Comment by eqvinox

7 hours ago

Too bad this is 10Gbase-T, that energy-wasting hot-running garbage needs to die sooner rather than later. Good thing the ranges for 25Gbase-T are short enough to make it impractical for home use.

(Fibre is nowhere near as "sensitive" as some people believe.)

The problem with fibre isn't the sensitivity. It's that most endpoints have a 1Gbps copper port on them and then Cat6A ports can be used with the common devices but also allow you to add or relocate 10Gbps devices without rewiring the building again.

  • However — unlike copper twisted pair — the bandwidth current fiber media can carry is nearly limited by nothing but the optics at each end.

    • That doesn't solve the chicken and egg problem.

      What probably would is something like having PCIe and USB to 1Gbps fiber adapters that cost $5.

      1 reply →

  • In practice though 10G via copper requires pretty perfect terminations. The slightest error leads to crosstalk issues.

    • Ymmv. I've got a mix of cheap premade patch cables and some I crimped from solid core, all cat5e, all holding 10gbe totally happily. I suspect that only works because they're a meter or two long but that reaches across the rack.

Good thing the ranges for 25Gbase-T are short enough to make it impractical for home use.

Anyone who talks about 25GBASE-T like it actually exists, doesn't know anything about what they're talking about.

  • Or is speaking in future terms.

    40Gbase-T will never exist, sure. 25Gbase-T very likely will.

Is the energy consumption inherent to 10Gbase-T? Or is it that 1Gbit nics have been around forever and optimised ad infinitum?

To be fair, the power consumption is also my biggest gripe with my WiFi 6 AP, they run extremely hot.

  • It's inherently worse than anything fibre, or even DAC cables (which are kinda cheating.) It needs a shitton of analog "magic" to work with the bandwidth limitations of copper cabling.

How easy can an ordinary home user install fiber in his home compared to a good old wire?