What is faster? Apple Time Capsule or Linksys Switch

[3587]

I've finally run out of ethernet ports on my Apple Time Capsule... I'm looking at getting the Linksys 8 Port Switch... Now, I've read that the Time Capsule ports are "dumb" and that it is better to always run a switch, because they are "smarter".

Would it be smart/faster if I just plugged the switch into the Time Capsule, then everything else into the switch? I have an AppleTV, Xbox One, MyCloud Mirror, Samsung 4K SmartTV, and an iMac that I have wired. I live in a crowded apartment, so that is mainly why I have everything wired, no interference that way. I'm looking for the smoothest and fastest performance on a 50Gbps Comcast.

Thanks!

 

[Borin]

I wouldn't've considered them entirely comparable, since the Time Capsule is a router, not a switch. Both serve different purposes in different environments. If everything needs to run through both the switch and the router, you're still being bottlenecked by the router if you're connecting to something outside your LAN.

 

[3587]

I wouldn't've considered them entirely comparable, since the Time Capsule is a router, not a switch. Both serve different purposes in different environments. If everything needs to run through both the switch and the router, you're still being bottlenecked by the router if you're connecting to something outside your LAN.

How about the switch directly connected to the Comcast modem?

My understanding was that packets are lost when devices are connected to the Time Capsule versus a switch?

 

[Borin]

How about the switch directly connected to the Comcast modem?

My understanding was that packets are lost when devices are connected to the Time Capsule versus a switch?

I've no experience with the ATC being connected directly to a modem, but you may lose some packets due to congestion due simply to how many devices you're connecting to it. Routers are designed to connect networks together, switches are designed to pass traffic within a network. Routers serve up internal IPs and act as a gateway to a larger network, which are necessary.

If you have most of your devices in one room, you could connect all of those to a switch, and the switch to the ATC, leaving the other devices to connect directly to the ATC. Any traffic between your own devices may be 'better' through a switch, but any WAN traffic would encounter the same issue. Upgrading the router would probably help, but I couldn't recommend anything.

At most, throwing a switch in front of the router will stop the router having to re-route internal traffic, but the reverse doesn't apply.

 

[Weaselboy]

How about the switch directly connected to the Comcast modem?

That won't work. You need a router (like the TC) between the modem and the switch to serve up DHCP IP addresses inside the local network.

On you other issue, you can do it either way and you won't be able to tell the difference. You can hook up some ethernet directly to the TC and some to the switch... or all to the switch... it does not matter. If you were transferring large files inside the network and used monitoring utilities to test, you might theoretically see a small drop in speed in devices going through the switch vs. the TC because there is another piece of hardware switching the signal and that would in theory be slower. But you will never be able to tell the difference in normal usage.

 

[3587]

I just purchased the AC1750 AC Router/Cable Modem... I'm gonna ditch the Time Capsule and go with the NETGEAR 8-Port Switch. That should serve up all my needs...?

 

[Weaselboy]

I just purchased the AC1750 AC Router/Cable Modem... I'm gonna ditch the Time Capsule and go with the NETGEAR 8-Port Switch. That should serve up all my needs...?

Do you have another router of some sort in place of the Time Capsule? You need a router of some kind between the modem and the switch.

 

[satcomer]

I just purchased the AC1750 AC Router/Cable Modem... I'm gonna ditch the Time Capsule and go with the NETGEAR 8-Port Switch. That should serve up all my needs...?

A switch can't do NAT(Network Address Translation). In layman's terms that means taking Public IPs and translating then into Private IPs. You can learn about it in the Wikipedia article IP Addresses.

This is why in a router is always needed because it does NAT! What you have to figure out if a router you want has Gigabit Ethernet Ports on it. Some cheaper routers sneak in 100Base T into them!

 

[3587]

Like I said, I purchased AC1750 AC Router/Cable Modem for Comcast... I will plug in the switch to this router/modem and I should be good. Thanks. Selling the Time Capsule, as a MyBook Mirror will be replacing it.

 

[EdwardSmith36]

I guess the question is wrong, we can't make any comparison between these two things.

 

[Weaselboy]

Like I said, I purchased AC1750 AC Router/Cable Modem for Comcast... I will plug in the switch to this router/modem and I should be good. Thanks. Selling the Time Capsule, as a MyBook Mirror will be replacing it.

Ah I see... I was not clear on this from your wording.

 

[3587]

Sorry. Well, I got the NETGEAR all setup... It's not Apple product, that's for sure. Had to power it off/on numerous times to unclog itself. Happened after almost every setting I applied to it. Now, I plugged my iMac right into the router/modem and I can notice an increase in overall performance. Pages seem to load slightly faster and I'm getting more Comcast speed. I think I'm all set.