# Will 2 cables between switchs increase throughput?



## bkspero (Jul 21, 2009)

I am expanding and upgrading my wired home network and need to connect several potentially high bandwidth devices wired through the basement to the main router and cable modem on the 2nd floor. I have replaced the router and all the switches with gigabit models, and I will be replacing all the cat 5 cabling with cat 6. My question is that I currently have a single cable running from the main router on the 2nd floor to a basement switch which services the first floor. My concern is that there will be enough peak demand by first floor devices that the single cable from the switch to the router will become a bottleneck.

I have space to run a 2nd cat 6 cable from attic to basement. If I did that, and connected the main router to the basement switch using 2 cables, would that improve (double?) the bandwidth between them and ease my bottleneck?

I apologize in advance if I should have found this answer elswhere. This seems like an elementary question and I expected to find the answer with a simple google search. But I didn't. And I couldn't find an answer through a search of this forum. And thanks in advance for your help.

Barry


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## bkspero (Jul 21, 2009)

I'm checking in to see if I did something improperly. I expected that this was going to be an elementary question for this forum, so I'm wondering if I may have violated a policy or rules of behavior, and that's why there have been no responses. If I have done something improper, please know that it was not intentional, and accept my apology. If I have acted properly, and this is actually a challenging question, it would help me to know that. And to know what makes it challenging so I can start searching again.

Thanks to those who have viewed my question.

Barry


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## clyde123 (Apr 10, 2008)

It's a valid question. Sorry I'm no expert on what you're asking, don't know the answer.
But, I think you're worried about overloading one switch. So if you can run a second cable and put in a second switch, maybe that would give extra capacity at that point ?


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## bkspero (Jul 21, 2009)

Hi and thanks for responding.

I'm not really worrying about overloading a switch. I am presuming that each switch can support 1 gb/sec in/out on each line. What concerns me is that I could have 3 computers all communicating with the switch at 1 gb/sec, plus video streaming to a TV at 100 mb/sec, and all of it has to go up to/from the 2nd floor on a single line cable.

I was only wondering if the switches were smart enough to realize that they had 2 routes to the 2nd floor and share the load between the 2 cables.

I think your suggestion is reasonable but that I just purchased a brand new 8 port gigabit switch to service the basement. I really don't want to have to invest in a 2nd switch for there. If I don't get a definite answer, I will run the 2nd line and test it with the existing switches. If that doesn't provide any speed benefit, I will look into another switch for the basement.

Thanks again, 
Barry


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Most home modem/routers are not 1gig, on a 100Mps router/modem the network will be as fast as the internet connection so double wiring won't increase speeds, normally that will also apply to a 1gig router/modem as the internet connection speed average speed is slower then the 1 gig switch.


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## bkspero (Jul 21, 2009)

wrench97 said:


> Most home modem/routers are not 1gig, on a 100Mps router/modem the network will be as fast as the internet connection so double wiring won't increase speeds, normally that will also apply to a 1gig router/modem as the internet connection speed average speed is slower then the 1 gig switch.


Thanks for the reply, Wrench. My concern is not with Internet access, but with media streaming at the same time computers are backing up to a network drive, or accessing/copying files located on either a network drive or another computer. That's when I'm afraid a bottleneck may show up.

Thanks again,
Barry


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

In the local network with 1Gig switches it will not be a problem, that's something we did on 10Mbs networks and it never really helped.


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## bkspero (Jul 21, 2009)

Wrench, thanks again for the help. Let me make certain I understand what you mean when you say:



wrench97 said:


> In the local network with 1Gig switches it will not be a problem, that's something we did on 10Mbs networks and it never really helped.


I interpret this to mean that I will not have a bottleneck with a single cat 6 cable running from my attic to basement connecting 2, gigabit switches. So there is no need to worry about running a 2nd cable. Correct?

An alternative interpretation is that I will not have a problem if I connect 2 cat 6 cables between the 2, gigabit switches. That connecting in that manner will not cause any damage to equipment or deterioration of service, but that it may not help either. In this case I could run the 2 cables and use try them out to see if they help.

I hope I don't seem overly nit-picky, but you can see that depending upon how I read the advice, I wind up doing 2 opposite things.

Thanks again, Barry


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Both are correct you could run 2 cables and not hurt anything, however I really don't think you'll see a difference on a home network switch where you can not set dedicated ports, and to use a professional router the cost would be prohibitive for the small gain.


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## bkspero (Jul 21, 2009)

Ok. Now even I understand ;-}. Thanks for all the help. I'll stay with a single cable.

Barry


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