one of two settings at which to pass data around your internal network. Switches that support speeds up to 100mb/s are commonly referred to 10/100 switches. These switches will not pass the data any faster than 100MB/s to your devices and will also act as a bottleneck in your network. To support the Gigabit speeds of your circuit, you will want Gigabit switches in your network.
3.      If you have VoIP phones in the office and the phones are used in a “daisy-chain” cable configuration then once again, the phone can act as a bottleneck. VoIP phones, similar to the switches, are devices that operate at specific network speeds. For example, “10/100” phones are designed for networks that operate at 10 megabits/s or 100 megabits/s. If a 10/100 phone is connected to a network operating at 1 gigabit/s then the maximum speed that will pass through the phone is 100 mb/s. The PC connected behind the phone will be limited to the maximum speeds offered by the network.

Switches/Routers/Firewalls

      The switches, routers, firewalls and other CPE used on the LAN should all be considered for upgrades if you plan to migrate to gigabit speeds within 2 to 3 years of your purchase. It may not always seem to make financial sense to purchase gigabit-capable switches, routers, and firewalls for your network if the network is currently operating at 100mb/s. However, if your plans are to upgrade the wiring in the next 2-3 years than the hardware you purchase now will not need to be upgraded later. More importantly, they will not act as s bottleneck on your network preventing gigabit speeds from traversing along with the network.

Wireless Routers

      Wireless routers are often overlooked when considering speeds along with the network even as more and more devices become wirelessly enabled. The wireless standards have evolved over the years, but as the speeds of the network have increased, they have gotten closer to those of the wireless routers.

      In the past, when the LAN operated at speeds of 10MB/s the wireless routers (802 .11g) operated at 54mb/s or over 5 times faster. As the LAN increased to 100MB/s the wireless router standards improved as well (802.11n) to 450mb/s.  Once again about 5 times the speed of the LAN. Today, the current wireless standard of 802.11ac only operates at maximum speeds up to about 1.5 gigabits and those speeds are only in the 5GHz band with the use of additional technology (MIMO, MU-MIMO). If wireless speeds do not continue to increase we will find more and more devices wanting to connect directly to the network to take advantage of the gigabit LAN speeds. This may require additional wiring to devices that once used wireless connectivity.

Phones and Computers

      As the LAN speeds increase to 1 gigabit and beyond it will be important to make sure the end devices take advantage of the added speed. There are many VoIP phones on the market even today, as new devices, that only offer pass-thru speeds of 100mb/s. The pass-thru to the PC of 100mb/s will be a bottleneck for the device connected to it. Those individuals that are purchasing VoIP phones and new computers will need to be cognizant of the technology they are buying and installing in the network and the planned lifetime of the devices. In most cases the difference in cost between those devices that support gigabit speeds and those that only support speeds of 100mb/s is small. Any additional cost typically will include added features like additional memory and faster processors so it may be difficult to determine any additional cost.

      If you are planning on installing Gigabit internet service be sure to check the download and upload speeds in advance.  Also, remember that fiber service and cable service are different and you should ask which you are getting. Once you are considering the move to gigabit network service you should also consider the network speeds of the hardware including the switches, routers, firewalls, phones, and computers.