How can a single ethernet cable running to a gigabit switch provide multiple connections with gigabit speeds?
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The short answer is: It can’t.
The longer answer is: Using some very clever software and hardware, it splits up a single data stream to more than one over ‘time’ and also tags some data as ‘special’ to have higher priority so it can pause less important data.
Slightly longer answer: Using that ‘time’ analogy, it also uses the packet number and retransmit functions, as well as some clever software that guesses what the content of each packet is, that are baked into the protocol so that it knows that other data streams are ‘more important’ than others can just wait. The router is operating at speeds many thousands of times per second, but not all data needs to operate at those critical speeds.
Streaming video needs lots of data, but you buffer it in seconds. You can ‘slow down’ the data stream of network files (which are not as time sensitive) to give the video a couple of extra milliseconds seconds to download 2-3 seconds of video buffer, and then the file can resume after that. And that is because you are going to notice when your video buffer runs out, rather than your network file transfer taking a few seconds extra. (network transfer is mostly bound by CPU speed most of the tim, but that is off topic.)
However, audio and video calls have lots of data AND they are crucial to being on time. So you need to have all other stuff stop, and let that time sensitive and probably more importantly in the proper order show up. The human brain is kind of amazing, and it can automatically correct for quite a bit of weird audio stuff, but video is REALLY noticeable. So, even within that one stream, the video is more important than the audio.
Really makes you look at the router which does that for XX devices, and also authenticating wireless clients and switching channels, and encryption for that wireless to be renewed, etc. etc.
Kind of amazing, eh?
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