Once you decide to expand your network with switches and install ethernet cable to different rooms of your house, you may need to consider network traffic depending on the number of users. If you are single user with only a router you never have to worry about traffic. Once you add a switch to you router and more users (wife and 3 kids) and more computers and network devices the traffic increases.
You may already have some of these already, game consoles, smart phones, digital cable, satellite receivers, surround amplifiers, Blu-Ray players, network added storage and media streamers. Wireless traffic will be directly to your router or to a wireless access point off a switch. Generally low flow traffic devices can go over wireless with ease. Internet providers are offering 15MB/s services as standard. your standard switch 10/100 does a max of 100 M bits/s or 12.5MB/s (100/8 = bits to Bytes) .
One user and easily fill the traffic lane by 1 downloaded file at maximum transfer. Say you wired the house for 4 users 2 computers, 1 laptop and a WDTV Live Hub. You have a NAS, wireless router and 5-port switch. 4 rooms are wired from the 5 port switch, port 1 in and port 3-5 out, the router feeds the switch and you have 3 spare ports at the router. The internet comes in the routers in port and supplies internet to all users on the 5 port switch. All 4 users share the 1 port from the router to the switch, 12.5MB bandwidth needs to be shared 4 ways.
You could better the traffic flow if 2 users were connected to the switch and 2 to the router or increase the port bandwidth to 1000 mb/s with a giga bit speed. If your router is gigabit and your switch is gigabit your bandwidth is now 125MB/s (1000/8 = bits to bytes) .
You may say I don’t download files that is fine to share the 4 ports for internet access, just browsing and sharing music, you be fine. when you decide to add network storage (NAS) for media you have or want everyone to be able to enjoy, where to connect it? You could add another switch to the router or existing 5 port switch. You could say I putting on the router not buying another switch. Again the best solution is to put 2 users on the router and 2 on the 5 port switch but that’s not possible since the switch is in the basement electrical room. The NAS would work best if it was on the 5-port switch where the users are. You could replace the 5-port switch with a 8-port switch or add another switch to the 5-port switch. But consider that new TV and Xbox wants a network connection. You may end up daisy chaining switch to switch to switch. The network is expanding beyond that simple router you had a while ago and you are now the network administrator.
Your wife say the picture is freezing and the audio is missing when the kids are playing Xbox and that NAS thing can’t be working right and Jr. is watching TV instead of homework because the internet is to slow. Your going to have to move the NAS to a more central point on the network. The NAS needs to be put on the 5-port switch so everyone can have equal access to it with out affecting others.
Look at each user path way to the NAS, Internet and other users. The desktop down stairs is being used as a (DVR) digital video recorder with Windows media center. Everyone picked up on your secret that they can watch recorded TV from their computer like you.
Only problem is that you need to find a balance for everyone and still be able to do what you used to do.
Maybe that Gigabit router and switch was the right way to go a while ago.
