Network speeds

[fleetwood]

I am using a 3 year old router (BT Home Network 1200) to handle my internet connection.
It was ideal when first bought, as enabled easy internet sharing, and has been a trusty piece of kit, especially as includes a pro strength hardware firewall.
Now that I am moving onto a properly wired gigabit network (have installed the cable and bought new gigabit switch and NIC's), I was wondering whether I need a new router, or can I safely carry on with with my existing one, without compromising speeds. I am looking for the router to simply provide the internet access to the network, not to handle running the network traffic itself.
Where I am most confused, is the relationship between 'internet connection speed' (I'm on BT 2MB - 8MB broadband), and the router connection to my PC, which offers USB 1.0 or only 10Mps Ethernet, which sounds paltry, but may be all that is needed for all I know (I'm sure high speed Ethernet wasn't that unusual 3 years ago, so maybe there is a logical reason why the box only has a 10MPs connection).
How does a 10Mps Ethernet (connecting router to PC, or router to my new gigabit network switch) affect things in the real world.
I realise 10Mps is the snail compared with 1000Mps gigabit, but don't understand how even the fastest Ethernet of 1000Mps handles 8MB broadband.
Have tried endless google searches, but can't find an easy explanation.
Maybe someone here can help explain in words of one syllable.

[Mike Hughes]

I'm not sure I understand the question.

Broadband DSL is 2 - 8 Mbps.

All your other connections are faster than this.

Mike

[fleetwood]

Hey Mike
Thats probably all I needed to know
Its all the different terminology that always gets me confused!!
So 2 'meg' is actually just 2Mps, meaning my 10Mps ethernet is more than adequate for the internet connection!
Sorted
For some reason I had assumed 2 meg was 2000Mps...D'OH


(as someone who spends so much time on my computer - sometimes I can feel like a right plonker)

[Mike Hughes]

Don't worry about it. We all get confused sometimes and networking has a whole new range of TLAs to learn. I worked in the networking industry for 7 years or so but already seem to have forgotten half the stuff I learned.

Mike

Edit: PS. TLAs = Three Letter Acronyms

[gabrielcrowe]

your router is simply where the internet enters your home, and gets routed to the various clients.

if your broadband is 8mbps and your router lan speed is 10 mbps
your broadband speed will be 8mbps

if your broadband is 8mbps and your router lan speed is 1000 mbps
your broadband speed will be 8mbps

the internet is the bottleneck on this system. getting a gigabit lan will not speed up your internet. but it will dramatically increase the speed that you can share files between computers within the network, assuming that each computer is also capable of talking at 1000mbps.

You'd get an even greater bump in speed, if you used a switch, instead of a hub too. most routers some with a simple hub attached to an adsl modem. switches handle large amounts of traffic better, from larger amounts of clients. This however you'll probably not even notice on your lan, since you'll probably not be saturating the cable with data anyhow.

[fleetwood]

Thanks for the replies guys.
Yes, I'm sorted with a gigabit switch Gabriel - it was after sorting out the network layout (my first attempt at a properly networked system), that I suddenly had this panic attack over the router not being up to the job.
Previously (in fact currently - as I have not got to the stage of configuring the cards yet), I was running my network via the BT router box, so this is a step up for me
My fears have been calmed