Replacing the Fast Ethernet port to Gigabyte Ethernet port in router.

Nemo13

New member
Hi there,

I'm using a router with a Fast Ethernet port and planning to replace the port alone with a Gigabyte Ethernet port .
Does it technically feasible to make it work after replacing with a Giga port? Does it require a firmware upgrade or something?
Would like to know the challenges around it.

Thank you!
 

Nemo13

New member
Oh! that's a quick response, thank you.

I understand the pain of replacing the hardware, this is kinda free time school project and desperate to makes my hands dirty :)
Most probably manufacturers will say it cannot be upgraded. I'm trying to understand the options if a firmware upgrade isn't available at all, like using a firmware from another router that support gigabit Ethernet port (with same chip-set), verify if chip supports gigabit port, etc...
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
No idea to be honest....I would imagine that the hardware in the router would be different, not just the firmware...but that is just speculation as I know sometimes firmware changes of some hardware can change things.
This is right, I don’t think it’s at all possible. You’d need to replace the physical port, and then find a suitable host controller on the “bios” of the router.
 

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
Oh! that's a quick response, thank you.

I understand the pain of replacing the hardware, this is kinda free time school project and desperate to makes my hands dirty :)
Most probably manufacturers will say it cannot be upgraded. I'm trying to understand the options if a firmware upgrade isn't available at all, like using a firmware from another router that support gigabit Ethernet port (with same chip-set), verify if chip supports gigabit port, etc...
IMO this is likely to be a fool's errand. I very much doubt that any router with only a 100MB/s port can be home upgraded to support 1GB/s

It's not just a case of replacing the physical port or trying even to find a firmware that might work (and good luck with that), but the internal bus in the router will have to be able to support 1GB/s and if it doesn't (and why would it with only a 100MB/s port) you're up a creek.
 

Nemo13

New member
Thank you all.

I realize how difficult it would be to upgrade it successfully. For now I'm planning to do Raspberry Pi project.
Will definitely try to upgrade to gigabit port sometime and will share my experience.
 

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
If you are replacing the entire gubbins of the router then I imagine you won't have too many issues. The actual port won't be dissimilar to any of the other ports as they are simply physical interface connectors. There may be differences in the routing of the port internally but the biggest difference is going to be the controller.

If I am reading right what you are thinking, you are presuming that if you replace a USB2 port on a PC with a USB3 port, you get USB3 capability. This simply isn't the case as the 2.0 and 3.0 physical interfaces are exactly the same. It's what happens after the port that makes all the difference.

If you are replacing the entire router internal control board then there is no need to change the RJ45 interface as it's exactly the same no matter which iteration of line speed you are plugging in.
 
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