Full Glossary and Technology Notes

Ethernet (with comments on Speeds)

“Ethernet” is the signal system protocol that computers, router, printers, (and including wireless ethernet (WiFi) as well) phones, tablets, laptops, and anything and everything else connected use to communicate.

Some Definitions:

  • One Mb/s = one million bits per second
  • One Gb/s = 1000 Mb/s = one billion bits per second
  • 10-Gb Ethernet = up to 10 Gb/s

Some Benchmarks:

  • Less than 1 Mb/s → too slow
  • 1 to 5 Mb/s → fine for email, web browsing, online shopping
  • 5 to 15 Mb/s → streaming, gaming, videoconferencing …the faster the better
  • 15 to 30 Mb/s → high quality streaming and gaming; 25 Mb/s should cover HD 3-D video
  • 30 to 100 Mb/s → multiple users doing high quality streaming and gaming
  • 100+ Mb/s → IT working from home with large data volumes to deal with
  • 2000 Mb/s → Current total pipeline into Marlborough from upstream provider
  • 2500 Mb/s (2.5 Gb/s) Speed limit: current Marlborough switches can deliver to individual units
  • 10 Gb/s Speed limit: Current Malborough backbone capability without upgrading

POE

Power Over Ethernet is a device that gets its electrical power over the ethernet cable. Marlborough has been equipped with a series of distribution switches (one on the end of each fiber) where the ethernet port supplies both the internet signals and electrical power. This is compatible with any modern standard ethernet cable (those are things with “RJ45” plugs at the end). (Old landline telephones use “RJ11” plugs.) So, a POE device does not require a pesky electical socket. The way to turn it off (usually you should leave it off for at least 40 seconds before turning it on again) is to simply unplug it. If you have the cable coming into your unit where you want to locate a POE device, problem solved. If you want to put the POE device “farther inland” (deeper into the residential unit) you’re going to need a coupler (they are cheap, we’ll give you one if necessary) to connect it to an ‘internal’ ethernet cable that runs from the point of entry to the desired place to put the device. Such cables need not be fat and ugly like the one poking through the wall, they come in smaller (even flat) profiles and in different colors.

Powerline Ethernet Adapters (Power modems)

A set of powerline ethernet adapters (minimum requirement is one pair) behave essentially like a pair of modems. A “MO DEM” is a modulator/demodulater. It translates ethernet signals (which computers, routers, access points….etc. use) into “something else” and then back to ethernet. “Something else” might be designed to travel over telephone lines, or coaxial cables, or laser flashes, or……whatever. Power modems transmit signal across the same wires that carry electrical current throughout the unit. They encode ethernet into high frequency low voltage pulses which another power modem sees as a string of 1’s and 0’s and reconverts to ethernet.

So:

  • Plug a power modem into the ethernet cable (coming into the unit)
  • Plug it into an electrical socket
  • Plug another power modem into any electrical socket (on the same circuit breaker)
  • Plug an ethernet cable into a second power modem (to attach to a router, computer, switch, etc.)
  • Press the “synchronize” buttons

You now have a chain of devices that gives you ethernet at any electrical outlet. No big long internal cable to spoil the esthetics of your décor. One small cable from the point of entry to the nearest electrical socket still needed, obviously. The chief point of this technology is: “transfer signal from point of entry to someplace else without using internal ethernet cables”. Obviously, once you break the ethernet cable chain, POE will not function at the place where the router (‘someplace else’) happens to be.

MoCA

Stands for Multimedia Over Coax Alliance. It’s also possible to use MoCA adapters instead of power modems. The advantage is that MoCA tops out well over 1 Gb/s and power modems will generally top out around 700 Mb/s and the MoCA signal is a bit cleaner.

Worth considering:

  • MoCA costs more.
  • The closest coaxial plug is probably farther from the ethernet input to the unit than the closest electrical outlet…and you still need an internal ethernet cable to reach one or the other. And the coax outlet better be near an electrical outlet to power the MoCA device anyway.
  • Electrical outlets tend to be everywhere. It would be very weird if you had more than 4 cable drops in your unit. Strange to have more than two…placement of equipment is restricted.

We have not used MoCA at Marlborough, historically, but if you really think you need this instead of or in addition to power modems, we can talk about it.

Switch

A switch is the ethernet version of an extension cord. Got a bunch of appliances and only 2 electrical sockets? Plug in an extension cord and suddenly you have 7 electrical sockets. Got a device with only one ethernet port and you want to plug in a TV, and a printer, and a desktop, and a camera….? Plug the one port into a switch and suddenly you have 4 or more ethernet ports.

LAN

A Local Area Network is called a “LAN”. Got a wireless router with 2 ethernet ports? Connect up a TV to one port and a printer to the other port (the “wired” part of your LAN) and use WiFi to hook up a laptop, and a desktop, and a tablet, and your phone…(the “wireless” part of your LAN) and suddenly you’ve got a LAN and you can send things from your tablet to your desktop or send things from your phone to the printer, ot whatever. It’s Local, it covers your hooked up devices in your Area, it’s a Network.

USB-C

Uniform Serial Bus Type C. Or maybe unified serial bus or something like that…universal?…who cares?…. That little tiny oval port on lots of modern new devices. Most transmit data and electrical power. Some devices don’t want to plug straight into an electrical outlet. These come with USB adaptors.

Wireless Repeater

Wireless is very convenient. It does tend to be at the mercy of stray electromagnetic noise, which can vary a lot over the course of a short time, meaning your wireless signal can go goofy and then back to normal all withing a few minutes while the wired signal into your unit changes not at all. More fundamentally, sometimes a device is just too far away or is trying to transmit through something like solid metal and just one wireless source won’t be enough to fix the situation. A wireless repeater can be placed midway between the target area and the initial transceiver, or off to the side to circumvent something in the way. Most wireless repeaters will work with the devices we use. Ubiquiti makes a special repeater designed to work with Ubiquiti equipment and will create a “mesh” type wireless network which is the highest quality possible for WiFi. These extenders are a little pricey, (about $170) but they are top of the line.

IMPORTANT GENERAL NOTICE (READ THIS)

All these devices (except for switches) whether wireless access points, wireless repeaters, or some type of router, contain little tiny computers. As with all such devices, if you leave them on too long without rebooting they will start acting weird and eventually stop working. First thing to try at the start of trouble:

  • Disconnect from electricity
  • Count to 40
  • Plug it in again and wait 90 to 500 seconds

This will fix an astounding fraction of problems. If you have to do this more than once a week, something worse and deeper is probably wrong, call us. Typically, even the best devices in the world will need to restart at least thrice a year.