Will 10Gb ethernet ever become consumer gear?

[C(-)ris]

I don't think homes will ever need the speed on wires except for backbone to wireless APs

[jdc]

GGD wrote:
In my home environment, LAN speed does matter, backups are done over the LAN to drives connected to a computer dedicated as a "home server". So even if the WAN Internet speed is low, the faster LAN speed is what matters to me.

I mean I get that... but really how much backup are we talking about in a "home" enviornment? Its certainly not TBs of data, right?

Assuming incremental backups vs flull clones -- if it took 3 mintues vs 30 seconds to backup a GB of data... meh?

[Sarcany]

I think that 10G is still too power-hungry to scale into a lot of consumer gear. If it's coming, it's a decade or more down the road.

I have some 10G devices, but they're prosumer.

2.5G and 5G are promising, tho 5G adapters run a bit hot.

I think we'll have 10G WiFi before 10G Ethernet makes any real inroads in homes.

[N-OS X-tasy!]

GGD wrote:
The area where I think we will first start seeing it is on WiFi access points. 802.11ac speeds are already above 1gbit/sec, so there's currently no way to get wired data into the access point as fast as the WiFi connection.

The day has already come. IEEE 802.3bz was ratified in September 2016. This standard provides support for the following:

- up to 2.5 Gbps on up to 100 m of Cat 5e cable
- up to 5 Gbps on up to 100 m of Cat 5e cable "on defined use cases and deployment configurations"
- up to 5 Gbps on up to 100 m of Cat 6 cable
- up to 10 Gbps on up to 100 m of Cat 6A cable

Sometimes referred to as "multi-gig" (or "M-gig") switches, 802.3bz switches eliminate the need to use multiple switch ports and cables to fully support throughput available from a single 802.11ac or 802.11ax wireless access point.

[N-OS X-tasy!]

mikebw wrote:
PLUS, with 5G being so hot that could potentially obviate the need for any wires.

I've said this before here: 5G isn't going to provide throughput anywhere near what is being promised today, at least not for the first few years. Do some research on the cell density required to provide full 5G throughput, as well as how poor a job 5G signal will do penetrating structures, and you will come to that conclusion on your own.

mikebw wrote:
Personally I would run 6a and then if the hardware ever comes down to consumers you are ready.

This is good advice.

[N-OS X-tasy!]

cbelt3 wrote:
Cat5... generally good enough for gigabit

Cat 5 is only good to 100 Mbps. Cat 5e, however, is good up to 1 Gbps. It's an important distinction.

cbelt3 wrote:
(*) FWIW I heard from my sister that Fermilab is swapping out their fiber data lines with "copper" (Probably Cat 7).

This makes sense, given that Cat 7 is pretty much only used in Europe. I assume they currently have fiber to the desktop there and that is what is being replaced with Cat 7, as no copper medium is able to match the throughput capabilities of fiber over anything but the shortest of distances (i.e. less than 100 feet).

cbelt3 wrote:
My company still has a fiber backbone on our campus, AND a dark fiber link to a plant about 20 miles away, and to our offsite backup provider about 150 miles away for disaster recovery.

Fiber is still king for backbone, particularly single mode fiber. It won't be going away any time soon.

[jdc]

cbelt3 wrote:
Phone wire.... Obsolete...
Coax .. NOT Obsolete because Cable TV companies...
Fiber ... most people hate it because expense and termination complexity. Really good for super fast networks. (*)
Cat5... generally good enough for gigabit
Cat6... really good for gigabit.
Wifi... keeps getting faster and faster.

There is only one piece of coax in my house... from the modem/router to the box.

Its ethernet from the wall to the box, and my other receivers are wireless. Wireless recievers are awesome, I just unplug and take anywhere -- garage, patio, backyard.

[C(-)ris]

If they are pulling out fiber it is probably the older Multimode fiber only good to 1GB over long distances. We have that stuff all over in our buildings and most of it is being replaced with copper. Network closet to network closet is all single mode fiber. Closet to rooms is all copper.