alt Hacker NewsI'm extremely happy after upgrading my network to 10gbit copper ethernet. It was much more expensive than I thought it should be, but worth it even if I only max it occasionally. Now I can easily fully saturate my 10gbit ethernet doing a first Time Machine backup or transferring files to my M.2 SSD NAS which saves me waiting rime and is satisfying to watch.
It's wild to me that 10gbit isn't the norm by now and tech people who should know better seem to think WiFi matches or even exceeds even 1gbit ethernet. My MBP connects to my WiFi7 setup(Ubiquiti E7) at a nominal 1.5-1.9gbit but Time Machine backups and file transfers are slower than plugging into 1gbit ethernet, probably in large part due to latency and retransmissions. Not to mention that ethernet works with near 100% reliability with dramatically less variation in speed and error rate.
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> It's wild to me that 10gbit isn't the norm by now
10G was too big of a step up from 1G. The expense and power required made it unattractive. Only recently have the interfaces for 10G over twisted pair become reasonably low power.
2.5G and even 5G are in a much better spot. It's where I recommend most people start as a default.
> It was much more expensive than I thought it should be
For 10G with copper, short runs will work fine on most anything (10m), with longer working ok on cat-5e cable (20 - 30m or so).
So, if you have existing wiring, especially in wall, just give it a try first, before gutting things. Most 10g ethernet adapters give you BER stats to see the error rate.
And, if there are issues, multi-gig may be an option, where it will drop down to 5 or 2.5 gbps, which is same as 10G, but with a reduced symbol table to handle the lower SNR.
Heh it's honestly wild to me anyone needs over a gig. My work has a one gig fiber line supporting hundreds of employees and usage generally remains below 10%.
The high expense of 10gig is, in part, because it isn't widely necessary and the people buying it are willing to pay extra.
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It's wild to me Time Machine works on your network. Are you just doing "first backups" over and over again, or have you somehow achieved the very rare state where Time Machine can run for, say, a week at a time without falling over?
Sorry, this is snarky and off topic, but I'm nostalgic for the days when Time Machine "just worked".