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Author Topic: when is a gigabit ethernet adaptor not a gigabit ethernet adaptor  (Read 1967 times)

chenks

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anyone find that USB ethernet adaptors are generally rubbish and/or bordering on false advertisement.

i have a "gigabit usb ethernet adaptor" made by Plugable.
however as it only has a USB2 connection (as it states on the adaptor) then it absolute best it could ever achieve is 480Mbps.

when i run a speedtest using the connection it tops out at around 60MB/s which is pretty close to the 480Mbps limit of the USB connection.

how do they get away with this?
Plugable tend to be one of the more "trusted" brands but not with branding it seems!
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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: when is a gigabit ethernet adaptor not a gigabit ethernet adaptor
« Reply #1 on: January 17, 2021, 06:12:04 PM »

I would  regard a “Gigabit ethernet” device as one that is capable of transferring data over an Ethernet link with a negotiated datalink speed of 1Gbps.

I would not expect that to guarantee any particular level of performance throughput.   If throughput was important to me I’d probably be looking for more detailed specifications.
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chenks

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Re: when is a gigabit ethernet adaptor not a gigabit ethernet adaptor
« Reply #2 on: January 17, 2021, 06:15:24 PM »

the device is not physically capable of anything more than 480Mbps regardless of what the negotiated datalink speed is.
to advertise is as a "gigabit ethernet adaptor" is quite misleading.
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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: when is a gigabit ethernet adaptor not a gigabit ethernet adaptor
« Reply #3 on: January 17, 2021, 06:34:10 PM »

I think you miss the point I was trying to make.

Gigabit ethernet is a technical standard to which it should conform if wants to describe itself as Gigabit Ethernet.  It sounds like it does.

There’s nothing in the Gigabit ethernet standard to dictate the transfer speed of applications, other than (obviously) you won’t exceed 1Gbps.

In practical terms, assuming a gigabit device had a price premium, I’d be disappointed if such a device failed to exceed 100Mbps over a gigabit link.   Else  I might as well have bought a cheaper one.   But anything decently above 100Mbps,  say 300 Mbps, would leave me thinking the money was well spent -  achieving speeds far in excess of the lesser 100Mbps device.
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chenks

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Re: when is a gigabit ethernet adaptor not a gigabit ethernet adaptor
« Reply #4 on: January 17, 2021, 06:37:09 PM »

i didn't miss any point you tried to make.
however, we clearly have different thoughts on the matter, yours have been heard. 
thanks for your input though.




Admin - Post edited to remove personalised attack remark. 
Also deleted a following post
« Last Edit: January 17, 2021, 11:15:48 PM by kitz »
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roseway

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Re: when is a gigabit ethernet adaptor not a gigabit ethernet adaptor
« Reply #5 on: January 17, 2021, 07:09:08 PM »

Enough!

Please everybody,  spare us the personal attacks.
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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: when is a gigabit ethernet adaptor not a gigabit ethernet adaptor
« Reply #6 on: January 17, 2021, 07:17:23 PM »

Enough!

Please everybody,  spare us the personal attacks.

Everybody?   

7LM could take offence at that....
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displaced

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Re: when is a gigabit ethernet adaptor not a gigabit ethernet adaptor
« Reply #7 on: January 17, 2021, 07:34:04 PM »

I’ve got a USB-C Gigabit Ethernet adaptor, and an older USB-A 3.0 Gigabit adaptor.

Both provide the full Ethernet bandwidth to the host.

I too would expect a ‘Gigabit Ethernet Adaptor’ to provide the full transfer rate to the host. Labelling a USB-2 device with the term ‘gigabit’ is disingenuous at best.  But good ones do exist. And work well.  It’s just that these random-brand devices need their specs checked thoroughly before purchase. The headline description is often best read with a “yes, but” at the end!
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Alex Atkin UK

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Re: when is a gigabit ethernet adaptor not a gigabit ethernet adaptor
« Reply #8 on: January 17, 2021, 07:55:23 PM »

As mentioned above, they ARE Gigabit Ethernet, that is perfectly true.  The only thing they did wrong was to not mention in big letters on the front that the speed will be limited by the USB bus.

The thing is, if you're stuck with USB 2.0 and a built-in 100-BASE-T adapter or nothing, then even getting 200Mbit would be a huge improvement.

The same way I currently use a 5Gbit USB 3.0 adapter.  Sure it can't hit 5Gbit, but it can transfer files at 400MB/s vs 120MB/s of the on-board Gigabit.
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chenks

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Re: when is a gigabit ethernet adaptor not a gigabit ethernet adaptor
« Reply #9 on: January 18, 2021, 04:33:10 PM »

i need to make a correction.
when i was doing the tests i wrote down the results wrong.

the "gigabit" adaptor is, in fact, running at 67Mbps, not 67MB/s.
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tubaman

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Re: when is a gigabit ethernet adaptor not a gigabit ethernet adaptor
« Reply #10 on: January 18, 2021, 05:30:26 PM »

i need to make a correction.
when i was doing the tests i wrote down the results wrong.

the "gigabit" adaptor is, in fact, running at 67Mbps, not 67MB/s.

That certainly doesn't sound right at all -it should run faster than that.

With respect to the gigabit ethernet part, it's not dissimilar to the number of routers available that support 5GHz ac wifi but only have 10/100 ethernet ports. They cannot possible run at full wifi speed across the ethernet link. It's a case of buyer beware unfortunately.
 :)
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j0hn

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Re: when is a gigabit ethernet adaptor not a gigabit ethernet adaptor
« Reply #11 on: January 18, 2021, 05:39:06 PM »

it's not dissimilar to the number of routers available that support 5GHz ac wifi but only have 10/100 ethernet ports. They cannot possible run at full wifi speed across the ethernet link. It's a case of buyer beware unfortunately.
 :)

The WiFi speed is irrelevant over the Ethernet link?

You can still get full 5Ghz AC WiFi speeds on a router with 100Mb Ethernet ports.
It's only wired traffic that would be limited by the 100Mb/s ports.
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tubaman

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Re: when is a gigabit ethernet adaptor not a gigabit ethernet adaptor
« Reply #12 on: January 18, 2021, 06:17:14 PM »

...

You can still get full 5Ghz AC WiFi speeds on a router with 100Mb Ethernet ports.
It's only wired traffic that would be limited by the 100Mb/s ports.

I highlighted it because I've seen people buy these devices to use on Virgin media fibre connections for example and then complain that they can't download faster than 100Mbps.
 :)
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kitz

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Re: when is a gigabit ethernet adaptor not a gigabit ethernet adaptor
« Reply #13 on: January 18, 2021, 07:48:16 PM »

>>> it's not dissimilar to the number of routers available that support 5GHz ac wifi but only have 10/100 ethernet ports.

Even before you typed that, it struck me that labelling of wi-fi speeds are also misleading to the consumer.

Take for example wireless-n (802.11n) which according to the standards is up to 600Mbps.   In real life the maximum is more like 45 Mbps after overheads .... and less if you aren't stood right next to the router.  Even 802.11ac (3.46Gbps) tops out at around 100Mbps.

It's a common complaint when people do speed tests and cant understand why they only get ~45Mbps when their router is 802.11n but will say on the box up to 600Mbps.   
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Alex Atkin UK

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Re: when is a gigabit ethernet adaptor not a gigabit ethernet adaptor
« Reply #14 on: January 18, 2021, 11:32:37 PM »

Take for example wireless-n (802.11n) which according to the standards is up to 600Mbps.   In real life the maximum is more like 45 Mbps after overheads .... and less if you aren't stood right next to the router.  Even 802.11ac (3.46Gbps) tops out at around 100Mbps.

Don't forget n can support 5Ghz too on older devices, so you can get over 100Mbit.

Also 802.11ac tops out around 800Mbit in my experience.  My Galaxy S10 can easily do that on an 80Mhz channel width (though that's a synthetic test), strangely my laptops need 160Mhz to do it despite all devices being 2x2 MIMO so should perform the same.

I typically can pull around 40-70MB/s on my laptops from my NAS over WiFi 5/ac.  But that highlights the point, there are a LOT of supposed AC routers that can't get close to that because their CPUs are too weak.  The Home Hub 5a for example struggles to do 25MB/s which is super annoying as all the hardware is capable, except the CPU.
« Last Edit: January 18, 2021, 11:37:30 PM by Alex Atkin UK »
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