Gigabit Ethernet is part of the Ethernet family of computer networking and communications standards. The Gigabit Ethernet standard supports a theoretical maximum data rate of 1 gigabit per second (1,000 Mbps).
The information in this article applies broadly to the collection of technologies that transmit data over Ethernet.
It was once thought that achieving gigabit speeds over Ethernet required the use of fiber optic cables or other special network cabling technology. Fortunately, these are only needed over long distances.
For most purposes, Gigabit Ethernet works well using regular Ethernet cabling, specifically the CAT5e and CAT6 cabling standards. These cable types comply with the 1000BASE-T cabling standard (also known as IEEE 802.3ab).
Due to factors such as network protocol overhead and retransmissions due to collisions or other transient failures, devices cannot actually transmit useful message data at the full rate of 1 Gbps. Under normal conditions, effective data transfer may reach 900 Mbps, but average connection speeds will vary based on a variety of factors.
For example, a disk drive may limit the performance of a Gigabit Ethernet connection on your PC. There are also bandwidth factors that limit connections. Even if your entire home network can get 1 Gbps download speeds, two simultaneous connections will instantly cut the available bandwidth to both devices in half. The same is true for any number of concurrent devices.
The CPU of some home routers with Gigabit Ethernet ports may not be able to handle the load required to support incoming or outgoing data processing at the full rate of the network connection. The more client devices and concurrent network traffic sources there are, the harder it is for the router processor to support maximum speed transfers on any connection.
There are websites that allow you to check your internet speed in real time.
Network devices offer the same RJ-45 connection type whether their Ethernet ports support 10/100 (Fast) or 10/100/1000 (Gigabit) connections. Ethernet cables are often printed with information about the standards they support, but they don't indicate whether the network is actually configured to run at that rate.
To check the speed rating of an active Ethernet connection, locate and open the connection settings on your computer. Take Windows 10 as an example:
Open the Windows Control Panel.
Select Network and Internet .
Select View network status and tasks .
Select Ethernet to open the status window and view the speed.
All newer broadband routers support Gigabit Ethernet as well as other mainstream computer networking equipment, but Gigabit Ethernet also provides backward compatibility with older 100 Mbps and 10 Mbps legacy Ethernet equipment.
Connections to these devices work normally but at lower rated speeds. In other words, when you connect a slow device to a fast network, it will only run at its slowest rated speed. The same is true if you connect a gigabit device to a slow network. It will only run as fast as the network allows.
FAQA Gigabit Ethernet switch is a network switch that supports Gigabit Ethernet speeds (1 Gbps) for each connected device on a local area network (LAN). These switches typically come with four to eight ports for consumer use, while enterprise switches can handle many more connections.
10 Gigabit Ethernet is a computer networking standard that is 10 times faster than Gigabit Ethernet. It operates at speeds of 10 Gbps or 10,000 Mbps and is most commonly found in data centers and enterprises. While typical CAT5 Ethernet cables can support Gigabit Ethernet, 10 Gigabit Ethernet connections require CAT6 cables.
