Please tell me what Router to buy!!

[elitts]

Ok, I can't take it any more, I've bought 2 routers based upon my own research and bought two pieces of sh*t. (Linksys BEFW11S4 & Belkin F5D9230-4) Someone please tell me what I should be buying as I am apparently not capable to making this choice myself.

My Purpose: A home network with 1 wired desktop media server/bittorrent machine; windows 2000. 1 wireless Dell Laptop for surfing and gaming and media viewing with Windows XP. Possibly add Xbox or PS3 later wireless or wired, I don't know.

I want to spend less than $100 and less than 12 hours on the phone with tech support trying for a stable connection. I don't need lots of features. Obviously I'd prefer to spend the minimum necessary, but at this point the minimum necessary requires a stable wired and wireless connection that doesn't drop either wireless broadcasting or the internet connection at random intervals.

My ISP is AT&T DSL: 3mb/.5mb

Thank-you for your suggestions.

[YeOldeStonecat]

That Linksys model is old...but the Belkin one...I've had good luck with the ones I've used for clients....work well.

First...one of the problems may be the fact that the "modem" you have with your DSL is already a combo modem/router...a gateway unit. If you put another router behind that...you end up double NAT'ing...which can lead it possible performance issues, IP conflicts, etc.

So....first..what make/model is your DSL "modem"? Need to find out if its a pure modem..or a combo modem/router..in which case we'll look into reconfiguring it to a pure modem running in bridged mode.

Second....your talking about "torrenting". Torrent and P2P traffic puts a tremendous load on routers...and will usually overwhelm common "home grade" routers....they just don't have the horsepower to deal with that heavy traffic..specifically dealing with the many concurrent connections. Most P2P software allows you to "throttle" your connections....so you can lessen the load they put.

Some "home grade" routers that perform a little better with heavy traffic...DLink DIR-655, DLink DGL-4500, an older less expensive model that's OK is the DGL-4300.

[elitts]

That Linksys model is old...but the Belkin one...I've had good luck with the ones I've used for clients....work well.

I generally have identical problems to the many links you get back when googling: Belkin F5D9230.


First...one of the problems may be the fact that the "modem" you have with your DSL is already a combo modem/router...a gateway unit. If you put another router behind that...you end up double NAT'ing...which can lead it possible performance issues, IP conflicts, etc.

So....first..what make/model is your DSL "modem"? Need to find out if its a pure modem..or a combo modem/router..in which case we'll look into reconfiguring it to a pure modem running in bridged mode.

I have a speedstream 5100 modem from AT&T. I'm not certain what mode its in, but I set it up with the help of AT&T and they gave me the settings for the modem and the router.


Second....your talking about "torrenting". Torrent and P2P traffic puts a tremendous load on routers...and will usually overwhelm common "home grade" routers....they just don't have the horsepower to deal with that heavy traffic..specifically dealing with the many concurrent connections. Most P2P software allows you to "throttle" your connections....so you can lessen the load they put.


Surprisingly, using Vuze doesn't appear to directly cause this problem. Or at least I don't see a correlation between when it Vuse is running and when I lose connection. I think I have maximum total connections set at 350-450.

I think there are three related symptoms:

1. Sometimes, for no apparent reason at all, even with the computer off, the router and or modem just "lock up". The router still has all lights go, as does the modem, and the activity light on the modem blinks maybe once every 4-5 seconds, but I can't access the router wirelessly. It is no longer broadcasting. A simple unplug/plug restart of the router fixes this. *this is relativly infrequent, maybe 1 day uptime, maybe 1 week*

2. Sometimes, when surfing I will click a link (to legitimate sites) and again, wireless connectivity is gone, same as above. This is repeatable in the short run, if I click that link again after restarting, it knocks out the router again; but two days later I get no problem with the link. Wired internet access is still availible.

3. I can connect from the wireless laptop to the wired computer and explore to my hearts content, but within 10 seconds of attempting to transfer a larger (10meg+) file, my wireless drops as above. Listening to an mp3 via the network isn't a problem, but viewing a video is. It definitely seems like the router is getting overwhelmed, but on an in-network transfer it doesn't seem like that should happen.

[Omachy]

That Linksys model is old...but the Belkin one...I've had good luck with the ones I've used for clients....work well.

First...one of the problems may be the fact that the "modem" you have with your DSL is already a combo modem/router...a gateway unit. If you put another router behind that...you end up double NAT'ing...which can lead it possible performance issues, IP conflicts, etc.

So....first..what make/model is your DSL "modem"? Need to find out if its a pure modem..or a combo modem/router..in which case we'll look into reconfiguring it to a pure modem running in bridged mode.

Second....your talking about "torrenting". Torrent and P2P traffic puts a tremendous load on routers...and will usually overwhelm common "home grade" routers....they just don't have the horsepower to deal with that heavy traffic..specifically dealing with the many concurrent connections. Most P2P software allows you to "throttle" your connections....so you can lessen the load they put.

Some "home grade" routers that perform a little better with heavy traffic...DLink DIR-655, DLink DGL-4500, an older less expensive model that's OK is the DGL-4300.
um i have a linksys router and if you know how i wanna get the ip address in so i can have the right connection for mgo

[YeOldeStonecat]

I have a speedstream 5100 modem from AT&T. I'm not certain what mode its in, but I set it up with the help of AT&T and they gave me the settings for the modem and the router.

Did you set the PPPoE username and password on the Belkin? How is the WAN interface of the Belkin setup? Obtain auto? If so...does it get an IP address starting with a 192.168? Or does it get a public IP address on the WAN interface?

[elitts]

Did you set the PPPoE username and password on the Belkin? How is the WAN interface of the Belkin setup? Obtain auto? If so...does it get an IP address starting with a 192.168? Or does it get a public IP address on the WAN interface?

Upon review, it would appear that I have a Speedstream 5100a. So there is only one mode. The router enters the pppoe account name and password.