Do my customers need a Gigabit Router and what are the best options out there?

Two men in hardhats standing next to heavy machinery in the road

Do my customers need a Gigabit Router and what are the best options out there?

Do your customers understand the difference between a standard and an industrial gigabit router? Is a gigabit router worth it? Do they know the difference between gigabyte storage and gigabit transmission units and the importance of speed and capacity? This article is designed to make it easy to explain to customers the terminology and the product differences. Please share this article with your customers, so they know their options when it comes to picking their routers (gigabit router), switches, modems and access points.

Let’s start with Gigabit routers. The long and the short of it is this, it allows for internal traffic at speeds of 1000Mbps (a Gig, hence Gigabit router) and when paired with a modem, allows for an internet connection at, potentially, the same speed of 1000Mbps (1Gigabit per second).

In summary, a Gigabit Router processes 1000Mbps. You see the term Megabit, and Gigabits used when buying your internet network speed package. However, 1000Mbps is still exclusive to companies with big budgets in South Africa and some parts of Africa. Businesses in Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town and main city areas that offer these speeds require a Gigabit router for optimal performance. There are some countries on the African continent such as Zimbabwe, Kenya and Zambia that are reaching these speeds for large companies. However, your local area network can significantly benefit from a Gigabit routers speed. It is essential if you manage a sizeable connected workforce, factory, transportation network, government buildings, and other public areas.

Fibre rollout is in full swing across much of Africa. Eurobyte technology supply gigabit routers, network server cabinets, cables, industrial gigabit routers, industrial switches, IP55 network cabinet and more to Africa from our branches in Johannesburg, Centurion and Cape Town.

Gigabit GB vs Gigabyte Gb Transmission speeds vs Storage Speeds Routers vs Gigabit Routers

Now for the differences between Bytes (the big B) and bits, (the little b). For a quick, basic comparison of the speeds, 1 Byte is made up of 8 bits. So, by that calculation 1 gigabit (1000Mbps) is 125MBps.

Transmission Speeds

Bits, kilobits (Kbps), and megabits (Mbps) are used to measure data transfer speeds. Your internet service provider uses these speeds to sell you their internet services. Your average internet speed is between 4 and 10Mbps in South Africa but is quickly increasing because of the fibre optic lines being rolled out across the country and Africa. Gigabit routers are becoming more commonplace in businesses and homes.

Storage Size

Bytes, on the other hand, are used to measure data storage. For example, a hard drive may hold 250GB (gigabytes). A standard hard drive (HDD) can do a sequential read of roughly 125MB per second or 1Gb per second.

For a more detailed explanation watch the video below.

Understanding the difference between bits and bytes. Gigabit routers theoretical transmission speeds, the more detailed explanation.

In a traditional network setup, your router is the multi-talented hard worker

In a conventional network environment, your router or gigabit router is likely more than just a router if you have a single device managing your internet and local area network. If that’s the scenario, it will:

  1. Mediate between the external internet and your network via a modem and the router itself.
  2. Route the internet connection through your building. The router is what routes the traffic.
  3. Manage connections via switches which connect even more devices.
  4. And finally, handle you Wi-Fi via the Wireless Access Point (WAP)

The keywords you notice from above are the modem, router, switches and WAP. Here’s an overview of them.

Modem: Short for modulator-demodulator. Two modems one on each computer is required to make a connection. The modem enables a computer to transmit (modulate) and receive (demodulate) data over, for example, telephone or cable lines. –Wikipedia

What is the difference between a standard router and an industrial gigabit router?

A gigabit router is a networking device that forwards data or (data packets) between the computer networks. Note, the ISP does limits gigabit routers internet data speeds. However, if set up correctly in a local network a gigabit router can make a difference. Gigabit routers improve the speed of traffic directing functions. A data packet is typically transmitted from one router to another through the networks that constitute the internetwork (inter-net) until it reaches its destination node. –Wikipedia.

The gigabit router handles the mediation between the modem and the switch (explained next). It can also handle managing connections between your local area networks (within your building).

A network switch (also called switching hub, bridging hub, officially MAC bridge) is a computer networking device that connects devices on a computer network, by using packet switching to receive, process and forward data to the destination device. –Wikipedia

Planet IP30

Planet IP30 Industrial L2+/L4 16-Port 1000T 802.3at PoE+ 2-Port 1000T + 2-port 100/1000X SFP Full Managed Switch- Networking available from Eurobyte Technology

The gigabit router handles the connections within a network. Again, there is much more to it, but this is a basic set up configuration.

A wireless access point (WAP) is a networking hardware device that allows a Wi-Fi compliant device to connect to a wired network. The WAP usually connects to a router (via a wired network) as a standalone device, but it can also be an integral component of the gigabit router itself.
TP-Link N450 Wi-Fi Router
TP-Link N450 Wi-Fi Router, 802.11b/g/n, 450Mbps @2.4GHz, 5 10/100M Ports, 3x5dBi fixed antennas, Router/Access Point/Range Extender mode available from Eurobyte Technology

The blinky-lights on the router usually with 2.4GHz and 5GHz and antennae. That facilitates the WAP. Nowadays they don’t always have external antennae, but there’s usually a WiFi indicator light or a channel indicator light.

In short: The above devices are usually bundled into one big all-in-one router. For more extensive facilities and where speed is necessary, they are grouped into an Industrial scale Gigabit Router.

Gigabit routers -do they make a difference, which Gigabit router is best?

It depends on the application. For heavy data traffic sites, we recommend an industrial scale wall-mount Gigabit Router for IoT Network Performance.

PLANET WGR-500-4PV is an industrial gigabit router with 802.3at PoE+ capability, designed for Internet of Things (IoT) networks. The PLANET WGR-500-4PV can work as an all-in-one gigabit router in an industrial application for a company that has a factory and many different divisions or any large-scale operation where data transmission speed is critical.

WGR-500-4PV-5

Providing up to 4 PoE+, in-line power interfaces, the WGR-500-4PV can centrally manage power supply to a factoryรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs PoE IP cameras and PoE sensors.

This Industrial scale Wall-mount Gigabit Router comes with an intuitive touch panel on its front panel that facilitates the Ethernet PoE PD management. This helps with management efficiency in Industrial networks such as factories, transportation departments, government buildings, and other public areas.

It features the following special management and operation functions.

  • Real-time status display
  • Wizard design and IPv6 / IPv4 support
  • Firewall with 802.1Q VLAN security
  • PoE management

edm_WGR-500-4PV

Secure Industrial Wall-mount Gigabit Router Networking features

Gigabit router Physical Port

  • 4-port 10/100/1000BASE-T RJ45 with IEEE 802.3af / 802.3at PoE injector
  • 1-port 10/100/1000BASE-T RJ45 for WAN port or LAN port interface (router mode or switch mode)
  • 1 x USB 3.0 port for backup and restoration of the configuration file

Gigabit router management

  • Management Interfaces
    – 2.4-inch colour LCD touch screen
    – Web GUI management
  • Static and DHCP for IP address assignment
  • System Maintenance
    – Firmware upload/download via HTTP
    – Hardware reset button for system reboot or reset to factory default
  • NTP Network Time Protocol
  • Event message logging to the remote syslog server
  • PLANET Smart Discovery Utility for deployment management

WGR-500-4PV-7

Power over Ethernet

  • Up to 4 ports of IEEE 802.3af/802.3at devices powered
  • Supports PoE power up to 36 watts for each PoE port
  • Auto detects powered device (PD)
  • Remote power feeding up to 100 meters
  • PoE Management
    – PoE Port status monitoring
    – Total PoE power budget control
    – Per-port PoE function enable/disable
    – PoE Port power feeding priority
    – Per PoE port power limit
    – PD classification detection
    – PoE alive check

Industrial Case and Installation of the gigabit router

  • Compact size with fixed wall mounting, magnetic wall mounting or DIN-rail mounting
  • IP30 metal case
  • Supports -10 to 60 degrees C operating temperature
  • Supports ESD 6KV DC Ethernet protection
  • Dual power input design
    – 48V~56V DC wide power input with polarity reverse protect function
    – 3-pin terminal block or DC jack connector

Layer 2 Features on the gigabit router

  • Supports IEEE 802.1Q tagged VLAN
  • Supports IEEE 802.1D Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)

Layer 3 IP Routing Features

  • IPv6 support
  • WAN Internet types: Dynamic IP (DHCP Client), static IP, PPPoE, L2TP, PPTP
  • Static and dynamic (RIP1 and 2) routing
  • Supports Port Forwarding, DMZ, and UPnP for various networking applications
  • IP/MAC-based bandwidth control
  • Supports Dynamic DNS and PLANET DDNS

Gigabit router security

  • Port filtering lets you either allow or prevent which application can access the Internet.
  • MAC filtering allows you to include or exclude computers and devices based on their MAC address
  • URL filtering allows you to control access to Internet websites in an URL list
  • IP source guard prevents IP spoofing attacks
  • DoS attack prevention

WGR-500-4PV-6

The WGR-500-4PV Gigabit Router can also separate users and IoT devices with VLAN for improved performance. Through firewall protection, it prevents IoT network from threats, thus making the industrial network more secure.

If you want to know more about this and other gigabit routers and networking solutions, give Eurobyte Technology a call. We can help you put the best solution together. Whether you are in South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Mozambique or anywhere across Africa we can help you put together the perfect solution to take advantage of the 4th Industrial Revolution and the Internet Of Things.

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