1Gb devices connected to an unmanaged 2.5Gb switch perform at around 160Mbps or lower.
1Gb devices connected to an unmanaged 2.5Gb switch perform at around 160Mbps or lower.
I have a TP-Link Omada ER707-M2 with a 10Gtek unmanaged 2.5Gb switch . At first, no matter what, I couldn't get any of the 1Gb devices to reach past 160Mbps, until I found a beta firmware for the router to enable flow control. Once I enabled flow control, everything from the router is working great. However, if I plug any 1Gb devices (or switches) into the 2.5Gb switch, the 1Gb devices get max 160Mbps. This sucks because I have a 2.5Gb switch in my office to run all of my computers. Two of them run great, since they have 2.5Gb NIC, but the other devices are SLOW. I don't know of any settings I can change on the router to fix it, and since the switches are unmanaged, there's nothing I can do with them. Is this simply a compatibility issue? Will a different 2.5Gb switch fix the issues? How do I know which switch to get? Thanks!
Notably, the equipment featuring 2.5 Gigabit NICs achieves 1800-1900 Megabits per second on SpeedTest.net, whereas the 1 Gigabit models register 160 Megabits per second when connected to the unmanaged 2.5 Gigabit switch. By connecting the 1 Gigabit devices straight into the router via the dedicated 1 Gigabit port, they reach approximately 940 Megabits per second during testing. Prior to applying firmware updates and enabling flow control on the router, these devices only managed 160 Megabits per second when plugged directly into the router. Once the updates were implemented, they performed at full capacity on the same 1 Gigabit ports. Thank you for bringing this up, I aimed to clarify it once.
This was my initial encounter when I increased my NAS speed to 10Gbit. Data moves to and from Gigabit devices would take roughly 160Mbit, whereas the other 10Gbit client on the network could handle full speed. The switch would struggle handling the influx at 10Gbit. Luckily, I used a smart-managed switch to activate flow control, which resolved the issue as noted on the router. Unfortunately, this seems to be the only solution since similar problems often arise when mixing speeds and clear indications of protocol needs. TCP/IP is meant to manage this, but it can still affect everything. Interesting question—does your broadband offer faster speeds than Gigabit? I’d assume this would only occur if the receiving end was faster, leading to congestion at the switch.
Yes, your current connection is 1Gbps and it’s limiting performance. Upgrading to 2.5Gb will help fully utilize your bandwidth. Managed switches are costly, especially when you need two, so an unmanaged model with flow control might be a better fit. The D-LINK DMS-105 supports flow control, but since you’re unsure about internal workings, it could still be worth checking the other model you purchased. Let me know if you need more details!
I resolved this issue. I updated the information for anyone else who encounters the same problem. Here’s a concise summary of the changes:
I upgraded the firmware to version 1.1.1 for the TP-Link ER707-M2. This should make it compatible and functional. The update allows for better flow control management when using the controller, rather than standalone operation.
For standalone mode, the beta firmware isn’t necessary since flow control is already active. In controller mode, navigate to Devices > Omada Router > Ports > WAN1 and enable Flow Control.
The original switch (10GTek 5-Port Unmanaged 2.5G) didn’t work as expected, even though it claims backward compatibility. Support suggested using only 2.5Gb devices, but real-world testing showed issues with lower speeds.
I replaced it with two MokerLink 5 Port 2.5G Ethernet Switches, which support the required speeds and work perfectly. This fix is reliable and doesn’t require further adjustments.