router has 100 mbit switch with 200 mbit internet connection

Question

I have a 200 down 10 up internet connection. My modem is an SB6141 my router is a TL-WR841N

I also have a gigabit switch

My setup is as follows. modem -> wan port of router switch -> gigabit siwtch in lan port 1 of router -> all other devices into the switch.

The issue I am encountering is that now that my internet speed has been upgraded to 200 down. I am limited by the switch on the router. the wireless on the router is fine as well as the modem. the only bottleneck is the router's built in switch.

Is there a way to configure these devices to bypass using the built in switch of the router as the main WAN connection to the modem. e.g. modem -> switch, with the routers wan plugged into port 2 of the switch?

Answer 1

There are many 300 Mbps routers but only offering that speed on Wi-Fi: most ethernet ports are 10/100 on cheap routers. There is no way to change it by software configuration: you could try to detect if there is a bottleneck inside that you can replace but probably won't be able if the router was not designed to work at faster speeds and you would need replacement pieces. You can try if you want to mess with the device, but I guess that was not what you were asking.

I suggest changing the router with one that has gigabit ports. As a suggestion you can always use your router as a Wi-Fi signal extender if you ever need this function, for example, configuring it appropiately.

Answer 2

It is more likely that it is not your switch that is bottlenecked, but that the internal processor of the router can't handle more than 100mbit. This effectively means that you can use 1 gigabit between the LAN devices, but when going to and from the internet, you are limited by 100mbit up and down.

I had a router that was limited to 50mbit up and down. We had 20mbit down, 2 mbit up internet and went up to 50mbit down, 5 mbit up, kept the router and all was fine. Then we got 75mbit down, 7,5mbit up and suddenly, my download speed was 50mbit while my upload was 7,5mbit. I complained to the ISP and they said the internet speed was definitely 75mbit. They measured it from their end and all was working. They asked me to put my computer directly onto the modem and do a speedtest. I did so and what do you know, 75mbit download speed.

I researched the problem and learned that routers have a processor rated for a certain amount of traffic. If internet speeds increase above what the processor can handle, it will simply not go any faster as if a cap was placed on it.

So the processor may be the problem. It can also be the WAN port itself, although it is likely a combination.

In any way, the only way to overcome this is by replacing the router for a newer one. Look for "throughput" speed of the router to know what speeds it can handle.