Difference between a Router & an Ethernet Router?

[Gurd99]

I'm looking to connect my NAS & PC, looking at two identical wired routers (TP-Link TL-R402M & 460M), the 460 is an Ethernet router. I can't find what the difference is? And do I need the Ethernet one? They both seem to do the same thing from the product guide, but I'm new to routers so thought I'd ask.

thanks

[redwudz]

I suspect the difference is just in the titles. Most routers would be 'Ethernet' routers. That is they would have a WAN connection for incoming data from a modem and LAN connections to distribute data to your PCs or other devices.

The main advantage to a router is NAT (Network Address Translation) that keeps you from being directly exposed to the internet.
They also act as a active data distribution system to organize data flowing between devices.

You might also use a 'Switch' if you need more connections. I have about 12 PCs and devices hooked up through five switches and just one router/modem device.

But someone more familiar with both devices may have better advice.

[usually_quiet]

I noticed that both routers are 10/100Mbps.

If all of the networked devices have a gigabit LAN port (10/100/1000Mbps) and you have Cat 5 or better Ethernet cable installed, you could increase the data transfer speed between the devices on your home network with a 10/100/1000Mbps router.

[Krispy Kritter]

The TP page doesn't make the destinction in name that you refer to: http://www.tp-link.com/en/products/details/cat-4762_TL-R402M.html & http://www.tp-link.com/en/products/details/cat-4762_TL-R460.html

They appear to different versions of the same router. The 460, just based on the page noted above, has advanced QOS.

And I agree, look for a model with 1G port support (ie: 10/100/1000 port speeds).

[Gurd99]

I noticed that both routers are 10/100Mbps.

If all of the networked devices have a gigabit LAN port (10/100/1000Mbps) and you have Cat 5 or better Ethernet cable installed, you could increase the data transfer speed between the devices on your home network with a 10/100/1000Mbps router.

On my NAS specs it says Gigabit Ethernet, I assume that's 10/100/1000Mbps?

What are the differences between 10/100 & 10/100/1000Mbps? HUGE or just reasonable? For example transferring video from one external hdd to another for me usb 2 is around 40MB/s vs usb3 is around 115MB/s. probably limited by HDD speed.

[usually_quiet]

I noticed that both routers are 10/100Mbps.

If all of the networked devices have a gigabit LAN port (10/100/1000Mbps) and you have Cat 5 or better Ethernet cable installed, you could increase the data transfer speed between the devices on your home network with a 10/100/1000Mbps router.

On my NAS specs it says Gigabit Ethernet, I assume that's 10/100/1000Mbps?

What are the differences between 10/100 & 10/100/1000Mbps? HUGE or just reasonable? For example transferring video from one external hdd to another for me usb 2 is around 40MB/s vs usb3 is around 115MB/s. probably limited by HDD speed.

If the conclusions here are valid, you can reasonably expect to double the data transfer rate between internal hard drives in two different computers by using a Gigabit network instead of Fast Ethernet.

[Gurd99]

I noticed that both routers are 10/100Mbps.

If all of the networked devices have a gigabit LAN port (10/100/1000Mbps) and you have Cat 5 or better Ethernet cable installed, you could increase the data transfer speed between the devices on your home network with a 10/100/1000Mbps router.

On my NAS specs it says Gigabit Ethernet, I assume that's 10/100/1000Mbps?

What are the differences between 10/100 & 10/100/1000Mbps? HUGE or just reasonable? For example transferring video from one external hdd to another for me usb 2 is around 40MB/s vs usb3 is around 115MB/s. probably limited by HDD speed.

If the conclusions here are valid, you can reasonably expect to double the data transfer rate between internal hard drives in two different computers by using a Gigabit network instead of Fast Ethernet.

Thanks

A bit of confusion for me,
Does Gigabit LAN port mean you will get fast transfer speeds? Or could that mean just a fast port but its still slow inside the router?

[usually_quiet]

I noticed that both routers are 10/100Mbps.

If all of the networked devices have a gigabit LAN port (10/100/1000Mbps) and you have Cat 5 or better Ethernet cable installed, you could increase the data transfer speed between the devices on your home network with a 10/100/1000Mbps router.

On my NAS specs it says Gigabit Ethernet, I assume that's 10/100/1000Mbps?

What are the differences between 10/100 & 10/100/1000Mbps? HUGE or just reasonable? For example transferring video from one external hdd to another for me usb 2 is around 40MB/s vs usb3 is around 115MB/s. probably limited by HDD speed.

If the conclusions here are valid, you can reasonably expect to double the data transfer rate between internal hard drives in two different computers by using a Gigabit network instead of Fast Ethernet.

Thanks

A bit of confusion for me,
Does Gigabit LAN port mean you will get fast transfer speeds? Or could that mean just a fast port but its still slow inside the router?

Reader's Digest condensed version:The gigabit router, gigabit ports and CAT 5 cables are all capable of much faster data transfer rates than the other things connected to the network (PCs, drives, NAS, etc,). The other things (PCs, drives, and NAS) slow down data transfer within the LAN. However some of them are still capable of faster data transfer rates than a 100 mbps network supports. That is why a gigabit network could speed up data transfer between some devices in your network.

[NoBuddy]

On my NAS specs it says Gigabit Ethernet, I assume that's 10/100/1000Mbps?

What are the differences between 10/100 & 10/100/1000Mbps? HUGE or just reasonable? For example transferring video from one external hdd to another for me usb 2 is around 40MB/s vs usb3 is around 115MB/s. probably limited by HDD speed.

Don´t forget that there`s a difference between bits and bytes. Mb MB.
Your usb3 speed is 115MB x 8 = 920 Mb/s. So your usb2 speed is faster (around 320 Mb/s) as a 100 Mb/s connection.
And HDD speed is way over that, so not limiting speed at all.

[Krispy Kritter]

100 or 1000/Gigabyte both refer to the port speed. Depending on the hardware, gigabyte will be faster.

100 will equal about 70 real world speed and will be port limited
1000 will get you 100+ and will be hardware/drive limited