Tag Archive for: network bottleneck

Many of us now have access to impressively fast internet plans, with fiber optic services delivering speeds of 1 Gbps, 2 Gbps, or even higher directly to our homes. Yet, there's a common point of confusion: why doesn't the Wi-Fi speed on our laptop or the download progress bar always reflect the multi-gigabit speeds advertised by our provider? Often, the answer lies not with the service coming into the house, but with the network infrastructure inside it.

Standard home networking gear, widely deployed over the last decade, was largely built around a 1 Gbps speed limit. As internet plans surpass this threshold, the internal network itself can become a bottleneck, preventing us from fully utilizing the bandwidth we subscribe to. This article walks through a practical example of how a modern home network was designed and implemented to overcome these limitations.

The setting is a newly constructed home where the owner subscribed to AT&T's 1.25 Gbps symmetrical fiber service. The goal was clear: create a network capable of delivering this speed reliably throughout the property. We'll explore the planning process, the specific hardware choices from Ubiquiti's UniFi line (including their Pro Max devices and new Wi-Fi 7 access points), and the rationale behind these choices. This case study aims to provide valuable insights for anyone seeking to optimize their home network for today's faster internet connections.

Chapter 1: Understanding Network Bottlenecks

To build a faster network, it helps to understand what might be slowing it down. Think of your internet connection as water flowing through a pipe into your house. A bottleneck is like a narrower section of pipe somewhere downstream – it restricts the flow, regardless of how wide the main pipe is. In networking, data is the water, and the network components are the pipes.

Here are common places where bottlenecks can occur in a typical home network:

1. ISP Equipment: The modem or gateway provided by your Internet Service Provider is the entry point. While newer models, such as the AT&T BGW320-500 used here, often feature faster ports (e.g., 2.5 Gbps or 5 Gbps), many older units only have 1 Gbps Ethernet ports. If your internet plan is faster than 1 Gbps, this port immediately limits the speed entering your network.
2. Your Router: The router directs traffic between the internet and your devices. It can be a bottleneck due to:
   • Port Speeds: Many routers, even relatively recent ones, might only have 1 Gbps ports for both the incoming internet (WAN) connection and the outgoing local network (LAN) connections.
   • Processing Power: Handling multi-gigabit speeds, managing security features, and directing traffic for many devices requires a capable processor. An underpowered router can struggle to keep up, slowing things down even if its ports are technically fast.
3. Network Switches: If you use switches to add more wired Ethernet ports, these need to be considered. Most common unmanaged switches are limited to 1 Gbps per port. Plugging a multi-gigabit capable device into one of these ports will cap its speed at 1 Gbps.
4. Wireless Access Points (APs): Wi-Fi is often a tricky area. Modern standards like Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 can achieve very high speeds between your device and the access point. However, the AP itself needs a fast connection back to the rest of the network (usually via an Ethernet cable). Many APs, even those supporting fast Wi-Fi, have only a 1 Gbps Ethernet port for this “uplink,” creating a bottleneck that limits your actual internet speed over Wi-Fi.
5. Cabling: The Ethernet cables running through your walls or connecting your devices matter. Cat 5e, while common, might struggle with speeds above 1 Gbps over longer distances. Cat 6 is generally fine for 2.5 Gbps and 5 Gbps, while Cat 6a or higher is recommended for reliable 10 Gbps connections. Using old Cat 5 cable limits you to a mere 100 Mbps.
6. Your Devices: Finally, the device you're using needs to be capable of handling higher speeds. A laptop might only have a 1 Gbps Ethernet port or an older Wi-Fi card.

In this project, with a 1.25 Gbps internet service, any component limited to 1 Gbps would compromise the goal. The network design needed to ensure every critical link offered more capacity than the incoming internet speed.

Chapter 2: The Starting Point – Internet Service and Gateway

The foundation for this network was AT&T's Fiber service, providing a symmetrical 1.25 Gbps connection (meaning 1.25 Gbps download and 1.25 Gbps upload). Fiber optic offers significant advantages in speed and latency compared to older technologies.

AT&T supplied their BGW320-500 gateway. This unit handily integrates the Optical Network Terminal (ONT), which translates the fiber optic signal into an Ethernet signal. The standout feature of this project is the gateway's 5 Gbps Ethernet port, typically marked by a blue color. This port provides the necessary capacity to pass the full 1.25 Gbps (and potentially faster future service tiers) into the home network.

For a custom network build like this, the BGW320 is best used in “IP Passthrough” mode. This setting allows the BGW320 to pass the public internet IP address directly to a more capable downstream router. Effectively, the BGW320 acts primarily as a modem or media converter, letting the dedicated router (in this instance, the UDM Pro Max) manage all network traffic, security policies, and device connections.

Chapter 3: Selecting the Network's Core – UniFi and the Dream Machine Pro Max

Choosing the right router is fundamental. It needs to handle the multi-gigabit internet connection efficiently and serve as the central management point for the network. Ubiquiti's UniFi ecosystem was selected for its combination of robust performance, centralized management, and scalability, features often appreciated in detailed home network setups or small business environments.

The UniFi Dream Machine Pro Max (UDM-Pro-Max) was chosen as the core router and network controller. It represents a step up in processing power and connectivity compared to earlier UniFi models, making it well-suited for multi-gigabit demands.

Why the UDM Pro Max was a good fit:

1. Flexible Multi-Gigabit WAN: It offers both a 2.5 Gbps RJ45 Ethernet port and a 10 Gbps SFP+ port for the incoming internet connection. This provides options for connecting to different types of ISP equipment now and potentially faster services in the future.
2. Sufficient Processing Power: Routing 1.25 Gbps (and potentially higher speeds) while managing firewall rules and other network services requires substantial processing power. The UDM Pro Max is equipped to handle this without becoming a processing bottleneck itself.
3. High-Speed LAN Connection: A dedicated 10 Gbps SFP+ LAN port is crucial. This allows the router to connect to the main network switch at high speed, preventing a bottleneck between the router and the rest of the internal network.
4. Integrated Management: It runs the UniFi Network Application software directly, providing a single web interface or mobile app to manage all connected UniFi switches, access points, and other devices.

Connecting the Gateway to the Router:

The BGW320's 5 Gbps port was connected to the UDM Pro Max's 2.5 Gbps RJ45 WAN port using a standard Cat 6a Ethernet cable. Why this choice? While the UDM Pro Max also has a 10 Gbps SFP+ WAN port (which could be used with an adapter), the 2.5 Gbps port is simpler to connect and already provides double the capacity of the 1.25 Gbps internet service, ensuring no bottleneck at this critical entry point.

Chapter 4: Distributing the Speed – The UniFi Pro Max Switch

With the internet entering the router at full speed, the next task is distributing that connectivity effectively throughout the house. This is the job of a network switch. For a multi-gigabit network, the switch needs ports that match or exceed the required speeds.

The UniFi Switch Pro Max 24 PoE (USW-Pro-Max-24-PoE) fit the bill perfectly. This switch is designed specifically to support devices needing faster-than-gigabit connections.

Key capabilities of this switch:

1. 10 Gbps Uplinks: It features SFP+ ports capable of 10 Gbps. A Direct Attach Copper (DAC) cable was used to create a 10 Gbps link between the switch's SFP+ port and the UDM Pro Max's 10 Gbps SFP+ LAN port. This establishes a fast, uncongested pathway – the network backbone – between the router and the switch.
2. 2.5 Gbps Access Ports: This is a major reason for selecting this model. It provides 8 x 2.5 Gbps Ethernet ports. These ports are essential for connecting high-performance devices like modern Wi-Fi access points or powerful desktop computers that can utilize speeds beyond 1 Gbps.
3. Higher Power PoE (PoE++): The 8x 2.5 Gbps ports also support PoE++ (Power over Ethernet, 802.3bt standard). This allows a single Ethernet cable to provide both data and higher levels of electrical power (up to 60W per port). This is necessary for power-hungry devices like the selected Wi-Fi 7 access points.
4. Standard Gigabit Ports: The switch also includes 16 x 1 Gbps Ethernet ports with PoE+ (up to 30W), suitable for connecting devices like security cameras, printers, or other clients that don't require multi-gigabit speeds.
5. Management Integration: As a UniFi device, it integrates seamlessly into the UniFi Network Application for configuration and monitoring.

This switch ensures that traffic can flow from the router at 10 Gbps and be distributed to key devices at 2.5 Gbps without hitting an artificial 1 Gbps limit.

Chapter 5: Wireless Performance – UniFi 7 Pro Max Access Points

In most homes, Wi-Fi carries the bulk of the network traffic. To deliver multi-gigabit speeds wirelessly requires capable access points. The UniFi 7 Pro Max (U7-Pro-Max) APs were chosen, supporting the latest Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) standard.

Wi-Fi 7 offers several advancements aimed at boosting speed and reliability:

• It can use wider radio channels (up to 320 MHz in the 6 GHz band) and more efficient data encoding (4K-QAM) to increase potential throughput.
• It introduces Multi-Link Operation (MLO), enabling compatible devices to utilize multiple bands simultaneously (such as 5 GHz and 6 GHz) for faster speeds and lower latency.
• It generally improves efficiency, especially in environments with many Wi-Fi devices, leveraging the relatively uncongested 6 GHz band.

However, the most critical feature of the U7-Pro-Max for this specific project was its 2.5 Gbps Ethernet Uplink Port. This ensures the AP has a fast enough wired connection back to the USW-Pro-Max switch (which also has 2.5 Gbps ports) so that the AP itself doesn't bottleneck the high speeds achievable with Wi-Fi 7. Without a multi-gigabit uplink, even the fastest Wi-Fi connection would be limited by a 1 Gbps pipe back to the network.

These APs require PoE+ power, which the Pro Max switch provides. Three units were installed to ensure good coverage throughout the large home.

Chapter 6: Configuration and Checking Performance

With the hardware installed using Cat 6a cabling, the system was configured using the UniFi Network Application. This involved:

1. Setting up the UDM Pro Max to connect to the AT&T gateway.
2. “Adopting” the switch and access points into the UniFi controller so they could be managed centrally.
3. Configuring the network settings and creating the Wi-Fi network names (SSIDs) and passwords. Enabling the 6 GHz band is important for accessing Wi-Fi 7's full potential.
4. Crucially, verifying port speeds within the UniFi interface ensured that the UDM WAN connection displayed 2.5 Gbps, the UDM-to-switch link showed 10 Gbps, and the connections from the switch to the U7-Pro-Max APs also showed 2.5 Gbps.

Confirming the Results:

Performance was verified through speed tests:

1. Wired: A laptop with a 2.5 Gbps Ethernet adapter, plugged directly into one of the switch's 2.5 Gbps ports, consistently achieved internet speeds very close to the full 1.25 Gbps download and upload provided by AT&T.
2. Wireless: A Wi-Fi 7 compatible smartphone, connected to a U7-Pro-Max (ideally on the 6 GHz band), also achieved internet speed test results approaching the 1.25 Gbps mark. This confirmed that the wireless system could deliver the full internet speed to capable clients.

Chapter 7: The Outcome – A Network Without Internal Speed Limits

The result of this systematic approach was a home network where the internal infrastructure was no longer the limiting factor for the 1.25 Gbps internet service. Data could flow from the internet connection, through the router and switch, and out to both wired and wireless devices without being artificially capped at 1 Gbps.

This translates to a noticeably better user experience: downloads complete faster, high-resolution video streams start instantly and play smoothly, online games feel responsive, and the network handles numerous devices simultaneously without strain.

Chapter 8: Looking Ahead – Future Readiness and Considerations

This network setup provides a solid foundation for the future:

• It can readily support faster internet plans of up to 2.5 Gbps via the current WAN connection, with potential for speeds of up to 10 Gbps using the SFP+ WAN port and an appropriate transceiver if needed in the future.
• The 10 Gbps internal backbone and 2.5 Gbps access ports provide significant headroom for future growth needs.
• The Wi-Fi 7 access points ensure compatibility with the latest generation of wireless devices.

Investment and Cabling: It's worth noting that building a network with this level of performance requires the use of prosumer or enterprise-grade equipment, which incurs a higher cost than typical consumer-grade gear. The investment aligns with the goal of achieving maximum performance from a premium internet service. Reliable cabling (Cat 6a was used here) is also fundamental for multi-gigabit speeds and should be factored into any similar project.

Conclusion: Aligning Your Network with Your Internet Potential

As internet speeds continue to increase, the network inside our homes must keep pace. This case study demonstrated that by carefully selecting components with appropriate multi-gigabit capabilities – from the router's WAN port, through the switch backbone, down to the access point uplinks and client ports – it's possible to build a network that fully utilizes the potential of services like AT&T's 1.25 Gbps fiber.

Eliminating internal bottlenecks ensures a smoother, faster, and more reliable connection for all your online activities. Whether upgrading an existing network or planning a new one, considering the speed capacity of each link in the chain is key to truly enjoying the benefits of multi-gigabit internet.