Hi there,
Bought a StarTech docking and am very happy with it. Only one thing though I cannot get fixed. The GbE port should be able to have a connection speed of 2.5GbE. When I connect directly I get 2GbE (exactly as what I pay for). However, if I put the same cable in my docking I cannot get above 1.5GbE connection speed. I use the cable which was in the box with the docking and also tried another cabke that is considered one of the best Thunderbolt 4 cables. Windows 11 Dell XPS 9310 laptop.
Thank you for connecting with us here on the StarTech.com community.
I am sorry to hear about the network speed troubles when working with the 132UE-TB4USB4DOCK.
Thank you for sharing the model of your computer and confirming that you are working with too. I checked the specifications from Dell briefly just to be sure.
Trying a different Thunderbolt 4 cable is a great step to try too. If you are seeing the same speed issues with both cables then we can probably rule out cable issues.
Can you tell us more about how the 132UE-TB4USB4DOCK is set up and used?
There are a few things that may help begin to understand the setup.
Has the 132UE-TB4USB4DOCK been used with better network speeds before?
If possible can this dock be tested with a different computer?
How are the network speeds being tested?
Are you working with a local network speed tool, an online speed tester, or are you measuring the speeds another way?
Can you share some specific results?
Can you share more about the network that the 132UE-TB4USB4DOCK is connected to?
It may be helpful to know if there are any features that could limit speeds. If the 132UE-TB4USB4DOCK could be tested with different cabling, network connections, or even a different network it could ensure we aren’t running into some strange layer 1 issue.
What is the port speed reported in Windows 11 on the network connection for the 132UE-TB4USB4DOCK?
Can you share how the 132UE-TB4USB4DOCK network adapter appears in the device manager?
Are there any warnings or other messages there?
What is the driver version and date listed on the driver tab?
I suspect that these questions should help begin to gain a better understanding of the environment and the issue. Please share any other details you can about the 132UE-TB4USB4DOCK setup and we can investigate further with you.
Thank you for your extensive feedback. Sorry for my late repoly, but I was enjoying my holidays.
I was talking to some friends and I think what the bottleneck is. My Dell laptop has only 2 Thunderbolt 4 USB Type-C ports, that’s it. And an 1GbE network card. To get the 2GbE speed I used a UGREEN USB C 2.5G LAN Adapter Ethernet Adapter. Directly from the fiber optic cable via the adapter to my laptop. In the current set up, I connect the fiber optic cable to the StarTech docking and use the TB cable out of the docking to connect to my laptop. Hence, no 2.5GbE network anymore because the adapter cannot be used. So, it automatically uses the 1GbE connection of the laptop. It’s remarkable I even get 1.5GbE speed.
In my humble opinion the only solution could be to put a 2.5GbE adapter between the TB cable out of the docking and my laptop. Unfortunately, such an adapter doesn’t exist. Only RJ-45 to USB-C.
Could you smart people tell me if my analysis is correct? It’s an assumption of course.
Or is there maybe some kind of set up to be able to make use of the 2.5GbE possibility of the StarTech docking?
I appreciate your additional notes and discussion about the possibility of bandwidth overhead based on the technology.
You will be interested to know that my team has been discussing the very same bandwidth overhead, and the nature of the cascading technologies, with me. This means there a cap to the Ethernet bandwidth will be expected.
I have requested some more details to see if there is more discussion about these limits or if there are other work arounds that we can suggest.
It would seem that other manufacturers may experience the same sort of issue with similar products at these speeds. We do have other solutions like external PCIe Thunderbolt chassis’ that could allow you to connect a fiber optic network card but I will wait for some more details from my team before I make some specific recommendations.
Please let me know if you have any other questions in the meantime.
Thnx DavidF, I don’t have any more questions now. Just the remark that it is too bad I cannot upgrade the network card of my Dell XPS. That would solve the issue at once. I’m sure of that.