Any Info On Upcoming Multi-Gig Routers? 2.5G, 5G and 10G

[Hexenhammer]

Hello,
Is it OK to upgrade a router now or multi-gig ones coming soon?
I wonder if people here that follow press releases and networking news have an idea if 2.5g Ethernet routers are incoming? Right now even most expensive mainstream models come with single 2.5G like ASUS AX11000 or that black one with 5G port that costs more then asus [forgot the brand name].
Basically during last year if not more i seen articles talking about dirt cheap realtek 2.5g solution and most new motherboards have such port now, are we going to get full 2.5G routers this year?

To clear things up, I just got fiber optic connection [1g by 100mb] and I have 1 year old DIR-882 router also Im using free and probably not the best d-link media converter, so i decided to do a small upgrade but with future proofing, I already ordered MikroTik HEX S [will replace d-link media converter and open up some options] and I wanted to grab Refurbished ASUS AX11000 router, it had 4 ports + 1 dual use 2.5G port that can be WAN or LAN and WAN port.
My PC that im building has mobo with build in intel AX200 [upgradable] and non upgradable 10g Ethernet and 1g Ethernet.
That asus router i heard has dual wan option and I have backup 500mb cable connection, also i seen great USB 3.0 benchmarks when connected to 2.5G port, almost 150mb/s, so instead of investing in NAS, i can get 4-5 drive USB 3.0 box and connect to routers USB 3.0 port, it will be faster then all 1G based routers for sure and cheaper then buying ASUS 2.5G based NAS.

 

[Samir]

2.5Gb/5Gb and especially 10Gbit is already out. But aside from usb nics, you won't find any of this stuff in the consumer realm, but more at the small business and enterprise levels. (Enterprises have had 10Gbit for many, many years now.)

 

[Hexenhammer]

2.5Gb/5Gb and especially 10Gbit is already out. But aside from usb nics, you won't find any of this stuff in the consumer realm, but more at the small business and enterprise levels. (Enterprises have had 10Gbit for many, many years now.)

Hi, I know that enterprise has 10Gb for long time, and mostly fiber optic, but as far as consumer side, on Routers, even the two most expensive ones in the world, the ASUS AX1100 and that Netgear Nighthawk AX12, all come with SINGLE multig port, 2.5G on Asus and 5g on netgear, thats not enough, 2 should be minimum.
What Im asking is when we will have a mainstream router that doesn't have 1G ports at all, only 2.5G [since they cheapest].
Im asking because Realtek has very cheap 2.5G solution

 

[Samir]

Consumer routers in the this space end up being more expensive than the enterprise ones, therefore no one makes it because while consumers are dumb, they're not that dumb.

As far as mainstream moving to 2.5g vs 1g on all ports--that will happen when 2.5g switches are the same cost as 1g, and I'd say we're at least 5 years away from that right now.

 

[System Error Message]

buy mikrotik, get yourselves a 28Gb/s router for less than $1000 with no hardware aacceleration needed

 

[L&LD]

@System Error Message, which one is that?

 

[Hexenhammer]

buy mikrotik, get yourselves a 28Gb/s router for less than $1000 with no hardware aacceleration needed

Which model is that, I checked their web site and didnt found any, even non wireless.

 

[Hexenhammer]

Consumer routers in the this space end up being more expensive than the enterprise ones, therefore no one makes it because while consumers are dumb, they're not that dumb.

As far as mainstream moving to 2.5g vs 1g on all ports--that will happen when 2.5g switches are the same cost as 1g, and I'd say we're at least 5 years away from that right now.

Can you recommend any multi-gig enterprise routers, the cheapest and the smallest that you know of and im OK even with 2.5G, 5G and 10G will be better of course but ill take even 2.5g if the price is right.

 

[System Error Message]

@System Error Message, which one is that?

Which model is that, I checked their web site and didnt found any, even non wireless.

Both the CCR1016 and CCR1036 will do 10Gb/s. They use SFP+ ports and you need to find the model that says 2S+ at the back as sfp+ can support 2.5G and 5G via modules which is why i like SFP+.
The CCR1009 will do 10Gb/s on a leaner config but it only has 1 10Gb/s ports. If there is a modal with 2 i'd recommend it as it would be the cheapest 10Gb/s capable router without using hardware NAT for $400-$500.

Other mikrotik routers do have SFP+ like the RB4011 i believe but you need at least 2 ports to make it work. They will do 10Gb/s but only with hardware NAT help.

For wiring, even for regular SFP, the extra 250 Mb/s (its rated as 1.25Gb/s for SFP) can be used for admin usage like monitoring, filtering, increased packet sizes due to vlan tagging and other packet information only added by the switch.

It looks like the CCR1036 is the only router focused routerboard with 2 SFP+ slots, the rest are switches. Heres the link https://mikrotik.com/product/CCR1036-8G-2Splus , considering its not a new modal its price has dropped, also newer variations have improved designs that werent available for the old one, not that you cant modify an old one for the same functionality.

 

[Trip]

So the thing that no one has really mentioned yet, and the reason you're not going to see many multi-gig options in routers (at least not for some time), is that most routing platform interfaces scale via 10-Base math on the WAN interface, ie. 10Gb for RJ45 or SFP+, 40GB for QSFP, etc. This is very different from LAN fabrics that need to make the most of the "last 100 feet" to the endpoint or AP, where scaling to even just 2.5Gb/s can make a world of difference.

This may change with certain CPE equipment in the future as multi-gig coaxial may (or may not) pervade the residential market, but until then and even if that happens, it's probably going to be hard to find WAN interfaces who aren't either 1Gb or 10GB and no multi-gig in between.

 

[Hexenhammer]

Both the CCR1016 and CCR1036 will do 10Gb/s. They use SFP+ ports and you need to find the model that says 2S+ at the back as sfp+ can support 2.5G and 5G via modules which is why i like SFP+.
The CCR1009 will do 10Gb/s on a leaner config but it only has 1 10Gb/s ports. If there is a modal with 2 i'd recommend it as it would be the cheapest 10Gb/s capable router without using hardware NAT for $400-$500.

Other mikrotik routers do have SFP+ like the RB4011 i believe but you need at least 2 ports to make it work. They will do 10Gb/s but only with hardware NAT help.

For wiring, even for regular SFP, the extra 250 Mb/s (its rated as 1.25Gb/s for SFP) can be used for admin usage like monitoring, filtering, increased packet sizes due to vlan tagging and other packet information only added by the switch.

It looks like the CCR1036 is the only router focused routerboard with 2 SFP+ slots, the rest are switches. Heres the link https://mikrotik.com/product/CCR1036-8G-2Splus , considering its not a new modal its price has dropped, also newer variations have improved designs that werent available for the old one, not that you cant modify an old one for the same functionality.

But this is SFP fiber router, people that invested in copper and have aquantilla Ethernet cards, this kind of router wont help much, unless im missing something?
Is there a some sort of adapter that plugs into SFP+ port but on the otehr side has Copper Ethernet 2.5/5g or even 10G port?

 

[System Error Message]

But this is SFP fiber router, people that invested in copper and have aquantilla Ethernet cards, this kind of router wont help much, unless im missing something?
Is there a some sort of adapter that plugs into SFP+ port but on the otehr side has Copper Ethernet 2.5/5g or even 10G port?

SFP stands for small form pluggable. It is a modular interface that allows you to plug in any interface you need. There even is a VDSL module for it too. This is because there are far too many mediums available, so many different requirements. For example a small business may only need to link networks using an inexpensive 1KM module and cable, a franchise may want a network of 20KM fiber optic modules and cables, so SFP caters to this by allowing you to use any module you need. ANY. This includes ethernet as well.

 

[Hexenhammer]

SFP stands for small form pluggable. It is a modular interface that allows you to plug in any interface you need. There even is a VDSL module for it too. This is because there are far too many mediums available, so many different requirements. For example a small business may only need to link networks using an inexpensive 1KM module and cable, a franchise may want a network of 20KM fiber optic modules and cables, so SFP caters to this by allowing you to use any module you need. ANY. This includes ethernet as well.

I already did some googling and converters are not that expensive, on amazon SFP+ 10g to 10G Ethernet start from 38$, also apparently Multigig switches are not that expensive right now, for 260$ [on bad day and 209$ on good] you can get neat-gear switch with standard Ethernet ports: x4 1G + x2 2.5G + x2 5G + 2 10G
Not bad price for so many fast ports. Or about for same price [380+/- USD on amazon] you can get Mikrotik 4 port SFP+ switch + 4 converters to 10G, i think that MultiGIG switch is worth it, especially to catch it on sale for 209$ using pugin

This kind of switch + AX11000 router pluged into it with 2.5G connector, and on the switch for your home you can do NAS on 10G, most important PC on 10G, 2 more less important PCs on 5G and everything else on 2.5G and 1G
For small homes and apartments, works out fine since most people dont even have 1G internet, but this setup is good for everyone except the less then 1% of people that have faster then 1G internet connections

 

[System Error Message]

I already did some googling and converters are not that expensive, on amazon SFP+ 10g to 10G Ethernet start from 38$, also apparently Multigig switches are not that expensive right now, for 260$ [on bad day and 209$ on good] you can get neat-gear switch with standard Ethernet ports: x4 1G + x2 2.5G + x2 5G + 2 10G
Not bad price for so many fast ports. Or about for same price [380+/- USD on amazon] you can get Mikrotik 4 port SFP+ switch + 4 converters to 10G, i think that MultiGIG switch is worth it, especially to catch it on sale for 209$ using pugin

This kind of switch + AX11000 router pluged into it with 2.5G connector, and on the switch for your home you can do NAS on 10G, most important PC on 10G, 2 more less important PCs on 5G and everything else on 2.5G and 1G
For small homes and apartments, works out fine since most people dont even have 1G internet, but this setup is good for everyone except the less then 1% of people that have faster then 1G internet connections

with mikrotik, the switches are fully managed, so its not a dumb switch. Definitely better than dlinks offerings by a mile.

 

[Hexenhammer]

with mikrotik, the switches are fully managed, so its not a dumb switch. Definitely better than dlinks offerings by a mile.

The model I mentioned is from the Managed Pro series https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075Q5T7NH/?tag=snbforums-20

 

[System Error Message]

The model I mentioned is from the Managed Pro series https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075Q5T7NH/?tag=snbforums-20

the pricing might look good, until you jump to 2 SFP+ and the price skyrockets to $1000. For $300-$400 you can get a 16 port SFP+ fully managed switch with a dual core ARM A15 CPU from mikrotik, which means you can also run dude server from it if you wanted or have it do some tasks aside from just switching.

 

[coxhaus]

You might want to take a look at a Cisco SG250-24 layer 3 switch. I think you can get for around $400. Look on eBay. You get 4 10 gig ports.

 

[Spinj]

There's also the Ubiquiti counter part of UDM-Pro (Unifi Dream Machine, as it has a built-in UniFi controller) for $379.
https://store.ui.com/products/udm-pro

SFP+ Wan and SFP+ Lan with 10 Gb routing (over 4 streams). It'll do 3.5 Gb with IDS/IPS, DPI on. As mentioned above the SFP+ can be 6 speed copper (10gb/5gb/2.5gb/1gb/100mb/10mb) or any other SFP+ type adapter.

Definitely not as configurable as Mikrotik but a bit easier learning curve.