WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.440 Consumer Ethernet has pretty much followed the rule of each generation having 10 times the maximum speed of the previous one. 00:00:06.600 --> 00:00:13.240 However, the game is changing. There are actually some quarter and half measures in the works. Yes, my friends, that's right. 00:00:13.240 --> 00:00:16.000 You're gonna be seeing 2.5 gigabit and 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:19.480 5 gigabit Ethernet devices popping up all over the place. 00:00:19.480 --> 00:00:26.300 But why? To answer, we spoke to Ben Hacker and Ben Benson over at Intel and we'd like to thank them for their contributions to this episode. 00:00:26.300 --> 00:00:33.020 As internet speeds get faster, it's becoming clear that we're gonna need something that is faster than the gigabit Ethernet 00:00:33.020 --> 00:00:36.660 that's supported by lots of our home modems and routers. 00:00:36.660 --> 00:00:45.140 Even if you don't have fiber to the home, new versions of the DOCSIS cable internet standard can support speeds beyond one gigabit per second. 00:00:45.140 --> 00:00:53.100 In fact, two gigabit connections are becoming common in tech mechas like South Korea and Japan, which is all fine and good. 00:00:53.100 --> 00:01:00.540 But why bother with this tweener stuff when you can go out and buy a 10 gigabit network card and 10 gigabit switch today? 00:01:00.540 --> 00:01:07.540 Well, the issue is that the 10 gigabit standard doesn't work very well over most of the existing Ethernet 00:01:07.540 --> 00:01:10.300 cabling that's out there. So if you go out and buy a 00:01:11.100 --> 00:01:14.220 theoretical cable modem with a 10 gig port on the back of it, 00:01:14.580 --> 00:01:21.260 chances are that you're gonna end up needing to change out every network cable in your house in order to get the full benefit of it. 00:01:21.420 --> 00:01:25.380 And in commercial installations, this problem is much worse. 00:01:25.380 --> 00:01:30.860 You see, many buildings have been pre-wired with Ethernet jacks in the walls that used the older 00:01:31.500 --> 00:01:37.380 Cat5e cable standard, which was designed to handle up to one gigabit per second over a distance of a hundred meters. 00:01:37.380 --> 00:01:48.180 And for a long time, that was just fine. But 10 gigabit Ethernet requires a newer cable called Cat6 to go 50 meters and an even higher-end cable called Cat6a 00:01:48.220 --> 00:01:55.860 with the A4 augmented to do the full hundred meters. The reason that Cat5e can't carry a 10 gigabit signal 00:01:55.940 --> 00:02:01.060 effectively over those distances is that it doesn't have as much protection against interference and 00:02:01.540 --> 00:02:05.700 crosstalk. So what this means is that getting 10 gigabit to work in many places 00:02:05.940 --> 00:02:09.780 would mean ripping the old cables out of the wall and putting in new ones. 00:02:09.780 --> 00:02:15.720 And that is alongside all of the equipment in the networking room and all of the client PCs. 00:02:15.960 --> 00:02:19.640 That is a tough triple whammy to the old corporate pocketbook. 00:02:19.640 --> 00:02:24.880 So the powers that be are instead introducing a two and a half gigabit Ethernet solution. 00:02:24.880 --> 00:02:32.280 Because it turns out that a Cat5e cable that was built to spec can actually handle a two and a half gigabit per second signal 00:02:32.280 --> 00:02:37.240 just fine over a hundred meters and even a five gigabit per second signal will 00:02:37.800 --> 00:02:45.680 usually work. The hold-up was just that the industry doesn't like to bother rolling out a new spec for less than 10 times the previous speed. 00:02:45.720 --> 00:02:48.600 Because they typically view it as not being worth the effort it takes. 00:02:49.160 --> 00:02:58.120 But given how excessive the 10 gigabit speed is for general consumers and the fact that 10 gigabit equipment is still a lot more expensive. 00:02:58.520 --> 00:03:05.240 The industry has finally developed an interest in being able to sell faster equipment at a price that consumers can actually handle. 00:03:05.560 --> 00:03:12.440 So faster Ethernet speeds then are going to have immediate benefits for enthusiasts and prosumers who want the additional bandwidth 00:03:12.440 --> 00:03:15.560 for things like transferring files between 00:03:15.560 --> 00:03:21.040 PCs and network attached storage or running home media servers. As for the regular consumer, 00:03:21.400 --> 00:03:24.560 well, the benefits today might actually be limited. 00:03:24.560 --> 00:03:30.600 But two and a half or five gigabit Ethernet jacks rolling out in computers, network adapters, and modems 00:03:30.840 --> 00:03:36.800 over the coming years means that our underlying infrastructure is going to be ready for future advancements like 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:44.720 8k streaming video to multiple household members and other amazing technology that makes it so we just don't actually have to talk to each other anymore. 00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:49.600 Thanks for watching guys. Like, dislike, check out our other videos and leave a comment. 00:03:49.600 --> 00:03:52.960 If you have a suggestion for a future fast as possible episode, we really do read them. 00:03:53.600 --> 00:03:58.160 Sometimes they're bad and we don't take them, but we do read them.