Is now the time to go to 5 Gbps or 10 Gbps home networking?

[TheLostSwede]

We'll get to a point where residential broadband will force the issue for the higher rate NIC's and switches, and 2.5 wont be enough....

When we get there, prices will align..

Interesting that STH reviewed a 10G-BaseT switch that was $200USD the other day - $25/port is actually not bad, and it's showing where the trend is heading...

XikeStor SKS1200-8XGT Review A Cheap 8-port 10Gbase-T Switch

At $199, the 8-port 10GbE XikeStor SKS1200-8XGT switch is one of the cheapest unmanaged 10Gbase-T switches on the market, with caveats

www.servethehome.com

Here's the link...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CRGTQYPX?tag=snbforums-20

Oh, I'm not saying prices won't continue to go down and things like the highly integrated part from MaxLinear is a step in that direction.

A year and a half ago, when Realtek was showing their 5 Gbps chips at Computex, I asked about 10 Gbps and was told that they expected to have more power efficient, lower cost 10 Gbps parts in a couple of years, so maybe 2025 announcement?

The problem with those weird brands is that they're often limited to only some channels and it doesn't appear be be easily purchased outside of xina and the US, nor would it be as affordable in countries with VAT. That said, it's very much a step in the right direction and I paid more for my 5-port TP-Link 10 Gbps switch, but not a lot more, although the cost per port obviously ended up a lot higher, due to fewer ports. The advantage it has though, is that it's passively cooled.

 

[coxhaus]

I would think ISP's will standardize on 10gig ports at some point since it will support all the different speeds in their modems. Rather than having different modems for different speeds.

I seem to remember back 20 years or more when Cisco had 5gig ports in some of their small business switches. It did not last but 1 generation in their switches before they switched to 10gig across the board.

 

[tgl]

I would think ISP's will standardize on 10gig ports at some point since it will support all the different speeds in their modems. Rather than having different modems for different speeds.

In support of that theory --- Verizon is already giving out routers with 10G ports for their FiOS service (I got one when I moved about a year-n-a-half ago). As far as I've heard you cannot actually sign up for more than 2Gbps FiOS service yet, and even that only in a few places. But they won't need to replace routers when that upgrade happens. My ONT will need to be replaced for 2Gbps because its ethernet output port is only 1G ... but I've heard that for those people who do have 2Gbps now, the new ONTs have 1G/10G output ports.

 

[coxhaus]

I bought an Intel 10gig copper NIC card. I think it was an Intel 550T2 but it was back in September so I don't remember specifics. Since then, I have had ATT install fiber down my street. So, I am waiting. Last week an ATT guy at one of the boxes said they were going to be testing the fiber real soon. I am hoping I can get fiber to my house in which case I can buy an Intel fiber card and bypass copper for my WAN port.

I read somewhere if you order 2gig fiber from ATT they will bring fiber into your house. I don't know if it is true or not. I am waiting for ATT to go door to door to offer me fiber deals.

 

[degrub]

ATT is going to provide you with fiber from the pole junction box ( or pod box if underground) to a termination point inside the structure. This was done for both of my 1Gbit service locations. i prepped the hole through the wall to the internal location (slant upwards as you drill through from the outside ;-) ). They may also do the drilling or use the same entry as POTs, removing the old wiring if you allow. They will either give you a separate ONT (you provide power) with ethernet out to their router or more commonly these days an integrated ONT/Router box reportedly with a SFP port capable of 10Gbit. Their router is required, but i believe you can bridge it. i have business friends that claim they are up on 5Gbit at the moment in the city.

My understanding is that they must terminate to their fiber equipment. All downstream is cat5E or better.

 

[coxhaus]

I have a POTs box outside my house with a DSL wire that leads to my computer room which I have no need for anymore. I would rather not drill more holes in my brick walls.

I hope by ordering 2 gig I will end up with 10gig info structure.

 

[cbm]

I bit the bullet and am in the process of upgrading my network to a mix of 10 Gb, 2.5 Gb, and still some legacy 1 Gb. All told, I sunk about $1000 into this upgrade. I figured I'd buy stuff before any potential tariffs go into effect.

I get "up to" 10 Gb fiber from Sonic, here in the San Francisco Bay Area. It actually ends up being about 7 Gb both directions, which is not too bad for $50/month. I already had a computer with 10 Gb ethernet, so the time was ripe, at least for me. What better content for a first post here than detailing spending too much money on networking gear.

Cost​	Item​
$525​	Fancy Router​
$200​	Switch 10 Gb​
$80​	Switch 2.5 Gb​
$125​	10 Gb card for NAS​
$50​	A few CAT6a cables​
$50​	A couple USB to 2.5 Gb Ether adapters​

 

[tgl]

I bit the bullet and am in the process of upgrading my network to a mix of 10 Gb, 2.5 Gb, and still some legacy 1 Gb.

Welcome to the forum, @cbm ! But you really gotta say exactly which fancy router and switches you bought. And how do you like them so far?

 

[cbm]

Welcome to the forum, @cbm ! But you really gotta say exactly which fancy router and switches you bought. And how do you like them so far?

Thanks! I can't say how I like them so far, as the last pieces are showing up on Monday, if the transit gods are good to me.

"Fancy" is a relative term here, but I got Qnap QHora-322 router, a MikroTik CRS304-4XG-IN 10 Gb switch, and some cheap 8-port 2.5Gb switch with a couple of SFP+ cages.

 

[cbm]

First stumbling block with the QHora-322: it seemingly has no UPnP support. I have a couple things that rely on UPnP. I know I can figure out the manual port forwarding, but it's a PITA.

 

[ddaenen1]

First stumbling block with the QHora-322: it seemingly has no UPnP support. I have a couple things that rely on UPnP. I know I can figure out the manual port forwarding, but it's a PITA.

I always keep UPnP switched off in my router/firewall and do manual forward, if required. I don't want devices opening up ports on my router without me knowing...

 

[Digilog]

I always keep UPnP switched off in my router/firewall and do manual forward, if required. I don't want devices opening up ports on my router without me knowing...

me and some other OS devs have been thinking about changing how UPnP works. I personally want it not to be a global on or off like a service, but rather assigned by MAC to a device that dynamically turns this off and on since it does tie up cpu resources when running. So don't be surprise if the on/off switch for that gets removed.

 

[cbm]

I get that people who have a bunch of odd things on their network might want to stop them from opening ports, and leaving UPnP off is best practice generally.

That said, I have just a couple things that I trust (e.g. Synology NAS) on my network that I now have to deal with manually with this router. It's more in the area of "Why isn't this thing working? Oh... yeah." than a major inconvenience.

 

[Digilog]

I get that people who have a bunch of odd things on their network might want to stop them from opening ports, and leaving UPnP off is best practice generally.

Yes I agree if you don't need to use it then have it off because there are no real administration to that system (yet). But the OS developers are addressing this but its going to take time as they will have to test it against the typical devices that have to use UPnP (like Playstation Online, and Xbox Live). So I expect in 3-5 years a solution to this.