Router vs Switch

[Michael]

I have a 4-port router and a 16-port switch. My internet is 30Mbps.

The ports on the router is connected to 2 PCs, a server, and the switch respectively.

My question is, how is the bandwidth distributed among the 2 (on router) + 15 (on switch) PCs in the whole setup?

I find that when I sync some files from a PC to the server, it's way much slower for a PC that is connected to the switch compare to a PC that is connected to the router.

[Geek-9pm]

You may have answered your own question. Most of the work is done by the router. The switch is a more simple device.
Here is one definition:

Switches create a network. Routers connect networks. A router links computers to the Internet, so users can share the connection. A router acts as a dispatcher, choosing the best path for information to travel so it's received quickly.

What is the speed of the router? The switch? some routers  can do gigabit.

[camerongray]

Bandwidth is not evenly divided between the ports, if one device is downloading at full speed it will get 30mbit, if 2 are downloading they will both get 15mbit and so on, it doesn't matter whether they are plugged into the router or the switch.  What speed is the router and the switch?  If the router is gigabit but the switch is only 10/100 that would explain why it is faster to transfer data to the server from the PC connected to the router rather than a PC that is connected through the switch.

[DaveLembke]

Additionally, if the 2 computers were connected direct to the Router vs one or more to a 16 port switch you would remove a small amount of latency since the switch has to repeat communications from the router. The amount of latency should be very small with just 1 added switch. Latency is more of a problem if you have a bunch of switches daisy chained together and nodes at the further end from each other then have the greatest latency with repeating the packets to each other to pass down the line.

Have you pinged while not transferring data to make sure that your latency is low and consistent. And then ping during data transferred between local server and pc  for a local file transfer as well as during an outbound data download.

This screenshot is of my latency that is holding steady at less than 1ms. I have a Router at the end of the 8 port unmanaged switch. I also have other devices sitting idle on the 8 port switch, and I am performing a persistent ping between my router that is down stairs through my 8-port switch upstairs while I am also downloading a Linux Mint 17.2 distro which is exercising my local network with traffic while testing for latency. Your latency should also be very little, less than 30ms as a worst case scenario and best to be less than 10ms like mine. If your latency is jumping around while network is idle then your hardware or Cat5 or Cat6 cable might have troubles with noise etc. If latency climbs and is erratic greater than 30ms during a download or local data transfer then this is also a sign that something isnt quite right and should be troubleshot further. * This is only for local ping latency, not for pinging to an outside source on the web to avoid confusion.


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[Michael]

Hi Geek-9pm/camerongray,

I've checked that the router is a gigabit router (Aztech DSL7000GR(SME)) and the switch is a 10/100 (D-Link DES-1016D), so that explains why there are such a big difference between the two transfers.