Wireless Router Question

[vette]

I am running 2 Dell Laptops, 1 Toshiba laptop & 1 Gateway desktop. Most of the crashes are assocaited with my Toshiba laptop. When I open a large thread with lots of pics, crash! It seems that I am using up all the bandwith when that happens. Plug/unplug the router, & back on line. Usually at least 1 crash every 2 days. When it crashes, it takes out even the hard wired desktop. So I suspect it has to be router related, I think!

I made a copy of this and I am going over to our computer guy at work to see what he said. He is charge of our systems here.

Danny

This is what he said. Replace the router, "they go bad" Thats where he would start. He didn't really pick a brand but did said the lysink is kind of buggy though.

Danny

 

[Dirtbuster1]

I got my new router installed today. I bought a D-Link DIR-825 Xtreme N wireless router. It took a while to get everything confiqured, but I can see faster speeds. I will have to do some wiring updates, to get the gigabit speed to the router. It lools like I will have to pair off the extra wires on the Cat 5 to see the Gigabit speed. If it doesn't crash like my old one, me & the wife will be happy.

 

[Jsup]

Ok thanks for the info! What speed should I be looking at? I think I have 100MPS, I'm looking at 300 MPS. My wireless speed on the laptop is only averaging around 54MPS. I'm tired of this thing locking up.

Thanks

Listen, I do this wireless crap for a living. This 300MBPS is a bunch of bullshit. 802.11N barely gives you any more bandwidth than B or G. Best case you're getting 35-40MBPS across the network.

I like DLINK. They have fast processors. I've had problems with Netgear being slow to connect and had some REALLY bad experiences with Linksys. I find linksys advanced services to be inconsistent and unreliable.

I gave up with the home based stuff and went to a DLINK small business wireless router.

You can lock them down tight enough for home use. Do the following steps.

1. Re assign the IP range. I used 192.168.50.X
2. Re assign the router IP, for example 192.168.50.77
3. Restrict the DHCP table.. If you have 5 devices only allocate 5 IP addresses, make them obscure. 192.168.50.133-141 for example
4. Use MAC ADDRESS filtering.
5. Use WPA PSK passwords, WEP can be broken by a 5th grader


Some thoughts. Nothing is impossible to break, but it really helps. The bigger threat is from the wired side of the network.

 

[Jsup]

I got my new router installed today. I bought a D-Link DIR-825 Xtreme N wireless router. It took a while to get everything confiqured, but I can see faster speeds. I will have to do some wiring updates, to get the gigabit speed to the router. It lools like I will have to pair off the extra wires on the Cat 5 to see the Gigabit speed. If it doesn't crash like my old one, me & the wife will be happy.

The faster speeds are from the faster processor, not N. Unless your laptop is BRAND NEW you don't have N on it.

 

[Jsup]

You have to work backwards from the laptop and it is probably 802.11b/g which is 54 max (you will never get that because of overhead), so no matter what the router/service puts out, you're stuck.

Next you can do what Tim does with a 100/1000 ethernet port hard wired.

In all reality, if you are just bursting downloads like webpages, then don't sweat it. If you are transferring or downloading large files or complete movies then it can make a big diff. With the newer dual and quad machines, you can always do the stuff you are supposed to be doing while it downloads. :yahoo:

The newer 802.11n (300) hasn't matured enough yet and is still touchy.

As always the new stuff can be too pricey for the return.

In the real world, you're going to see 20 MBPS across the networks. I worked for Trapeeze Networks for over a year, now work with one of their distributors. http://www.trpz.com/

This stuff is $600 per access point and $3000-$20,000 for a controller. Commercially available N is only putting down 30-40 over the internet. Depends more on how your NIC and the network play together.

We are installing wireless systems that are 100s of thousands of dollars, and it does not lay down the numbers advertised on consumer goods. In other words, don't believe it.

 

[Jsup]

You can keep stacking switches or go to an 8/16 port switch or an 8 port router.
Here are some 8 port routers.

http://www.nextag.co.uk/8-port-router-wireless/zzukzB1z0--search-html

Some 16 switches

http://www.google.com/products/cata..._catalog_result&resnum=3&ct=result#ps-sellers


Cisco usually is best, but pricey.

So then I assume a router and a switch are the same as far as security and through-put are concerned?

A router and a switch are two very very different things. A switch is in simple terms, a splitter. Now it's an intelligent splitter, but a splitter all the same.

A router has intelligence to do, well, routing. There's internal and external IP schemes, or WAN/LAN. The WAN side of the router takes a public address which is announced to the world. The inside is private addressing and has no contact to the outside world. The router is called the "gateway" as it connects to the outside world as a bridge or gateway.

Cisco is OK stuff, but not best of breed in anything they do. They are like Walmart. You can get a prom dress, or tires, they have it all, and it's all ok.

 

[010752]

Glad your getting paid to keep up with the latest and greatest. That's when it's fun. :thumbs:

Friends of mine, married couple, both work for Level 3

 

[Jsup]

Glad your getting paid to keep up with the latest and greatest. That's when it's fun. :thumbs:

Friends of mine, married couple, both work for Level 3

Well, that's my job...and may I add, anyone needing a network installed, feel free to IM me. :bounce: (shameless plug)

 

[Dirtbuster1]

So far I have made it almost 24 hours without having to reset the router. I'm glad that D-Link was on your good list. I read alot of reviews from alot of different places. D-Link always came out on top. I'm just fed up with the Netgear crashes.