Donnerstag Computer Network Question

Paul R. | 10/16/2025 | Me

[Paul R.]

I’m not sure the modem is that fast. I’d have to ask my ISP, or pop the cover: It’s a unit that mounts on an exterior wall, with power fed by a UPS unit mounted on an inside wall near it (but not immediately so).

It seems unlikely the telephone company (who is my ISP) would have spent the $$ on a high speed modem when the fastest service they offered at the time of the install was (IIRC) 150 Mbps. ??

(The plan we are on is 75 Mbps download + 75 Mbps upload: At present, it is fast enough for what we do online.)

HOWEVER, you do bring up a 2nd question. At present, the signal chain is the fiber optic line <—> Telco modem <—> my wireless + wired router <—> my desktop pc and other gear including switches (none at 1000 Mbps), other PC’s, printers, etc. And then those switches connect to other gear, also.

Maybe the chain should be:

fiber optic line <—> Telco modem <—> 100/1000 switch <—
—> my “new” desktop pc
—> wifey’s “new” desktop pc
—> “Powerline” ‘send’ module* <====> “Powerline” ‘receive’ module*
—> wireless + wired router (10/100) <—
.. —> 10/100 switch #1 <—> other network gear (multi)
.. —> 10/100 switch #1 <—> other network gear (multi)
.. —> main (multi-function) laser printer
.. —> other network gear (1 piece)

Would that work, ie., inserting the switch ahead of the primary router? That would give the “Powerline” subnetwork and our 2 “primary” computers faster access to the web should our telco decide to give us, say, 150 Mbps for the current price. (That upgrading of speed for the same price has been consistent over the years, and, while we likely don’t need it, why not use it if provided?) Sometimes, competition still works...

[Paul R.]

Oh, I forgot to mention, for those unfamiliar (I was), the “Powerline” modules are a system that transmits data through the house wiring, and on the receiver end it has a single RJ45 Ethernet port AND Wi-Fi. I’ll have to go back and look at the specs, but, I think that the whole Powerline setup is actually faster than our main router, under 100 ft. on the same circuit if nothing “weird” is going on, IF it is fed by something faster. Like a 100/1000 Mbps switch. :-)

Basically, the Powerline receiver connects to a whole little sub-network, wired and wireless, on the north end of our house.

[Intar]

WiFi bandwidth is limited by the type of WiFi in use. You can look up what the maximum bandwidth is by the letter or number at the end: 802.11g, 802.11ax, or WiFi6 as an example. The g, ax, or 6 tells you the max bandwidth. Also keep in mind that speeds vary depending on distance from the radio (AP), radio band (2Ghz, 5Ghz) and environment (walls, trees, people in the path of the receiving device and AP).

[logi_cal869]

I have a solution

https://www.amazon.com/CAIG-Laboratories-D5S-6-LMH-Contact-Low-Med-High/dp/B08N39YQMP/ref=sr_1_4

Spray directly on the cable end and into the jack. You’ll be amazed at the results.

;-) Obviously doesn’t renew corroded/damaged pins/contacts, but with the lousy plating today it really does eliminate nearly all connectivity issues, including noise on audio connections.

(yes, a bit spendy, but anyone who deals with low voltage should have a can of this stuff. Trust me. I’ve seen bandwidth increases with its use, a side effect. A can lasts a LONG time)

[Paul R.]

Haha! I have TWO cans of DeOxit, both about 2/3 full. They are “left over” from my years of work in audio.

DeOxit is good stuff, BUT, in the instance I mentioned I think the contacts are physically damaged / deformed - which DeOxit cannot fix, of course. No matter, I have lots of Cat5, Cat5E, and Cat 6 cables. :-)

[Paul R.]

Yeah, I’ll just have to look at the back of the Powerline module for the model #, and then can look up the bandwidth spec.

And, yes, of course distance, obstacles, and interference can slow Wi-Fi. That’s one reason I put in the Powerline modules: That considerably improved the Wi-Fi performance in my daughter’s room @ the north end of our house. I have the unit in the window, so I get a little coverage outside when I’m working on one of our cars, and can view You Tube vids on the repair(s) for reference. :-)

The bad news is that I’ve been unable to get the “Wi-Fi Calling” on my new cell phone to work with the Powerline Wi-Fi — the phone only works with our primary router. Actual cell signal - forget about it in the house... :-(

[Svartalfiar]

This depends on how you’re connected. Direct communication between devices will have full speed, but any networking through the router will be limited by the routers speed.

[logi_cal869]

LOL.

You’ve got it.

[algore]

I have a bunch of powerline stuff, it works great.

in my old house I had a shed that I had run power to, and I used a powerline adapter to hook up my backup machine that I put in my shed to my home lan.

I was never a wireless fan back in the day cause it was slow, insecure and had limited range. (today it is much better) I called my shed computer offsite backup cause even if my house burned it is very unlikely the shed would have also.

The kids have moved out, but they still use powerline adapters cause they just work and they don’t drop out if someone near them uses a microwave or cordless phone.

I pick them up at goodwill every time I see some.

[Paul R.]

Maybe I should stop in at Goodwill sometime...

[CptnObvious]

Hi, Perhaps you can do without the Switch if you are only going to use two PCs that have 100/1000 Lan Ports on each and the first system is Windows 11.

ISP - Router -Wifi- PC1 - Cat6 Cable - PC2

Using a high speed WiFi to the router, say 5Ghz, go to the Control Panel, Small Icons, Network, Network Adaptor, on PC1.

Click on the LAN port and select Properties, at the Top, select Sharing. Select Internet Connection Sharing (ICS). Check on PC2 whether it automatically gave it an IP address. PC1 Lan port should be 192.168.137.1 and PC2 should be 192.168.137.x. If PC2 does not have a correct IP address, make sure DHCP is enabled on Both Lan Ports and Auto negotiate speed/duplex is enabled on Both Lan Ports.

PC2 does not have to be Windows. If PC2 is Windows 11, then Folder Sharing is easy. See Google on how to setup Folder Sharing and use it.

Now, say you want to add another PC, say PC3. That's where you insert the Switch on PC1s LAN Port.

ISP - Router -Wifi- PC1 - SWITCH - Cat6 Cable - PC2
- Cat6 Cable - PC3

Now you might ask, what is the benefit here of inserting the Switch instead of putting the Switch directly to the Router like this? ISP - Router -SWITCH- - Cat6 Cable -PC1
- Cat6 Cable - PC2
- Cat6 Cable - PC3

Well, by Setting up the Switch on PC1s LAN card, you can set all your LAN ports on the Switch to JUMBO FRAME 9000. This will boost the speed by about 10% on all.

PC2 can be sending a huge file to PC3 while PC1 is browsing at full speed, unaffected by say a 4K Full video file is being transferred between the other two systems.

NOTE 0: For maximum Folder Sharing speed testing. Make a RAM DISK on PC1. Turn off virus checking on that LAN port and put the data into PC1s RAM Disk Folder! You can also do the same thing on WINDOWS 11 PCs (PC2, PC3) and test the highest speed that way too. Be sure to turn off folder sharing on test Ram Drives and delete any test RAM drive(s) and Reboot.

NOTE 1: JUMBO FRAMES 9000 can be used on the CAT6 only setup!! Just make sure that both LAN Ports use the same JUMBO FRAME SIZE (9000 is recommended).

NOTE 2: If you use JUMBO FRAME 9000 on yet another PC via the SWITCH off PC1s LAN CARD, Then it too must be JUMBO Frame 9000.

Note 3: Speed will depend much on your Drives. Good NVME next Gen are highly recommended

[Paul R.]

I also ordered a USB 3.2 Gen 2 PCIe card for my Dell 3430 SFF. That will give me a couple fairly quick (10 Gbps) additional USB ports on the rear of the machine, one “A”, one “C”. I’d have preferred a Gen 2x2, but prices were a lot higher. (I may try hunting around on eBay when I get time.)

[Paul R.]

That’s pretty nifty. I’d have never even thought of the JUMBO FRAME 9000 part. Like I said, I’m no network guru, that is for sure!

However... Neither wifey’s nor my desktop machines have Wi-Fi. The fast (100/1000) switch was under $9, so, after the 1st few replies here (thanks, everyone!) — I just ordered the switch. It’s even shielded, with a metal enclosure, tho’ I don’t really think that’s going to be a big deal.

We have enough going on (my diagram was actually a bit simplified at the “far ends”) that adding anything else would require another switch anyway. So, for $9 (once I add tax), I’m not unhappy. :-)

Thanks for the input, though. The JUMBO FRAME 9000 info. is useful on its own, and a variation of that layout might turn out useful to me down the line. Some other reader could well find it useful, too. :-)