The 800 Mbps Lie: Hunting the Ghost Switch from 2005

1. The Setup

In my company, we don't do BUILD and RUN. We do 'Emergency BUILD on top of burning RUN'. Last week, we celebrated: Fiber is here! 800 Mbps of pure speed. Or so we thought.

2. The Mystery

The tickets started rolling in. 'The internet is slow', 'My Zoom is lagging'. I ran a speed test: 90 Mbps.

Wait... where are the other 710 Mbps? Is the ISP lying? Is the router dying?

3. The Investigation

I followed the trail. The fiber arrives in the main rack. Everything looks green. I check the distribution switches. 1Gbps everywhere.

But then, I looked at the building plan (which hasn't been updated since the 90s). There was a bridge connecting the B-wing.

I grabbed my flashlight and climbed into the ceiling.

4. The Discovery

There it was. Covered in dust, humming a sad song: a 15-year-old Fast Ethernet switch (10/100). A relic from the past, hidden in a false ceiling, acting as the main gateway for 20 people.

My 800 Mbps highway was forced through a tiny straw.

5. Conclusion

This is what happens when you skip the audit. You can't build a skyscraper on a wooden foundation.

Moral of the story: Documentation isn't a luxury, it's the map you need to avoid ghosts.