How To Check Ethernet Card For Gigabit Speed?

Question

Level 2

169 points

How To Check Ethernet Card For Gigabit Speed?

Is there anyway to check whether or not my iMac is connecting to my Airport Extreme at Gigabit speeds? To make a long story short a Cisco router I was using was blinking yellow instead of green. The Mediacom tech. claimed I was connecting at a lower speed than Gigabit. Even though I've gone back to the Airport Extreme and ditched the Cisco modem/router/hotspot its bothering me that either my Ethernet cable or iMac's Ethernet card might be faulty.

Early 2010 i7, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Apr 9, 2011 12:50 PM

Reply

Answer 1

captfred

Level 7

26,446 points

Apr 9, 2011 12:55 PM in response to Jazzman

Network utility in the Utilities subdirectory of the Apps folder.
In the Info tab, select the proper interface and look at the Link Speed below.

Regards,
Captfred

Reply

Answer 2

Jazzman Author

Level 2

169 points

Apr 10, 2011 6:35 AM in response to captfred

Hey great! Even a call to Apple didn't bring up this solution. So is "100 Mbit/s" telling me I'm connected to my Airport Express at the maximum speed of both the iMac and AE? I used the utility and downloaded a large .pdf. No packet errors were shown.

I'm not going to bother testing the Cisco modem/router/hotspot as I have replaced it with a Motorola plain old modem.

Thanks again for your help.

Reply

Answer 3

Jazzman Author

Level 2

169 points

Apr 10, 2011 6:49 AM in response to Jazzman

The utility was the answer for ethernet speed measurement. However, after Googling a little I see that Gigabit speeds are supposed to be 1000 Mbit/s not the 100 Mbit/s I'm getting using the utility to measure speed between my iMac and Airport Extreme connected Lacie Network hard drive that is supposed to support Gigabit speeds. I'll have to try a file transfer to another Mac on the network and see if I can do any better. It is going to be hard to know which device is not supporting Gigabit. Maybe a direct connection from my iMac to my Macbook Pro might shed some light on this. I don't think I need a crossover cable for a direct connection as Macs are supposed to take care of that.

Reply

Answer 4

captfred

Level 7

26,446 points

Apr 10, 2011 6:51 AM in response to Jazzman

Your not using Gigabit as that is 1000 Mbit/s. The airport extreme and your iMac is capable of Gigabit. Try a new cable, a good CAT5 should do it.

Reply

Answer 5

Jolly Giant

Level 7

25,464 points

Apr 10, 2011 7:38 AM in response to Jazzman

Jazzman wrote:
my Airport Extreme

not all Airport base stations support gigabit speed.

launch *airport utility* and see what it says for your unit. if it says +fast ethernet+ like in the screenshot below, your extreme is not capable of gigabit speed

( *click on image to enlarge* )

Reply

Answer 6

dpnola

Level 1

4 points

Dec 2, 2016 2:43 PM in response to captfred

Cat6E cable is built for Gigabit speed. Cat5E will get you faster speeds but not up to 1000Mbps. Make sure your modem is a 12channel modem with a Cat6E connected to your AE. Also, check that your Mac is 802.11ac 5Ghz comparable. 802.11ac can get Gigabit speeds wirelessly as long as you internet provider provides true Gigabit speed to you location.

Reply