Setting up a TP-LINK TL-SL2218 switch in conjunction with a Ubee EVW32C modem

[vrozman]

Hello! We are an apartment building with a cable broadband ISP that provided us with the Ubee modem, model EVW32C-0N-010. In order to divide traffic between apartments, we purchased a TP-LINK switch, model TP-SL2218, which has 16 100 Mbps ports and 2 1000 Mbps ports. The switch is connected to the modem via a 1000 Mbps port. We have LAN cables plugged in for 6 apartments via 100 Mbps ports. All ports have Speed and Duplex set to Auto and Flow Control to Disable. If I measure the connection speed via the LAN cable using the speedtest.net page on my iMac computer (27-inch, mid 2010), I have a download of only 8 Mbps and an upload of 69 Mbps. But if I plug the LAN cable from my iMac directly into the modem, I get a download of 490 Mbps and an upload of 112 Mbps. I wonder why the download speed via the switch decreases so much and I am asking for advice on how to increase it. Is it possible that the reason for the lower dowload is an IP conflict between some of the routers in the apartments connected to the switch?

It is also interesting that if I connect to my iMac with a LAN cable via the AirPort Extreme 802.11n (4th Generation) router, directly to the modem, the download is 94 Mbps and the upload is 71 Mbps. If, however, with such a configuration I connect to the Internet via the AirPort Extreme WiFi network on my MacBook Pro computer (13-inch, 2017), I get a download of 127 Mbps and an upload of 67 Mbps. So, how is it possible that WiFi speed is faster than via cable, because usually WiFi speed is a bit slower than cable?

 

[TheLostSwede]

Sorry, but this is something you should talk to your ISP about, this is not a support forum for corporate installations, it's a community forum for consumers.

Also, it would be impossible to give you any advice without knowing how you've configured your switch and modem.

 

[Mussels]

Theres a lot of confusion going on here

1. The EVW32C is a gateway router with an integrated modem, not a modem. It's also configurable, so the config used matters a lot. It has four gigabit ports and wifi AC1600,
EVW32C – Ubee Interactive

2. That switch is old, and it's configurable - so the configuration used could be the problem here

3.
"The switch is connected to the modem via a 1000 Mbps port"

That'd be the most likely place to look into you capping your entire network to 100Mb/s total by not using a gigabit SFP adapter

4. IP conflicts cannot cause speed issues, they cause total connection dropouts.

5. 100Mb ethernet ports are slow by todays standards, of course wifi can be faster than that. Even last gen Wifi AC is 433Mb/s per aerial, far above that.

 

[vrozman]

Sorry, but this is something you should talk to your ISP about, this is not a support forum for corporate installations, it's a community forum for consumers.

Also, it would be impossible to give you any advice without knowing how you've configured your switch and modem.

ISP is only responsible for cofiguration of the modem and delivering sufficient speed to the modem which they did. However they do not want to give any assistance in regards to the switch and slow internet speeds from the switch onward. I am seeking assistance since after reading the switch user manual and experimenting with different port settings I was not able to get sufficient speed.

 

[Mussels]

ISP is only responsible for cofiguration of the modem and delivering sufficient speed to the modem which they did. However they do not want to give any assistance in regards to the switch and slow internet speeds from the switch onward. I am seeking assistance since after reading the switch user manual and experimenting with different port settings I was not able to get sufficient speed.

Of course, ISP's wont offer assistance on your own devices - they'd have no idea how to support or configure hardware they've never heard of, and can do nothing about how you connect things or the wiring in your building.

I edited my post a little bit above and added in an image of the SFP ports, i get the feeling you've locked yourself down to 100Mb/s between the gateway and the managed switch.

 

[vrozman]

Theres a lot of confusion going on here

1. That switch is old, and it's configurable - so the configuration used could be the problem here

2. IP conflicts cannot cause speed issues, they cause total connection dropouts.

3. 100Mb ethernet ports are slow by todays standards, of course wifi can be faster than that. Even last gen Wifi AC is 867Mb on the 5GHz band, which is far above 100Mb wired connections.

Yes, I tried different configurations of the switch and since we got it several years ago we managed to get sufficient speed. However since a week ago we started to experience internet issues. After the internet was down completely for 3 days, and modem reset and ISP synchronization did not help, the ISP came and replaced the modem with the sam model. So the internet on the modem is now high enough again however I am not able to figure out how to get sufficient speed out of the switch. Now I reverted to default factory settings which is all ports have Speed and Duplex set to Auto and Flow Control to Disable.

 

[Mussels]

'sufficient speed' doesn't tell me anything about what that speed was, or how it's connected and what SFP adaptor is in there - if someone moved over to a 100Mb RJ45 port on that switch, it'll never get faster than that

 

[vrozman]

I am just not sure how to configure the switch so that 6 clients/computers that are connected to 100Mbps ports on the switch will have qually distributed as fastest internet speed possible while the the ISP server router with 600Mbps upload and 100Mbps upload speed is connected to the switch on 1000Mbps port.

We are now in communication with the landlord to replace the current switch with the TP-LINK TL-SG1016D 16-port gigabit rack unmanaged switch that should work plug-and play without the need of the configuration by specialised technician.

 

[Solaris17]

We are now in communication with the landlord to replace the current switch with the TP-LINK TL-SG1016D 16-port gigabit rack unmanaged switch that should work plug-and play without the need of the configuration by specialised technician.

jesus. You are putting an unmanaged switch in for apartments? How will you stop clients from talking to each other?

how are you going to QoS slow them down so one tenant doesn’t saturate the WAN link?

Are you configuring vlans atleast?

 

[claes]

I’d honestly leave the renters to their own devices/let them install their own service. Unless you really know what you’re doing it is wayyyy too much work to provide internet, and then have to service that internet, for a landlord.

 

[sepheronx]

I am just not sure how to configure the switch so that 6 clients/computers that are connected to 100Mbps ports on the switch will have qually distributed as fastest internet speed possible while the the ISP server router with 600Mbps upload and 100Mbps upload speed is connected to the switch on 1000Mbps port.

We are now in communication with the landlord to replace the current switch with the TP-LINK TL-SG1016D 16-port gigabit rack unmanaged switch that should work plug-and play without the need of the configuration by specialised technician.

Yeah, that isn't a good idea.

You want a managed switch so you can then set limitations to all tenants to a maximum number of bandwidth and speed. This will allow you to prevent someone from stressing the network and throttling everyone else. As well, place a white/black list so that very questionable sites can be blocked so that you yourself wont end up in legal issues if a client decides to look at something he/she shouldn't be looking at or downloading.

I agree with @claes in that you should just let the renters get their own network. I am setting up a vlan connection specifically to a renter in my basement only because its just 1 other person and then its me. So it is much easier for me to set up a limitation for them. Otherwise I would tell the people to get their own network.

 

[vrozman]

Us tenants decided for just one internet subscription and a switch in order to lower the monthly costs. None of us is a heavy internet user and we are in good relationships so I do not expect any problems after installing the unmanaged switch.

 

[1freedude]

Virus trojan malware ransomware doesn't care about your good relationship. If the network gets infected, you all suffer, possibly very badly

 

[Mussels]

You need a newer switch with gigabit ports and have someone properly configure it so everyone is isolated for safety with QoS to balance out the bandwidth

Some of this is in the gateway router, some in the switch - it's not something anyone here can give you specifics on as every single thing changed to benefit one device on a network negatively effects another.

 

[vrozman]

You need a newer switch with gigabit ports and have someone properly configure it so everyone is isolated for safety with QoS to balance out the bandwidth

Some of this is in the gateway router, some in the switch - it's not something anyone here can give you specifics on as every single thing changed to benefit one device on a network negatively effects another.

Thank you very much for your suggestions